First-time homeowner clashes with longtime resident who refuses to move his broken truck and boat parked in front of his new house, blocking access for trade crews, leaving homeowner feeling stuck without HOA support: 'No one else has ever had a problem'

Author image for Emma Saven
Emma Saven
Oct 27, 2025 7:00 AM EDT

This first-time homeowner cannot believe his neighbor's entitlement as he refuses to move his boat, motorcycles, cement mixers…the list goes on, out of his driveway. It's not the most considerate way to welcome a new neighbor to the community, and we're not even sure it's fully legal…?

I would expect anyone looking to invest in a new property, especially someone looking to call that place home, to not only gauge the pros and cons of the property but also thoroughly consider its surroundings. A neighborhood is not only made up of roofs and walls, but also those who live within them. So one has to be extremely thoughtful when picking the location of their potential home. Unfortunately, we're not quite convinced this new buyer zoomed out of the image of his 'perfect home,' and looked at the full picture: aka his uncompromising, elderly neighbor who thinks he's entitled to park his endless number of vehicles and belongings on his property! 

When he finally gets the confidence to stand up for himself, after his trade crews working on the house had to park miles down the street, he was met with the classic line of 'I've lived here for 40 years and no one else…blah blah blah'. Oh, boy, this is going to be a bumpy ride!

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  • So yeah, the moral of the story is to bake your potential new neighbors a sponge cake, take it to their front door, and do just enough snooping to discover whether or not the resident has any obvious red flags! Here are a few examples that the new homeowner clearly needed to be informed about beforehand: 1.) A boat that doesn't fit in his yard. 2.) A truck that doesn't fit in his driveway 3.) 3 motorcycles that take up about 4 parking bays, and last but not least 4.) A cement mixer that we're not even going to try to begin explaining…

     

  • 01
    Boat parked in the street.
    via goceris2

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02

    Closed on my first home 2 months ago, moved in last month. Next door neighbor has refused to move his broken down truck and broken down boat from in front of my house. No HOA. What are my options?

    They've both been parked there since we had our first tour of the place in July.
    via stevis33
  • 03
    When we moved in, I made a point of introducing myself to both next-door neighbors and he told me if I ever needed the space he could move them for me and he gave me his number.
    via stevis33
  • 04
    Not a huge deal, I didn't need the space at the time. A few weeks in, trade crews started showing up at my house to do some work and had to park several houses down and walk all their tools and materials up to my house.
    via stevis33
  • 05
    They were understandably frustrated, so I texted my neighbor and asked him to move them. His response was basically "I've lived here for 40 years and no one else has ever had a problem with me parking all my shit in front of their houses, so why should you" (note: in addition to the truck and boat parked in front of my house, this neighbor has four vehicles and an industrial cement mixer in his driveway, two motorcycles parked on his lawn, three vehicles parked on the street in front of his hous
    via stevis33
  • 06
    Everyone I've spoken to IRL has said without an HOA there is little recourse for me since he is not blocking my mailbox or driveway - am I missing anything?
    via stevis33
  • 07
    Man and elderly neighbor having a disagreement.
    via africa-images

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 08
    Main_Insect_3144 Call local code enforcement. Non operable vehicles and random "shit" should not be parked on the street.
    via Main_Insect_3144
  • 09
    Face_Content If the vehicle is broken down there may be a city ordinance. Also, if its not registered it may be illegal to park on a city street.
    via Face_Content
  • 10
    SURGICALNURSE01 The 2 bikes parked on his lawn would have had me looking elsewhere. That was one huge red flag. A slob of a neighbor
    via SURGICALNURSE01
  • 11
    Tall_Potential_408 Have you tried replying at all or did conversation end with his response? Best way to avoid a neighbor dispute is to just reach back out and say, "I don't mind but a lot of the guys working on my house need better access to the property. Its not a huge deal but if you can move them, I would really appreciate it." Of course the city/county might be more helpful but I recommend trying to handle it in person first. Older homeowners who hoard stuff can be really paranoid and poten
    via Tall_Potential_408
  • 12
    theeakilism i don't know where you are but where i live you can only leave a car parked on the street in the same spot for 72hrs. i'd probably check with code enforcement and see what they say about the situation.
    via theeakilism
  • 13
    HereWeGo_Steelers You bought the house knowing the house next door was a junk yard and the broken down vehicles were parked in front of your house. Now you want to fix the problem that you could have avoided by not buying the house. Check your local codes to see if parking vehicles in your yard is permitted. If not, you can call code enforcement on them. You can also check your local parking laws to see whether they are violating them by leaving the vehicles in the street.
    via stevis33
  • 14
    ahsmabaar_thegardner I have a very similar situation with a neighbor which has devolved into him shouting insults and threats at my husband every time he's outside. If I learned one thing from all the bullshit he's put us through is get the authorities involved sooner rather than later when dealing with an unreasonable asshole. So, time to find out what the parking codes are where you live and start making code violation complaints. It took three complaints to the city and as many tow notices st
    via ahsmabaar_thegardner
  • 15
    Cars parked on a residential street.
    via procreatorss

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 16
    Unfair Negotiation67 Check with city/town zoning. Almost certainly in violation of something. Also though, all that shit was there throughout the entire process and you expect something different now? Neighbor sounds like a piece of work and general nuisance, but all that seemed obvious from the jump. So good luck getting anything to change:/ You may be waiting that guy out for a while.
    via Unfair_Negotiation67
  • 17
    rosebudny if it is a public street with no parking restrictions then yeah, he can park there. That said some towns have rules about "abandoned vehicles" - ie vehicle can't park in the same spot for more than X days, so check that.
    via rosebudny
  • 18
    Repulsive_Brief6589 You report them as abandoned. You have no idea who they could belong to.
    via Repulsive_Brief6589
  • 19
    Sensitive-Season3526 There are zoning laws generally about tricks, cement mixers, boats, etc being parked on public streets and sometimes on private property. Call the zoning department.
    via Sensitive-Season3526
  • 20
    anonymousforever try nice one last time put a neon sticker "move within 24 hours of today's date, or it will be towed at owners expense" on each vehicle, sticker facing his property. Also put a letter on his door and one taped to the window of whatever he
    via anonymousforever
  • 21
    drives "this is your notice, vehicles on the property of xyz address will be towed in 24 hours if not moved before x date x time." video that you did all this, to show you gave fair warning.
    via anonymousforever
  • 22
    Striplin Tree I would hire somebody to drag them off somewhere
    via StriplinTree
  • 23
    Grande Tasse If it's on your land you can serve him written notice to remove it within 7 days or you will dispose of it. If it's legally parked on a road or on someone else's land you can either like it, lump it, or buy a big hedge.
    via GrandeTasse
  • 24
    Ibuildthecoolests t Start throwing bird seed around them. He will move them or they will look completely abandoned and then get them towed
    via Ibuildthecoolests**t

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neighbors drama neighborhood renovations driveway communication moving in neighborhood-drama bad neighbors cars unwilling crowded motorcycle no space parking entitled people boats
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