‘My neigbour parks to the edge of my driveway – is that legal?’

A neighbour has called out “bad” parking outside their house and left a note on the windscreen – but who’s really in the wrong?

Nightmare parking issues can be tricky to navigate.

Welcome to Sisters In Law, news.com.au’s weekly column solving all of your legal problems. This week, our resident lawyers and real-life sisters Alison and Jillian Barrett from Maurice Blackburn advise about your rights when it comes to neighbourhood parking.

Question:

I live on a street that is getting busier and busier with cars parking everywhere they can. Each house has a driveway but there are also cars taking up every bit of available space on the side of the road.

It’s so bad that I find it hard to pull out of my own driveway and get down the street. One ute in particular parks right to the edge of my driveway where the drop kerb starts – it’s a massive vehicle and it blocks my view when I’m trying to turn out.

I’ve left a note on the windscreen to politely ask them to leave half a metre either side of my driveway to give me space, but they still do it. What can I do about my street being turned into a car park? – Jordan, NSW

Parking right to the edge of a driveway is a very familiar scene in Sydney.

Answer:

It sounds like you are at the end of your tether and this issue, which you have tried to politely address, is not going to be resolved quickly or easily.

Firstly, we’ll give you a brief overview of the parking rules so you can determine if any of the vehicles are breaching the rules and what options are available to you.

You haven’t indicated if there is any signage in your street detailing specific parking restrictions.

It goes without saying that any such signs need to be complied with, for example a “No parking” sign. If they aren’t, a parking fine can be issued.

The NSW road rules state that you cannot park your vehicle on or across a driveway or prevent access to property.

Check out any parking signs that may be on the street. Picture: iStock

The purpose of this rule is to ensure pedestrian access is not restricted and visibility for other road users is not reduced.

This rule directly applies to the ute parking close to your driveway. It sounds like the owner of the ute is blocking your safe access, so likely parking illegally.

The parking rules also state that unless signed otherwise, a vehicle cannot park within 20m of an intersection with traffic lights or 10m of an intersection without traffic lights.

Your local council is responsible for enforcing the parking rules and should be responsive to complaints made by local residents.

If the vehicles in your street are breaching the rules, a good starting point would be to report the issue to council in the hope that they will do more regular checks of the area and issue infringement notices.

A polite note on the ute didn’t work. Picture: iStock

Most local councils have a parking management policy which will outline a process to allow you to apply for changes to parking in the area, which can include making certain areas no parking zones or restricting parking to certain periods of time or length of time.

You should contact your local council to obtain the application forms and find out more about what their process involves.

It will be useful to talk to other residents in your street and obtain their support for any changes you wish to advocate for.

Use photos to demonstrate your situation. Picture: iStock

The purpose of the parking rules is to ensure parked or stopped vehicles don’t prevent local residents from being able to safely access their property or adversely impact the safe flow of traffic.

If you have photos that demonstrate this you should include them in your application.

We wish you luck!

This legal information is general in nature and should not be regarded as specific legal advice or relied upon. Persons requiring particular legal advice should consult a solicitor.

If you have a legal question you would like Alison and Jillian to answer, please email [e-mail]. Get more from Alison and Jillian on their Facebook page