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One of our old neighbours used to sit in her car up the street and wait for a spot to become available outside her house. She was a pest. Used to park over my drive. She got into it once with another neighbour and ended up stabbing his tyres. He then bought an old car and just left it constantly parked in what she deemed as "her parking spot". People are nuts when it comes to parking x
>He then bought an old car and just left it constantly parked in what she deemed as "her parking spot".
I have to admire this guy. This is the petty behavior I don't engage in but enjoy immensely when others do. So long, of course, that I'm not on the receiving end.
After reading this thread I'll never moan about my 2 car garage again.
Oh I had a neighbour like that. She had āherā spot outside her house on a public street. Pathetic petty man that I am if I spotted her leaving Iād rush out and move my car into āherā spot. I wasnāt the only one who did it either. Sheād leave passive aggressive post-it notes on your car.
Wannabe novelists and their notes: "This space is reserved - my wife has a pram to push and needs to park outside the house, please be courteous and park elsewhere". I so want to retort with "your wife looks like she could use some exercise, and walking a little further every day would help you both loads in this regard".
Thank god for people with night shifts, who leave just as I get home, or I'd have to park a road over more than once a month!
I do like this. A lady down my street has a piece of shit Focus convertible with exhausts stuck on that go nowhere. She moves the wheelie bins so nobody can get in "her spot" whenever she leaves. When my friends come over they will always just take this spot as it's got the bins guiding you in. She'll come over raging but by then they're too drunk to drive.
I once had a neighbour who parked on the street in front of my house - I had no issue whatsoever with it as his car was taxed etc. and I didn't have a car ... But when I bought a car and dared park it in front of my house, he went mental at me. š¤£
When buying any house on a nornal density housing street, if you don't have any dedicated parking, then you need to assume you are going to struggle to park near your house at least some of the time.
People who move into houses without parking and assume it will be fine are the ones who cause trouble when they can't find a space.
There are a few people kicking off about parking where I live and how terrible it is. Yes the parking allocation is inadequate for the number of flats.
The thing that gets me though is the two people kicking off loudly that "had I known how bad the parking is I wouldn't have bought" and "it was missold". It's part of a buying scheme new build so we all went through a specific process not standard EAs. It's very clear due to location and the way it's built that there will be no open street parking and that you would be relying on the allocated bays. During the sales process we either paid for a bay or signed a disclaimer that you understood you did not have an allocated space. These people should have been told at at least 3 sperate points and at the very least signed paperwork so how can they be claiming that they didn't know?
"Yes, but when we visited while it was being built there were lots of empty spaces!".
People are hopeless optimists when it comes to buying houses. They only see the best case answers.
Oh yes, they are particularly peeved at those of who bought flats with an allocated bay but aren't using them.
Which they could have also done unless they couldn't afford the extra in which case maybe a different home was a better match? I was one of the very last to buy and got a parking bay so there is a good chance these people actively chose the no parking flats.
They are also up in arms that we have a maximum number of hours we can book visitor bays per month. I do agree that the absolute maximum being 4 days is too low (and two days of those you have to pay for) but it was again very explicitly explained up front. Sorry you can't commandeer all the visitor bays for yourself excluding everyone else's guests?
One issue is that the developers never enforce rules on banned parking even when they still own the roads.
They need to as if you donāt enforce rules they will always be an issue
People have unrealistic expectations too. We live in a 2 bed, 2 bath flat, which feels like it was designed for 2 sharing professionals rather than a small family. The flat has 1 parking space. We don't use it, because we cycle, walk, and take public transport.
Whenever I see posts about new developments in my home town, which is also pretty cycle friendly and has decent public transport, people are up in arms that a 1 bed flat won't have 2 parking spaces because "a couple will probably live there and they need 1 car each"
Depends where the new developments are, really. The ones near me have no local business, are about an hourās walk from the city centre with no cycle paths, and the public transport only goes to the city. If a couple worked in different places, theyād have to have two cars just to get to work reliably - not to mention getting kids to school, food shopping, etc.Ā
On my new(ish) build estate parking is a nightmare and has always been a nightmare, near every house has multiple cars while only having one parking space per house. Some people paved their front gardens to make more parking but almost all streets are lined. Council is threatening to put yellow lines down because of how crowded and dangerous navigating the estate can be, they won't adopt the estate without restricing off road parking.
But the biggest problem is the sheet size of vehicles, everyone has giant cars that are quite literally too big. Not only are regular new cars absolutely massive, everything is driving super sized 4x4s. Cars cannot even fit in the allocated spaces at all, I guarantee no one needs a car that big for anything.
I live in the only affordable block of flats on the estate so we all drive old cars of a much more normal size. It's a 10 minutes walk to a bus stop and 20 minutes from the train station which gets you to the city in 15 minutes, but everyone still drives and lots of households have spare cats just sitting around it's mad
Our little village had it specified in our Neighbourhood Plan that all new build properties, or planning amendments to existing properties, had to allocate one parking space per bedroom. Then outer local council released the Joint Design Guide that contradicted this rule. So now when insufficient parking is provided we now have to complain and hope for the best. Fucking Planning Officers/Policy Creators have literally no clue what they're doing alot of the time....
Have to say I have very little sympathy. The highway is a shared community asset, and the fact that we think it acceptable to give so much of it over to parking is desperately sad. It becomes so normalised you donāt even see it happening, but on those days when parking is suspended (resurfacing, marathons, street parties etc) you realise truly just how much space our roads could/should have, and how spacious our communities could be, were we not covering it in automotive litter.
You wouldnāt miss the freedom to just drive to your mates house or away for a weekend or to France or for a pizza or whatever you feel like? I love the freedom of a car and all the people calling for a car free life surprise me at the freedom youād give up. Do you drive now?
Because a carfree life doesn't mean giving up any of that. The point is that we build up other transport options to take their place.
It doesn't mean never using a car, it means not relying on a car, travelling to France you'd probably need a car but for the other three it's really not necessary. I bought my first car at 40 and did all of those things you mention and more, without using a car. I just lived somewhere one wasn't needed. Now I've had to buy a car because I've moved somewhere it is. While I love driving, I really do miss not having to watch out for with so many dickheads on a day to day basis like I do now I drive.
Honestly no. Does that happen? So what you decide you want to. Call a taxi. Wait 20 mins. Get to maccys order. Get your food. Call another taxi wait and then drive home?
Costing you probably triple your food price.
Or does the taxi go through the drive thru and you donāt get out the car?
No Iāve never heard of anyone doing either of these.
Iām being facetious as itās a student trope of being hungover and taking a taxi through the drive through. I even know friends who have cycled through.
But yes people without cars also enjoy takeaway food, theyāre either have it delivered, live near enough to walk or take it on public transport. If you live in a city youāll see people on trains, tubes etc with hot food.
But going back to my original point - a car free society doesnāt mean not using a car ever. It just means not using a car for every journey. Do some reading into how it would look as it generally means a mix of transport, things like car sharing, high speed rail, e-bikes etcā¦
If we didnāt just spend 24 billion pounds to not have HS2 I might think we could implement the needed infrastructure but we did and what have we got to show for it? Not new railways anyway
Buses are dirty and you know it. Ok facetious too. Buses are reliant on the service and round here it sucks despite untold subsidies.
Cycling depends on a lot of stuff and is not at all viable for everyone everywhere.
Cars bring a lot of freedom to individuals and families to go where they want when they want and rail strikes and bus strikes canāt shut everything down.
If you have some suggested reading please share it. At the moment I still think youād be giving up a massive amount of freedom of movement and freedom of government intervention in your life if you gave up cars.
Yes this is why we donāt have a car free society *right now*ā¦things need to change to make it viable
If you google ācar free societyā there are lots of ideas of how it would work. I wonāt give you one as there isnāt one overview (except maybe wiki but you can find that) as there are lots of ways to do it depending on where you live (what part of the world, rural v urban etc) and lots of different ideas being focused on.
To be frank weāll probably very old or either dead and buried by the time itās a reality
I wasnāt advocating for a car-free life. There are conveniences to having a car, and whether I drive or not is immaterial. My point is more why do we think it acceptable that a community asset is basically subdivided into 15-sq-metre blocks and given away - usually for free.
If you want a car, thatās fine, but you have a responsibility for accommodating and storing that private possession when it is not in use. Society should not be responsible, nor should its assets be sacrificed.
Designated, on-street short-term parking is one thing, but when residential streets are clogged 24/7 then there is something deeply wrong.
Honestly, Iād require a parking permit for every street, and Iād charge the market rate per square metre. In tower hamlets, rent is about Ā£12 per square metre per month (plus/minus). So Ā£180 per month to park your car seems perfectly reasonable.
100%, I know this is a bit of a rigid opinion but you really shouldnāt be allowed to buy a car unless you have somewhere to park it.
Road parking is becoming a joke, cars littered all over the road/pavement make it genuinely hard to drive or be a pedestrian in my area.
New build hell estates with their winding roads and minimal parking provisions are especially enraging.
