Roadshow: Parking in front of a neighbor's house is legal but irritating

Jelly wrote:

My neighbors would car pool with someone every morning and they would park right in front of our house. We live in a cul da sac and parking is limited but they still had room in front of their house. We have a mail man, and gardener, and a street sweeper. I got real tired of it so I left a note to please not park in front of our house again..I forgot to mention my husband had to park there when he got home from work and he would have to re park his car after jerk face left...The note worked but the neighbors were all bent out of shape over it and we didnt speak for months.....

Happens everywhere unfortunately - people will gripe behind others backs but if you leave a note or try to talk to your neighbor they get all bent. People in general are so entitled and self absorbed they are only happy if they can have it their way.

Yeah, well I have a neighbor that habitually parks at the end of my driveway, so that the only way we can leave my house is to drive through my lawn... And if they dont manage to park in front of the driveway it's the mailbox instead.. The post office has issued them citations, I've called the cops.. I've done everything BUT vandalization to get them to stop, and still... Theres a huge pickup truck completely blocking my driveway and mailbox as I type this. Ugh

Katie wrote:

Yeah, well I have a neighbor that habitually parks at the end of my driveway, so that the only way we can leave my house is to drive through my lawn... And if they dont manage to park in front of the driveway it's the mailbox instead.. The post office has issued them citations, I've called the cops.. I've done everything BUT vandalization to get them to stop, and still... Theres a huge pickup truck completely blocking my driveway and mailbox as I type this. Ugh

WTF is their problem? Can't the cops tow them? If I were you I'd consider the vandalism. Just don't get caught. A BB gun might come in handy, you can break all the windows and nobody will hear it.

Yeah I was thinking about a .22 last night.

But seriously, the cops just told me it has to be there for 24 hrs to tow, wtf.

MY neigbor one side of me.. they always park in front of my house and steps all over my lawn when they get out of their car. They have killed my lawn from even driving on top of it.! I am the only one they do that too! They don't do that to my other neighbors. Could be because I am the only female living there....

Yes, it is public property per say. However, it is an unwritten rule of good neighborly conduct that you try and keep your vehicles in front of your own home as much as possible. I live in a better than average neighborhood, decent but not fantastic. I have neighbors across the street that own more vehicles than they have space for. To date I have counted two old cars that never move out of the garage, and five cars. That is not the issue. The issue is, they park their worst cars that leak oil in front of my house all the time. I have spoken to him politely and asked him if at all possible please leave at least one space for me to park a car in front of my own home. He has ignored my request. Recently, he left it their for 11 days while they were on vacation. The worst part is they leave a car that never moves in front of their house and park a single car in the middle of their driveway. They have room but choose to park their cars that leak oil in front of my house so the oil is not in front of their house. Does anyone know how many vehicles a single family residence is allowed to have in San Jose?

We have street parking where I live and we have 2 vehicles. One is parked at the edge of our property and the other in the middle. Every time we move the one car the neighbors have company who parks in the middle cars spot. We have limited space and don't want to park in front o the neighbor on the other sides house so we at constantly having to ask them to move. If there were more space, we wouldn't care. But there's only room for our two vehicles in front of our house so what else can we do but ask them to move every time we get home. It's just rude to me. And they are newer neighbors. I didn't want to cause any problems with any neighbors but it's just not very nice. I know it may be legal an get over it blah blah but if we parked infront f their house they would be pissed and retaliate.

Lizzie Borden wrote:

You don't own the street in front of your house, people. As long as the person is not blocking your driveway, parked in front of a hydrant, etc, relax and find something else, something IMPORTANT to complain about.

Actually it is important to some people! My neighbor uses a large van for storage of his carpet material. He parks it in front of my house slmost every day and just moves it every once and a while. The spot in front of their house is empty and they don't even park in front of their driveway. Tell me that is not obnoxious. In the meantime, I don't even get to park in front of my own house or even put my leaves out in front of my house because his van is there at all hours. He uses it as a shed!

Hi Katie, that is crap. If a vehicle is blocking YOUR driveway, the police should issue the owner a ticket and tow the vehicle. There is no time limit. It's parked illegally. This is one of my pet peeves. Yeah, it's legal to park in front of someone's else's house... But it is seriously rude to do it. I don't have any issue with people parking on the latter part of my yard, but, my new next door neighbors park their and their friends' vehicles all the way up to the bumper of my car parked in my parking space. I've almost backed out into oncoming vehicles because I can't see past them. I, as well as my visitors, have had to park across and down the street because of them constantly parking in front of my house. I don't get it, if anybody can park there, then I (who live there) have just as much right to park in front of MY house as they do.

