Have you ever had a neighbor try to convince you that you’re doing something wrong even though you know you’re not? In a case like that, would you argue with the neighbor or let it go?

In this story, it’s hard to let it go because the issue involves a parking spot owned by the HOA. One neighbor tries to convince another neighbor not to park there even though he doesn’t own the parking spot. Now that she needs to park there again, she’s not sure if she should.

I think she should ignore the neighbor. Keep reading to see if you agree.

My neighbor was being aggressively territorial over a parking spot that anyone with a permit can use.

I live in a townhome neighborhood with my family.

Over the late summer, some of us were getting our driveways redone so we would have to find parking arrangements for at least a week or two.

Street parking is allowed but not after 2am or you run the risk of getting a ticket.

Well because two of our neighbors *alone* have 11 people and a bunch of cars in addition to multiple homes having their driveways worked on, let’s just say parking was going to be a hassle especially when I would sometimes have work until 10pm.

She found somewhere else to park.

However, there are a couple “parking pads” around the neighborhood. The only requirement is that you would have to hang a plastic parking permit the HOA handed out to residents (2 per household) or else you could get towed.

I noticed that the 1 of 2 parking spots that I used to play on as a kid behind our house was usually occupied by my neighbor, but the other was always empty so I decided to park there in the meantime.

Things seemed fine for a while, but then when I came home after work one rainy afternoon his car was *deliberately* in the middle of the two spots again (one time he also had moved his wife’s car to be in front of mine so it was boxed in).

Her neighbor seems pretty upset.

I tried to get in as best as possible when he came out of his house and said he’d rearrange it and when I got out of my car he had his hands on his hips and wanted to ask me why I parked there but never let me answer.

He essentially told me he saw our driveway was worked on and it was “fine” for now but come wintertime I shouldn’t park there anymore because of his elderly neighbors and the “ice”, and that my car was “safe” being there.

Now mind you, I knew the elders *before* he even moved in to that house and they don’t even drive or own a car,, they get picked up if they go somewhere (also since he and his wife took both parking pad spots the elders driver hasn’t been able to use it so it defeats his reason for telling me to stop using it).

The whole exchange was him trying to cover up his disdain of me using one of the two spots which he or his wife never used before for 8 years until *I* started parking there!

It gets crazier.

He also said that I have two car garage and a two car driveway, but my family has 3 vehicles and 3 motorcycles while he has a one car garage and one car driveway with just his car and his wife’s car.

I smelled garbage on him and continued to park on the pads (with my permit!) when I didn’t have an actual spot and he ended up writing me a *letter* and leaving it on my car.

He signed it as The Homeowners of XXX instead of his name to try and make it seem formal like the HOA.

In the letter it basically said that me parking there was making it difficult for the “all” of the homeowners as they have smaller houses/lots and I should actually park at the *other* parking pad that’s literally like 30ft away from where I’ve been at. ?????? *seriously* ??

His request doesn’t even make sense.

He could use those spots if he wanted to and those are actually closer to his house than the one I had had been using.

At this point I knew he hated me but I literally wasn’t doing anything wrong because those spots aren’t assigned to anyone nor does anyone pay for it. The HOA owns them.

I guess he had enough with *anyone* except him or his wife using those spots because we later got an email saying someone was impersonating the HOA, leaving “tow” stickers on cars, and trying to reserve spots by leaving items in the way.

She’s not sure what to do.

Well it’s been 6 months since I’ve had a need to park there for any reason, except that my family is now going to have another vehicle for a couple weeks which means someone in my family won’t be able to park at our garage/driveway.

Would I be a jerk if I was considering parking behind my house at that same parking pad again? Or is he just being an entitled jerk?

I can just imagine how internally ticked off and passive aggressive he’ll probably be to see one of our cars there again.

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The neighbor doesn’t own those parking spots. She has just as much right to park there as he does.

Let’s see if Reddit agrees.

This person says to park there.

Here’s another vote for parking there.

Here’s some more advice.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a neighbor who was angry after coming home to a surprise hole in their fence.

This person would’ve handled it differently.

The neighbor is clearly wrong. Just because the neighbor wants to park there doesn’t mean OP can’t park there if she wants to or needs to. She shouldn’t be scared off by the neighbor’s manipulative tactics.

I’m sure the HOA would be on her side.