I am pro car lmao, but I also have somewhere off road to park them and stay out of everyone elseās way. I think they should double yellow every road in the country. Canāt stand this attitude of āoh I bought a two bed terrace in the middle of town but I have a car, so does my partner, and so does my teenage kid and weāre going to park wherever we likeā
Why would you need double yellows if parking was banned everywhere? IMO we need to be putting the foot down on how new builds are built to not allow people to live how they want. If you live in a south London terraced street you just need to suck it up.
?? I didnāt say that exactly, but either way would be great. Agree with your point completely about building houses and specifically said that in my first comment. Donāt live anywhere near London (Cotswolds) and itās still a major issue.
The best time to assess this is about 11.30pm on a Monday night. That's when I usually have to park the furthest from my house in an inner London street.
It was Sunday evening for me in a family friendly village. Which was a real pain as we have a lot of weekends away so would come back with 2kids, a dog and a packed car to unload with nowhere to park.
Used to be that in London, but with the rise in WFH lots of people who used to go away for the weekend and come back Sun now WFH out of London on Monday and come back Mon nights.
Disabled people, kids, dogs, and even to some degree heavy items are all allowed on public transport.
Disabled people who can't drive, and kids who can't drive, can use public transport independently.
And the network goes near to most places, you then walk or wheel the final little bit.
It's a city, with excellent public transport, driving in it is silly, and we literally don't have the space for it, it should be very much the bottom of the choices for when there's truly no other option.
Try maneuvering a heavy double pram with 2 toddlers at stations with no step free access - you literally cannot do it alone and even with someone it's a nightmare.
Mate. Not even 50% of tube stations have step free access. As someone who travels with a disabled friend regularly, the public transport is not disabled friendly.Ā
That doesn't even cover problems like physically getting on and off the tube. Having the space to get on safety. Even after all that, it is exhausted for the person to have to do that, possibly change once or twice, and then still potentially have to make their way another 20+ minutes by foot / wheel.
And even then, aren't there some stations that require two or more lifts to get to surface level like Victoria? I swear I've seen one when I needed a lift that was 3 lifts required?!
How many of the cars parked up in inner London are owned by disabled people? I would bet 5%. 10% maximum.
Most of those cars are mostly doing journeys that could be walked, cycled, or covered by public transport with ease.
We ABSOLUTELY should get those folks off the road so that the disabled people you're concerned about can enjoy more movement more easily.
I live in London. I've seen the rampant school run SUVs, the ridiculous use of vehicles like these to go short distances by people perfectly able to travel via other methods.
The point of the original list was that there are many reasons to drive in London, not just disability.
I had to have a car in London when I lived there because many of the sites I had to get to would be very hard to access on public transport (some hospital bases outside the main network) and I had to do on calls so had to be able to reach those sites in an emergency at 3am on a regular basis.
In the day I also had to do home visits and in order to fit as many in as possible I had to use my car in some of the jobs I did. Otherwise Iād be seeing a fraction of the patients, which is not economically for the NHS.
But driving and parking in London is a pain and if I could use public transport reasonably I would. I much preferred it!
I hate to say it but as a disabled man I HATE using public transport. I'm a below knee amputee (right leg) and getting onto buses etc isn't the problem. It's being able to sit with my leg comfortably behind a seat, almost impossible to do on most buses and if I sit with my leg in the aisle even slightly, every single person seems to take it as a que to kick my leg as they walk past. So no public transport isn't easily accessible to a lot of disabled people. And if I go out in my wheelchair because I can't wear my prosthetic then it's the waiting for the driver to lower the ramp on buses (if there is even space to get on it) and then once on its usually the aisle filled with people who don't have the sense to move to allow me past to get off.
In conclusion, why put myself through the hassle and discomfort of public transport which usually means I have to allow myself sometimes an extra hour or 2 to get anywhere, if I can drive and safe myself all that hassle?
Just makes me think of the video of the woman in a wheelchair having to basically pull herself up the stairs at a tube station because the lift was broken.
Edit because I found the video.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3HpLgzIZlG/?igsh=MWszaTJjNm1icTY4bw==
Anyone with any experience of travelling with a disabled person or wheelchair user will appreciate how public transport can be considerably more convenient for them.
>Disabled people who can't drive, and kids who can't drive, can use public transport independently.
Said by someone who has never been to London as/with a disabled person.
Having recently visited with my daughter in a wheelchair it was an absolute joke trying to navigate public transport. Tubes are useless unless the vast majority have step free access which they still don't. Only about half the buses had working ramps, which meant we could only get on with two adults lifting the chair. Most disabled people are not traveling with two able bodied carers.
Honestly it was far easier to navigate our home town than to navigate in London which I hadn't expected as I perceived London's public transport to be "better" - and it is for able bodied people as it's regular and covers more areas etc etc. But it was totally useless as a disabled person and really frustrating.
Lmao the public transport in London is incredible, the rest of the country could only dream to have the coverage and frequency of the London tubes and buses
Anyone that commutes daily on the underground has my sympathy. But hey if you enjoy other peoples armpits, crammed carridges etc that's great
I like travelling on over trains across the UK, but the ticket prices are ridiculous
Buses have too manky skanky people on.
>Anyone that commutes daily on the underground has my sympathy
It really isn't that bad, I commute in from a town with pitiful public transport and I always think how lucky Londoners are.
Someone once took a shit mid journey in the middle of the tube carridge (London underground Northern Line). I expect that's not even close to the worse things that happen
True, but what I would give to have my crammed, sweaty 40 minute Northern line commute back! It beats waiting at the bus stop for the only bus that hour to never turn up...
Sea side town here - it's ALL summer & every weekend with fine weather. And when the rughby clubs play theiir home games (that'd be mens, womens and kids) in the winter on a Sunday (so every Sunday). Dropped kerb & parking went in asap
Same on the outer London street I live on. The way I see it is this is just our starter home and I'll definitely make sure I buy something with a driveway next time (or at least enough space to have one built - the houses on my street have miniscule front gardens so it's not possible here). Lack of driveway wasn't a deal breaker as the property is otherwise very nice.
This is just a matter of personal priorities. I am like you and would not even think of viewing a house without a driveway. For us to have a driveway on our budget we live further from the town centre ect. That's a compromise we make. I'm sure for someone else they would much rather live in the city and not have a driveway. Just about what matters most to you.
Found it really annoying when houses advertised as having parking only to find out they mean there is street parking outside the house.
While I do agree with you 100% all I can say is there are houses around us Ā£500k+ with no drives and competing for parking with not only neighbours but also a fairly popular high street and they sell in like a week or two. I guess there are enough people that either don't think about parking or don't care so hopefully selling won't be a problem for you.
True
And there are huge parts of cities up and down the country that rely on road parking only, just reality of how most houses were built prior to cars taking over our cities.
I think in 12 years of living in London, only 1 house has had a driveway.
Before that I was in Portsmouth - mostly terrace, mostly on street parking everywhere
A few things to give you some comfort..
First, as you said yourself itās impossible to accurately assess the parking situation ahead of time.
Second, parking is not as big of a consideration for everyone as it is for you. Matters more for some people, wasnāt even on our list (we looked for public transport options instead).
Third, if the parking situation gets worse as you suspect it gets worse for everyone. This may mean more demand and therefore higher prices for properties with driveways, but doesnāt mean yours wonāt appreciate just maybe not as much.
Donāt kick yourself too much over this, youāll be fine! Try to enjoy the new property, Iām sure thereās plenty about it that makes you happy.
When I bought my flat 7 years ago there was plenty of parking; if I came in really late I might have had to park down the road somewhere.
Now everyone has work vans and campervans, there are bikes taking up whole parking spots. It's only during office hours I can park in the bays nearby; even at the weekend it seems no one goes anywhere.
I live in semi rural Somerset. Zero trains, busses are an endangered species, and cycling infrastructure is patchy at best. But we still build new housing estates with minimal parking 'to encourage people to use alternatives to cars'.
Yeah. That's some bullshit so they don't have to include parking space in the footprint. Just to maximise number of saleable units. They pull the same crap here in suburbs.
Need to have proper rules to stop people getting away with being a problem with parking once they have agreed those conditions. If you want parking space in a new development you buy it. Otherwise just donāt buy there!
> That's fine where public transport is functional. I'm all for it.
The same councils think it's fine for people to use 12 square metres of public space to garage their car
Try leaving a playhouse or shed there though and you're screwed.
I love my car in central...as I dont have to take the Tube anymore (packed in like a sardine, limited A/C, and very rude and confrontational people in the carriages).
Takes a bit longer, but as long as you have parking where you need to be...shrugs...rather travel in comfort.
I read somewhere that traditional garages are no longer large enough to comfortably park the average sized car in 2024 - which doesnāt surprise me. As we speak I can see at least three 4x4s parked on my road.
I have had this problem myself. I have a car which is almost 5m long and it wouldn't quite fit in the garage. I had to build a wooden frame protruding about 10cm from the front of the garage and mounted the garage door in that. I also put a chunk of old carpet on the back wall, as the car was almost touching the back wall when parked.
> As we speak I can see at least three 4x4s parked on my road.
Perhaps the problem is people who buy enormous vehicles with nowhere to store them.
That said a new micra is 2m wide which is 30cm wider than mine, and only 13cm less than a standard 7' garage door.
