Hey Neighbor, Quit Parking in Front of My House.

Perhaps I am passive aggressive.

I don't think so.

BUT...I would be tempted to park MY car in front of THEIR house...or minimally mine for a few days.

Would send a message anyway.

Food for thought!

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ETA

Do you have a sprinkler to water grass?? I know sometimes my water goes in the street when I am trying to get maximum coverage...

just saying
lol

Some friends had a similar problem, but didn't want to rock the boat or come off controlling. Even, my friends admitted that although it shouldn't bother them, it did. So they started parking their cars in front of their own house. When asked, they just said they were doing some work in the garage. That way the neighbors simply couldn't park there. After a week or two, then they started to move their cars to the driveway after the neighbors had all their cars "settled" for the night. Slowly, the neighbors took the hint and stopped parking there for the most part.

I would park my own car in front of my house for a few days. Take up as much room as possible. After a week, they'll find another solution on their own.

Ah welcome to my world. The damn van was parked at the base of my driveway again. I am parking there or right in front of my house (doing to them what they do to me as far as difficulty getting in and out) when I get home and until they figure it out. Considering I have already told my neighbors that when they park at he base of my driveway it is difficult to get in and out of my house. Dips!

I agree, totally annoying. You should either say something or just park your car there til they change their behavior pattern.

I'm pretty much in the same kind of neighborhood as you. I have 4 cars, counting my 2 son's cars. We have 2 in the garage and 2 on the street.
Most of the time, we have no problem parking in front of our house.
If someone else does, of course it's a bit inconvient but we deal.

It is rude to just continue to park an extra vehicle in front of your house.
Not illegal but rude. Most of the time this will work it's self out as the teen driver will move on in a couple years.

You could try to break the habit by parking YOUR car in front of your house for a bit, week or two. Is the front of their house clear of cars? If so, I would be upset. Otherwise, i would live with it. But if their front is clear, I would ask, so what's the deal with the car in front of my house? It blocks my view when I pull out of my driveway. Could you move it in front of your own house?

Is their parking there causing problems for getting in/out of your driveway, or for when you have guests? If not, I'd let it go.

I grew up in the city and it wasn't uncommon to have to park our own cars 2-3 houses away some years. Other years we could always count on having the spaces outside our house to ourselves.

My next door neighbor teaches piano and violin from her home, so in the afternoons/evenings there is usually no parking available in front of my house. It's a bit annoying, but just part of living in a neighborhood.

I agree with the previous posters that if you park your own cars in front of your house for a while, it might break them from the habit of parking there. No words need to be exchanged. They will learn to adapt. Hopefully, they won't go back to their old ways once they see that you've stopped parking in front of your house.

We live on a corner lot, and one of our neighbors always parked on the side of our house. It was mildly annoying to us. After we starting parking one of our cars where he always parked, he stopped parking there.

On the plus side, having a car parked in front of your house might be a deterrent to would-be thieves who want to break into your house while you're not home. Good luck to you!

I don't think you have the right to say anything about anyone parked legally on a public street, and that if you do you will sound like a crazy control freak. Why do you even care? Did you want to park there yourself? Did you want your guests to be able to park there? Is street parking at such a premium that your guests couldn't park a couple of houses down? Where I live parking on the street is a free for all. The houses on my side of the street have front driveways, but the other side of the street has a back lane, so many of those people choose to park on the street during the day when they are coming and going (more convenient than manoeuvering in and out of a back lane). I have never heard of anyone complaining about others parking in front of their house and would never dream of doing it myself.

So where do you propose they park their vehicles...in front of someone else's house?

I mean honestly where is the harm? This is one of the reasons I am glad I live rural. I remember growing up in LA and people just park where ever their was available space. I remember having a newborn and an 11 month old and having to park two blocks away from my apartment. Sometimes I just parked illegally and dealt with the ticket.

If they aren't up on your lawn, and they aren't blocking you in, let it go.

