Neighbors who insist on parking in front of your house???

no-blue-screen

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All,

I want to get your input on this situation. First let me give you some background. The street I live on meets up to a townhouse development with no outlet. That means that everyone going into the townhouse development can only get in/out by coming past my house. I am the last single family home so my neighbor on my right is a single family home, then my neighbor on the left (though further away) is a townhouse.

The guy in the townhouse never has been really friendly, in fact I think he is jealous because my wife and I are fairly young with careers and are so far successful and can afford to have the things we work very hard for. They on the other hand appear to be blue collar workers. He has a townhouse full of people...it's him, his wife, his brother, and his son. I have counted a total of 5 cars that they have. They have two trucks, a Toyota his wife drives, an old full size ford, and a small sub-compact.

So here is the story. It all started when they left the car in front of my house for six straight days over a holiday weekend. When I had company over I spoke about my displeasure over it loudly on my deck so that they could hear me. Finally the car moved, but then they started parking blocking my mailbox. I called in a parking complaint because they were parked the wrong direction (against the flow of traffic). They received a warning and the very next day parked there again, I phone in another parking complaint and this time they were cited. They still parked in the same place the next day after the ticket, and I just let it go. Now, to avoid having to move my wife's car when I take my car out of the garage, I have began parking it on the side of the house which is the side that faces them, I also set the alarm off and let it go for a while too after they parked their car here yet again yesterday but this time facing the correct direction and not blocking my mailbox.

Anyone have any opinions on what I can do to keep them from parking there? Please, I don't want to do anything criminal like vandalize their car or anything like that, but the polite note and the tickets obviously didn't make them get the point. I just don't understand because if we park within the townhouse development, we will get towed away, but they can come out and harass us and we can't do anything about it.
 

tditom

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have you tried going over and talking to them directly like an adult? (remember that someone has to be the adult in this type of situation ;))
 

vdub21

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I think if you keep calling the parking guys... they will eventually get the point... i mean once you get 10 tickets in a row.... you are bound to get the point. Other than that.. you are going to be doing criminal things... like puncturing tires etc... so like you said you dont want to go down that road.
 

no-blue-screen

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Guys, thanks for the suggestions. They avoid me, like yesterday the guy that owns the house came home from work and saw me cleaning out my garage so he turned around and left.

I didn't call the 3rd time they parked the wrong way because they had their other cars parked the wrong way as well and I think they were going to give the police a hard time if I called them again. They had turned all the lights off in their house to make it look like they weren't home, but I could see them from out back peeking out their front door.

Now, my wife's van is parked on my property facing their house, so when they look out their kitchen, bathroom, and another window they will see my wife's van just like I have to look at their car. I mean it is just common courtesy not to do that and if they had been nice about it I would never had said anything anyway. But last night, his brother pulled up and parked the car there when they thought I wasn't home (my house was dark), then his brother picked him up in the old ford and then left. The police said the car is registered to some address in Elkridge and not from the neighborhood. In the beginning I didn't know who owned the car, because they were parking it there when they thought I wasn't home and then moving it in the middle of the night.
 

Joe_Meehan

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Are you the only one in your area with a problem or do other neighbors fell the same way? If they do, then I suggest you get together and approach the local authorities. There are a number of possible solutions.

However if it is only you that are experiencing problems, there likely is not going to be much you can do other than calling in when they are illegally parked. Remember you don't own the street, even if you paid for it. It is public property and only the public (government) can make the rules.

Personally I would guess some of your approaches may have only aggravated the situation. A one on one adult conversation might have been the best way to start. Passive aggressive is not likely to be productive.
 

no-blue-screen

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Joe_Meehan said:
Are you the only one in your area with a problem or do other neighbors fell the same way? If they do, then I suggest you get together and approach the local authorities. There are a number of possible solutions.

However if it is only you that are experiencing problems, there likely is not going to be much you can do other than calling in when they are illegally parked. Remember you don't own the street, even if you paid for it. It is public property and only the public (government) can make the rules.

