Nightmare Neighbour parking dispute

Marija_1

Hi everyone, would appreciate opinions on the following nightmare neighbour situation if at all possible...

Neighbour next door has space all of his three vehicles on his driveway, and he also has room for two vehicles at the front of his house. But he chooses to only park one on his driveway, and two in front of his house leaving about one metre gap between them both, resulting in half his Land Rover encroaching about one metre beyond his own fence post and in front of my property’s open plan entrance, and also ‘partially’ over my lowered kerb. This is on an almost permanent basis as he doesn’t regularly drive any of his vehicles.

The Highway code Rule 243 states you shouldn’t park a vehicle in front of a property entrance, and the same rule states you shouldn’t park over a lowered kerb. The local council web site states parking over a lowered kerb is illegal and to call 101. 101 is useless – average 45 mins on hold and if call gets answered it’s a triage person who transfers you to a control room call queue where you can be on hold again for a similar duration… In any case, the police seem to only be interested if another vehicle “completely obstructs a vehicle from exiting a property onto the highway”… however, in this case the neighbour is not completely blocking me in.

I sought legal advice which advised me to consider pursuing a nuisance/trespassing/interference of my use and enjoyment of my property claim due to other issues I’ve experienced with him through the small claims court, including the parking issue. The neighbour’s unreasonable and simply tells any neighbour complaining about his antisocial actions to F-off.

I sent him a letter around a month ago explaining the unnecessary nuisance his inconsiderate (or calculated!?) vehicle encroachment in front on my property entrance was causing me (and also other neighbours/others visiting and parking) and suggested he simply move his Land Rover one metre back onto his side if he didn’t want to use his own ample driveway space, to resolve the matter. I gave 14 days notice and advised if he didn’t move the Land Rover in that time I’d construe his actions as being deliberate nuisance and would re-consult with my legal adviser. As expected – he’s ignored my letter and his vehicle remains there as it has been for the best part of one year.

Local civil dispute solicitors are inundated due to lockdown and don’t return my calls… as mentioned above the council and police have not been of any use.

I could really do with establishing whether or not I would potentially have a reasonable prospect of obtaining a court injunction ordering this neighbour to desist parking his vehicles in front of my property entrance on the grounds that his encroachment is one of a series of actions which have affected my use and enjoyment of my property. Or, whether the prospect of such an injunction for a case like this would be slim and potentially futile so I can make a decision whether to follow the court process or not.

Has any forum members experienced a similar parking issue, or is perhaps familiar with relate court rulings?

Knowing this neighbour's mentality, he is likely to simply ignore any future related correspondence, which also makes me think that the court could potentially grant my requested injunction by default??

Any opinions/suggestions would be very much appreciated!!!

Many thanks in advance, Marija.

(Apologies if this is in the wrong forum section. Mods please move to correct one if so.)

 

Slithery

If you have no problem getting your own vehicle in and out of your drive then just ignore it, it's not worth getting stressed about.

tasticz

Hi Marija

I am so so sorry to hear about this. I can say first hand I know how it feels as I have been through this. Please don’t let this get to you.

Are you in London? I believe in all London councils you can register your dropped kerb for enforcement with council which will allow you to ring them when any part of your driveway is obstructed and the they will come and ticket the car for code 27 contravention.

I  live in row of terraces with all having driveway for 2 cars and free parking in front for 1 park along with plenty of parking spaces 10 secs around corner. I had to get the council out couple of times as I was getting fed up with being blocked in by neighbour. It was to a point where I’d have to knock to get out of my drive (free parking all around here). After they got PCN couple of times, they got the message. I do occasionally get blocked in but it’s not as bad.

 I am registered for dropped kerb enforcement so if anyone blocks any part of my driveway, I just ring council nowadays. I dont even understand why people block driveways when there is free parking just next to it cross the road. I don’t block anyone’s driveway nor allow any of my visitor to hence I expect the same from others. If they are happy to pay £65 to park in front of mine then welcome.

AdrianC

Marija_1 said:

Neighbour next door has space all of his three vehicles on his driveway, and he also has room for two vehicles at the front of his house. But he chooses to only park one on his driveway, and two in front of his house leaving about one metre gap between them both, resulting in half his Land Rover encroaching about one metre beyond his own fence post and in front of my property’s open plan entrance, and also ‘partially’ over my lowered kerb. This is on an almost permanent basis as he doesn’t regularly drive any of his vehicles.

The Highway code Rule 243 states you shouldn’t park a vehicle in front of a property entrance, and the same rule states you shouldn’t park over a lowered kerb. The local council web site states parking over a lowered kerb is illegal and to call 101. 101 is useless – average 45 mins on hold and if call gets answered it’s a triage person who transfers you to a control room call queue where you can be on hold again for a similar duration… In any case, the police seem to only be interested if another vehicle “completely obstructs a vehicle from exiting a property onto the highway”… however, in this case the neighbour is not completely blocking me in.

