Neighbour issue I need advice as he is blocking my front door access!

littlemiss8084

Hi
This is my first time on the forums but could really do with some advice. I live in a first floor maisonette which is accessed through a front door which opens out onto a driveway which I have pedestrian rights over. The person who owns the driveway keeps insisting on parking right outside my front door, sometimes no more than 3-4 inches away from my door step! Meaning my whole access is obscured by the side of his car! Yesterday I got home and struggled to get into my house I am over 7 months pregnant and dont need to be squeezing anywhere let alone with shopping etc, in addition to this also have mobility issues following a car crash 2 weeks ago which also doesnt help.
He insists that as its his driveway he can park wherever he likes surely this cant be right. What if there was a fire or something in my flat there is no way the fire brigade etc would be able to get in and it would be hard to get out with small children etc.
He does the same parking accross the gate for our garden which means some weeks we are unable to get our rubbish out, also other half has had to miss work a couple of times when he couldnt get his bike out of the garden at 530am!
There is no point talking to this man as he wont see reason, I am considering writing a letter to the management company as its leasehold but wondering what my rights are before doing this
Thanks
Jenny

Ivory_Tinkler

How on earth are you going to manage when the baby has arrived? You'll be needing some space to get your buggy through otherwise he's going to end up with a scratched car. If he parks so close to your house then he could possibly be blocking your exit route if there was a fire or some sort of emergency. Just because this guy owns the driveway it doesn't give him the right to block you in and cause you so much inconvenience. If he is not prepared to sort this out amicably with you, especially in view of the fact that you are soon to have a new baby, then you definitely need to contact the management company and maybe try and get this resolved very quickly. By the way, you don't say if you have a car or not - maybe parking across the back of his car would teach him a lesson (although perhaps not the right way to go about resolving this).

frannyann

Can he park further away from your door and still be parked in the driveway? If so he is being a bit of an !!!!!, he appears to be making life difficult on purpose maybe he thinks you'll move out? Have you outright asked him if he realises he is blocking your door to such a great extent? Don't delay and write that letter to management company. I had a problem with neighbours blocking my garage, I wrote to management company and they wrote a letter and it stopped!

littlemiss8084

We do have a car but as its not our driveway we do not park there we always park on the road. Finding a space to park isnt a huge problem and I always manage to find somewhere. Although the person who lives with him unless he can park within 1 minutes walk of the house will park in front of the garage which blocks access to our garden. On the occassion yesterday there were plenty of spaces within 1 minutes walk on the road if he did not want to put his car back in the garage. Regardless of this I dont see how or why he thinks it is acceptable to block my way. The driveway is about 25metres long and he never parks outside anyone elses door! 2 other doors besides his!
Aside from the issues with access I dont think he should be driving anyways (he has to be late 80s!). He reversed into my car a couple of years ago claiming he did not see it!? We watched him and he did not even look behind him he could easily hit me coming out of my door (as he has to reverse past to get out of the drive) or a child quite a scary thought really.
He has disliked us since we moved in he liked the previous owner as he let him hang his washing on the washing line as he was hardly there. When we bought the maisonette we had to ask him hang his washing on our line as I couldnt hang my washing out as he had already got there first and we put a gate with a lock to stop him hehe.

elfen

It doesn't matter, as you've said you have pedestrian rights. Why not get OH to get some white exterior paint and draw you a path that would fit you and a buggy (and allow OH to get his bike) whilst not stopping him from parking. If your neighbour doesn't like it, tough luck. You have as many rights as he, especially when you're due a little one and he's parking right up your door. Or, you could get some posts and mark out a path, then he can't say he hasn't seen it.

travelchick

If you own the property then you should look at your title deeds as it will show exactly which part of the driveway is considered your right of access.
But this man sounds like he is being an idiot for the sake of it.
Good luck

marleyboy

I would park my car slap bang behind his, being sure to leave it there whenever not in use, if he complains you can argue to him that its a public road so "tuff luck". Blocking entrance and exit points to a building is a safety hazard and as far as I am aware, is in breach of health n safety act, I would look into this further if I was you and happily report it to the relevant council.

littlemiss8084

I am off home from my mums in a minute so will definitely be checking out all the paperwork from when we purchased as I am sure there must be something in there detailing our rights with this driveway.
Unfortuantly, as its his driveway I cant really block his access as that would only make me as bad as him and give him something to moan to the management company about. I havent done anything wrong and I want it to stay that way He is the type of person who would wait until your tax is one day out of date and call the DVLA.

DarkConvict

Look on the title deeds for right of access.

If he refuses to move it, inform the police/council and they should help deal with it.

Worth noting if you own the section outside, more than just right of access. Hell even if you don't the car is left at the owners own risk. So 'accidental' damage might be caused to his car if he restricts access...

olly300

If you have talked to him politely then take pictures on different days and enclose them in a letter to the management company with the problem.

State in it very clearly that his parking is a health and safety risk preventing your escape if there is a fire or another emergency.

BTW if there was a fire the fire brigade have a right to damage his car to rescue you. Lives are more important than property.

littlemiss8084

Right got my lease in front of me it states "lessees for the time being of the adjourning misonettes and persons duly authorised by them on foot only to pass and repass over and along the land coloured yellow" which is the driveway. It doesnt say anything about his rights over the driveway this is only for my property, I am guessing this section in his is different as I dont know exactly what his contains it doesnt really confirm if he does have the right to park on the driveway or not. It does however show that we do not own the land, and after checking on the land registry he appears to

Still cant believe the picture I got off Google Earth shows them blocking access to our garden. I did get plenty of photos yesterday and even took some of the spaces on the road so there is no argument that there was no where else to park