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Help! Neighbour taking advantage by parking too close to my property line.
- Thread starter Magpi3
- Start date
Hi GTAM folks,
OP here. Thank you for all your comments to my thread. Appreciate it.
This parking issue may well have been petty if it was a one-off, two-off instance. But we have noticed a continued pattern of total disregard by the neighbour, where they don’t respect our property boundaries. Case in point below…3 pics selected from a slew of their poor parking handiwork spread across 3 years.
Year 1 – First year of move for both the neighbour and us. One fall afternoon, we find a random black SUV parked on our driveway blocking our car. Turned out it was the neighbour’s SUV! They never asked our permission to park on our driveway, just saw an open spot and plopped their SUV there. Their approach was park first, ask for forgiveness later if needed. In our effort to be a good neighbour, we let it slide. In hindsight, maybe that was a mistake, but we played nice.
Year 2 – One spring afternoon, we see the neighbour’s black SUV parked well over the midline with the front wheel of their SUV is on our driveway. It was a miracle they didn’t park directly on our driveway seeing an empty runway available for their landing! As you can see in the picture, the manner in which the neighbour has parked their SUV, there is plenty of space on their side that can park another car right beside the SUV. Despite the available space on their own driveway, they continue to push towards and over the midline onto our driveway!
Year 3 – One summer afternoon, we see the neighbour parking their upgraded SUV in this manner! Sure, they are parking well on their side of their driveway, but the question is how will their passengers get into the SUV? Hover/fly in midair to get into the SUV? Or, would they have to swing the door into our driveway and trespass on our driveway to get into the SUV?
As you can see every year, each season of our residence here as neighbours, they have sprung a poor parking surprise on us. Observing their parking behaviour, we could have done the tit-for-tat thing and parked as poorly as they do, but we didn’t because we truly believed that dialogue is the way to overcome this issue. But as noted in my original post, with their hostility, they let that ‘dialogue’ ship sail away. And, they continue to take advantage of our nicety.
GTAM folks, we are not here to troll, just seeking some answers, hoping to learn from more experienced folks who may have encountered similar issues. We are at our wits end here, so wanted to reach out on blogs/forums for opinions/guidance.
We realize that in the latest summer pic snapshot of their white SUV, the neighbour is parking on their side of the property, but why should their passengers be using our driveway every time to access their vehicle? We are paying our hard-earned money for our driveway for our use, not for it to be used by the neigbbour at their whim and wish.
So GTAM folks, we seek your opinion here on these two questions…
Question #1 - If the neighbour’s passengers are stepping on our driveway every time to access their vehicle, isn’t that considered as trespassing?
Question #2 - With video evidence, can the city issue a citation to the neighbour for trespassing on our property?
Our neighbour is welcome to park their vehicles on their driveway as they wish, but they shouldn’t trespass on our driveway and access it without our permission to get into their vehicles. We don’t trespass on their property and respect our boundaries, and as good neighbours we expect the same from them because we know it can be done. It is a respectable thing to do…is that much to ask?
After 3 years of being taken advantage of our nicety, we believe this is where we wish to draw the line.
Thank you in advance.
OP here. Thank you for all your comments to my thread. Appreciate it.
This parking issue may well have been petty if it was a one-off, two-off instance. But we have noticed a continued pattern of total disregard by the neighbour, where they don’t respect our property boundaries. Case in point below…3 pics selected from a slew of their poor parking handiwork spread across 3 years.
Year 1 – First year of move for both the neighbour and us. One fall afternoon, we find a random black SUV parked on our driveway blocking our car. Turned out it was the neighbour’s SUV! They never asked our permission to park on our driveway, just saw an open spot and plopped their SUV there. Their approach was park first, ask for forgiveness later if needed. In our effort to be a good neighbour, we let it slide. In hindsight, maybe that was a mistake, but we played nice.