I sought legal advice which advised me to consider pursuing a nuisance/trespassing/interference of my use and enjoyment of my property claim due to other issues I’ve experienced with him through the small claims court, including the parking issue. The neighbour’s unreasonable and simply tells any neighbour complaining about his antisocial actions to F-off.

I sent him a letter around a month ago explaining the unnecessary nuisance his inconsiderate (or calculated!?) vehicle encroachment in front on my property entrance was causing me (and also other neighbours/others visiting and parking) and suggested he simply move his Land Rover one metre back onto his side if he didn’t want to use his own ample driveway space, to resolve the matter. I gave 14 days notice and advised if he didn’t move the Land Rover in that time I’d construe his actions as being deliberate nuisance and would re-consult with my legal adviser. As expected – he’s ignored my letter and his vehicle remains there as it has been for the best part of one year.

Local civil dispute solicitors are inundated due to lockdown and don’t return my calls… as mentioned above the council and police have not been of any use.

I could really do with establishing whether or not I would potentially have a reasonable prospect of obtaining a court injunction ordering this neighbour to desist parking his vehicles in front of my property entrance on the grounds that his encroachment is one of a series of actions which have affected my use and enjoyment of my property. Or, whether the prospect of such an injunction for a case like this would be slim and potentially futile so I can make a decision whether to follow the court process or not.

So his parking is not causing you an obstruction, and you can get your car on and off your own drive via the drop kerb?

He is parked legally, then. You stand virtually zero chance of getting an injunction, only a lot of expense. Even if you do, how do you plan to enforce it? Even if it was possible, you cannot lump a whole stack of unrelated issues in - if you had a case here, it would have to be a case on its own merits, not bringing in a whole stack of back-story with unrelated small claims. If you won those, you won them. If you didn't, you didn't. They are not related to this.

Highway Code rule 243 is advice only, with no legal weight behind it. Look at 242 for the difference to a rule which does carry legal weight.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/waiting-and-parking-238-to-252

Rule 243

DO NOT stop or park:

• near a school entrance
• anywhere you would prevent access for Emergency Services
• at or near a bus or tram stop or taxi rank
• on the approach to a level crossing/tramway crossing
• opposite or within 10 metres (32 feet) of a junction, except in an authorised parking space
• near the brow of a hill or hump bridge
• opposite a traffic island or (if this would cause an obstruction) another parked vehicle
• where you would force other traffic to enter a tram lane
• where the kerb has been lowered to help wheelchair users and powered mobility vehicles
• in front of an entrance to a property
• on a bend
• where you would obstruct cyclists’ use of cycle facilities

except when forced to do so by stationary traffic.

Grumpy_chap

Marija_1 said:

I could really do with establishing whether or not I would potentially have a reasonable prospect of obtaining a court injunction ordering this neighbour to desist parking his vehicles in front of my property entrance on the grounds that his encroachment is one of a series of actions which have affected my use and enjoyment of my property. 

None - Nil - Zero - Zilch - Nada - Null

teachfast

Buy a cheap scooter, tax and insure it for virtually nothing, bide your time, wait for him to move, place the scooter there, chained and alarmed up, focus CCTV on it for when he tries to move it. Job done. 

Or an old Smart Car

teachfast

Oh, and cover the handlebars in sticky oil.

letsbetfair

It sounds like your neighbour might be being a bit inconsiderate. Taking this to court will take loads of time, cost you loads of money, and likely achieve nothing...if things go improbably well, you'll get an obscenely expensive and almost impossible to enforce piece of paper asking your neighbour to move his car 1m. This won't make them any more considerate, and may make them more antagonistic towards you.
Unless you're very wealthy, have loads of spare time and enjoy long disputes, just trying to ignore the neighbour is your best option!

Thrugelmir

Are all the vehicles taxed? 

https://vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk/

sevenhills

My neighbour sometimes parks his front wheel on my side of the drive by 6"/8"

I don't know if he does it on purpose or if he is just a poor driver. I don't worry about it, we all have more important things to worry about.

verytired11

I think it is better to address this kind of issue strategically rather than through any formal process because as others have said you are unlikely to get anywhere with it.  You don't mention what kinds of conversations you have already had with your neighbour, but I assume that these have been unproductive and of course now things have been escalated anyway by seeking legal advice etc so this isn't an option.  I would suggest either just living with this or, if you are really determined to address it, to do something like what has already been suggested with the scooter. Make sure it is a really ugly looking one, something that is an eyesore and annoying. If it's engine makes an annoying sound at 5am every morning when you go out to warm it up and check its working, even better. And be sure to put it partly (maybe one or two inches) on his land rather than just neatly on your own. The other thing that occurs to me is why does he have so many cars? If you suspect he is running a business from the premises without planning permission you could report him.   But really, I would probably just choose to live with his boundary encroachment since it causes no material issue with the use of your property