Personally I would guess some of your approaches may have only aggravated the situation. A one on one adult conversation might have been the best way to start. Passive aggressive is not likely to be productive.
I agree, I am only having a problem with it because of the amount of traffic on the street, the difficulty in entering/exiting the driveway, and the fact that I have to move my wife's van every time I want to go somewhere with my car. I don't plan on doing anything else at this point. If the spot is open, I will park there and if it isn't I will pull on the side of the house so that I don't have to play musical vehicles anytime I want to leave. I mean I have a 2year old daughter for god sake, it isn't easy for two people to have to constantly move cars when they have a 2yo that needs supervision 100%.

EDIT: Across the street from me is common area for the association (for the townhouses), thankfully there is a fire hydrant directly in back of my driveway....if people park there I can barely get out of my driveway. They don't park in front of the other houses, just mine, so I don't think I will be able to do anything. I don't want to hate them, I just want to be able to live a peaceful existence....I guess sometimes that means I have to be the bigger person and just let it go :)
 
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Pat Dolan

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For a while, we had a new neighbour next door, whose friends and family would take the liberty of depositing one of their vehicles in front of our house while they were there. Nothing illegal about it, but it is the convention in this neighbourhood that you don't use the space in front of someone else's house unless it is an unusual situation.

I brought home the largest, drippiest (oil) truck I have and left in in front of their house for a few days, and ever since, peace and order has returned to Wisteria Lane.
 

MrMopar

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For starters, I would be an adult and have a face-to-face conversation with the people in the house about the parking situation. They may not be cooperative, but it helps to try that as the first step. Forget that they might be jealous of your achievements or professions, because that's the way the world works. There is always inequality and differences in achievement and wealth unless you live in communism where everyone is miserable (except the elite government employees). The best you can do is talk to them as an equal, not talk down to them, and be as polite as can be. They may have gotten to be blue collar and are kept there by their choices and attitudes in life, so you won't be changing that anytime soon.

If they don't act like polite adults, and they keep on blocking the mailbox or parking in the wrong direction, keep on calling the police EVERY time that you have to in order to get them to correct that issue. It doesn't matter that they might be jerks to the police, because the police are paid to have people be jerks to them. Most of the time that backfires on the jerk, because the police will remember that address and the guys who keep on coming out to the parking issue calls will keep on ticketing the offending vehicle until they are fatigued or fined into compliance. Absent that, maybe the police have a Denver Boot ordinance in your town after you rack up too many tickets? After that, maybe they start towing away cars after you rack up too many tickets?

I commend you for taking the high road and (at least for now) avoiding the vandalism route. It's not a fun path to go down, but always keep in mind that you might indeed have to indulge in retaliation should your neighbors fire the first shot. If they get confrontational or imply damage to your vehicles, step it up a notch with your own veiled threats ONLY if you can back them up. I will be honest - I have done this in the past in my own confrontations. My standard threat is that any harm that falls upon my vehicle will be visited tenfold upon their vehicle - and that they should refrain from slashing tires or egging unless they wish to find their own vehicle as a burned out hulk that will be headed directly to the scrap yard. It is embarrassing that it had to come to that over petty disagreements, but I am definitely not a person to be messed with.
 

no-blue-screen

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Good points MrMopar. Oh believe me, if they do anything to my vehicle they will get it. Funny thing happened today....the place where they usually park in front of their house....one of their neighbors across the street pulled up there and the woman came out and said something to her like 'you have open driveways ...why do you have to park in front of my house'....LOL....I saw her car drive off a few moments later....and for the last several hours the neighbor left her car parked right where it is..LOL...now they can see how it feels. In any event, I have come to the conclusion that I am perfectly happy to keep my car where it is and the fact that I no longer have to move my wife's car to get out of the garage. If they want to park there...who cares.