You'd have hated to be my neighbor, at one point we had 6 vehicles. The front of my house looked like a parking lot cause that doesn't take into account all of the kids friends who would hang out here.

If I had company coming over or children visiting from out of town, I might ask that they not park there for one day or for the occasion. Other wise, I would just leave well enough alone.

It shouldn't bother you at all that someone is parking on a public street in front of your home. Besides, If you go on a vacation, having a car in front of your home is a good thing. It makes it look like someone is home

Good luck to you and yours..

i think i would. you can keep it light and nonconfrontational, but it IS annoying and i think you have the right to mention it so long as you're not a jerk.
yeah, it might change the energy slightly, but it's not like you're bosom buds. even if they are mildly offended, they'll almost certainly forget it pretty quickly in an atmosphere of smiling and waving when you see each other.
in a closely-packed society, courtesy is vital, but so is communication. they might be yokels like me who don't get the ins and outs of close living.
:) khairete
S.

As long as they weren't blocking my driveway or my mailbox, I really don't see why I would care where on the streeet they parked.

I understand your frustration and irritation. To some people, it doesn't bother them for their neighborhood to look like a parking lot. To us...it matters.

So, in the past when we have gone house hunting we check out the streets. Do neighbors park in their garages or on the street. We look for tidy, neat streets. That is just us...that is what we want to pay for. It makes it easier for our kids to play outside and makes the neighborhood look nicer.

Here is what I would do. I would park one of my cars in that spot daily and see if they get the hint. If that doesn't work then I would talk to them very calmly and nicely and ask, "Hey..I need your help with something. Could you please make sure to leave some space right in front of our house this week when you are parking? We have some friends/family coming in this week and need easy access to our door. Thanks for your help." Then see how compliant they are or if they get hostile. Then let a week go by with them thinking you have company coming in and out. See if this weans them off of your space.

We have some friends who called the city and had a guy come out. The guy looked at their situation as a traffic hazard and painted our friend's sidewalk red. It really was a hazard because our friends could not see on coming traffic when backing out if a huge truck was sitting there.

Not sure if yours is a serious enough situation to warrant calling the city...but something to consider.

We all know we don't own the street space in front of our homes...but for a house to park some of their 6 cars constantly out in front of a neighbor's house is really rude. You mention the house has a garage and a driveway. They should use up that space first...common sense.

Good luck!!

J., I had to do the same thing when I owned my first house. I had paid EXTRA for a double car park and they didn't. Why did that have to translate into parking in front of MY house?

I had family that dropped by and saw the car sitting there one day and left without stopping because they thought we had company. That was the last straw. I did talk to them and told them about missing out on company because they were parked there. I told them that I really just didn't like someone else's car parked there, and would they please put their car in a different place. That's all I had to do and they didn't park there again.

I will tell you that it bothered me enough that the next neighborhood I lived in was one with rules that said you can't park in the road.

I think that it's kinda rude, but you can't go in with that. What other reason can you cite? Are they actually in your way or do you just not like it? Would you be okay with it if they moved before it became "overnight"?

If it bothers you that much, say something, or it'll show up in other not so nice ways. Keep it succinct. When you see someone pull up..."Hey, you mind not leaving your car in front of my house overnight?" Don't drag it out, but if they press, be prepared to tell them (and stand on) that you would like to keep the area in front of your house available for your own use--your guests or your own "musical cars". To back that up, have guests come over a couple of times in the next few days, and use up the space. Or go over after your guests arrive and ask them to move so your guests can park in front of your house. If they don't get the message after that, then they've already decided that you don't need that "surface" "social" relationship that you are trying to protect.

When I got my car...then there were three. We shuffled around between the garage and driveway. I parked on the street until my mother got home and then moved my car into the driveway. No one had to tell me not to park in front of my neighbors' house.

Ugh. I totally can understand. What they are doing is rude.

