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A neighbour who I have always got on well with has phoned to complain. I live on a quiet street where most people park on their drive ways. There is no difficulty with street parking and when cars do park there is no issue with cars getting through the space. I rent two rooms so usually have two cars outside my / neighbours house. My guests are business people so usually arrive at 7pm and are gone before others in the street are up and leave the house. They are gone usually by 7am. Hence, they are not parked in the street during the day nor do they block peopleâs driveways stopping them from reversing out.
I park on the driveway so have no space for guest cars. What do I do for neighbour harmony?
I have a guest staying for three nights who turned up in a small truck. I did not know she was driving a small truck. My neighbour phoned up and said she isnât going to park that thing outside the house again is she? She also said âwe are all fed up of all the carsâ. By we I am guessing other neighbours have been having a moan to each other.
Do I only rent one room now? Do I do one week on and one week off? I am doing airbnb to top of an income and could not survive without it. Any suggestions gratefully received.
Iâm sorry youâre having this problem. It sounds stressful. Although it certainly isnât illegal to park in front of othersâ homes, in some areas itâs not the custom. Here where I live itâs a free for all. Are your other neighbors as concerned about guests parking in front of their houses? If not, maybe you could direct your guests to park in front of the house of a neighbor with a more easy going attitude. Also, maybe you could have a talk with this neighbor over a glass of wine and find out exactly what his/her concerns are? Is it not having space right in front of her house for her guests, not being able to see whatâs going on out his/her front window, etc.? Once you figure out what about the parking situation bothers the neighbor an easy solution may present itself. Good luck.
I agree with EllenN, Iâd talk to the neighbor about it.
What are the laws regarding Airbnb in your community? If the neighbors continue to be unhappy can they run you out of business completely by complaining to authorities? Itâs difficult to be dependent on income that you have so little control over continuing to receive.
Often people with a gripe bring in fictional other people, possibly not consciously. Itâs possible that itâs only the one neighbor; itâs possible that itâs several neighbors. In any case, it would be a good idea to find out exactly what bothers your neighbors about people parking in front of their houses which can only happen with a conversation. If itâs not all the neighbors, itâs easy enough to steer your guests to park in front of the houses of the neighbors who donât mind.
I agree that you should speak with her, but she will probably not change her mind. People get territorial over parking spaces, even when it is public street parking. Mention to her that at least with the AirBnB folks it is temporary. If you rented permanently, you could rent to 2 couples, each with a car and then there would be 4 cars, 24/7! My neighbors have 8 cars (parents and several teens and extended family living downstairs)! They take up most of the choice street parking in front of my house, however, I canât say anything because I donât own the street!
How long is your driveway? Can you arrange to âjuggle carsâ with your guests?
If you have a really short driveway then thereâs not much you can do, but if itâs longer maybe you can find a way to get one guest on there. We have a long driveway but itâs only 1 car wide except at the end by the 2-car garage. We have guests park on the right side and my husband parks on the left and just swings a little wide when he leaves. It runs over the grass a little so I am considering putting bullrock down in that one spot.
We also just opened a second room and I wonder how the parking will work. The front of our house is directly across from our (extremely nosy) neighbors and while there is enough room for them to maneuver around a car parked there, they will most certainly notice and comment on it. We will probably have to arrange the cars in the driveway at night so they are in the right order to get out in the morning.
We have the great parking debate with our neighbors as well. They park 6 (!!!) cars plus a giant piece of work equipment on the street every day/night. They have a 2 car garage and probably 20 ft driveway, which they have chosen to convert into âartisticâ work space, rendering unusable for cars. The majority of the people on our block have done similar, and are left with 1 car dedicated parking with 1-4 cars per household. So, street parking is a real mess!!
We have 1 dedicated parking space, we donât have a garage, and the rest is street parking. The typical renters bring 2 cars and are only here Fri-Mon, we donât get many mid-week people. The lady with the 6 cars screamed at me the other day, bc I took âherâ parking spot, and that âeveryoneâ is annoyed with my âpeopleâ parking on the street. Honestly, I just ignored her. There was nothing to win by getting into that argument with her. Itâs not illegal to park on the street, my renterâs arenât doing anything wrong, and she needs to get over it.
@Fraggles I would suggest checking your local code about street parking, and if you are in the right, politely tell the neighbor you are open to solutions, but you are doing your best. Other option would be to have one of the guests cars âparallelâ park in front of your driveway, blocking your car in.
You can assume it isnât just her upset but you could be wrong. If it is just her and sheâs being picky then she may have approached it in such a way as to make it sound like a bigger problem than it is. People do this sometimes to get their own wayâŚ
Where I live parking is a free for all. Theres limited spaces and many houses without driveways. So it can be a battle royale. Especially since a lot of neighbours have more than one car. Some guy across the road has 2 vans and 2 cars.
Canât really see any issue with your situation, sounds like theres plenty of room.
Yes, ask you guest with the big van to park their car around the corner or down the street to avoid parking in front of this personâs house for now. Apologize to the guest for the inconvenience and hopefully she will be gracious and understanding.
My parents live in a Bay Area suburb and while itâs perfectly legal to park cars in the street (as long as theyâre not left there for more than a couple of days), I know those in the neighborhood consider cars parked in front of their home as a nuisance and eye-sore.
No one minds when someone is throwing a party or has family visiting, but I can totally see those people complaining if there are now cars parked in front of their home everyday when they were accustomed to it being clear.
The van was parked outside of my house not outside of my neighbours. They just didnât like looking outside and seeing it outside of my house. I asked the guest to park round the corner which they have done. I took some chocolates round to the neighbour and apologised as thought it smart to keep neighbours on side and maintain harmony.