EDIT: Also, I didn't mean to imply that I have anything against blue collar workers....I don't....heck my father worked at Bethlehem Steel for 37 years as an iron worker....he actually survived, and then got screwed when they went bankrupt....what my point was is that so many people are very quick to judge someone else and I am sure they are over there calling us rich pricks....and trust me...we aren't rich I can promise you that :)
 
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NMRJock

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Vandalism is definitely not the answer. You already said that you're better off financially. With that, you have nicer things to target for vandalism. You don't want to start that contest.
 

hevster1

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I hate to say it but who owns the street?
You have 3 choices. Lighten up and put up with it, Keep breaking their balls until there is a fistfight or worse or move.
Your mention of their perceived jealousy leads me to believe you are a snob even if your dad worked for Bethlehem steel. What does your career success have to do with someone parking in front of your house?
There are 2 sides to every story. I would like to hear theirs. I am sure it would be different than yours.
Perhaps it is time to move to a better neighborhood where there is less traffic and more parking.
Life it too damn short to get upset over such ridiculous B/S.
 

no-blue-screen

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hevster1 said:
I hate to say it but who owns the street?
You have 3 choices. Lighten up and put up with it, Keep breaking their balls until there is a fistfight or worse or move.
Your mention of their perceived jealousy leads me to believe you are a snob even if your dad worked for Bethlehem steel. What does your career success have to do with someone parking in front of your house?
There are 2 sides to every story. I would like to hear theirs. I am sure it would be different than yours.
Perhaps it is time to move to a better neighborhood where there is less traffic and more parking.
Life it too damn short to get upset over such ridiculous B/S.
Exactly what I meant when I said some people are quick to judge. They haven't liked us from day one, I would say hi to the guy when he was out walking his dog...no response....just a blank stare. All the other neighbors seem great and there are other neighbors who state they are difficult neighbors....in any event....I have no other reason why they would not like us..we haven't done anything at all to them...then out of the blue they leave their car in front of our house for 6 days over a holiday weekend...before that they were parking on the other side right up against my driveway making it difficult for me to get out...my plan is to ignore.
 

Syndicate

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^ what is that, tire stem puller?

Your neighborhood should have HOA rules against this (like weedeater mentioned) I completely see your point and agree. While the street is the governments, it certainly doesn’t mean people should start parking infront of another person’s property denying or hindering access at all. I would start using the Hindering of access to your driveway approach.

The guy sounds like a piece of work and while I personally wouldn’t do anything hostile, I sure as hell wouldn't sit by and rearrange car parking to avoid confrontation. Confrontation among adults isn't a bad thing, just alittle trying.

If he avoids you, go to the house and make the time to talk to him. Obviously he isn't big and bad or he would just give you the finger! :D
 

no-blue-screen

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The townhouses have a HOA, but I don't. I doubt the HOA would listen to my gripes at all since I don't pay them anything....or do you guys think I am mistaken about that?

I am not letting the air out of his tires...LOL....that is gonna start the property damage stuff and while I am not afraid to do it....it's not right nor will I give them the satisfaction of striking first. I agree that I shouldn't have to deal with it....but I get satisfaction out of knowing I am the bigger person and all of the other neighbors can see that he is a jackarsh. That is good enough for me unless he starts damaging property....but my plan is to not let things escalate further.

Also, if he parks his car the wrong direction he has to trespass on my property when he exits his vehicle....so if that continues I will put him on notice and then proceed with that as well. I don't want to cross the line into damaging property unless he crosses it first. I doubt he will, he does have some nice things too. Even if he does damage, I might not strike back and let the authorities deal with it....my whole thinking is that I am not going to sink to his level.
 

12MPGHWY

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Some areas let you paint the curb area in front of your mailbox red or whatever the local no parking color is.

In the past I had a neighbor who did this because people kept parking in front of it and the mailman would skip the mailbox, he had to get a permit from the city, but it was cheap and easy.
 

Cas

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first thoughts would be pray for them and yourself. bring them over a pie or cake. love thy nieghbor as thy self.
 