Without seeing a schematic, it is hard to figure if there might be some underlying reason they are doing it this way. Are they directly across from you, or a neighbor on the same side of the street?

Sometimes, the way driveways and mailboxes line up (or don't) there can effectively be an "unusable" space (parking there interferes with mail delivery, trash pick up, for either themselves or another house on the street). Or too close to a stop sign, etc. If the street is curved, it could make backing out of their driveway safer (and be less of an issue for you) depending on which way the curve runs.

It's really hard to know--again, without SEEing the layout. Doesn't make it any less annoying though. That sort of thing would annoy me, too.

I like the sprinkler idea. Do you have an irrigation system or do you put out sprinklers? Even buried irrigation sometimes hits outside the "zone", and you could set the timer for ohhh.. I don't know... say, 7:00 a.m.? You could also slightly adjust the spray heads for a few days... ;)

We had a similar situation across from our first house shortly before we sold it. They had a teen driver and 4 vehicles. They didn't use the garage to park any of them. Except that we normally pulled out of our driveway headfirst, we likely would have backed into one of their vehicles eventually. So, parking on "our" side would probably have been "safer" for all of us. Except it would have possibly interfered with mail delivery due to the spacing of the mailboxes on our side (we had a narrow lot). They also used to park construction vehicles towing trailers across from us. THAT was annoying.
Ugh.

Maybe you could try a sprinkler approach, and if nothing changes, just ask them, "Out of curiosity, how come you park on our side of the street instead of your side?"...

Good luck.

I'm sure it's frustrating, but, like you said, you don't own the street.
What if you park there yourself for a few days?

Been there! What I have learned:
1. Let hubby say something, guys aren't viewed as "bitchy"
2. If you are cool and they are cool it's no problem.
3. If you're too afraid, the problem will go away in a couple of years when the kids leave.
4. If hubby won't do it, bake cookies and ask with offering so they feel the brunt of not being cool.

Does your neighborhood have an HOA? Ours has a rule that any car parked on the street has to be moved within 24 hrs or they are ticketed.

That "rule" seems to help a bit plus we have an HOA Nazi man that comes through all the time looking for things to cite.

For a long time, the neighbor's nanny kept parking by the mailbox and she seemed oblivious that it was an issue for mail service and garbage pickup. The postal service put notes in the boxes stating that there would be no delivery if the boxes were blocked. If the garbage truck comes through and a car is out there you are out of luck for garbage pickup for the week.

We've not had a real issue since then. Of course when neighbors have guests, sometimes there is a car out front but it is temporary.

I do think it is rude for someone to routinely take up the space that your potential guests would use if you had guests.

You can ask, but they don't have to listen to you.
As long as they are not blocking access to your mailbox anybody can park on the street in front of your house.
Maybe you can park something of yours there (within your community laws).
We had a car towed from in front of our house once - but that was because it hadn't moved in over 3 weeks (it was an abandoned vehicle) and there was a local ordinance about how long a car could sit on the street in one place.
I guess that's one nice thing about having a fire hydrant in front of your house is that no one can park near it.
It's one of the reasons we moved way out in the country after living 17 years in fairly densely packed suburbia.

If you are in a "Home Owners Association", there may actually be rules about parking and additional vehicles. Check that. If there are rules, then you could approach them from a "don't know if you knew, don't want you to get a letter from the HOA on this. Can you scoot your car closer to your property?"

If you have kids who play in the yard, or if they park close enough to your drive, then ask them to scoot it closer to their side because you want to "make sure their vehicle is safe".

Now, it may be worth CONFIRMING it's theirs, because my neighbors had a similar problem, and it was a guest of a neighbor. That wasn't cool. Just ask nicely, you want to check for safety's sake and make sure some strangers aren't casing the place.

Otherwise, like you said, it's a first world problem. If they aren't blocking anything, and it's just a "my area" thing. But the streets are NOT your property. So you have to get over it. It's not worth the discomfort of neighbor awkward. And maybe just having the "wanted to make sure it's yours, they're safe, blah blah" conversation, you may become OK with it.

