Neighbor blocks new tenant's garage every day, demanding they ask for permission to come and go, tenant looks for another way out of this deal: ‘This is unreasonable'

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Mar 2, 2026 1:00 PM EST

What is the point of a private garage if your neighbor doesn't let you use it?

Anyone who owns a car knows that when moving to a new home, the one thing you should make sure you have is somewhere to park. You can find the best house to live in and still prefer to give it up if the area around it has terrible parking, because nothing is more annoying than arriving home at the end of a long day and spending another hour looking for somewhere to leave your car.

The new tenants below thought they had this covered. They made sure that the new place they were moving into had a private garage, which meant they would always have a private space to park in. However, as soon as they moved in, they were proven wrong. Apparently, their next-door neighbor uses the driveway in front of the garage door as her own private parking, as she claimed that her own garage is too small to fit her car. While there were no tenants living next door to her, she has been using the driveway as a parking spot, and now that people moved in, she is expecting them to let her keep at it. Instead of vacating the driveway and allowing these tenants to use their garage as intended, she demands that they let her keep blocking the garage door and simply call her whenever they need to drive in or out.

For some reason, maybe since they were still new to the neighborhood, the tenants went along with this arrangement. Every time they need to leave, they call their neighbor to move her car, and they do the same when they return home. Sometimes, she even takes her sweet time coming out to move her car, which definitely does not make things easier for the new tenants.

Recently, the tenants realized they cannot let this situation go any further, and are looking for ways to ensure the neighbor no longers block their garage. Keep scrolling to read the full story, and share your thoughts in the comments below!

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  • Man Opening Garage Door with Remote Control
    via Sviatlana Barysenka

    Man Opening Garage Door with Remote Control.

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

  • AIO - Neighbor blocks my driveway every day and wants me to ask her for permission to come and go?

    My roommate and I currently rent a twin house on a busy city street with tight parallel parking on both sides.
    via throw-away-17271
  • A major part of the reason we rented this house was because it has an attached garage to store my car.
    via throw-away-17271
  • My family and job are both outside of the city, so I'm coming and going at least every other day if not daily.
    via throw-away-17271
  • The other half of the twin house has been owned outright by the same person since we moved in.
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  • The garages for the houses share a driveway curb cut to pull in and out of which is a No Parking Zone.
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  • About a month after we moved in, we noticed that the same car continued to park inside the curb cut, blocking at least half of my garage door.
    via throw-away-17271
  • When I went out to get the vehicle's information one day, the neighbor quickly came out and introduced herself.
    via throw-away-17271
  • Her explanation was that she had recently bought a new car that couldn't fit in her garage, and she had been struggling with the lack of available parking in our neighborhood.
    via throw-away-17271
  • Since our house had sat vacant for a while, she had gotten in the habit of parking in front of the garages and wanted to continue for convenience.
    via throw-away-17271
  • She gave us her number and told me I could call her anytime day or night and she would move the car so I had unrestricted access to the garage.
    via throw-away-17271
  • While I can't say our neighbor has been uncooperative, frankly, I'm annoyed because I don't feel like she's making a good faith effort to make things work on her end for a few reasons: 1.
    via throw-away-17271
  • Garage door PVC
    via mirsad sarajlic

    Garage door PVC.

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

  • She will eventually move the car whenever, but she takes her time to come outside to the point that it causes traffic issues on our street, which has made me self conscious about needing to go out.
    via throw-away-17271
  • 2. While she claimed that her biggest concern was parking too far from her house at night, it's obvious she doesn't make an effort to look around.
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  • I've gotten home at 4:30-5 and she's already parked there while it's still daylight and there's ample parking on the street.
    via throw-away-17271
  • 3. While she was out of town, I recently went car shopping and after measuring our garage (which is identical in size), purchased the same car she has.
    via throw-away-17271
  • It's a tight fit in the space, but ultimately, it fits! I don't know if she is trying to get away with using her garage for storage but I don't think she's being truthful about being able to park in her garage.
    via throw-away-17271
  • 4. Most importantly, I'm still a bit annoyed that I don't feel like I got a say in this matter.
    via throw-away-17271
  • It doesn't seem like she's doing me a courtesy but rather I'm expected to defer to her because she was here first, which annoys me even more.
    via throw-away-17271
  • My neighbor splits her time between here and another city for work. We haven't had this discussion since the summer because she had to relocate back out of town unexpectedly right before I reached my boiling point, so once the car was gone, life here was great!
    via throw-away-17271
  • However, today, she's back, and I'm blocked again for as long as she's here. AIO here, or is it time to finally call in professionals or give her an ultimatum?
    via throw-away-17271
  • jallisy Is she the owner or another tenant?
    via jallisy
  • throw-away-17271 Original Poster's Reply Both halves of the twin are owned separately. She owns the one half and our landlords own the other half. I believe they technically are considered their own "HOA" and split expenses that are for both properties like the roof
    via throw-away-17271
  • Impressive Rush5018 NOR. Tell her that her time blocking your access is now at an end and that if she blocks you in again, you will have her car towed. She can only get away with what you allow her to get away with.
    via Impressive_Rush5018
  • TicoSoon Tow her. Every. Single Time. NOR
    via TicoSoon
  • Accomplished_Tax7674 Start going to the store at 3am, every day. Call until she wakes up and moves the car.
    via Accomplished_Tax7674
  • Classic_Cauliflower4 You're not overreacting, but I would make this your landlord's problem.
    via Classic_Cauliflower4
  • shestipsy NOR times a million this is unreasonable and entitled of her.
    via shestipsy

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Tags

neighbors parking space neighborhood garage driveway neighborhood-drama cars Bad Neighbor parking entitled people
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