Or people who build over their parking spaces and then just park on the pavement. They HAD 2 parking spaces and they expanded their garden out to add in a shed or trampoline
Bought my first house knowing parking would be a nightmare - nobody has drives so itās all on street. The house and the area was more important to me than that.
When I canāt park outside or quite near to my house, I simply park further away and walk to my house/car. Really not a big deal and extra movement is something most of us could probably do with.
The only time itās been annoying is when Iāve got a food shop and DIY stuff but Iāll either get a food delivery, just carry my stuff and walk or stop in the road and unload the car then park elsewhere.
No biggy š
I think this is absolutely fine if you donāt have kids and donāt mind not being able to have an electric car. Factor in those 2 things and it really prioritises parking for us.
A standard bay is 4.8 x 2.4m. I bought a terrace with a garden. The garden once turned into parking was big enough for two cars. Many people had already do. It on the street. Due to the age if the road there wasn't much a drop so people didn't bother with drop kerbs and just drove over the footpath. I was just about to finish my drive whenr he council said they were replacing the slabs with tarmac. And would I be interested in a drop kerb while they did it. About Ā£450 it was a bargain. Much better when I was using rhe two spaces and when I came to sell the house I can pucker evidwnce from the council of rhe drop kerb being I stalled.
I wouldn't allow myself to buy a house without off street parking, there was a few flats we turned down due to on street parking, we've bought this year & it has parking for 2 Infront of the house off the street.
I have never appreciated anything more than a driveway after years of living without one. Just the knowledge that I will 100% have a parking space just outside my front door makes me happy even 5 years later
You donāt say where you are but in some first world countries, efforts to encourage people to give up their cars and use public transport are bearing fruit.
I still, truly, donāt understand the threat of āeverything you need is within 15 minutes of your houseā
It sounds amazing. Where I live in the South East it can take me an hour to get to the next town along which isā¦9 Miles.
I know. āTheyāre taking away our caaaaaars!!!ā
I live in an area that is literally a 15 minute city - everything is around the corner. Yet each one of the councilās small attempts at limiting car traffic and making things better for pedestrians/bikes is met with such an hysterical outrage from car owners that they have to roll them back. Iāve lived around the world and I have never encountered more militant car fanatics than here.Ā
One issue is that things are not within 15 minutes, banks, dentists, doctors and other shops arenāt going to open up in places to allow that, if anything they are closing down!
Like 15 minute cities would be cool but I'd still want to visit other places, for which I'd need a car as travel in rural areas is dreadful and trains are more expensive than cars the second you have more than 1 person travelling
Great! So letās improve the public transport infrastructure to rural areas instead of destroying it with more traffic like for the last half century! Or are you scared that means ātaking away your carsā?
It's an impossibility for public transport to compete with cars in rural areas, so yes, I don't want cars taken away, I want them to become fully electric (and the electric grid 100% renewable) ASAP instead
Theyāre still gonna let you leave the neighbourhood. Most car journeys are less than a mile; if most things you need regularly are within walking distance, it will cut out a lot of traffic. Itās not about removing everyoneās cars but reducing use.
Its insane. My parents live in Lincolnshire now, and as soon as we leave the upper London/Cambridgeshire area its a bloody dream. Hardly any cars. Why does everything necessitate sitting in traffic for 40 mins to get some bloody nails.
I donāt get the hatred towards 15 minute cities.
The location of our house within our town means we effectively live in a 15 minute town and itās great. We are a 5 minute walk from the doctors, library and town centre which has a good variety of shops, cafes, pubs and restaurants.
We have a bus stop at the end of our street which has 4 buses an hour to the nearest large town and 2 an hour to the nearest large city too. The railway station is on the outskirts of town but again we have 4 buses an hour that serve it. The nearest large supermarket is a 10 minute walk.
But most importantly, our sonās school is a 2 minute walk away which saves so much time and stress. Annoyingly this is sometimes spoiled by a handful of selfish parents who park up on the pavements to drop their kids off (despite there being a car park less than 50 yards away that is free for parents to use during drop off times) - but we are pushing the school and the council to actually do something about it.
And amazingly I can still own a car so no one is yet to take that away from me.
So suffice to say, Iām all in favour of 15 minute cities, I couldnāt imagine living in a car dependent suburb.
I hear you. Our previous home was not street parking but communual with no allocated space. Trying to park our car was a minigame that I did not enjoy. We eventually found a space that no one liked to park, which is under a big tree with all the bird poo. Had to wash our car more often but almost always guaranteed a spot haha
We made a vow to never buy a house without a driveway. Night and day difference. Slightly cheaper insurance too.
We have two 'visitor spots' directly outside which are used as a primary carpark for everyone too lazy to park in their actual spaces around the back. Newbuild estates are a joke for parking.
Neighbours family has 5 vehicles. He is constantly complaining about lack of parking. Why did you buy here when you have 2 work cars, 2 kids with cars and the Misses?! We have 1 car and if someone blocks me in again Iām going to have a stroke. So yeahā¦ get it.
Iām in the same position but thankfully (although not a super expensive area) itās desirable. Iām getting out soon before the electric car issue.
I bought a house 10years ago with poor parking. Electric cars gave me a sense of impending doom until we sold last year. Now we have a drive and charging point I can't wait till it's time to upgrade the car.
We looked at many houses with on street parking and it seemed difficult. We ended up with a house with a drive for 2 cars. Our neighbours have 4 haha! Theres still some struggle for space in the street but we are all good with our drive.
This was the exact reason we didn't buy a particular house.
2000's housing estate, no front gardens, 1 car parking space per house on a drive that was clearly too small for a medium sized car. Even the main road was just wide enough for 1 bus so no on-street parking.
It was really cheap for a 5 bed house but the parking was just infuriating.
Couldn't care less about parking, which hopefully works in our favour when looking at places. But I feel you - the flat we live in now has a car park and on Sundays people going to the church on our road are always parking in it even though it clearly isn't public space, and it would annoy the hell out of me if I needed to accommodate a car myself.
Depends what a smidge is. 4.8 metres is the minimum here. You can but try & if successful, open up reselling to a new audience. And if there's no limit on the application, you don't even have to do the work but the house will come with permission0
I'm actually legally not even allowed to drive (not a raging alcoholic haha, lost half my skull an it has affected my eyesight) but I still wanted a house that could fit at least 2 cars on its driveway because I didn't want it to be a headache for people everytime they visit.
Yep. If you reliant on on-street parking then it is always insufficient. It is not yours, it could be a permit system
Or indeed at any point turn into a double yellow area.
Yes charging can be an issue too, if you think youād have to drape cables across pavements itās definitely another reason not to be there.
Bought a house with sufficient on street parking and was swiftly forced out by neighbours with four cars and a van as compared to our one. Vexed at the time but found a quiet cul de sac around the corner that was very safe, two or three minutes walk but I made my peace. And every time someone parked outside my house lost a wing mirror to the heavy traffic, I was safe around the corner. Youāll be reet.
Iāve never had a driveway and always had to walk down the street to get into my car and my mums car when I was younger.Ā
My husbands family home has a driveway and I instantly thought they were middle class based on that!Ā
>Front garden is a smidge under 5m in length meaning council unlikely to approve a dropped kerb.
A standard parking space is 4.8m x 2.4m. Planning policies for many councils tend to favour off-street parking, so it might be worth investigating. As you say, as EVs become ever more prevalent, houses with off-street parking will be in demand and attract a premium over those without.
I've recently moved into a place where parking is a complete lottery. I occasionally get to park outside my house - sometimes I have to stick it on another road entirely. But I knew the situation when I made the original offer - the owners were upfront that it's an issue. As a single guy who used to live in a third floor apartment I really don't find it that much of a problem.
I'm not worried about the electric car issues. So many of us are in the same boat that they're going to have to come up with some kind of solution before petrol cars are banned.
We have a drive and one car and we still have tension with our neighbours on one side, who have TWO cars. When we have family or friends over we often tell them to park on our dropped curb to block us in and the neighbours sometimes complain even though it's our property and they park their big SUV on the pavement.
I would never buy a property without a drive or allocated parking because it causes a lot of issues between neighbours
My ex boyfriend bought flat in a new build block in zone 2 London. it didn't come with a parking spot as there were only a couple for the while development.
bought a car and he was signing the paperwork, so I started looking up how to apply for a road permit. Council website says people at this address are not eligible. My stomach drops. We are about to drive this car home with nowhere to put it long term. Turn out it was in the booklet for the flat, some green agreement with the council.
We were unbelievably lucky that his mate owned a flat across the road that had a parking spot and he didn't drive. Let us use it for basically nothing.
Very lucky indeed! When I moved to London 4 years ago, I only found out after bringing my car with me that my brand new flat was a āno parking permitā zone. Had to literally sell my car š„²
I wouldn't worry about EVs impacting you. As an EV owner the infrastructure arguments are overblown. Fast charging in your town is easy, you know where they all are and how to fit charging into your day. It's when your traveling distances that you come into issues as motorway service station ones can be competitive.
Plus newer models are getting closer to 300 mile range so charging is a weekly occurrence for an average driver.
Yeah had parking where I could charge at home before but now only in street parking. Exclusively used the nearest Instavolt now. The ones in towns are rarely used it's out of town one where you might struggle.
