What an absolute clart on a shared driveway can be! This is a long tale, but I need some advice, so if anyone can be arsed to read to the end (this is going to be very long!) and give a bit of help it would be appreciated!

We live in a semi-detached bungalow, with a shared driveway between our house and our neighbours. We've been here for about 14 years and have generally got on well with them, probably because we've always done whatever they've asked. However, things have gone very sour over the last 18 months.

At the back of our properties are our garages. The neighbours have a number of vehicles - a campervan (his daily driver - he thinks that it's a status symbol), a Sharan (her daily driver), a Toyota Yaris (sorned - he actually bought it off my wife to give to his [now] estranged daughter), a Berlingo (sorned because it's going to be a classic - left dumped on another neighbour's driveway [they want it gone, but he's refusing to move it and they're too nice to push him]) and a motorbike (sorned - in his garage). On top of this, every weekend her daughter comes to stay and parks on the shared driveway.

For a while, my coupe was tucked away in our garage. It was blocked in by one of their many vehicles, which was parked in the middle of the drive. They 'had' to park like this because they like to sunbathe on the driveway between the houses. Whilst this was disgusting - he would often have a testicle or two 'accidentally' dangling out in front of my wife - they kept it on their side of the drive (obviously not the car).

I then asked very politely if they would be able to move their car so I could try to get my Fiat back on the road. "Of course!" I was told. "Just as soon as we get the engine on the Berlingo started. Several polite requests later and over months and they finally moved the Berlingo onto a different neighbour's driveway, where it has sat ever since.

Then they took their fence down. Take a look at the picture below. Imagine a fence between the house and the garage - every sane person would have one - they've removed it.



[IMG]http://i68.tinypic.com/24ypb9k.png[/IMG]

They then decided that they didn't like the view from the back of the house - apparently our bins and car (they conveniently forget about their own cars) are spoiling the view from the back of the house. He came storming out one day (bearing in mind up until this point everything had been amicable), telling me that we had to sort our parking out. His main grievances were that:
a) it's a shared driveway, not a car park. They're sick of all the parked cars (we have 1 at the front, 1 at the back and one hidden in the garage - they have 4 cars, 1 campervan all outside our houses, not to mention the motorbike in his garage). She said that if I ever parked near her house again she would purposefully damage my car.
b) We have a tree overhanging the pavement. This had apparently caused a scratch to his campervan windscreen when he was parking
c) Our garage door is too shiny (it had rained shortly after me putting the gloss paint on and this had led to a rainbow effect, only visible from their kitchen window in a certain angle of light
d)Our garden (despite being hidden by a fence) wasn't nice to look at, unlike theirs (at the time they had a washing machine, sink - literally a sink! and all sorts of other kitchen cupboards etc which had been there for almost a year out in full view
e) My Fiat was a pollutant (bear in mind what his daily driver is!)
f) They thought our house looked shabby and they didn't like the view
g) My bins smell. They were in front of my garage tucked away by my fence. However, during the heatwave in June they had become 'ripe' and the neighbours found it unpleasant sunbathing next to them.
h)Finally, they determined that I was not, under any circumstances, to park in front of the garages again. They were particularly upset that 1 wheel of my car had encroached on their side of the driveway (I admit this is probably in contravention of the boundary, but having had 12 years of them parking with half a car or two on my side of the driveway hadn't realised this was such a problem, particularly as I wasn't blocking them in)

I listened - I apologised for the parking, for the tree (which wasn't impeding them in any way), for the smell of the bins... However, their tone was aggressive. Their voices were raised. My young child was listening.

At this point I snapped. I walked away, into the privacy of my own garden. I closed the gate and tried to ignore the completely unheralded vitriol. Then 10 minutes later, the gate came crashing open in they stormed into my back garden. In front of my 6 year old child they swore, were aggressive, were threatening. I repeatedly asked them to curb their language, but this was to no avail. I was completely unwilling to rise to the confrontation in front of my son and I feel that his made things worse. The wife was screaming at me about how she hated the view from her kitchen window - I had had enough by now. I pointed out that my wife and child had seen her husband's testicles earlier on that week and that perhaps they should think carefully about what was worse - a Fiat Coupe or a 60-year old man exposing himself to a minor (in fairness to the [cloud9], he actually admitted to having not enough clothing on and having a wardrobe malfunction).

Eventually they left, only to paint a line of white dots exactly halfway down the driveway between the two houses. We are 'banned' from parking over the white line and at the back of the house (bizarrely they have now parked a sorned car at the back, despite not wanting any cars at all there).

Things have been fine since then - they ignore us and we quite happily ignore them (although when my son said "Hello Cliff" he completely blanked him - why do that to a 6 year old?). And when I say fine, my Coupe has been keyed (whilst parked on the driveway) and my brand new Mazda has also now got a 'supermarket ding' in it's rear quarter whilst parked up on our shared driveway. Both of these have happened on the side nacing their house.

We've since concreted our front garden so that we can fit both of our cars in front of the house (the Fiat still remains in the garage). The neighbour's daughter has stayed on numerous occasions, parking between the houses each time. They've had a builder completely blocking the driveway for an entire day etc. And then today happened...

