Single Mom Banning Neighbor With Big Family Using Her Driveway Cheered

A mom refusing to let the neighbors park on her driveway has been praised online for not cowering to their demands.

Reddit user u/MommaBearJam explained in a now-deleted post that her neighbors have five cars between them, but only enough space for two on their driveway. While she has just the one car, she has enough room to park eight vehicles on her property.

As the multi-generational neighbors are forced to park one of the cars in a grassy area outside their home, they were recently visited by the police to move it. Searching for other solutions, the neighbors asked the poster if they could use her driveway instead.

Building a good relationship with a neighbor is considerably important, especially to save any awkward encounters such as this one. There's a small majority of 51 percent who feel like they can trust their neighbors, with men showing more trust than women, according to a 2021 survey of 6,144 adults by YouGov.

Just under a fifth (17 percent) of overall respondents felt that they couldn't trust their neighbor; again, women showed slightly more skepticism than men in that result.

The post reads: "I can easily put six cars in my driveway, as well as I have a 2-car garage. It's only my children and myself here and I'm the only driver. We have one car.

"My neighbor is asking to put a car in my driveway now. That way no one will bother him about the car in the grass, and it will make their lives easier. I said no because of liability," the poster added.

She explained in the post that her children play in the driveway regularly, so she is wary of them scratching the cars parked on her property.

The post continues: "My neighbor told me I was a huge a****** because I have all this space and his kids have to live in constant fear of the police showing up again and checking their green cards and or visas."

The neighbor's outburst has made the mom "feel terrible" and she's now questioning her decision not to allow them to use her driveway.

Ryan Byers, an attorney for 15 years, told Newsweek that, while it's unfortunate to be in a dispute with a neighbor, he has dealt with many feuds over driveways before.

Byers explained that the owner of the driveway is "under no legal obligation" to let the neighbors park on her property if she has full ownership rights to the space.

"There is no general right to use a portion of a neighbor's property, just because it is convenient," Byers said.

"The neighbors are not necessarily in the wrong for asking to use a portion of the drive. Agreements for partial use of a neighbor's property are requested and negotiated all the time," he added.

"If the owner of the driveway does not want to permit her neighbors to use it, I would advise that she first just notify them of that fact verbally," Byers said. "If that is honored, there is no need to take further action. If it's not, then a letter and/or signage indicating that further use will be considered trespassing may be needed."

Byers encouraged the owner to strike a balance between their property rights and maintaining a healthy rapport with their neighbors.

Many Reddit users have supported the poster in her decision, as one person commented: "They need to figure out the car situation on their own."

Another person wrote: "Their cars, their problem. You owe them nothing, especially after he treated you this way."

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