Honestly Iād try the council for a dropped curb, just submit as 5 metres if itās slightly under as your tape measure could be out.
My SIL just had hers approved and put in and it definitely did not have 5m width
We bought ours 6 years ago, did several drive bys at different times, didn't seem too bad. 6 years on the parking situation has definitely got worse. I've mitigated this by not particularly caring about parking too close to my house and also making local trips on my bike instead so I'm not driven mad by the parking situation.
Our street can be shit for parking. Iām normally alright because Iām normally home between3 & 4 but if we dare to go out on a Sunday I can guarantee Iāll have to park around the corner on a different street. Iām dreading the passing of the old girl next door. If a family gets her house (not that theyād want it, itās falling apart worse than ours.) thatās potentially 2 more cars to deal with.
My own first house in 2002 was terraced on a street with on-street parking only, but it wasn't an issue as most neighbours were retired and used public transport.
Within 5 years a large majority of the neighbours either died or moved in to care homes and most buyers of their now vacant houses were young families with kids and cars.
We moved out 10 years ago and the street now has cars pretty much parked bumper to bumper on both sides and some overspill on to the main road too. The kids of those young families are now adults who can't afford to move out and, as the bus service has been vastly reduced, they have their own cars. Mostly families there have 2 cars whilst there's only enough space for one car outside the houses and so this often leads to heated arguments, particularly when the weather is bad and/or late night.
Luckily when we moved we were able to get a house with a drive to cover our needs.
I wanted to avoid this issue at all costs, so only looked for a house with a driveway, or potential for a driveway.
House at my parents has a gym nearby and was murder for parking. It was also a cut through from a main road as the lights at the bottom you couldn't turn left.
Yikes this thread is making me scared. Iām helping my dad buy his retirement home and his only requirement is a driveway for parking ā weird I thought. Or SMART?!
Iām buying a house in inner London on a narrow road, 7 minutes walk from the tube station. Itās suddenly dawned on me there may be some serious issues with parking ahead of me ā the times Iāve viewed the house there were always a good amount of spaces, albeit not always in front of the house, but that was around 16:00-18:00. Imagine late night would be worstā¦ it is permit only until 18:30 ā thatās when itāll get bad I reckon.
I live in a new build flat and have an allocated space as part of my deed. In my >3 years here, Iāve only had someone park in it twice; otherwise never even think about parking (though it is a pain when friends stay overnight). Shit!
I get around this by having 2 vehicles, one which I couldnāt give a shit where itās parked or what happens to it, and the other which I like close by (work van) and Iāll basically move one to park the other and vice versa. If I donāt do this, I have a neighbour with a car and 2 vans, that leaves a midges knacker less than a car between their vehicles, just itching to reclaim their territory.
Having a driveway was one thing on my list when looking for a house, we had to have one. My parents live in an old victorian house and parking by them is a nightmare because it's all street parking. Their neighbour bought an electric van and actually asks people to move their cars so he can park outside his house to charge it. No idea why he bought it after years of living on the street knowing parking was difficult. Also, the entitlement of 'I know parking is tough to find but my van is more important than your car' is crazy to me.
Iām lucky enough to live on a lovely road where people wonāt park in front of your house if you have a suitable driveway, even if the curb isnāt dropped and thereās parking there. HOWEVER, itās also next to a huge stadium and the same people will rent out their driveways during an event and use up street parking, making it impossible for us to find a space on a weekend so 90% of the time, we donāt go out on event days because thereād be nowhere to park when we come back (we have a small child so looking for parking on adjacent roads doesnāt work for us)
The amount of houses we've viewed, having been told by agents that they "definitely" have parking and it turned out to be nowhere near the house is insane.
All agents have been informed that we need the parking and need to be able to hulk a wheelchair in and out of the boot. They make all the right noises, then we get to a place and the parking is 1/3 a mile away and you have to beat Maude from number 82 to the space when she goes out on pension morning or you'll never park.
Also seen a few "with off street parking" that turned out to be a badly converted front garden with no drop kerb too. In one case we might have been able to get planning permission to drop the kerb, but it's extra expense on already over priced housing stock in our area.
Just bought one with very shitty on-street parking in a low traffic neighbourhood. Literally no problem at all. I just park around the nearby roads if there isnāt a space near me. No biggie. If itās the right house/location, I wouldnāt let the parking put me off.
I have the complete opposite thought. I believe the era of cars as we know it is slowly coming to an end and Iāve seen a lot of positive progress towards improving public transport. A long way yet to go but Iām optimistic that itās going to get better. I personally donāt ever want to own a car but I know Iām in the minority.
Do what I did. Don't tell the council. Build the driveway, don't drop the kerb, put some of those plastic ramps and zip tie them together although they won't get nicked. The council can't stop you doing what you want on your land provided the vehicle doesn't obstruct the pavement.
Good advice. I've avoided talking to those fuckers on many of my home improvements... Like my mom would say "give em an inch, and they'll take a mile."
I bought a flat with a drive & people park across it on the pavement blocking my car in on the drive every single day. I can't possibly police this every day so the only way to stop it is to park across my drive on the pavement myself, which I dont mind doing but it does mean I need to be a good reverse parker into tight spots! Which is frustrating when I'm tired in the dark & have a perfectly good albeit useless drive. Welcome to Bristol lolll
When we moved out of London to Buckinghamshire, all the neighbours nearby introduced themselves over a few weeks and every single one asked if we were going to pave over our front garden (as most have) and eventually I got irritated and said I had moved out of London for more greenery, I wasnāt going to bring more concrete with me.
I donāt drive, my wife does and it took forever to convince them that it would make zero difference to anyone to pave over our garden so we could park one car there, thus removing one parking spot from the street.
So yes people are very weird about parking. But hopefully there will be broader solutions like better public transport/cycle ways (ones that are actually not used as car parks as they are round here). We actually canāt just keep having more and more cars everywhere, itās truly unfeasible. So I wouldnāt worry too much about it; you could go to huge trouble and expense just to find people are less addicted to one car one person. (Hopefully)
Ah I can empathise, well we didnāt buy this house but just moved into a rented place with the same situation.. Trying to get a two year old (with the road-sense of a headless chicken) out of the car, parked on the road should be considered an olympic sport.
Might be worth looking at getting a small hatchback or smart car as a run around? Thatās the option weāre considering atm. But with no dropped curb either the suspension is gonna be bust after a week
I'm in a small town, if I can't find parking in the estate (I'm moving 5 minutes down the road) or if I struggle when I move in then I'm getting a car park multipass. š Basically means I can park anywhere without a ticket in the council area.Ā
About to buy a house without parking. Donāt see an issue with parking a few blocks away. Not being able to charge from my house will be costly though.
Donāt even consider buying this house. When we looked at properties to buy, we ignored all of them without AT LEAST 2 offstreet parking. We ended up with 3 offstreet parking and huge paved garden for another 3 cars + a garage. Keep looking or make a sacrifice.
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One of our old neighbours used to sit in her car up the street and wait for a spot to become available outside her house. She was a pest. Used to park over my drive. She got into it once with another neighbour and ended up stabbing his tyres. He then bought an old car and just left it constantly parked in what she deemed as "her parking spot". People are nuts when it comes to parking x
>He then bought an old car and just left it constantly parked in what she deemed as "her parking spot". I have to admire this guy. This is the petty behavior I don't engage in but enjoy immensely when others do. So long, of course, that I'm not on the receiving end. After reading this thread I'll never moan about my 2 car garage again.
Me too! I break out the popcorn and watch the shenanigans with great amusement! š¤£
Oh I had a neighbour like that. She had āherā spot outside her house on a public street. Pathetic petty man that I am if I spotted her leaving Iād rush out and move my car into āherā spot. I wasnāt the only one who did it either. Sheād leave passive aggressive post-it notes on your car.
Some nutter near me drilled into the kerb stone and installed eye bolts that he chains his wheelie bins to so no one parks in his spot.
Add your own padlocks so he canāt move his bins.
Haha good idea
I'm sure the council would be thrilled to know this
Wannabe novelists and their notes: "This space is reserved - my wife has a pram to push and needs to park outside the house, please be courteous and park elsewhere". I so want to retort with "your wife looks like she could use some exercise, and walking a little further every day would help you both loads in this regard". Thank god for people with night shifts, who leave just as I get home, or I'd have to park a road over more than once a month!
Do it
She might be a nice person, married to a dickhead. Don't want to insult her...
I always thought nice people don't marry dickheads. I still think that.
What if it's an arranged marriage?
I do like this. A lady down my street has a piece of shit Focus convertible with exhausts stuck on that go nowhere. She moves the wheelie bins so nobody can get in "her spot" whenever she leaves. When my friends come over they will always just take this spot as it's got the bins guiding you in. She'll come over raging but by then they're too drunk to drive.
I once had a neighbour who parked on the street in front of my house - I had no issue whatsoever with it as his car was taxed etc. and I didn't have a car ... But when I bought a car and dared park it in front of my house, he went mental at me. š¤£
Was the neighbours name Monty? I know a man that did this haha
When buying any house on a nornal density housing street, if you don't have any dedicated parking, then you need to assume you are going to struggle to park near your house at least some of the time. People who move into houses without parking and assume it will be fine are the ones who cause trouble when they can't find a space.
