Can you divide a driveway that serves 2 houses?
Discussion
There may be some specific information on this on a per house basis but I'm only really asking out of interest anyway.
This is an aerial shot of the house:
(Ignore dots, that was for a question on hedge cutting)
I'm looking to move as soon as I can but really don't like my neighbour. He's damaged my car with his door in the past and generally parks so that his car would be on an invisible centre line on the drive and his 1ft wide wing mirrors would overlap it. Car in question has just been sold and will going this weekend but it has a proximity alarm that beeps at him but he still rubs against the car or hits it with doors.
I have room for 2 cars on the drive, the curvature means he has room for 1.5 yet he insists on parking between one of mine and his house rather than halfway up so he can open all his doors as wide as he likes. Obviously this is his choice and if he wasn't damaging my cars it wouldn't be an issue but all the same it winds me up.
Firstly are there any legal implications with me putting up some kind of temporary fence down the centre of the 2 drives as long as none of it is on his half?
While this is petty and somewhat childish on my part can anyone suggest any suitable solutions for a divide of this type on a driveway that isn't flat?
I probably won't do anything about this and will just take the tablets and ignore him until I can get out but sometimes plotting things is therapy enough.
Yes I sound like a neighbour from hell, yes I've tried to discuss it with him, yes I should ignore him etc etc... let's not focus on that right now, talk to me about evil plans to annoy him please
to the OP: I do hope you find a solution for this. I wouldn't like the legal head/balls-ache with such a neighbour.
I'm surprised stuff like this still occurs in Blighty. I live in Luxembourg and have a shared driveway and marked parking area with 3 (non-British*) neighbours. In 6 years I've had no issues at all, thankfully.
I'm surprised stuff like this still occurs in Blighty. I live in Luxembourg and have a shared driveway and marked parking area with 3 (non-British*) neighbours. In 6 years I've had no issues at all, thankfully.
- perhaps that's the answer?
You need to check your conveyance plan and title deeds, and get expert advice if you have difficulty interpreting them.
Complicated to describe on here but I'll have a go...
It looks as if you have what we call a shared private drive. If it's been conveyed the way that most developers would do it, the ownership of the drive will be carved up amongst the properties that access it (your bit will be shown by a red line on the title plan) and the shared rights of access will be shown (usually) tinted in another colour (we use blue, normally).
You are not allowed to obstruct the coloured 'shared access' bit in any way (either by parking a car on it or by erecting a fence) but if, as I would expect, there is an uncoloured parking space in front of your garage and the red 'plot ownership' line runs down the centreline of the drive between you and your neighbour, then iunless there is a specific clause in your deeds to prevent it you would be allowed to erect a fence up to 1 metre high along the boundary between the two parking spaces... but you will potentially have to serve notice on your neighbour under the Party Wall Act before undertaking the work.
Note that the term 'astride' in section 20 of the booklet in that link means that you have no right to erect a fence actually on the dividing line down the middle of the drive, without your neighbours agreement, but you can erect something abutting it (ie the fence wholly on your property, but the face of it a few millimetres from the dividing line) whether he likes it or not, provided you have followed the correct procedures set out in the booklet.
Complicated to describe on here but I'll have a go...
It looks as if you have what we call a shared private drive. If it's been conveyed the way that most developers would do it, the ownership of the drive will be carved up amongst the properties that access it (your bit will be shown by a red line on the title plan) and the shared rights of access will be shown (usually) tinted in another colour (we use blue, normally).
You are not allowed to obstruct the coloured 'shared access' bit in any way (either by parking a car on it or by erecting a fence) but if, as I would expect, there is an uncoloured parking space in front of your garage and the red 'plot ownership' line runs down the centreline of the drive between you and your neighbour, then iunless there is a specific clause in your deeds to prevent it you would be allowed to erect a fence up to 1 metre high along the boundary between the two parking spaces... but you will potentially have to serve notice on your neighbour under the Party Wall Act before undertaking the work.
Note that the term 'astride' in section 20 of the booklet in that link means that you have no right to erect a fence actually on the dividing line down the middle of the drive, without your neighbours agreement, but you can erect something abutting it (ie the fence wholly on your property, but the face of it a few millimetres from the dividing line) whether he likes it or not, provided you have followed the correct procedures set out in the booklet.
Chrisgr31 said:
Its virtually impossible to do it due to the difficulty of identifying the exact centre. Seem to recall reading a case which has cost tens of thousands and involved 3 inches of land!
If I'm reading the OP's aerial photograph correctly, it's a double width drive between the gables of teh two houses. The boundary will therefore be dead centre between the two gables. A simple tape measure will allow you to set it out to an accuracy of around 1 mm.
