I won’t let my neighbours’ Christmas guests park on my land even though I have acres of empty space

A FRUSTRATED homeowner won’t let neighbours and their descending Christmas guests park on his land – despite having acres of empty space.

The fed-up resident, who took to Reddit to air his grievances, has plenty of room to host a few visiting cars, but admitted he was stubborn and claimed he “didn’t care”.

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Thousands are making the journey this week to visit family and friends as they gear up to celebrate the festive season.

But space can often be a luxury few can afford, especially down narrow village lanes or built-up city areas, so parking comes at a premium.

On the recent post, which has racked up more than 300 comments, the resident revealed how his neighbours had a horde of guests arriving over the festive break.

The issue is that his neighbours lack the infrastructure at their own property to house all the vehicles that are coming, so they asked if they could use his land instead.

He said: “A bunch of family was coming to their house for Thanksgiving and Christmas and parking was going to be an issue, so they were hoping I’d let them park their excess guests on my property.

“They offered to pay me and also said if their family’s cars damaged my yard they’d come over and fix it.”

But the sentiment was shut down, as the resident worried that more charges might incur if he decided to go along with the ask.

There’s the chance he could be left liable for someone tripping and falling on his property or worse – especially if he had accepted cash for letting the family use the space.

So he asked the online community if he really was in the wrong -or if he shouldn’t be such a holiday Scrooge over the private space.

“I don’t know these people,” he said.

“I bought my land so that I could be all alone on it, so I said no. I could tell they were disappointed and they left without complaint.

“I don’t celebrate the holidays and I don’t know these people so I really don’t see how any of this is my problem or why I should care.”

Other homeowners have also run into similar situations – one Brit had to decide whether her brother’s disabilities outweighed upsetting her neighbours who wanted to use the vacant drive for their own.

Another homeowner took matters into their own hands as their frustrations with unwanted parkers led them to have a foreign truck towed off their drive altogether.

But there’s grey area over who’s in the right and who’s in the wrong, and you want to be careful that any decisions you make or actions you take don’t land you in bigger trouble or forking out a whole lot more.

What rights do I have if someone parks on my property?

If you’ve got a particularly long driveway, or a lot of property that strangers may park on, there’s actually no criminal law to stop them doing so without consent.

The only way you may see some action is by classing the act as trespass, as it’s your land.

The council can only intervene if it’s an obstruction on the road or public space though, so you may run into difficulty getting any compensation.

The council can act where a car is blocking a driveway while parked on a public road for example, but they have no authority otherwise.

If you’re not satisfied with that though, an abandoned car is a different mtter.

If it’s been left the car without tax, an MOT or insurance, then the council would be required to move it regardless of where it’s park.

But even if it’s intruding on your space, you shouldn’t take matters into your own hands.

You could find yourself committing a criminal offence were you to hire a tow truck or clamp the vehicle in an attempt to get rid of the offensive car.

Don’t try pushing it back onto the road either as you could cause damages that you’d have to pay out for as well.