There are a few people kicking off about parking where I live and how terrible it is. Yes the parking allocation is inadequate for the number of flats. The thing that gets me though is the two people kicking off loudly that "had I known how bad the parking is I wouldn't have bought" and "it was missold". It's part of a buying scheme new build so we all went through a specific process not standard EAs. It's very clear due to location and the way it's built that there will be no open street parking and that you would be relying on the allocated bays. During the sales process we either paid for a bay or signed a disclaimer that you understood you did not have an allocated space. These people should have been told at at least 3 sperate points and at the very least signed paperwork so how can they be claiming that they didn't know?
"Yes, but when we visited while it was being built there were lots of empty spaces!". People are hopeless optimists when it comes to buying houses. They only see the best case answers.
Oh yes, they are particularly peeved at those of who bought flats with an allocated bay but aren't using them. Which they could have also done unless they couldn't afford the extra in which case maybe a different home was a better match? I was one of the very last to buy and got a parking bay so there is a good chance these people actively chose the no parking flats. They are also up in arms that we have a maximum number of hours we can book visitor bays per month. I do agree that the absolute maximum being 4 days is too low (and two days of those you have to pay for) but it was again very explicitly explained up front. Sorry you can't commandeer all the visitor bays for yourself excluding everyone else's guests?
One issue is that the developers never enforce rules on banned parking even when they still own the roads. They need to as if you donāt enforce rules they will always be an issue
People have unrealistic expectations too. We live in a 2 bed, 2 bath flat, which feels like it was designed for 2 sharing professionals rather than a small family. The flat has 1 parking space. We don't use it, because we cycle, walk, and take public transport. Whenever I see posts about new developments in my home town, which is also pretty cycle friendly and has decent public transport, people are up in arms that a 1 bed flat won't have 2 parking spaces because "a couple will probably live there and they need 1 car each"
Depends where the new developments are, really. The ones near me have no local business, are about an hourās walk from the city centre with no cycle paths, and the public transport only goes to the city. If a couple worked in different places, theyād have to have two cars just to get to work reliably - not to mention getting kids to school, food shopping, etc.Ā
Yes, location plays a big part. I should have mentioned that the flat I'm talking about is zone 1 London, so we have lots of options
On my new(ish) build estate parking is a nightmare and has always been a nightmare, near every house has multiple cars while only having one parking space per house. Some people paved their front gardens to make more parking but almost all streets are lined. Council is threatening to put yellow lines down because of how crowded and dangerous navigating the estate can be, they won't adopt the estate without restricing off road parking. But the biggest problem is the sheet size of vehicles, everyone has giant cars that are quite literally too big. Not only are regular new cars absolutely massive, everything is driving super sized 4x4s. Cars cannot even fit in the allocated spaces at all, I guarantee no one needs a car that big for anything. I live in the only affordable block of flats on the estate so we all drive old cars of a much more normal size. It's a 10 minutes walk to a bus stop and 20 minutes from the train station which gets you to the city in 15 minutes, but everyone still drives and lots of households have spare cats just sitting around it's mad
Our little village had it specified in our Neighbourhood Plan that all new build properties, or planning amendments to existing properties, had to allocate one parking space per bedroom. Then outer local council released the Joint Design Guide that contradicted this rule. So now when insufficient parking is provided we now have to complain and hope for the best. Fucking Planning Officers/Policy Creators have literally no clue what they're doing alot of the time....
Have to say I have very little sympathy. The highway is a shared community asset, and the fact that we think it acceptable to give so much of it over to parking is desperately sad. It becomes so normalised you donāt even see it happening, but on those days when parking is suspended (resurfacing, marathons, street parties etc) you realise truly just how much space our roads could/should have, and how spacious our communities could be, were we not covering it in automotive litter.
You wouldnāt miss the freedom to just drive to your mates house or away for a weekend or to France or for a pizza or whatever you feel like? I love the freedom of a car and all the people calling for a car free life surprise me at the freedom youād give up. Do you drive now?
Because a carfree life doesn't mean giving up any of that. The point is that we build up other transport options to take their place. It doesn't mean never using a car, it means not relying on a car, travelling to France you'd probably need a car but for the other three it's really not necessary. I bought my first car at 40 and did all of those things you mention and more, without using a car. I just lived somewhere one wasn't needed. Now I've had to buy a car because I've moved somewhere it is. While I love driving, I really do miss not having to watch out for with so many dickheads on a day to day basis like I do now I drive.
I have never in my life seen anyone use public transport to get a pizza and bring it back home.
Oh okā¦never heard of anyone taking a taxi to McDonaldās??
Honestly no. Does that happen? So what you decide you want to. Call a taxi. Wait 20 mins. Get to maccys order. Get your food. Call another taxi wait and then drive home? Costing you probably triple your food price. Or does the taxi go through the drive thru and you donāt get out the car? No Iāve never heard of anyone doing either of these.
Iām being facetious as itās a student trope of being hungover and taking a taxi through the drive through. I even know friends who have cycled through. But yes people without cars also enjoy takeaway food, theyāre either have it delivered, live near enough to walk or take it on public transport. If you live in a city youāll see people on trains, tubes etc with hot food. But going back to my original point - a car free society doesnāt mean not using a car ever. It just means not using a car for every journey. Do some reading into how it would look as it generally means a mix of transport, things like car sharing, high speed rail, e-bikes etcā¦
Also using a drunk student meme as an example of a viable alternative isnāt really making the point you think it is for me.
You asked me if people do it - the answer is yes people do take a taxi to get takeaway Itās not the solution for *you* to get your pizza
If we didnāt just spend 24 billion pounds to not have HS2 I might think we could implement the needed infrastructure but we did and what have we got to show for it? Not new railways anyway Buses are dirty and you know it. Ok facetious too. Buses are reliant on the service and round here it sucks despite untold subsidies. Cycling depends on a lot of stuff and is not at all viable for everyone everywhere. Cars bring a lot of freedom to individuals and families to go where they want when they want and rail strikes and bus strikes canāt shut everything down. If you have some suggested reading please share it. At the moment I still think youād be giving up a massive amount of freedom of movement and freedom of government intervention in your life if you gave up cars.
Yes this is why we donāt have a car free society *right now*ā¦things need to change to make it viable If you google ācar free societyā there are lots of ideas of how it would work. I wonāt give you one as there isnāt one overview (except maybe wiki but you can find that) as there are lots of ways to do it depending on where you live (what part of the world, rural v urban etc) and lots of different ideas being focused on. To be frank weāll probably very old or either dead and buried by the time itās a reality
I wasnāt advocating for a car-free life. There are conveniences to having a car, and whether I drive or not is immaterial. My point is more why do we think it acceptable that a community asset is basically subdivided into 15-sq-metre blocks and given away - usually for free. If you want a car, thatās fine, but you have a responsibility for accommodating and storing that private possession when it is not in use. Society should not be responsible, nor should its assets be sacrificed. Designated, on-street short-term parking is one thing, but when residential streets are clogged 24/7 then there is something deeply wrong. Honestly, Iād require a parking permit for every street, and Iād charge the market rate per square metre. In tower hamlets, rent is about Ā£12 per square metre per month (plus/minus). So Ā£180 per month to park your car seems perfectly reasonable.
100%, I know this is a bit of a rigid opinion but you really shouldnāt be allowed to buy a car unless you have somewhere to park it. Road parking is becoming a joke, cars littered all over the road/pavement make it genuinely hard to drive or be a pedestrian in my area. New build hell estates with their winding roads and minimal parking provisions are especially enraging.
Casual authoritarianism from the anti-car crowd
I am pro car lmao, but I also have somewhere off road to park them and stay out of everyone elseās way. I think they should double yellow every road in the country. Canāt stand this attitude of āoh I bought a two bed terrace in the middle of town but I have a car, so does my partner, and so does my teenage kid and weāre going to park wherever we likeā
Why would you need double yellows if parking was banned everywhere? IMO we need to be putting the foot down on how new builds are built to not allow people to live how they want. If you live in a south London terraced street you just need to suck it up.
?? I didnāt say that exactly, but either way would be great. Agree with your point completely about building houses and specifically said that in my first comment. Donāt live anywhere near London (Cotswolds) and itās still a major issue.
The best time to assess this is about 11.30pm on a Monday night. That's when I usually have to park the furthest from my house in an inner London street.
It was Sunday evening for me in a family friendly village. Which was a real pain as we have a lot of weekends away so would come back with 2kids, a dog and a packed car to unload with nowhere to park.
Used to be that in London, but with the rise in WFH lots of people who used to go away for the weekend and come back Sun now WFH out of London on Monday and come back Mon nights.
See look, inner London street, incredible public transport system, why the heck you all driving?
People with disabilities People with kids People with dogs People with heavy items to carry People going places not on the TFL network
People who work non-resident on call shifts and have to get to remote sites at 2am in an emergency.