I am curious though- How come none of you park in front of THEIR houses? I mean, fair is fair, right?...?! If they don't want to park in front of their house because they don't want to see their vehicles... They're definitely NOT going to want to see YOUR vehicle parked there. Just a thought. Then you don't have to confront anybody either.

It IS considered very rude to take the space in front of your neighbor's house, especially when there is plenty of room to park in front of your own home. It's as if to say "I do not want to block my own view, but I don't mind blocking yours." Or "I have so many cars that I can't possibly fit them all in my driveway so I'll scatter them on the street in front of other people's homes so I don't feel claustrophobic."

If you think it's ok to do this, then you ought to learn some respect for other people and other people's belongings. <End rant>

I would hope that a civil conversation with the neighbor would allow this situation to be worked out amicably. But if they are unreasonable why not purchase a complete junker of a car and park it right in front of their house. A real eyesore of a car. Even if it were to get towed you would be out minimal $.
I realize this is a rather immature way to handle the situation. But when people are unreasonable there is little you can do other than fighting fire with fire.

We also have had this problem from one of our neighbors, who moved, but rented their house out for a while before selling and the renters had 5 cars parking in front of our house. The house sold, and that's right..... you guessed it..... the new neighbors parked in front of our house. The good thing about the housing/financial colapse is that they ended up losing the house, which sat vacant for a while, giving us ample parking. Then a new couple moved in and.... your wrong... they actually use their driveway and park in front of their house!!!!!!! So if you are patient, pray really hard and use voodoo dolls, you will someday have parking in front of your house like I have right now! I just keep my fingers crossed that nobody else moves now..

not any of those anons wrote:

We also have had this problem from one of our neighbors, who moved, but rented their house out for a while before selling and the renters had 5 cars parking in front of our house. The house sold, and that's right..... you guessed it..... the new neighbors parked in front of our house. The good thing about the housing/financial colapse is that they ended up losing the house, which sat vacant for a while, giving us ample parking. Then a new couple moved in and.... your wrong... they actually use their driveway and park in front of their house!!!!!!! So if you are patient, pray really hard and use voodoo dolls, you will someday have parking in front of your house like I have right now! I just keep my fingers crossed that nobody else moves now..

Lol nice post

I think its rude,I know we don't own the street,but you don't want strange cars park in front of your house,and they have heavy traffic at neighbors house,if my neighbor has someone out to get them,I don't want them to assume they live at my home,its a lot of reasons, I don't like neighbors or stranger park in front of my house,they need to park in frnt of their own homes,I think,they know its annoying and that's why they do it, if I park in front of their house everyday,they would complain too.

Here is one for the WIN! My neighbor thinks I’m not allowed to park in front of my own house as the realtor that sold them the home told them so!

I don’t particularly care for people parking in front of my house, but it happens and I understand there are events in people’s lives (graduations, weddings, baby showers, wakes, etc.) that bring family together so I just roll with it knowing that the day will come when I have guests they too will need to park somewhere. But to be told that you can’t park in front of my own home that I built and lived for the past 23 years….well to say it was comical would be more than polite.

I have this problem, I am going to write a letter to a government official as a project for school and request the laws to be changed. This is a big problem in the winter and shoveling out spots to park in, in front of my own home. I shoveled 3 spots last year and I was surprised to see every one of them filled by the time that I got out of school. Not fair as I had been in physical therapy for a damaged wrist and forearm. Inconsiderate people SUCK.

our neighbour parkes his works van in front of everyones house whilst he parkes his car in front of his. We cant get our car near our front gate as hes always got big van there. Problem is he parkes on the pavement so you need to go on road with pushchair to get past, Surley these vans should be kept at work and not in small streets on the pavement. No one can park there own car for him, and its also dangerouse. Hes causing an obstruction and you cant see past the van when you want to drive away. Surely we can stop these vans parking in the street

It is legal to park on the street. But there is a thing called respect for your neighbor. If your neighbor parks in front of their house everyday and there are other places to park you should park there. There are benefits to being civil with you neighbors.

People until you purchase a side street you own it. But parking anywhere on the street is legal. Where does it say in the law books or city ordinance you can't park on the streets. Unless there's a sign that says don't park from here to corner. So long you don't block anyone's driveway you're fine. These people who complains about having neighbors parking in front of their house has nothing better to do. Who ever complains about it will just get you into trouble, face it if your life is miserable. Don't bring someone down as miserable as you. Go find something else to do. Parking on streets is owned by the county.