New neighbour asked to "use" my drive.

Good for you. What a cheek and I bet she wanted it for free. I think you are quite right in all your legal thoughts as well. They could end up parking any old wreck on your drive and just leave it, or blame /sue you if vehicle got broken into etc.

It would have been a flat NO from me! What an audacity.

How odd, especially as you keep your gate locked.

She is obviously of the “Well, if you don’t ask…..”

Well done you! That was fabulous quick thinking ?

Biglouis
Good for you.

Glad you sent her off with a flea in her ear.

I don’t have a car, but I do have (or rather used to have) a detached garage that I used to store various things. A neighbour asked me if he could use it for their second car. I said no, though I can’t remember what reason I gave. It was a while ago.

There is a positive to having a car on the drive, it looks like someone is "in" and I have used this before when being harassed to prevent unwelcome visitors who wouldnt come unless i was alone

I certainly wouldn’t agree. And you know what I used to do for a living.

We - and our neighbour - have allowed local people to park on our drives, but only for short periods of time when work was going on or when there's been a wedding or funeral at the church across the road (parking space is limited).

I'd certainly be cautious about a long-term arrangement and think that a legal agreement would be sensible.

Flat no for me as well, bloody cheek actually

P.S. Why did they move there if there wasn't enough parking space for their vehicles?

Can’t you just say you need to keep it free for deliveries / visitors.

Hmmm, I wouldn't be comfortably with that whatsoever, yes its ok ( in my view ) to use a neighbours drive for an hour or 2 ( which I have done on their suggestion ) but in the situation you find yourself in..... NO.

So what if you don't own a car, THAT is anybodies business? Your drive, your land is for YOU not half the street...... !!!!!

One of my builders before I moved in asked if he could store his classic car in my garage. I said no. Then he suggested his girlfriend and her dog could move into the house until I was ready to move! Cheek.

As they say on Mumsnet, she's a CF (cheeky F.....)

I’m waiting for this to explode with my sons new house. He has an end of terrace property with his drive being part of next doors. At the moment he doesn’t drive and the guy parks four old cars on both drives. I didn’t want to upset my son when viewing the property and I did say along the lines about this being a problem. He went ahead and bought it anyway but I do wonder about the future.

I'm sure you've posted this before ?

Why on earth didn’t he tell his solicitor about this Harris? He didn’t get vacant possession, this will be a breach of his mortgage terms …. A mess.

Quick thinking BigLouis. I would have just said no.

Obviously I'm in a minority here, but I have allowed folk to use my drive in the past, and know several people who do. We don't at present have anyone who does so regularly, but a number who do on occasions.

As VioletSky says, it looks as if someone is in, anyone eyeing up the property can see folk coming and going.
It is doing a favour for someone who might at some point do one for you. To me it is part of being in a community. If parking is tight in the street it helps everybody.

I only do it with people I feel comfortable with (and maybe biglouis, you don't). We are clear about the conditions, and would withdraw if there were any problems.

My parents were very happy, for these reasons, to have a neighbour park on their drive most of the time. The day after my dad died, when I went to the house, her (the neighbour) car was on the street. She had been told the news, and to her, permission had ceased. I asked her to put her car back, both to keep an eye on the house and help ease congestion in the street.

In fairness, I think we operate on gut feeling, so I understand anyone who says 'no'. I just don't think it's daft to allow it.

Germanshepherdsmum

I certainly wouldn’t agree. And you know what I used to do for a living.

I don’t ?.
What did you do for a living ? ?

There are commercial services which allow you to rent out your drive. I did look at them to get an idea of what commercial rents would be - from about £8 per day upwards depending on how close you are to desirable facilities like station, stadium, shops etc. However the conditions for these sites say they do not become involved in the "legalities" if any damage is done to the parked vehicle or the vehicle damages your property. It looks like a legal minefield.

To @VioletSky who said that a car on your drive can deter undesirable callers by making the house look "occupied" I get the point. And by the same token a car on your drive indicates that someone is in to undesirable callers like CF neighbours and sales people.

A smart expensive car on the drive could also attract entirely the wrong kind of callers, such as car thieves who steal to order! If they break in are they going to believe that its NOT your car and you dont have the keys?

@ShropshireMiss yes I do have visitors several times a month who want to reverse onto the drive and unload or load directly into or from the house. I am an antique dealer and there are friends in the trade to whom I sell (or who sell to me) on a regular basis. The way my drive is sited you can load right from the boot into my kitchen and no one can see what it is although it is usually pretty small boxes of "stuff". So I do need to keep it clear for private customers and tradespeople. I wasnt going to tewll my CF neighbour that. Its none of her business.

I dont think the CF neighbour had any intention of "renting" the drive. She probably thought she could pay me a tenner a month or something like that. Ive often found with chancers that as soon as you mention that you will "think it over and give them a price" the interest disappears.

You are absolutely right, Biglouis but I remember as a child my father used to rent a garage from a man further down the road to house his very precious Ford Popular, until we had a garage built.