You could ask them to consider not parking there, but you can't ask them not to. Our neighbors across the street asked us to park down the street slightly so that they could get out of their driveway easily. I wasn't offended and did my best to accommodate. But some days there are extra people parked on my side and I can't help but park there. If there isn't an HOA or designated spots, you could express your concern, but being the newbies in the neighborhood, I can't imagine making that your hill to die on.

You've lived there for 6 months and you'd like to tell the neighbors where to park? I'd say to let it slide. Choose your battles or as my dad use to day "Is this the hill you choose to die on?" There are so many huge things that can come up with neighbors. This is a small thing that will most likely go away in a couple years. Just deal with it. You don't want to be one of "Those" neighbors.

This drives me CRAZY! I have had this situation at my house too. Our next door neighbors had 4 cars in a less than 1200 sf house. No one in our neighborhood has 2 car garages...they are only 1-car and many have been converted to bonus rooms. These folks were renters and ALWAYS parked one car in front of our house. Maybe just coincidence, but do you know how much it pissed me off when I would get home in the afternoon and their driveway was empty and they had two cars in front of MY house?

The fact is that no one coming to our house had any place to park. If we had to shuffle our own cars around, we could not park in front of our own damn house to do so. Our driveway is single and our streets are just not that roomy.

That being said, I never could figure out how to say something to them...technically the curb is public property. They moved out last week and I started to do a happy dance in the middle of my driveway.

Chose your battles. This is one not worth it. You have only been there six months. I really don't get what the problem is. Why does it bother you. You don't own the road right? Let it go. You will be much happier if you do.

P.S. we had six licensed drivers at my house. Kids all a year apart. Yes they had their own cars because they went to school and worked in different directions as did my husband and I. Yeah we parked on street
In front of other houses. Never a problem because we all had lots of kids. If you have a few kids, this will be you many years from now.

To be honest you don't own the street and they have the legal right to park any and every where they want as long as there are not signs prohibiting parking on that side of the street.

Go ahead and tell them you don't like it. If they laugh at you and never speak to you again then don't be surprised. They can and should be able to park anywhere that is legal parking.

Yes I would say something.

My husband had a habit of parking in front of our neighbor's yard despite the fact that we have a one car garage (that we never park in), a driveway that can fit 3 cars one behind the other, and another two parking spaces in front of our house. We have to do musical cars as well so normally one of us parks in the driveway and the other should park on the street in front of our house. For whatever reason, my husband used to park on the street on the other side of our driveway, which was our neighbor's yard. It was nowhere near his house and he never parks on the street but still, it's his yard and he didn't want to see someone's car in front of it. So he said something to me and I totally agreed with him, passed the message to my husband and now he's knocked it off 99% of the time. We harbor no ill will towards our neighbor. He's a nice guy, we are neighborly towards each other, and he doesn't have to get irked seeing a car in front of his yard. If they have enough space in front of their house, there is no reason for them to not use it. If they don't have enough space, that's there problem, not yours. They can park on their lawn.

Dude you can't say anything, you don't own the street! This question just makes me chuckle. I get your annoyance, but seriously you have no recourse. Other than to park your own car there before they do. Do you need the spot or does it just annoy you to look at their car in front of your place?

Sorry J. at home but I think it would make you look kinda lame to say anything.

Are they parking in a spot you normally park in? If so, yes speak up for sure. If it is just a spot on the street that happens to be in front of your house but is usually never parked in, then I would not say anything because there is no reason for them not to park there if you don't use the spot. The street is not your property, as you mentioned, so they have every right to use it.

What if you park YOUR car there so they can't do it?

While I know it's annoying, I don't think I'd saying anything because doing
so will most likely end in them getting offended & your nice new
neighbors will hold a grudge & turn into the not-so-nice variety.

I would either put my car there or let it go. Sorry.

