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neighbour building wall - obstructing to open car door

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Comments

  • Well mine is definitely still a drive and I shall continue to let my neighbours walk on it to get out of their cars! I suspect the dozens of other houses on the street will do the same, I don’t think anybody wants all those cars suddenly parking on the street to avoid the disaster of someone setting foot on a few feet of somebody else’s tarmac! :rotfl:

    I don't think it's that per se that's the concern normally. More like if someone decided to "do something or other" on that bit of their garden and then might find a neighbour was able to stop them.

    I think that's what a lot of people worry about.

    EDIT; Quick google - and it's 8.8 feet wide (for those of us that think in feet).
  • Davesnave
    Davesnave Posts: 34,741
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    Nick_C wrote: »
    OP's house was built in 1999 and the parking space is 2.68 metreswide. That is massive. I could park my car in a space that wide and access one side of it very easily.
    I think the OP would like to access both sides of their car, which seems reasonable.


    As an average vehicle is around 2m wide, they'd probably need to add about 0.6m to the side of their drive to achieve this, perhaps using paving slabs. It's a relatively small job and much easier than trying to persuade a neighbour to change their plans.


    ...hence my sledghammer and nut analogy earlier.
  • Nick_C
    Nick_C Posts: 7,442
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    Davesnave wrote: »
    I think the OP would like to access both sides of their car, which seems reasonable.

    Seems like a luxury to me. Most people I know who park in their own garage park close to one wall and get in or out of the other side.

    Same in public car parks. Other drivers are often parked right on the line and you can only use one set of doors.

    If that is not suitable then buy a bigger house. Or park on the street. Or turn your front garden in to a parking area.
  • Badger50
    Badger50 Posts: 123 Forumite
    What covenant? Think you're confused by something said by another poster, who was referring to their own property, not the one under discussion.
    See post 29:
    There many be no covenant, but let's suppose there is...
  • What type of car does the op have? Maybe get a smaller car?
  • Davesnave
    Davesnave Posts: 34,741
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    Nick_C wrote: »
    ...turn your front garden in to a parking area.


    Adding a couple of square metres of hard standing won't necessarily do that. As a gardener, I know that vertical planting and more creative use of materials can offset losses to vehicles in front gardens. The RHS run fairly regular articles on the subject.


    I was simply stating one practical way forward for the OP, not advocating any particular material or stance on the subject.
  • Silvertabby
    Silvertabby Posts: 8,972
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    “ I think the OP would like to access both sides of their car, which seems reasonable.
    Originally posted by Davesnave
    Nick_C wrote: »
    Seems like a luxury to me. Most people I know who park in their own garage park close to one wall and get in or out of the other side.

    Same in public car parks. Other drivers are often parked right on the line and you can only use one set of doors.

    If that is not suitable then buy a bigger house. Or park on the street. Or turn your front garden in to a parking area.


    Exactly. We only have a supermini, but I still have to hop out before Mr S parks in the garage - or I'd have to climber out to exit through the driver's door.
  • Davesnave
    Davesnave Posts: 34,741
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    Sorry, I've never had an issue parking in my drive and accessing both sides of my car, so I didn't realise I'd hit some raw nerves by suggesting a simple and practical way forward for the OP.


    In case of doubt, my posts in no way imply that the OP's issue with the neighbour's wall has any validity. That's a seperate matter.
  • Cakeguts
    Cakeguts Posts: 7,627
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    What this sounds like to me is one of those estates where some of the houses have parking spaces behind the house especially if the house is on a corner like the neighbour's appears to be and small front gardens. So I suspect that what the lady next door had was a pathway to the side of her house with plants down the side up to the boundary. So not two drives next to each other but a drive on one side and a small garden on the other going up to the boundary.



    The house is sold to the OP who then assumes that as the boundary has a garden on the otherside it is alright to use this garden as extra car door opening parking space. They may even have on odd occasions stepped onto the garden carefully to not damage any plants in order to get out of the car on that side. My reasoning is that if you can't open the car door even a crack to get out on that side with the wall there then they must have been on occasions getting out of the car and standing on the garden on the neighbour's side. Or standing on the neighbour's garden to open the car door to get into the car.

    If you look at the OP it says that the preference was for a gap in the wall with block paving on the otherside rather than the wall being only 2 or 3 bricks high. If you aren't going to stand on the otherside of the border to get in and out of the car there is no difference between these two options. Obviously if you are used to standing on the neighbours garden to access your car the blockwork would be preferable.



    This use of next door's garden has been going on for 2 1/2 years. I can understand that someone might get a bit fed up after that length of time especially if the house has tenants.



    The OP may not have fully appreciated that when tenants rent a house they are entitled to not have next door neighbours using their garden to access their car. So although the lady who owned the house didn't live there someone did and that someone had the right of that small garden to not be encroached on.



    I suspect that what prompted the wall was a desire to stop the OP from using that garden as an extension of the parking space.



    I don't suppose all the text messages, phone calls, requests and the hand delivered letter from the OP asking the neighbour to stop building a wall that she was entitled to build on her land went down all that well either?



    There are two sides to every story and I am beginning to feel very sorry for the neighbour as I think they have been taken advantage of because they didn't live there and the house was "only" rented.

    .
  • Cakeguts
    Cakeguts Posts: 7,627
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    Davesnave wrote: »
    Sorry, I've never had an issue parking in my drive and accessing both sides of my car, so I didn't realise I'd hit some raw nerves by suggesting a simple and practical way forward for the OP.


    In case of doubt, my posts in no way imply that the OP's issue with the neighbour's wall has any validity. That's a seperate matter.


    Having read carefully through the OP I have a feeling that it is the neighbour that has the issue which is why they have built a wall. The bit about the blockwork paving being preferable to the low wall got me thinking. If it was only the case of room to open the door it wouldn't make any difference as either would do but if you wanted to step out on that side onto something flat then it would.
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