Consideration when parking in the street??

For the last few weeks our neighbours across the road have been parking one of their cars on the road but directly in front of our house. The space in front their house is empty and completely free for their use AND they have more than enough room for their own property for their cars. It's usually for a few days at a time. Apart from it being annoying having their car in front of our house all the time it also makes it difficult for any visitors to park near our house.

I know it's minor in the grand scheme of things but just wondering if it's just me being picky and/or if there are any such rules when it comes to parking in the street??

Is it up to me to politely ask for them not to do it?? Or to at least consider us when doing it??

I honestly don't see an issue :dunno:

As long as they aren't parking ON your front lawn there's nothing you can do, unless you want to ask them to not park there.

But maybe I'm just use to it, last 3 places we've been in there were always people parked in front of our place.

Legally, you're not supposed to park directly in front of someone's driveway. When we're out witnessing, we have to be careful when parking in streets that we're not too close to the corner, not blocking traffic or view, and not parking directly in front of driveways.

Maybe you could call the council and play dumb as to who owns the car?

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Legally, you're not supposed to park directly in front of someone's driveway. When we're out witnessing, we have to be careful when parking in streets that we're not too close to the corner, not blocking traffic or view, and not parking directly in front of driveways.

Maybe you could call the council and play dumb as to who owns the car?

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In NSW even if they do park over or even in your drive way there is nothing you can do about it. Found that out last week lol

I don't think there's anything against it legally, but it would be annoying seeing as they've got space in from of their own house - wouldn't it be easier for them to park there anyway? I reckon the only thing you could really do is ask them not to do it anymore.

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This happened at our old house, we moved only 2 weeks ago (you didnt just move houses did you??? lol!). And it absoultely irked the pants off me. The same car always parked smack bang out the front of our house, and the front of their house was always free. And not only that, they parked so no one could get behind or in front of them.

I'm too chicken to say anything, but whenever we got the chance, we always put our cars there, or DH would put the bins there so they couldnt park there.

I get where you are coming from hun :hug:

Our neighbor parked next to our driveway for a month, they parked so close that it was hard to get out of the driveway all because she hates parking in their driveway which isn't as steep as ours.

At our old house our neighbor complained about our cars because it was a home business we did get in trouble but the stupid thing was it wasn't us parking on her grass ( there is no kerb) it was the parents doing the school run. Karma has got her though the new owners have been parking outside her house and now she has bins and sticks out! She should have left us alone or at least talked to us instead of forcing us out.

So if it bothers you that much talk to them.

Happened to us here too, was our neighbour's employee and he'd park opposite it daily. Made it difficult for us to get in/out of the driveway. DH spoke to them and they don't park there any more. They didn't realise we were having trouble.

I'd say something - why can't they park in front of their own home?

We have a similar problem here - the people in the unit next door park in the communal driveway - which means that we have no way out of our place and it annoys the absolute crap out of us. We always have to go knock on the door and ask them to move their car. Arghhhh.

i would do a casual mention - at the end of the day, it is their car that is in the way of potentially being hit! I would just say that it makes it really difficult and if they wouldn't mind moving it a bit that would be great - my parents did the same thing as they had someone parking directly across from their driveway and they moved it and had no problem.

Similar situation here. Our neighbour across the street has 5 cars, in a house with 2 adults. :o His visitors always park on our nature strip (technically not our yard) making it hard to get in and out of our driveway. The street is very narrow, so it's always pretty clogged up with parked cars. Anyhoo, one day DP took a walk on the wild side and let their tyre down! :shakehead: While I don't condone his actions, my naughty inner child did chuckle just a little. :blush:

Soon after that, I did the responsible thing and called the council. Every one of the neighbours vehicles got a ticket. Then council planted a tree right in the spot outside our house where they always parked. Yay, but it's a double edged sword! Whilst the neighbour and his many frequent visitors can't park there anymore, neither can OUR guests!

My only issue was that it was difficult to get out of our driveway, and I didn't want to damage their cars, or mine. So yes, I feel your pain.

Yeah I would just casually ask them if they would mind not doing it and mention its a really PITA. Chances are they don't know you have issues with it, and in that case they'll probably be fine with not doing it anymore.