Welcome to my sister's neighborhood. She has the exact same problem with her neighbors who park in front of their her home all the time. She has called her HOA, and they wanted her to handle the conversation, saying they could not get a hold of the family after a few days.

I'm from a large family J., and had to park many times in front of neighbors homes, because we had too many cars/drivers coming and going to fit into our driveway. I felt awkward about it at times, but am not too sure I had the smarts as a teenager to consider other options, nor the 'small' family with just their 2 cars.

Our arrangement with neighbors was that we would happily park further away when they were having company, guests, parties so their friends could easily park in front.

My sister's approach, in order to reserve space on her side for guests, is to cleverly park her trash cans out early, or an old bike in the space she wants to keep clear.

Having lived in a wide variety of homes and neighborhoods, the street in front of your home is public, not yours to claim.

How about turning on the sprinklers each time?

It would irk me, too, but I wouldn't say anything. In Seattle we have pretty dense neighborhoods, and not everyone has off-street parking. So, there are often folks parked in front of other houses. It's a cost of living in the City.

Parking your car in front of their house seems like a quite petty way to handle it. It could indeed give them the message you want to send, but it does so in a very tit-for-tat way. For all you know, since you don't really converse much with the adults, they have some temporary reason for parking the car whey they are parking it, and might stop doing so soon; or they have a teen driver who is just thoughtless; or whatever. But the fact is that the streets are public, and if they aren't parking in a way that impedes your ability to use your own property -- namely, if they are not blocking your driveway -- you have no real "right" to ask them to move. Just park your own car there before they park theirs.

I too dislike having others' cars parked in front of my house on the street but I know that I have zero legal or even moral right to ask them not to do so. I have reported a commercial vehicle that was left parked in front of my house for two days and even was told by our town hall that such a vehicle (commercial, big, not someone's personal car!) could sit there for weeks before they'd do anything about it! I have to put up with loads of strangers' cars all over our street and in front of and beside our corner-lot house because of tons of construction going on and the presence of ever-changing workers who come and park. Should I go out and ask them to move? No use, even if they're parking commercial vehicles overnight. So the idea of one residential vehicle parking in front of a house....well, it's annoying, absolutely, but not something you really can do anything about unless you feel you know these people well enough to address it without fearing they'll react badly - which you do seem to fear.

If you have a real reason to prefer that the curb in front of your house be left open -- such as, "We have company coming this weekend, and it would be really helpful if they could park there since the driveway isn't big enough" -- that would be a legitimate reason to ask nicely.

Are they preventing you from parking your car near to your house? If yes, then I'd mention that it would be great if they could park further down the street so you don't have to carry your groceries or children so far. But if all you mean is that you'd prefer to look out your window at an open street and not someone else's car... then no, don't say anything. You don't own the street. And they have lots of cars and need to park them *somewhere*.

It certainly could change things. I mean, if the neighbor says "why?" are you going to say "just because I don't like you parking there"? I can see that going over like a led balloon.

I don't see why they have to do that since it seems that they have parking for four, but it could be that the garage is full and will only hold one of the cars.

Anyway, I would just suck it up and get used to it.

Is it in the way or anything, or you just don't like looking at it? We had to ask a neighbor who inexplicably wouldn't park in their own driveway to please quit parking directly across the street from our driveway because otherwise if we tried to pull out we would hit their car and almost did on a few occasions. They were understanding, as they didn't want their car hit.

If you have a reason, like your kids like to play ball and you're worried it might hit their car, or it's in the way when you want to mow, I can see saying something. If it's just that you don't want to look at it, I'd leave it alone.

Ummm. nope.
You could put a traffic cone or orange barrel in the spot where they park and then put your car there. How bout if you park one car in front of theres and one car in back of theres so they can't get out.
I like my car parked close to my house. Is the spot in front of your house directly across from theres. I doubt its intentional unless you know for sure they go out of there way to be jerks. If all cars can be in the driveway, I would do that just because there would be less chance of it getting vandalized or wrecked. If they've been in the neighborhood longer than you, then you really can't say anything.