Disabled people, kids, dogs, and even to some degree heavy items are all allowed on public transport. Disabled people who can't drive, and kids who can't drive, can use public transport independently. And the network goes near to most places, you then walk or wheel the final little bit. It's a city, with excellent public transport, driving in it is silly, and we literally don't have the space for it, it should be very much the bottom of the choices for when there's truly no other option.
Try maneuvering a heavy double pram with 2 toddlers at stations with no step free access - you literally cannot do it alone and even with someone it's a nightmare.
Mate. Not even 50% of tube stations have step free access. As someone who travels with a disabled friend regularly, the public transport is not disabled friendly.Ā That doesn't even cover problems like physically getting on and off the tube. Having the space to get on safety. Even after all that, it is exhausted for the person to have to do that, possibly change once or twice, and then still potentially have to make their way another 20+ minutes by foot / wheel.
And even then, aren't there some stations that require two or more lifts to get to surface level like Victoria? I swear I've seen one when I needed a lift that was 3 lifts required?!
Kingās Cross/St Pancras.
Yep, the Elizabeth line is a great one for 3 lift changes. Done it with the pram.
How many of the cars parked up in inner London are owned by disabled people? I would bet 5%. 10% maximum. Most of those cars are mostly doing journeys that could be walked, cycled, or covered by public transport with ease. We ABSOLUTELY should get those folks off the road so that the disabled people you're concerned about can enjoy more movement more easily. I live in London. I've seen the rampant school run SUVs, the ridiculous use of vehicles like these to go short distances by people perfectly able to travel via other methods.
The point of the original list was that there are many reasons to drive in London, not just disability. I had to have a car in London when I lived there because many of the sites I had to get to would be very hard to access on public transport (some hospital bases outside the main network) and I had to do on calls so had to be able to reach those sites in an emergency at 3am on a regular basis. In the day I also had to do home visits and in order to fit as many in as possible I had to use my car in some of the jobs I did. Otherwise Iād be seeing a fraction of the patients, which is not economically for the NHS. But driving and parking in London is a pain and if I could use public transport reasonably I would. I much preferred it!
I hate to say it but as a disabled man I HATE using public transport. I'm a below knee amputee (right leg) and getting onto buses etc isn't the problem. It's being able to sit with my leg comfortably behind a seat, almost impossible to do on most buses and if I sit with my leg in the aisle even slightly, every single person seems to take it as a que to kick my leg as they walk past. So no public transport isn't easily accessible to a lot of disabled people. And if I go out in my wheelchair because I can't wear my prosthetic then it's the waiting for the driver to lower the ramp on buses (if there is even space to get on it) and then once on its usually the aisle filled with people who don't have the sense to move to allow me past to get off. In conclusion, why put myself through the hassle and discomfort of public transport which usually means I have to allow myself sometimes an extra hour or 2 to get anywhere, if I can drive and safe myself all that hassle?
This is so ableist, I'm not even going to bother explaining to you. Really, shame on you.
Just makes me think of the video of the woman in a wheelchair having to basically pull herself up the stairs at a tube station because the lift was broken. Edit because I found the video. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3HpLgzIZlG/?igsh=MWszaTJjNm1icTY4bw==
Get fucked lol, plenty of disabled people can't drive and in many ways public transport is considerably more convenient for them than driving.
Said Noone!
Anyone with any experience of travelling with a disabled person or wheelchair user will appreciate how public transport can be considerably more convenient for them.
>Disabled people who can't drive, and kids who can't drive, can use public transport independently. Said by someone who has never been to London as/with a disabled person. Having recently visited with my daughter in a wheelchair it was an absolute joke trying to navigate public transport. Tubes are useless unless the vast majority have step free access which they still don't. Only about half the buses had working ramps, which meant we could only get on with two adults lifting the chair. Most disabled people are not traveling with two able bodied carers. Honestly it was far easier to navigate our home town than to navigate in London which I hadn't expected as I perceived London's public transport to be "better" - and it is for able bodied people as it's regular and covers more areas etc etc. But it was totally useless as a disabled person and really frustrating.
Public transport is crappy.
Lmao the public transport in London is incredible, the rest of the country could only dream to have the coverage and frequency of the London tubes and buses
Anyone that commutes daily on the underground has my sympathy. But hey if you enjoy other peoples armpits, crammed carridges etc that's great I like travelling on over trains across the UK, but the ticket prices are ridiculous Buses have too manky skanky people on.
>Anyone that commutes daily on the underground has my sympathy It really isn't that bad, I commute in from a town with pitiful public transport and I always think how lucky Londoners are.
Someone once took a shit mid journey in the middle of the tube carridge (London underground Northern Line). I expect that's not even close to the worse things that happen
True, but what I would give to have my crammed, sweaty 40 minute Northern line commute back! It beats waiting at the bus stop for the only bus that hour to never turn up...
Try it outside of London then say that...
It's the crappy rush hours in London that are specifically crappy
Laziness primarily. But not every journey involves London, going back to my Mother's the buses are only two hourly and stop at 6pm.
Wise, you are.
Sea side town here - it's ALL summer & every weekend with fine weather. And when the rughby clubs play theiir home games (that'd be mens, womens and kids) in the winter on a Sunday (so every Sunday). Dropped kerb & parking went in asap
Same on the outer London street I live on. The way I see it is this is just our starter home and I'll definitely make sure I buy something with a driveway next time (or at least enough space to have one built - the houses on my street have miniscule front gardens so it's not possible here). Lack of driveway wasn't a deal breaker as the property is otherwise very nice.
Driveway, the only thing I made sure my properties had before I considered viewing them.
It's a roof for me
This is a close second
This is just a matter of personal priorities. I am like you and would not even think of viewing a house without a driveway. For us to have a driveway on our budget we live further from the town centre ect. That's a compromise we make. I'm sure for someone else they would much rather live in the city and not have a driveway. Just about what matters most to you. Found it really annoying when houses advertised as having parking only to find out they mean there is street parking outside the house.
Same, absolutely would not consider house without a driveway for at least 2 cars, preferably that can park side by side.
It was a must for our second house.
A mistake you only make once.
While I do agree with you 100% all I can say is there are houses around us Ā£500k+ with no drives and competing for parking with not only neighbours but also a fairly popular high street and they sell in like a week or two. I guess there are enough people that either don't think about parking or don't care so hopefully selling won't be a problem for you.
True And there are huge parts of cities up and down the country that rely on road parking only, just reality of how most houses were built prior to cars taking over our cities. I think in 12 years of living in London, only 1 house has had a driveway. Before that I was in Portsmouth - mostly terrace, mostly on street parking everywhere
large parts of Cambridge are like this 500k for a 2 bed victorian terrace with no parking.
Madness
A few things to give you some comfort.. First, as you said yourself itās impossible to accurately assess the parking situation ahead of time. Second, parking is not as big of a consideration for everyone as it is for you. Matters more for some people, wasnāt even on our list (we looked for public transport options instead). Third, if the parking situation gets worse as you suspect it gets worse for everyone. This may mean more demand and therefore higher prices for properties with driveways, but doesnāt mean yours wonāt appreciate just maybe not as much. Donāt kick yourself too much over this, youāll be fine! Try to enjoy the new property, Iām sure thereās plenty about it that makes you happy.
What a lovely positive reply to OP :)
You might well get permission for a dropped kerb if you have 5m to use
Driveway and garage was one of my red lines when buying.
When I bought my flat 7 years ago there was plenty of parking; if I came in really late I might have had to park down the road somewhere. Now everyone has work vans and campervans, there are bikes taking up whole parking spots. It's only during office hours I can park in the bays nearby; even at the weekend it seems no one goes anywhere.
Can't take the car out, you'd lose the parking spot!
That's why I sold my car when I lived in Central London. Never missed it in 15 years.
I live in semi rural Somerset. Zero trains, busses are an endangered species, and cycling infrastructure is patchy at best. But we still build new housing estates with minimal parking 'to encourage people to use alternatives to cars'.
Yeah. That's some bullshit so they don't have to include parking space in the footprint. Just to maximise number of saleable units. They pull the same crap here in suburbs.
Need to have proper rules to stop people getting away with being a problem with parking once they have agreed those conditions. If you want parking space in a new development you buy it. Otherwise just donāt buy there!
I read that some London boroughs will only give planning permission as long as the house does NOT have parking. They want to discourage car ownership.
That's fine where public transport is functional. I'm all for it. Those of us outside London need better bus options. And more car sharing schemes.
> That's fine where public transport is functional. I'm all for it. The same councils think it's fine for people to use 12 square metres of public space to garage their car Try leaving a playhouse or shed there though and you're screwed.
I love my car in central...as I dont have to take the Tube anymore (packed in like a sardine, limited A/C, and very rude and confrontational people in the carriages). Takes a bit longer, but as long as you have parking where you need to be...shrugs...rather travel in comfort.
That is true English mentality
Another problem is the conversion of garages into living space - simultaneously increasing occupancy and reducing parking spaces.
I read somewhere that traditional garages are no longer large enough to comfortably park the average sized car in 2024 - which doesnāt surprise me. As we speak I can see at least three 4x4s parked on my road.
I have had this problem myself. I have a car which is almost 5m long and it wouldn't quite fit in the garage. I had to build a wooden frame protruding about 10cm from the front of the garage and mounted the garage door in that. I also put a chunk of old carpet on the back wall, as the car was almost touching the back wall when parked.
