Neighbours!! What would you do?

I disagree Baggs. The OP isn’t legally entitled to move the pots. Neither party has a right to open a car door over the property of the other unless it can be proved that it has been done without permission or objection for the last 20 years. And nobody is going to go to court to try to prove that such a right exists. The OP can park further down her driveway, as the neighbour does. Make a dispute out of it and that will have to be disclosed when the property is sold. By all means ask politely if the pots might be moved a little but if the answer is no, just stop helping them out with things and accept that you need to park further down the drive than you would like and that visitors will have to park on the road.

The neighbour seems very petty.

Yes - and has a short memory. I wonder if the lights issue triggered this - I wouldn’t be surprised.

I can understand people being protective of their property but this does sound a little more than being protective...I really can't see that an open car door for someone entering / exiting a vehicle is a massive issue...unless of course that's interspersed by an interpretive dance on their drive!

As someone else has suggested, perhaps being busy or unavailable should they need anything in the future? Although I normally dislike tit for tat behaviour. Sometimes it's the only response.

Some people just take ‘an Englishman’s house is his castle’ to ridiculous lengths. ‘Give and take’ has no meaning for them.

Set up a few posts with a fence parallel to their fence to support your lights. For thecrest, without seeing the photo, the idea of laying gravel or slabs so that you can get out of the car, is good. I definitely would not be available to help the neighbours with anything in the future. Sore back, no time, not now, maybe next week/month/ year.

If the pots are on their land i gone think much can be done about that but I can't see the photo. All well and good but I d just jeep things to a cheery hello then walk on by in future . No more favours . You can't be a mug in this life .

where is the photo Germanshepherdsmum?

shared drives are a nightmare. We live opposite one and the one side drive onto the other sides drive to get in and out of their own drive instead of reversing their own other car off and then driving the next one iykwim
people in drive which is constantly being driven over by the other side of the drive are not happy and I wouldn't be happy either but I am unsure whether the shared drive think it is completely shared, do you know what I mean

anyway OP I cannot help! I would just try not to speak to them much and don;t let them annoy you as you have to live next door to them

Wow what nasty people. I wouldn’t be doing anything more to help them as they obviously don’t value what great neighbours they have

I agree

LilyGransnet

Hi OP

We're just getting in touch to let you know that we have removed the image from your post.

If you would like to repost, please remove identifying info from the image (eg. blurring numberplates).

Gransnet is a public site and so we don't allow photos that could identify third parties.

Best wishes
GNHQ

I thought I was going mad as couldn't see any photo 🤪

Catlover123

where is the photo Germanshepherdsmum?

It's been deleted.

Oh my, we have wonderful neighbours with whom we share a double width drive with a hedge down the middle, only our garages are joined. I can’t see them ever doing something like the OP’s neighbours but it makes me think what might happen in the future! 😳

PS please try to be pleasant with your neighbours though OP but just don’t be available when they next need a favour.

Catlover123

where is the photo Germanshepherdsmum?

GN deleted it because it clearly showed the registration plate on the neighbours’ car, making them identifiable.

Strong fences make good neighbours, if boundaries are well defined they can’t encroach on your property and you shouldn’t encroach on theirs, you certainly shouldn’t assume they wouldn’t mind.

It’s not being petty, the OP should widen their drive to make it more convenient if that’s what they want

I do not understand your point OP. What your neighbours do on their drive is their business not yours. And I cannot believe you have a drive in common, as I have never heard of any such thing.

About the fence: if it is entirely on your neighbours' side of the boundary between your properties, they are soley responsible for its upkeep and are well within their rights to ask you not to hang things on it.

If, on the other hand, it is on the actual boundary, then you may do as you please on your side of the fence, but may not hang anything up, nor plant a creeper that encroaches on their side of it.

Maybe a quiet chat would help to diffuse the situation? Explain how said pots are impinging on your ability to get out of the car.
Go with cake !! Talking better than moaning surely?

If it were me, I will have a friendly word with the neighbours and mention to them that I would like to erect a fence in the middle of the low boundary wall, so that neither of you will encroach on each other's driveway.

I haven't seen the picture but if the low wall is the boundary between the two properties then it is the boundary and if your car door opens across it, you are trespassing on the neighbour's land.

Now, in most situations like this, there is a usually give and take between neighbours. However, if your neighbour does not want you trespassing on their property when you open your car door, then he is quite within his rights to put obstacles on the wall to stop you doing it.

I am assuming that his deeds show that the wall is his, since you say that the back fence is his then it is likely that the front one is.

I have read of similar cases where a neighbour has increased the height of the wall or put railings or trellis along it to stop air trespass.

I am afraid that all you can do is adjust your parking procedures or your garden so that you do not trespass on the airspace above your neighbours land when getting in and out of the car. Your neighbour is entirely in his rights in doing what he is doing.

Having said that, I think he is being mean spirited and petty.

Once a picture is posted on GN - even though deleted from GN - it can usually be found.

I have taken the liberty of cropping it down to omit distant detail and to conceal detail about the car.

Note how the driveways slope down and where the neighbours’ house wall is. The neighbours’ drive is on a higher level. For them, that means if they reverse further up the drive, the passenger would be getting out where there is a drop to the left.

From their perspective, putting pots on their own drive could act as a visual safety warning that there is a drop on the other side and may also be picked up by reversing sensors so that they don’t reverse over the edge when it’s dark. Even if they were to reverse up to just short of their house wall, there is still a drop that could twist an ankle.

As I said before, it is up to OP to figure out how to access her vehicle within the boundaries of her own property. For someone driving a very low slung car, the doors might not even clear the difference in height.

Where are you all seeing photos? I can't!

I doubt my car doors would clear the wall.

I'd probably trip over that wall as I was getting out.

And I can quite see why the neighbour would have qualms about going off the edge, it's quite narrow.

Quite honestly, the best thing would be to widen your own drive further up near the house, jackypat. I wouldn't want to be getting out on to the neighbour's drive even if they were friendly.