‘New neighbour hogs my drive when it doesn’t belong to her – I’m mad’

When one woman relocated to a new house, the last thing she anticipated was her neighbour picking a fight over her parking space. She may have expected a card with their contact details for emergencies, or perhaps even a bouquet of flowers as a warm welcoming gesture, but reality proved far less pleasant.

She was left utterly bewildered when she moved into her new home, complete with a parking space, only to have her neighbour immediately make demands, claiming the landlord of her rented property had made a promise regarding the parking space on her land.

The woman, who had recently moved in, turned to Reddit to share her ordeal: “There is an alley parallel with my street.

“Between my street and the alleyway, each lot has two houses on it (an old-timey area where houses are not in a cookie-cutter development).

“We have completely different addresses, but both my house and the house behind me are two different addresses. I have a driveway that leads to a carport. The back house renter says the owner ‘promised’ she could park in my driveway since she was ‘here first’.”

WARNING: The following post contains strong language…

She was left furious by the neighbour who insisted she had the right to use the space, with the woman firmly asserting it was her driveway and her address. She remained utterly baffled as to why her neighbour was making such claims.

The woman said: “And the leasing agency was ZERO help because they can’t speak on what the owner has done with these renters.

“She wouldn’t even move her car when we were moving in for ease of unloading. I just don’t understand where people get so entitled. And I would like to fight her on this, but I wouldn’t even know how.”

The aggrieved woman expressed her annoyance at being forced to use her “front yard” for parking as there’s “not enough street parking” for both her and her husband’s vehicles without occupying the driveway, and with the neighbour having already claimed the space, they felt they had no other option.

Concluding her post with an air of exasperation, she labelled the situation as “infuriating,” appealing to others for advice.

One person suggested: “Read your lease. If your lease says the driveway is your property that you are renting. Call the police and have her ticketed and towed. It doesn’t matter what anyone said verbally what does it say in writing?”

A further commenter pointed out: “Assigned parking spaces, carports or garages are intended for resident use only. No sharing, assigning or sub-leasing of assigned parking spaces, carports or garages is allowed.”

Another respondent was equally incensed: “Write a cease and desist letter, you don’t need to have an attorney to do this. Cite this specific part of your lease, or even include a copy of this part.”

They added: “Give a deadline to remove the car from your property and threaten to contact law enforcement and even pursue legal recourse if she doesn’t take action.”

One irate Redditor stated: “The landlord can’t give rights to something he doesn’t own. Her legal rights as a tenant are set out in her lease. If it isn’t in the lease, it isn’t part of her legal agreement for the lease of the property.

“She can either show you her lease where it gives her the right to park in your driveway or tell her the next time she does it you will have her towed. Make it her responsibility to get in touch with the landlord.”