Year 2 – One spring afternoon, we see the neighbour’s black SUV parked well over the midline with the front wheel of their SUV is on our driveway. It was a miracle they didn’t park directly on our driveway seeing an empty runway available for their landing! As you can see in the picture, the manner in which the neighbour has parked their SUV, there is plenty of space on their side that can park another car right beside the SUV. Despite the available space on their own driveway, they continue to push towards and over the midline onto our driveway!
Year 3 – One summer afternoon, we see the neighbour parking their upgraded SUV in this manner! Sure, they are parking well on their side of their driveway, but the question is how will their passengers get into the SUV? Hover/fly in midair to get into the SUV? Or, would they have to swing the door into our driveway and trespass on our driveway to get into the SUV?
As you can see every year, each season of our residence here as neighbours, they have sprung a poor parking surprise on us. Observing their parking behaviour, we could have done the tit-for-tat thing and parked as poorly as they do, but we didn’t because we truly believed that dialogue is the way to overcome this issue. But as noted in my original post, with their hostility, they let that ‘dialogue’ ship sail away. And, they continue to take advantage of our nicety.
GTAM folks, we are not here to troll, just seeking some answers, hoping to learn from more experienced folks who may have encountered similar issues. We are at our wits end here, so wanted to reach out on blogs/forums for opinions/guidance.
We realize that in the latest summer pic snapshot of their white SUV, the neighbour is parking on their side of the property, but why should their passengers be using our driveway every time to access their vehicle? We are paying our hard-earned money for our driveway for our use, not for it to be used by the neigbbour at their whim and wish.
So GTAM folks, we seek your opinion here on these two questions…
Question #1 - If the neighbour’s passengers are stepping on our driveway every time to access their vehicle, isn’t that considered as trespassing?
Question #2 - With video evidence, can the city issue a citation to the neighbour for trespassing on our property?
Our neighbour is welcome to park their vehicles on their driveway as they wish, but they shouldn’t trespass on our driveway and access it without our permission to get into their vehicles. We don’t trespass on their property and respect our boundaries, and as good neighbours we expect the same from them because we know it can be done. It is a respectable thing to do…is that much to ask?
After 3 years of being taken advantage of our nicety, we believe this is where we wish to draw the line.
Thank you in advance.
i think they did mr GreyGoose
OP do you work from home? I recognize some of the signs of degrading mental health, and that applies whether your post is a troll or not.
Robbo
Well-known member
I had a similar situation in Mississauga when I owned a semi-detached with a shared driveway.
It was on the outside of a curve so we both had pie-shaped lots.
They were really nice people...but terrible parkers.
Too many times, I had to knock on their door to get them to move a vehicle over so I could actually get into my driveway. Your situation is not that bad.
I ended up doing tit-for-tat enough times (even blocking them in although I parked on my side) that they expanded their side of the driveway. Guess what...they still parked badly once in a while.
Either let it go, or stop being so nice about it.
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For the time it took to write the post and take the pics and document the history, you could have walked over to the neighbour, knocked on the door and asked them to move the vehicle.
If you get attitude, you wait until their driveway is empty and park in the same manner they are doing to you.
If things don’t improve, I’d look into the bylaws for a fence and the financial elements each homeowner it obligated to pay and under what circumstances.
I’d put up the fence at my own cost and send them a bill for half. Understanding I’m not getting anything back but, just to give them gears.
Or......I’ve had bad neighbours in the past. I’ve brought over a cold beer to have a chat and talk about the weather and then bring up the drive way thing and remarkably it solves itself.
Sometimes it confirms they are just bad neighbours and won’t change their ways. But they also get some insight into me.
I’m nice until I’m not and I can play azz whole better than most.
But seeking the advice of strangers on a forum that really has nothing to do about property rights and neighbours kind of reflects on your problem solving skills.
I’m not sure about the quality of responses you’ll receive but, it may be entertaining to some of us at the very least.
