Neighbor problem? Side By Side Driveway (cheapest, property, state, garage)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
In the attached photos, my neighbor and I have a driveway that is side by side. My neighbors house is the white house on the left, my house is the brick on the right.
My driveway is about 2 lanes wide with a small turn around, his is 1 car wide. There is a small concrete divider between the two driveways about 6 inches wide, and his driveway is about 2 inches higher than mine after the concrete divider begins.
I purchased my house about 4 years ago, and he just recently moved into his 1 year ago. the side by side driveway wasn't an issue with the previous owner, they always parked up by the garage (2-3 cars), we got along just fine and there was never any impedance on each others space. We would even invite each other over or do other neighborly things. My new neighbor tends to have 2-4 cars in his driveway at any given time. the first car is almost always parked so its drivers side door is at the front door's side walk. So there is a line of cars from the front of his house to the road. This just means looking out from the front of the house, we just see a line of cars all the way to the road. You also notice this "standing out" just driving through the neighborhood. Sounds weird, but its really annoying. On the occasion that they were parked deeper towards the garage, or someone was blocked in, cars would frequently drive over the concrete divider that is there into my driveway to get out. The divider has shown some wear and tear since that started and crumbled in some spots. Visitors also will constantly park in my driveway and walk over to his, because there is a line of cars in his driveway. One time when he got in a friends vehicle with them and they drove over the divider into my driveway to get out, i had enough and ran outside and talked to them about it. They have not done that since. Now they just drive around each other through his front yard, making a mud mess. and causing part of his front yard to just be a mud pit. His front yard doesn't have the greatest drainage and the end of the driveway tends to pool water, causing water to stand on my side as well.
Besides the unsightly nature of a line of cars from the front of his house to the road, there are some other issues that have just bugged me. I'm not really a picky person, and we have a quiet household, and try to get along with everyone around us. But what appears to be laziness has just gotten us fed up. He leaves his garbage cans out by the road all week, sometimes toppled over. He doesn't pickup newspapers that end up in his driveway by the road, so they get water logged and torn apart, which results in newspaper and plastic all over the place. On the back end of his house, out my front door i see the back of his house between it and his garage. there is constantly trash laying around unpicked up. He doesn't really come out and do anything, he hires someone to mow his grass and that sort of thing. Outside of all the unsightlyness he is quiet outside of the constant in and out of vehicles, so thats at least 1 plus. One other downside is he or a friend occassionally drives a work vehicle that is a hummer with a "vehicle wrapped" blue with a half naked woman in a bikini on the side advertising for a local club. Nice to look at, but is a pretty unsightly billboard next door once every few weeks lol! The neighbor on the other side of him talked with him a few months ago about trash blowing over to his yard, and that neighbors garage as he has to enter my neighbors property to maintain it. Sounds like that was fine and he told him he'd make sure someone (not him, someone else lol) would pick up the stuff blowing over. Doesn't look like that has stopped either.
This sounds really petty i know, but its just frustrating now. Another visitor just parked in our driveway last night before my wife had to leave for work and blocked her in. The neighbor wasn't home, just some friends were on his deck waiting for him or something. I walked over and asked them to move their car and they acted like I was just bothering them and asked "where do you want me to move it". I, in my disgust, said "well you don't have to move it, but if you don't you'll have to find it at the tow yard". I haven't had further discussion with my neighbor about this because i don't think he really cares or else he would of done something by now. The sad part is, the one side of his garage is right on the property line behind an existing privacy fence for my back yard that was there when i moved in, so i "maintain" it for him... cleaning gutters and that sort of thing.
So my question is, what, if anything, would someone else do? I haven't looked into laws regarding fencing yet, but i'm thinking that might be the next step. the property line (i think, haven't had it surveyed) is right down the center of the existing concrete divider. Even though i would lose a bit of my driveway, i've been considering erecting a fence on my side of the concrete divider all the way down to the end of it, stopping well short of the road. This would add some privacy, and hopefully stop the annoyance. My only fear with this idea would be the maintenance of the other side of said fence, or that they hit/destroy it from the other side because of their narrow driveway. Also, i have no idea how "dumb" it might look or what other animosity it might cause. Any other ideas?
The two attached pictures are old google maps data pictures. Both driveways have since been resurfaced and some other misc. stuff.
Last edited by mafiastyle87; 10-28-2014 at 04:58 PM..
Relocate your driveway away from your neighbors leaving space to plant a row of tall shrubs along your property line to block the view. Landscaping would do wonders. Not the cheapest solution but it would be very effective to eliminate your problem without moving away from your problem.
The first thing to definitely do is have the property surveyed. You'd be opening a can of worms if you made any changes only later to find you did it on your neighbor's side of the property. There's probably some regulation that would require the entirety of your fence to be within your property so you might as well extend your driveway into your yard to makeup for the loss.
Your neighbor might be violating some nuisance laws. I'm not entirely sure and you'd have to look it up for your area, but I'm pretty sure you can't just park in other people's driveways if you feel like it even if it's next door and his driveway is full. I'm also pretty sure you're not obligated to clean his gutters unless he pays you to do so or it's something you two agreed to before hand.
Either way, you neighbor seems like he doesn't care and whatever action you take is probably going to stir animosity. But honestly, any normal person who has respect for their property would take some sort of action. Just be sure you get the property surveyed first thing.
The first thing to definitely do is have the property surveyed. You'd be opening a can of worms if you made any changes only later to find you did it on your neighbor's side of the property. There's probably some regulation that would require the entirety of your fence to be within your property so you might as well extend your driveway into your yard to makeup for the loss.
Zoning laws will matter here, too. Here in Texas, fences are to be placed on the property line. In other places I've lived up north, there is a required setback that varies under local law, which requires fences to be placed a minimum distance inside the property line.
As everyone stated
Get a survey of property lines
Build a fence on your property
Extend your driveway to compensate
That's necreason I hate side by side driveways. ( which isn't a issue if your neighbor isn't a douche) Only worse than that is a shared driveway. I will never buy a house with a shared driveway
Instead of an unsightly wood fence, I would put up a hedge as a divider. You may have to widen your own driveway to accomplish this. It may generate some resentment for putting up a barrier but so would a fence. Make sure its far enough on your side so that they don't say it infringes on them i.e., rubs against their car. With such a long driveway, a fence would look downright ugly in my opinion.
Objectively, no judgment for you or your neighbor, that looks like an old neighborhood and your driveways' aesthetics need an overhaul. Perhaps that pesky divider should be smoothed away, the two driveways married and repaved smoothly. For your own designated driveway, consider possible uses for your vast front yard, perhaps paving your very own separate driveway on your lawn, maybe a luxurious semi-circle driveway.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