But sometimes people just do it because they don't want to park outside their house anymore and think they own the street! When I was still living with my parents our idiot neighbour suddenly decided to start parking on the curb (well half on half off) where I parked on the grass - it was the only spot I could park and I had been parking there for a couple of years so he knew someone parked there regularly. I tried to talk to him about it but he's one of those crazies that never open their door to anyone and keep weird as hours, - I caught him one night coming home from work at a bar - but I put a polite letter in his mailbox on a couple of occasions. I cracked it one day when I reversed out of Dad's carport spot after unloading some heavy hockey gear from my boot and came within centimetres of hitting his ute tray - I left him a few dozen really, really angry post it notes plastered over his car and he stopped :rofl: But that was after about 6 months of my asking him and him ignoring me.

I would say something, even if it was just a note on the windscreen. We have this kind of issue all the time, we live at the end of a court and we kinda share a front yard with our next door neighbour.

I'd really politely ask them if they could not park there as chances are they have no idea it bothers you. Legally you have more right to park there than they, or anyone else, does

First in best dressed, but it happens to us too - and it's so annoying.

We only have a single car driveway and in order to get out of the car we have to reverse down the driveway all the time. So dh must park in the street.

Since the Australian road rules came in, SA lost the 'cannot park within 6 metres of a driveway' rule :(.

If we are expecting company I park my car up on the street so our guests can park near our place.

I call it 'playing musical cars'!

Talk to them - there might be a reason. We have ample off street parking at our place, but there are two idiots that have moved into our streets with noisy cars that they drive like hoons around our previously quiet neighbourhood, and then park outside our DD's bedroom. So I have taken to parking in that spot so that they can't. I got a note on my windscreen, which was really rudely worded, but I just don't give a toss, when they both also have OSP and are just too lazy to open their gates and use it.

I meant to say no more right :D

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I would say something, even if it was just a note on the windscreen.

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Say something if it bothers you that much - even a casual, confused, non-threatening kind of wondering why they prefer out the front of your place to theirs lately etc but I don't think a windscreen note will go down very well. It's too easy to misinterpret. A friend of mine who came over a few months back to help out for the day parked partly outside my house and partly outside the next door neighbours place. I was out front of my place and coming and going all day. Anyway she got a note from the neighbours on her windshield asking her not to park in front of their house. It was not well received by me (not that I did anything about it, they were renting and have since moved and I was in the middle of a crisis and didn't want to over-react) but she had every right to park on a public street wherever there was space.

So to answer your questions, the council/RTA actually own the street, curb, nature strip, footpath etc (whatever applies) and you have no legal right to stop them parking in front of your house. Why not park in front of their house if the spot is always vacant?

I would tell them, our neighbour across the road used to have their bf park his car right opposite our driveway which made it almost impossible to get out of our driveway (which only has a single lane crossover as per council). so i told one of them and it stopped happening.

but have another neighbour a few houses up who gets her visitors to park on our nature strip which urks me as we dont want our lawn killed or ground compacted like it is at her place.

I feel your pain. I have a great big VW van that I have to negotiate into our driveway with a car directly opposite all the time, drives me nuts too.

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Since the Australian road rules came in, SA lost the 'cannot park within 6 metres of a driveway' rule :(.

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The Australian road rules have always been there, each state bases their own road rules on the australian ones, it would have been the choice of the SA transport department to change the legislation to remove the parking rule, don't blame the australian road rules for something your particular state has decided to do.

As for the parking etc, each council has guidelines for parking within a street, as well as state road rules. If there are issues with too many cars parking in your street, you can ring the local council and ask to speak to the enforcement area, or the local laws area and lodge a complaint, they will send out an enforcement officer to check out the parking situation in your street, and may put parking restrictions in place.

You could start parking in front of their place. I reckon they'd get the hint.

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Or when they move their car, you go and park your car there. If they can't park there they will have to park somewhere else and after a a while hopefully get the hint!