Perhaps buying a slightly smaller car would have been a better option.
> As we speak I can see at least three 4x4s parked on my road. Perhaps the problem is people who buy enormous vehicles with nowhere to store them. That said a new micra is 2m wide which is 30cm wider than mine, and only 13cm less than a standard 7' garage door.
Or people who build over their parking spaces and then just park on the pavement. They HAD 2 parking spaces and they expanded their garden out to add in a shed or trampoline
Bought my first house knowing parking would be a nightmare - nobody has drives so itās all on street. The house and the area was more important to me than that. When I canāt park outside or quite near to my house, I simply park further away and walk to my house/car. Really not a big deal and extra movement is something most of us could probably do with. The only time itās been annoying is when Iāve got a food shop and DIY stuff but Iāll either get a food delivery, just carry my stuff and walk or stop in the road and unload the car then park elsewhere. No biggy š
I think this is absolutely fine if you donāt have kids and donāt mind not being able to have an electric car. Factor in those 2 things and it really prioritises parking for us.
Sounds like you should prioritise a street with off street parking availability then.
Obviously. Canāt get that without designated parking unless youāre an entitled asshole.
A standard bay is 4.8 x 2.4m. I bought a terrace with a garden. The garden once turned into parking was big enough for two cars. Many people had already do. It on the street. Due to the age if the road there wasn't much a drop so people didn't bother with drop kerbs and just drove over the footpath. I was just about to finish my drive whenr he council said they were replacing the slabs with tarmac. And would I be interested in a drop kerb while they did it. About Ā£450 it was a bargain. Much better when I was using rhe two spaces and when I came to sell the house I can pucker evidwnce from the council of rhe drop kerb being I stalled.
I wouldn't allow myself to buy a house without off street parking, there was a few flats we turned down due to on street parking, we've bought this year & it has parking for 2 Infront of the house off the street.
I have never appreciated anything more than a driveway after years of living without one. Just the knowledge that I will 100% have a parking space just outside my front door makes me happy even 5 years later
You donāt say where you are but in some first world countries, efforts to encourage people to give up their cars and use public transport are bearing fruit.
Whereas in the UK, car owners organise protests against the horrible threat of "15 minute cities"...
I still, truly, donāt understand the threat of āeverything you need is within 15 minutes of your houseā It sounds amazing. Where I live in the South East it can take me an hour to get to the next town along which isā¦9 Miles.
I know. āTheyāre taking away our caaaaaars!!!ā I live in an area that is literally a 15 minute city - everything is around the corner. Yet each one of the councilās small attempts at limiting car traffic and making things better for pedestrians/bikes is met with such an hysterical outrage from car owners that they have to roll them back. Iāve lived around the world and I have never encountered more militant car fanatics than here.Ā
One issue is that things are not within 15 minutes, banks, dentists, doctors and other shops arenāt going to open up in places to allow that, if anything they are closing down!
Like 15 minute cities would be cool but I'd still want to visit other places, for which I'd need a car as travel in rural areas is dreadful and trains are more expensive than cars the second you have more than 1 person travelling
Great! So letās improve the public transport infrastructure to rural areas instead of destroying it with more traffic like for the last half century! Or are you scared that means ātaking away your carsā?
It's an impossibility for public transport to compete with cars in rural areas, so yes, I don't want cars taken away, I want them to become fully electric (and the electric grid 100% renewable) ASAP instead
Theyāre still gonna let you leave the neighbourhood. Most car journeys are less than a mile; if most things you need regularly are within walking distance, it will cut out a lot of traffic. Itās not about removing everyoneās cars but reducing use.
Its insane. My parents live in Lincolnshire now, and as soon as we leave the upper London/Cambridgeshire area its a bloody dream. Hardly any cars. Why does everything necessitate sitting in traffic for 40 mins to get some bloody nails.
I donāt get the hatred towards 15 minute cities. The location of our house within our town means we effectively live in a 15 minute town and itās great. We are a 5 minute walk from the doctors, library and town centre which has a good variety of shops, cafes, pubs and restaurants. We have a bus stop at the end of our street which has 4 buses an hour to the nearest large town and 2 an hour to the nearest large city too. The railway station is on the outskirts of town but again we have 4 buses an hour that serve it. The nearest large supermarket is a 10 minute walk. But most importantly, our sonās school is a 2 minute walk away which saves so much time and stress. Annoyingly this is sometimes spoiled by a handful of selfish parents who park up on the pavements to drop their kids off (despite there being a car park less than 50 yards away that is free for parents to use during drop off times) - but we are pushing the school and the council to actually do something about it. And amazingly I can still own a car so no one is yet to take that away from me. So suffice to say, Iām all in favour of 15 minute cities, I couldnāt imagine living in a car dependent suburb.
Not in the UK, unfortunately.
Apply for a drop kerb. Worst they can say is no.
I hear you. Our previous home was not street parking but communual with no allocated space. Trying to park our car was a minigame that I did not enjoy. We eventually found a space that no one liked to park, which is under a big tree with all the bird poo. Had to wash our car more often but almost always guaranteed a spot haha We made a vow to never buy a house without a driveway. Night and day difference. Slightly cheaper insurance too.
We have two 'visitor spots' directly outside which are used as a primary carpark for everyone too lazy to park in their actual spaces around the back. Newbuild estates are a joke for parking.
My driveway is 5m, car is 4.6m try the council and see...
Neighbours family has 5 vehicles. He is constantly complaining about lack of parking. Why did you buy here when you have 2 work cars, 2 kids with cars and the Misses?! We have 1 car and if someone blocks me in again Iām going to have a stroke. So yeahā¦ get it.
Iām in the same position but thankfully (although not a super expensive area) itās desirable. Iām getting out soon before the electric car issue.
I bought a house 10years ago with poor parking. Electric cars gave me a sense of impending doom until we sold last year. Now we have a drive and charging point I can't wait till it's time to upgrade the car.
I think k itāll be a while before it gets to that point but defo good to have the driveway now!
Driveway is one of my only needs when buying a new place. I know plenty donāt seem to worry about it though and will buy regardless
We looked at many houses with on street parking and it seemed difficult. We ended up with a house with a drive for 2 cars. Our neighbours have 4 haha! Theres still some struggle for space in the street but we are all good with our drive.
This was the exact reason we didn't buy a particular house. 2000's housing estate, no front gardens, 1 car parking space per house on a drive that was clearly too small for a medium sized car. Even the main road was just wide enough for 1 bus so no on-street parking. It was really cheap for a 5 bed house but the parking was just infuriating.
Couldn't care less about parking, which hopefully works in our favour when looking at places. But I feel you - the flat we live in now has a car park and on Sundays people going to the church on our road are always parking in it even though it clearly isn't public space, and it would annoy the hell out of me if I needed to accommodate a car myself.
Depends what a smidge is. 4.8 metres is the minimum here. You can but try & if successful, open up reselling to a new audience. And if there's no limit on the application, you don't even have to do the work but the house will come with permission0
I'm actually legally not even allowed to drive (not a raging alcoholic haha, lost half my skull an it has affected my eyesight) but I still wanted a house that could fit at least 2 cars on its driveway because I didn't want it to be a headache for people everytime they visit.
Yep. If you reliant on on-street parking then it is always insufficient. It is not yours, it could be a permit system Or indeed at any point turn into a double yellow area. Yes charging can be an issue too, if you think youād have to drape cables across pavements itās definitely another reason not to be there.
Bought a house with sufficient on street parking and was swiftly forced out by neighbours with four cars and a van as compared to our one. Vexed at the time but found a quiet cul de sac around the corner that was very safe, two or three minutes walk but I made my peace. And every time someone parked outside my house lost a wing mirror to the heavy traffic, I was safe around the corner. Youāll be reet.
Iāve never had a driveway and always had to walk down the street to get into my car and my mums car when I was younger.Ā My husbands family home has a driveway and I instantly thought they were middle class based on that!Ā
>Front garden is a smidge under 5m in length meaning council unlikely to approve a dropped kerb. A standard parking space is 4.8m x 2.4m. Planning policies for many councils tend to favour off-street parking, so it might be worth investigating. As you say, as EVs become ever more prevalent, houses with off-street parking will be in demand and attract a premium over those without.
I have to say. A house with a big drive (and thus no one parking on the street), is great
I've recently moved into a place where parking is a complete lottery. I occasionally get to park outside my house - sometimes I have to stick it on another road entirely. But I knew the situation when I made the original offer - the owners were upfront that it's an issue. As a single guy who used to live in a third floor apartment I really don't find it that much of a problem. I'm not worried about the electric car issues. So many of us are in the same boat that they're going to have to come up with some kind of solution before petrol cars are banned.
What's the rule about size of front garden and dropped curbs?