My wife's 96 year old grandmother has come to stay. A van arrived to drop off her furniture today and parked inbetween the two houses. Within seconds, the neighbours were out in their dressing gowns (12:30pm), screaming at the driver. Her main complaint was that we hadn't asked for prior permission - apparently we now need to ask if we can use our driveway. I've had enough. Enough of the swearing at children. Enough of the one-sided complaints. Enough of the pathetic nature of spiteful, jealous little people with no life. I made the heinous crime of telling her to piss off. She took umbridge and asked how dare I say that to her. I pointed out that both she and her her husband have said far worse to me in front of a small child and suggested that they get some perspective.

So. Any ideas what next? My main question is this... As long as I am on my side of the driveway, and as long as I provide enough room for him to get a vehicle up and down his driveway (i.e. I pull my car as far forward as possible to ensure a diagonal access to the driveway from his half), am I allowed to park in the 'Middle Ground' area of the picture. Also, is it worth installing CCTV cameras?

Thanks, and sorry for the rant!

Although I can't really help you, I really feel for you I have nearly always had horrible, inconsiderate neighbours and hate them with a passion, along with the majority of people that live around here.

You only need to worry about the access and shared driveway mainly though.

Things like your garage door being too shiny, your garden not being nice to look at and your bins smelling is a pisstake and I'd be telling them where to go!

Any intimidation, harrassment, swearing and entering your property etc., then you need to ring the police. As for him having his balls hanging out in front of your kid and wife, well, you could go in any direction with that one, especially if you get no joy from any other options.

CCTV is a reasonable price these days and sound like it could be worth installing, especially with him damaging your cars, etc. No doubt they would complain about that too.

Maye worth looking at your deeds, just to see what's stated regarding the shared driveways, etc.

Again, these are things I would look into while fuming about the pricks antics

I have no idea on the legalities of these things, but wish you well in trying to get it sorted out.

I feel same as Theresa, having had my share of difficult and deliberately awkward neighbours!

As far as I know

The drive down the middle is for access only ( hence why they are shared as not wide enough for two cars to occupy at the same time, check your deeds and your neighbors deeds available from gov.com for a small fee)
If any cars occupy and prevent the other from accessing their garage it’s not aloud
The problem with this is it’s a civil matter not criminal, which generally means it Could cost a lot of money if either of you decided to take the other to court

Make sure you have a gate to your rear garden for privacy and if they are trespassing in a gated garden and threatening you may be worth having cctv installed in case it needs referring to the police
Remember it’s a shared drive check your deeds so they can access the garage over it but must not loiter ( I am not sure if that applies to their side too but I imagine it does) so as not to impede your access

It’s shut going to court I was taken court over a shared right of way my neighbours tried to stop me using unless they gave me permission that got thrown out and cost him £28,000 with £500 damages to me back in 2007 not had it yet lol
Important to check both deeds before getting carried away
And try to be passive not worth getting aggressive
Tree in front may need to be trimmed away from the path but that’s for the council to tell you if he complains to them
Be honest to yourself and look at your own actions to ensure what you are doing is ok
Best of luck hate bullies!

I have a fair bit of experience on this one due to my former emplyment. I would advise the following:
1 continue to keep it reasonable when it comes to interactions with them as you have been doing throughout

2 make a report to the police. From what you say there is some repeated and continuous behaviour causing you and your family alarm and distress. Although it may be dealt with by some form of mediation you draw a line in the sand with regards to future behaviour

3 keep a diary of events along with times and dates which is good evidence

4 get cctv as the camera sees all- but be sure it covers your property rather than looking into theirs

You may find the other neighbours will support your view of the unreasonable behaviour which will add weight to your position.

I have nothing to offer but my sympathy, up until reading this I thought that I've had some problem neighbours in the past but in hindsight they can all be described as "a bit odd" in relative terms.

I recommend regular coop meets at you house. Sunday mornings maybe with a dozen or so coopsters being treated to bacon butties whilst doing some tyre kicking on the drive and roadway outside before having the loudest exhaust note competition. That should do it

I feel your pain as I had a caravan on my shared drive for the first 10 months after I moved in! Thankfully they moved it and themselves out and we've had fantastic neighbours ever since.

Whatever you do don't be tempted to childish revenge pranks like reaching under the front of his camper and working a piece of uncooked fish into the radiator fins and definitely don't cover the roof with breadcrumbs so it gets plastered in bird sh*t!

Seriously though I would invest in some CCTV and keep it as civilised as possible.

Thanks for all the comments. To be honest I think I just needed a bit of a rant. I've got a couple of CCTV cameras which arrived today. They'll go up later in the week - as much as anything I want to deter them from accidentally banging their doors into my car.

I'm not trying to provoke them either, the thing which would cause them the biggest amount of stress and upset, would be if someone were to park a car outside their house. I've been soooooo tempted to buy a cheap banger and park it there when nobody is around to witness me driving it and leave it for a few months. Just a bit put off by the cost of road tax and insurance.