A few of my neighbors has relatives and friends that do this frequently in front of our house. A couple of them, it takes real effort for them to do it because they have to walk down the street a few houses to get where they're going... TO AN EMPTY DRIVEWAY. They'll do it when the neighbor isn't having a party or gathering that would justify doing it.

The front of my house is also a magnet for the door to door salesmen for vacuums, windows, Cox Cable, electric suppliers, magazine drives, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. to all park there for hours and hours while they ding all of my neighbors. It drives me nuts.

My solace is that come 2:00 AM no matter what, if anyone is parked on the street they get ticketed. My town doesn't allow ANY residential parking on the street between 2:00 AM and 6:30 AM. Even if it's in front of your own house and property.

But as much as it drives me insane, I don't do a thing about it because I really can't unless they block my driveway or cause some other hazard. Or if they park up on the grass.

Houston (and beyond) needs alleys!

J.!

I'm sooo sorry!! In our neighborhood, we've only had the problem with our neighbor's father - who is a cranky old coot! One of our friends had parked behind my husband's car in our drive way and he LAID ON THE HORN until someone came out...instead of knocking on our door and asking...URGH!

My first instinct would be to knock on their door and say - hey - do you mind? can you park in front of YOUR home instead of ours?

If they don't move or ignore you....sounds rough...but I would park in front of their house. I know...I know...I know...doesn't solve anything but they MIGHT (we would hope!!) get the hint!!!

Hope that helps!

Just moved to NYC & quickly learning that no one has the right to the street in front if their house unless you claim it.

We only have 1 car at the moment so there is ALWAYS someone else parking in front of our house. I dislike it as well.
Can't wait till we get a 2nd car!

When I lived in the West Coast our lots were a LOT bigger & you could technically park almost 5 cars in front of our house but it hardly ever happened, only when our neighbor to the right was having his big Sunday gatherings.

I say do what you need to.

I don't think you can ask someone not to park their car on a public street .. even if the street happens to be in front of your house.

you do not own the street.. and you do not have special parking rights to the spot.

sorry.. I think you just have to deal with it..

You can't really say anything but I get your frustration......my neighbor costs me 700 because she couldn't just use her damn driveway.

She always parked out in front of MY house even though no one parked in front of hers. One day, I put hubby's car where she would park. So when she got home, she parked partly blocking her own driveway, right across from mine. As I'm sure you can guess, I ended up backing out into her car because it was in an unusual spot. There is no real law about parking across from driveways, it's just best not to do it. I ended up writing her a check for 700. She pocketed it, and that was that.

Nope....like you said "you don't own the street".

Ugh, yeah I would. It is rude of them for sure. My neighbor parks his work truck in front of his house and a couple times when we have had parties etc someone has parked in front of his house, he came right over and asked our friends to move, no biggie. Occasionally our neighbors have parked in front of our house to wash a car in their driveway etc, but never an everyday thing. Nobody wants to have no room for their guest to park or have to look at someone else's car everyday or deal with neighbors basically in their yard everyday. While it's true you don't 'own' the street it is common sense that the area in front of your house you get dibs on. When we pop off fireworks etc we don't go down to someone else's home we get on the street in front of our house. It's our space. I think simply telling them it's no big deal for them to park there occasionally but you would like it free most of the time for your family or guests is totally acceptable. Good luck!

I know I'm late, but here's this: I'm pretty sure you live in Houston, and if you do, and you are managed by an HOA, then they can and will tell you what the parking regulations are and they do not like street parking permanently. It's a hazard to playing children, emergency vehicles and people who probably aren't very good drivers backing out of a driveway. I get along pretty well with my neighbors, and I have exactly the same situation you have...sometimes I ask them to move and sometimes I don't, but usually when I do it's because one of the cars will leave cigarette butts and fast food trash on my curb.