Sam_68 said:
Chrisgr31 said:
Its virtually impossible to do it due to the difficulty of identifying the exact centre. Seem to recall reading a case which has cost tens of thousands and involved 3 inches of land!
If I'm reading the OP's aerial photograph correctly, it's a double width drive between the gables of teh two houses. The boundary will therefore be dead centre between the two gables. A simple tape measure will allow you to set it out to an accuracy of around 1 mm.
Probably cheaper to move.
IF you want the bother then talk to him about the heart of the problem.
You both own your own drives and you can do what you like with them. What you can't do is damage each others property: i.e. cars. If he's damaging your car that's actually illegal.
So: (1) Politely ask him if he could park further over because he's dinged your car. Be prepared to show him the dings.
(2) If this results in no joy see if you can fit a camera that watches your drive. It's s
t getting a set-up that's actually legally admissable but possible if you are determined enough. Mostly though that camera will be for show.
Pound to a pinch he won't ding your car whilst a camera is pointing at it.
You both own your own drives and you can do what you like with them. What you can't do is damage each others property: i.e. cars. If he's damaging your car that's actually illegal.
So: (1) Politely ask him if he could park further over because he's dinged your car. Be prepared to show him the dings.
(2) If this results in no joy see if you can fit a camera that watches your drive. It's s
t getting a set-up that's actually legally admissable but possible if you are determined enough. Mostly though that camera will be for show. Pound to a pinch he won't ding your car whilst a camera is pointing at it.
dave_s13 said:
That 1mm is your subjective opinion based on your uncalibrated tape measure. The legal costs starting piling up when next door dispute this.
There's a mechanism in the Party Wall Act to appoint an independent Surveyor in the event of dispute. The independent Surveyor's tape measure is final. 
I deal with these sorts of issues on a day-to-day basis (often with NIMBY's who just plain have an axe to grind about us developing adjacent to their properties. It really isn't as complicated (or as costly) as you seem to believe).
Don said:
Pound to a pinch he won't ding your car whilst a camera is pointing at it.
Do I get a pound or a pinch?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0BEBd353oM
The week before this was filmed the car had been visited by those dent removal people and the few niggles that I had were sorted. There were no marks on the car at all, then without the car being used or having moved one appeared above the door handle. I checked the CCTV and saw what you see above - it's been discussed on here in the past, I think the summary was that I was too anal about paintwork and a bad person for sharing the video.
Anyway - I politely went to see him, told him about the mark, mentioned it was on CCTV and he still refused to admit he'd done it. He then asked me for my insurance details because he had a scratch on his car and decided I'd made it. I refused and got the dent in my own car sorted out before giving it to the uninsured loss team at my insurers to pursue along with video, measurements of the dent and the height compared with the corner of his door etc etc. Needless to say I won and I got the £80 spent on dent removal back, no idea how much it must have cost his insurer.
Since I "won" this one he's parked closer and closer, often with the rear end of his car over the invisible centre line, it's not an issue as long as he doesn't hit my car, I'm really not that bothered. It does make getting the wheelie bin out impossible though, I have to lift it over the car or move it out of the way. No access to the rear of the house except through the garage or house.
I'm a simple chap, I like my cars, I'm pleasant to the neighbours in general and don't tend to attract any bother - I just think this particular character is slightly rude and thoughtless when it comes to parking. Especially when he could pull forward a metre and still be well on his own driveway and be able to open every single door fully without them touching anything.
One of the reasons for selling the Supra is that it's too precious too me and this situation annoys me, it goes tomorrow and the Pumas are a lot narrower and not cherished as much, it'll be a sad day but it's better for my sanity and will help take me a step closer to a deposit to move away from this chap. I just regret that I failed when I tried to be polite and discuss this with him face to face and since then his behaviour has got worse.
I'm at the stage now where I just want to irritate him a bit, maybe a chalk line is enough, maybe playing him at his own game is way the forward... or maybe I just need to get over it and stop being a stress head, either way this is the first and last connected driveway I will ever have.
- orders skip*
Edited by thetapeworm on Friday 21st May 13:42
PaulHogan said:
thetapeworm said:
...One of the reasons for selling the Supra is that it's too precious too me...
So why don't you put it in the garage?Edited by thetapeworm on Friday 21st May 14:22
A skip will use up one of your spaces .. seems bit of an own goal? How about something heavy that takes up less space e.g. a wheelie bin full of bricks, or those concrete fence posts laid out in a line. I'm sure it will end up with both of you tussling (yep, happened to a colleague of mine) in full view of your neighbours, but it would resolve your need to irritate NFH.
Edited by fido on Friday 21st May 14:25
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