NarfBLAST

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no-blue-screen said:
They haven't liked us from day one, I would say hi to the guy when he was out walking his dog...no response....just a blank stare. All the other neighbors seem great
I know the type! We live on a great street, and neighbourhood, where you can walk your dog with your 2 year old and everyone says hello. There is a house on our street where a couple of young guys live... they don't say hello, or make eye contact. They have a sign that says "a rotten dog lives here". We call them "ne'er-do-wells". The other day they had some sort of domestic dispute and when the police arrived I guess one of the ne'er-do-wells stormed off and got half way down the street before officers in two other police cars stopped them in front of our hourse. Appearantly my mother-in-law couldn't get anywhere near our house for a few minutes until they stopped questioning him. About a week later my wife heard loud booming music on our street (very rare!) so she walked to the end of the driveway to investigate and noticed a moving van down the street and one of the "boys" was moving out!

So maybe you will get lucky!

Other than waiting for them to move, I would try and say hello, wave, smile, but if they really refuse to talk to you then you should definetly park your cars in whatever way it takes so that you don't have to play musical cars with the 2 year old... I agree that is not fair.

I have a neighbour who had a broken down shed on the edge of my property with a nasty tin roof that had cinder blocks and old bags of manure on the roof to hold it down. I could see this from one of my back windows and along the side of my garage. It took 5 years to go from talking about it, to helping them trim the tin, to helping them screw down the tin, to helping them design and build a new roof, to finally finishing the missing walls on the shed this year.
 

kcfoxie

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Why not try this:

Buy a used car off craigslist. Anything. Sub $1000.

Park it infront of your house, and leave it.

Move it an inch or so every few days, but make sure they can't block your drive or mailbox.

See how long they keep parking near it. Once the situation is resolved, sell the car.

Or you could get postal like I did with a woman who had a 1 year old son and kept parking in the handicapped space. There are only two for the building, my partner takes one (36 stitches up the spine entitles someone IMHO), and the neighbor across from us who has some kind of knee/joint issue.

I started taking photos and printing triplicates and filing them with the police, the apartment management, and leaving one on her car.

This went on for about 3 months, finally she caught me in the act of taking a photo of her car (and believe me, I got a LOT of **** from the police about they need to see both the sign AND the painted spot on the ground, but there was no sign, so a few phone calls to some groups that deal with diability rights, the FL based company had brand new handicapped signs on ALL the spots in the complex, meeting the demands of the Durham PD) and we got into it. The police were called. She was fined for the 8th time, a $500 fine, and the police threatened to involve social services because she left the child up stairs alone with a pot that overboiled on her stove during this altercation.

Needless to say, in the end she started hoofing it with the kid from the opposite side of the parking lot at 6pm LIKE THE REST OF US.... and left the handicapped space for those who needed it.

This incident came to a closure in October -- Disability Awareness Month -- and the local media was involved. They moved me into a pool side unit to resolve the situation until my lease ended, and then I bought a town house with more parking for the building than anyone could fill up.

Some said I was an *******, but when you watch someone walk more than a quarter mile from their car to the house, and you know they are fused with titanium from T3 to L4, you just don't have sympathy for a single mom who feels her child is a disability and earned her the right to park in the handicapped space.

So, you can be civil but I suspect you're going to get a fight. Since you know who your problem parker is, I'd talk to them directly... I didn't know who mine was, I just knew she had a red honda and no handicap placard.
 

catmandoo

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ia
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kcfoxie said:
Why not try this:

Buy a used car off craigslist. Anything. Sub $1000.

Park it infront of your house, and leave it.

Move it an inch or so every few days, but make sure they can't block your drive or mailbox.

.
thats what i was thinking,why not a pickup,this way you could actually use it if need be.
 

nicklockard

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tditom said:
have you tried going over and talking to them directly like an adult? (remember that someone has to be the adult in this type of situation ;))

Ding ding! Wins the thread.

Just. Go. Talk. To. Them.