Lastly, I’d call the city about parking infraction and see where it takes you. If you catch it and can take a pic, you can give them a call.
A lot of by law enforcement agents will take on your cause as long as you don’t tell them how to do their job.
When they come out, ask them what they think about it. Many will ask them to move it or give them a ticket.
Rinse and repeat until behaviour is modified.
It’s time consuming but, can be effective.
Or look around their property for other issues. Do they have a shed? Do they have fire pit? Call the city and advise they might not have a permit for the shed or violating the fire bylaws.
I wouldn’t want to be that neighbour but, if I have the time and sitting at home, I just might think up ways to make their lives a little harder.
Hey! It’s the internet. Didn’t think my suggestions needed to be good or helpful. Just wanted to get my word count/post count higher.
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I know someone who had a shared driveway with someone who would park between the house and then go away. The jerk ignored the fact that the other person couldn't get to work. The police were limited in what they could do. Garbage cans had to be moved through the house etc.
So OP, you think you have problems!
I don't think the police will use their resources to solve your problems.
I assume this is a condo townhouse and you possibly don't own the driveway, only theoretically have exclusive rights.
Have you talked to the property manager about this?
I'm not going to bother my lawyer on your behalf to find out if you have air rights over your side of the driveway and someone else can't swing their door over the imaginary line. Are you Les Nessman of WKRP?
You have been given choices for things you can do. They vary in levels of confrontation and we have no idea of how good or bad you are at confrontation. We have no idea of the personality of the neighbours. Do they escalate or concede?
Maybe a few of our thug, loud pipe, in-your-face members would respond to an offer of BBQ steak and beer and show up in force and assert the boundary, leaving a burnout trail on the other half of the driveway as a reminder.
Maybe your neighbours aren't pretend pirates and GTAM ends up with dead bodies.
You could spend a ton of money on lawyers to work on the problem or you could vandalize their vehicles and spend even more legal dollars when you get caught.
Earlier I mentioned a neighbour that sometimes didn't mow his front lawn. Other than that we got along fine other than he didn't invite me to his parties and the food smells were yummy.
I called him Mr. Weewee. When something he had broke he would call me and say "My snow blower won't start. What do WE need to do?"
I often thought of the Lone Ranger / Tonto joke and Tonto's "Who we, white man?" retort except the colours were the other way around.
I had a chance to move and unfortunately the guy I sold to was a jerk in spades. Mr. Weewee worked from home and Jerk bought a dog that barked all day. Mr Jerk became a land baron because he now owned something worth more than an old Chevy.
They argued about fence heights and ended up with a Berlin wall in the back yard. Mr. Weewee had the front yard surveyed and a fence put up to define where the lawn mowing started and stopped.
The barking dog issue ended up in court with jerk losing and paying a $600 fine. It was a moot point as the dog "accidentally" choked itself to death the night before.
Prozac is cheap. So are books on psychology.
OP I don't know anything about you but if this issue is the worst thing that happens to you in life, you are blessed.
This is what you need OP.....
Move their car down the street.
Move their car down the street.
I'm with you...maybe sit and have a beer with the guy. Sounds like a city situation where you nod at each other, maybe a smile and wave...but not a Hi Xxxx, how are you doing today? Do you need help with that new deck... Yada Yada. 3 years of stalking and pics. Maybe after that amount of time he thinks all is cool and it's no big deal. And it's been eating you up inside for 3 years. WOW.
I wish you all the best, Cheers
Lmao MP. This is actually the first thing that came to my mind!
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i think OP is trolling.
this whole problem is absolutely ridiculous. and what does it even have to do with bikes? why has she posted it on gtam?
obviously a troll
This guy caught the neighbourhood kid riding his bicycle all over his driveway *every single day* on his security camera.
Watch this video so you pick up some valuable tips and tricks on how to handle something like this.
Watch this video so you pick up some valuable tips and tricks on how to handle something like this.
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