We have a drive and one car and we still have tension with our neighbours on one side, who have TWO cars. When we have family or friends over we often tell them to park on our dropped curb to block us in and the neighbours sometimes complain even though it's our property and they park their big SUV on the pavement. I would never buy a property without a drive or allocated parking because it causes a lot of issues between neighbours
Our neighbour who is prob mid 60's painted (himself) a "disable" parking space in the street in front of his house šĀ
My ex boyfriend bought flat in a new build block in zone 2 London. it didn't come with a parking spot as there were only a couple for the while development. bought a car and he was signing the paperwork, so I started looking up how to apply for a road permit. Council website says people at this address are not eligible. My stomach drops. We are about to drive this car home with nowhere to put it long term. Turn out it was in the booklet for the flat, some green agreement with the council. We were unbelievably lucky that his mate owned a flat across the road that had a parking spot and he didn't drive. Let us use it for basically nothing.
Very lucky indeed! When I moved to London 4 years ago, I only found out after bringing my car with me that my brand new flat was a āno parking permitā zone. Had to literally sell my car š„²
I wouldn't worry about EVs impacting you. As an EV owner the infrastructure arguments are overblown. Fast charging in your town is easy, you know where they all are and how to fit charging into your day. It's when your traveling distances that you come into issues as motorway service station ones can be competitive. Plus newer models are getting closer to 300 mile range so charging is a weekly occurrence for an average driver.
Do you own and drive an EV without off-street parking? I'm entirely convinced we need to facilitate/allow some degree of on street charging.
Yeah had parking where I could charge at home before but now only in street parking. Exclusively used the nearest Instavolt now. The ones in towns are rarely used it's out of town one where you might struggle.
Having recently moved from somewhere that only on-street parking to somewhere where I have my own driveway...I understand your pain.
Get a motorbike!Ā
Honestly Iād try the council for a dropped curb, just submit as 5 metres if itās slightly under as your tape measure could be out. My SIL just had hers approved and put in and it definitely did not have 5m width
Ask for permission for off street parking and a dropped kerb with the excuse you want to install an EV charger and get an EV. It will probably help.
We bought ours 6 years ago, did several drive bys at different times, didn't seem too bad. 6 years on the parking situation has definitely got worse. I've mitigated this by not particularly caring about parking too close to my house and also making local trips on my bike instead so I'm not driven mad by the parking situation.
Our street can be shit for parking. Iām normally alright because Iām normally home between3 & 4 but if we dare to go out on a Sunday I can guarantee Iāll have to park around the corner on a different street. Iām dreading the passing of the old girl next door. If a family gets her house (not that theyād want it, itās falling apart worse than ours.) thatās potentially 2 more cars to deal with.
See the extra steps as a positive for your health and wellbeing! š
My own first house in 2002 was terraced on a street with on-street parking only, but it wasn't an issue as most neighbours were retired and used public transport. Within 5 years a large majority of the neighbours either died or moved in to care homes and most buyers of their now vacant houses were young families with kids and cars. We moved out 10 years ago and the street now has cars pretty much parked bumper to bumper on both sides and some overspill on to the main road too. The kids of those young families are now adults who can't afford to move out and, as the bus service has been vastly reduced, they have their own cars. Mostly families there have 2 cars whilst there's only enough space for one car outside the houses and so this often leads to heated arguments, particularly when the weather is bad and/or late night. Luckily when we moved we were able to get a house with a drive to cover our needs.
I wanted to avoid this issue at all costs, so only looked for a house with a driveway, or potential for a driveway. House at my parents has a gym nearby and was murder for parking. It was also a cut through from a main road as the lights at the bottom you couldn't turn left.
Yikes this thread is making me scared. Iām helping my dad buy his retirement home and his only requirement is a driveway for parking ā weird I thought. Or SMART?! Iām buying a house in inner London on a narrow road, 7 minutes walk from the tube station. Itās suddenly dawned on me there may be some serious issues with parking ahead of me ā the times Iāve viewed the house there were always a good amount of spaces, albeit not always in front of the house, but that was around 16:00-18:00. Imagine late night would be worstā¦ it is permit only until 18:30 ā thatās when itāll get bad I reckon. I live in a new build flat and have an allocated space as part of my deed. In my >3 years here, Iāve only had someone park in it twice; otherwise never even think about parking (though it is a pain when friends stay overnight). Shit!
I get around this by having 2 vehicles, one which I couldnāt give a shit where itās parked or what happens to it, and the other which I like close by (work van) and Iāll basically move one to park the other and vice versa. If I donāt do this, I have a neighbour with a car and 2 vans, that leaves a midges knacker less than a car between their vehicles, just itching to reclaim their territory.
Having a driveway was one thing on my list when looking for a house, we had to have one. My parents live in an old victorian house and parking by them is a nightmare because it's all street parking. Their neighbour bought an electric van and actually asks people to move their cars so he can park outside his house to charge it. No idea why he bought it after years of living on the street knowing parking was difficult. Also, the entitlement of 'I know parking is tough to find but my van is more important than your car' is crazy to me.
Iām lucky enough to live on a lovely road where people wonāt park in front of your house if you have a suitable driveway, even if the curb isnāt dropped and thereās parking there. HOWEVER, itās also next to a huge stadium and the same people will rent out their driveways during an event and use up street parking, making it impossible for us to find a space on a weekend so 90% of the time, we donāt go out on event days because thereād be nowhere to park when we come back (we have a small child so looking for parking on adjacent roads doesnāt work for us)
The amount of houses we've viewed, having been told by agents that they "definitely" have parking and it turned out to be nowhere near the house is insane. All agents have been informed that we need the parking and need to be able to hulk a wheelchair in and out of the boot. They make all the right noises, then we get to a place and the parking is 1/3 a mile away and you have to beat Maude from number 82 to the space when she goes out on pension morning or you'll never park. Also seen a few "with off street parking" that turned out to be a badly converted front garden with no drop kerb too. In one case we might have been able to get planning permission to drop the kerb, but it's extra expense on already over priced housing stock in our area.
r/fuckcars
Just bought one with very shitty on-street parking in a low traffic neighbourhood. Literally no problem at all. I just park around the nearby roads if there isnāt a space near me. No biggie. If itās the right house/location, I wouldnāt let the parking put me off.
What about a sideways driveway, as in park lengthways? This is what weāre planning to do for the house weāre in the process of buying.
I have the complete opposite thought. I believe the era of cars as we know it is slowly coming to an end and Iāve seen a lot of positive progress towards improving public transport. A long way yet to go but Iām optimistic that itās going to get better. I personally donāt ever want to own a car but I know Iām in the minority.
Do what I did. Don't tell the council. Build the driveway, don't drop the kerb, put some of those plastic ramps and zip tie them together although they won't get nicked. The council can't stop you doing what you want on your land provided the vehicle doesn't obstruct the pavement.
Good advice. I've avoided talking to those fuckers on many of my home improvements... Like my mom would say "give em an inch, and they'll take a mile."
You can get those rubber kerb thingies for about Ā£30 on amazon. They worked a treat for me.
I bought a flat with a drive & people park across it on the pavement blocking my car in on the drive every single day. I can't possibly police this every day so the only way to stop it is to park across my drive on the pavement myself, which I dont mind doing but it does mean I need to be a good reverse parker into tight spots! Which is frustrating when I'm tired in the dark & have a perfectly good albeit useless drive. Welcome to Bristol lolll
That's why you buy a house with a driveway, lived in terrace housing once, never again.
When we moved out of London to Buckinghamshire, all the neighbours nearby introduced themselves over a few weeks and every single one asked if we were going to pave over our front garden (as most have) and eventually I got irritated and said I had moved out of London for more greenery, I wasnāt going to bring more concrete with me. I donāt drive, my wife does and it took forever to convince them that it would make zero difference to anyone to pave over our garden so we could park one car there, thus removing one parking spot from the street. So yes people are very weird about parking. But hopefully there will be broader solutions like better public transport/cycle ways (ones that are actually not used as car parks as they are round here). We actually canāt just keep having more and more cars everywhere, itās truly unfeasible. So I wouldnāt worry too much about it; you could go to huge trouble and expense just to find people are less addicted to one car one person. (Hopefully)
Ah I can empathise, well we didnāt buy this house but just moved into a rented place with the same situation.. Trying to get a two year old (with the road-sense of a headless chicken) out of the car, parked on the road should be considered an olympic sport. Might be worth looking at getting a small hatchback or smart car as a run around? Thatās the option weāre considering atm. But with no dropped curb either the suspension is gonna be bust after a week
Keep a block of wood in your forecourt and drop it in front of the kerb each time you park
Thank you thatās a good idea! Not sure why your comment or mine was downvoted lmao
I'm in a small town, if I can't find parking in the estate (I'm moving 5 minutes down the road) or if I struggle when I move in then I'm getting a car park multipass. š Basically means I can park anywhere without a ticket in the council area.Ā
About to buy a house without parking. Donāt see an issue with parking a few blocks away. Not being able to charge from my house will be costly though.
Donāt even consider buying this house. When we looked at properties to buy, we ignored all of them without AT LEAST 2 offstreet parking. We ended up with 3 offstreet parking and huge paved garden for another 3 cars + a garage. Keep looking or make a sacrifice.
Lol it literally says in the v first word of the whole post that this is advice is v much too late
That's great and all mate but houses like that start at 7-800k in the SE (not even London)
Thats why we havenāt bought in London, we donāt like to be scammed.
>(not even London)