At one place where we live we were one house from a corner and a couple houses away (the other side) from a round about so no lots of parking for visitors or even us if needed. Our neighbour had a work truck out front of their house, cars in the yard then all of a sudden one right out front out house.
My husband mowed the medium strip regularly and close to the edge one in a hope they would move it for fear of stone chips but no. Upon close inspection I realised it wasn't even registered. So I rang the council, there was a note on it in a day & moved back into there yard where there was plenty of space.

I understand it's free to anyone who wants to park there but as this is the etiquette section I can see how you can be annoyed, it's nice to have the space if you need it, or for a visitor and not to have to worry about getting out of your own drive way. If people park there on the odd occasion so be it, but all the time when you have your own space....that is annoying.

Could you get in first sometimes & park you car there and give them the idea you use the space also.

As for parking on the grass or up on the kerb, I don't know about all states but in SA that's a big no, no. My own dad (who works for council) drove up & told me off for doing it.

Thanks ladies :)

I did put it in the etiquette section because i was curious to know what people thought as well as wondering about the rules as such. The thing that gets to me the most is they have about 3 car spaces behind their front fence and the nature stip/curb space in front of their house yet they park in front of ours in the middle of the curb so no one can park before or after it. It has now been parked there since the weekend and not been moved once. I park my car in the garage and DH parks in the driveway or up on the nature stip so we never bother anyone else with our cars.

We keep to ourselves so i'm hesitant about the only converstaion we've ever had with them being about their car, i'm not wanting to make enemies it's just peeing me off.

I'd love to be able to try and give them a hint by parking there myself but it's a bit of a busy road and not the best place to get 3 little ones in and out of the car.

Like i said it's really pretty minor in the grand scheme of things, they aren't hurting anyone but i wish they wouldn't do it. But thanks for your thoughts, next time in our local council shop i might just ask :dunno:

Next time they are out park your car there for a little while..

I do find cars parked in the street annoying when I can't see to back out of my driveway .. There is one street in particular that I drive down that has a car parked in front of the house.. They are on a T intersection.. You can't see cars coming that way unless you nudge forward.. I know they don't realize it but I had to have a whinge :lol:

and another car parked on our street.. you come off the corner and then have to go into the other lane a little to go around it .. Its super annoying..

My parents had the same issue for a couple of months but it was the neighbours work truck :o They approached the guy nicely about it and said they often have visitors, including their grandchildren, so they'd appreciate it if he could park outside his own house. Well he was a nasty piece of work to say the least so we took it a step further and phoned the council. They sent the ranger out immediately and he copped a nice fine for parking a commercial vehicle on a residential street (ie not just temporarily parking it while working). That took care of him!!

There aren't any laws for normal vehicles though, at least not in WA, but it is annoying. I'd definitely approach them about it and let them know it's making it more difficult for you to see traffic when you're reversing out. If it sounds like a safety concern, hopefully they'll be more compliant.

Good luck.

I noticed from your ticker that you have three children. Perhaps walk over to their house one day with the kids in tow and just ask them politely if they can leave the spot outside your house free when they can. Tell them that with the three kids you find it a bit dangerous getting them in and out of the car further away from the house and especially across the road.

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I'd love to be able to try and give them a hint by parking there myself but it's a bit of a busy road and not the best place to get 3 little ones in and out of the car.

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Is it possible they park there so when they leave they don't have to cross the traffic? But then if its been sitting there since the weekend.....I dunno, I think I would just call the council.

Sodpet, it's actually the reverse of what you said. ARR's are given to each State / Territory, each which then decide whether they will adopt them or otherwise. Hence the example where the ARR's state it's an offence to leave your vehicle unlocked if you're greater than 3 metres from it - yet the offence doesn't apply in SA due to one of our miscellaneous road regs.

Prior to the ARR's coming in, It was an offence to park (in SA) within 6 metres of a driveway. So I can partly fault the ARR's for the loss of this rule as it wasn't included in them, but I could also lay part fault on my State for not inserting it into our miscellaneous road regs too.

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You could start parking in front of their place. I reckon they'd get the hint.

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you and i are on the same track lol! exactly what i was going to say as this is what i started doing with great success lol.

We used to have the same issue with our neighbours, then one day the neighbours on the other side reversed out of their driveway and accidentally hit their car - it stopped soon after! Feel bad that it took something big like that, but I'll take anything as a blessing...