It's really that simple. Don't do anything to escalate this. Talking loudly on your porch is passive aggressive. Just boldly go up to their front door and request an audience and go over everything. Introduce yourself. Be accountable for your stuff. Hold them accountable for their stuff. Accept nothing less.

My humble $0.02
 

tdidieselbobny

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Talk to them-if nothing improves-ignore them.I thought parking in front of a mail box was a no-no also.You could always buy a locking gas cap and put on their vehicle-but I would assume they have someone watching their vehicle.I hate neighbors-most of ours are retired,nosy,and always have a comment when they see us outside.Best thing to do is buy a nice 10 acre plot in the country,then build a house in the middle of it.....
 

Honeydew

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I second (third?) the old truck. This would've been the perfect excuse for me, a baby-blue 1984(?) diesel F-250 just sold down on the corner for $1000. New tires.
 
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While i generally hate snitches and nerdy tattle tales, some instances its justified. Especially these little annoying instances.

Neighbors behind me, rent the townhouse, or, i think its section 8, but whatever, they were always playing loud music/movies late at night and obviously had a powerful subwoofer. The cops were there every few nights for months, they never got the point, or would pretend they werent home. But they finally got sick of it.

If they annoy you, annoy them right back. Parking tickets are annoying. Talking to them sounds good in theory, and you should try it, but thats giving humans benefit of the doubt, that they are totally reasonable, understanding, and mature.
 

no-blue-screen

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All the truck talk has me looking around. I even found an old VW diesel pickup for $1200....lots of rust though so that would be a project for sure. For now though, I plan to just park on the side of my house. The car moved today after I took the wife out to see a 10:10pm movie last night. By the time we watched the move, picked up the 2yo from the sitter, and returned home it was 1:00am. When I turn off my driveway and onto the side of my house the headlights shine directly into their house and their deck in the back. I didn't make any noise other than the horn beep when I lock the doors. Today the car is gone and I parked the van there.

BTW...that 10acre plot is on the list ....however we just purchased this house in December and with the market the way it is, I don't want to make a move right now. We have a base realignment that is supposed to hit full swing in 2010 and that will bring over 10,000 people to the area to work on Ft. Meade....so the market should improve a little by then....at least around here.

Also, like I said, they avoid us like the plague so talking to them is hardly possible and I don't know them well enough to know they won't try something if I go on their property. The only contact we ever had with them was when they brought some mail over shortly after we moved in and the guy was very rude to my wife....he was like 'here is your mail, shoved it at her, then walked away.
 
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Lug_Nut

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I have began parking it on the side of the house which is the side that faces them, I also set the alarm off and let it go for a while too after they parked their car here yet again yesterday but this time facing the correct direction and not blocking my mailbox.
It seems to me they have inconsiderate neighbors too.
 

GoFaster

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Vandalism (or flat tires) will not solve anything. Stuff like that tends to evolve into an escalating battle.

If what they are doing is legal, and creates only a minor nuisance for you, then honestly the best thing is to put up with it. This is what you get for being in a neighborhood with constrained parking.

Otherwise ... As others have noted, a face-to-face conversation is the best, IF it is a possible choice ... but unfortunately, there are lots of people who are inconsiderate of others and won't respond to this. The next choice is to repeatedly call the police to make sure that they are following the city by-laws. This in no way implies that they are obligated to make life convenient for you.

I had problems in the townhouse where I lived previously, which had a shared driveway with the neighbors. With 2 cars in a single driveway, one of them had to fit between the sidewalk and the curb, and it did, well enough to not get ticketed. As long as everyone parked as far to the outside of the driveway as possible, there was enough room to get a car parked close to the house out between the others without having to move them first, and with the neighbors (rental) that were there when I moved in, this was fine. But a couple renters later, they would intentionally park as close to the property line as possible, JUST to make a nuisance of themselves. I can think of no reason why they would do this. BUT ... Since they remained on their side of the property line, not once did I complain. Not to their faces, not to the city.

I solved the problem a different way ... I moved to another house that has its own driveway.
 
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