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It can get annoying when you have a neighbor who is always parking in front of your house, but if street parking is legal, they don’t have to stop. Asking them to park somewhere else is fine, but if you want a positive response, you need to ask carefully.

That is the situation that the woman in this story was in, so she is planning on writing a note to her neighbor to try to see if she would be willing to park elsewhere.

Sending a note is a good idea, but it needs to be phrased perfectly to get the results she wants. Read through the full story below and see if you think she got the wording right.

Advice on talking to a neighbor about not parking in front of our house

I understand completely that street parking is free and available for everyone to use.

Let’s see exactly what this person wants.

I’m asking for advice on the most effective way to ask somebody not to do so. The family across the street has a brother and sister in their 60s and her son and daughter who are both about 30.

All the neighbors consider them a little trashy because they leave their Christmas lights on for at least six months after the holidays. They pile up trash on the sidewalk for weeks at a time and then call bulk pickup after a month or two, and have two non-working cars in the driveway. (All which are are city ordinance code-enforceable offenses.)

Wow, what a mess.

Between the four people in the house, one doesn’t drive. The older son and daughter each have one car and her son has one working car and the two non-operational ones in the driveway.

The driveway fits three cars so there’s only room for one operational car in the driveway.

The neighbor doesn’t seem to be interested in pleasing people.

Recently, the son took over the mom’s spot in the driveway, so now all three of his cars use the driveway. She’s decided her preferred spot is directly in front of our house.

I’ve had problems with courtesy requests from her before because for a year, while she was taking care of her sick mom, she used to order Uber Eats every night. She would come out with her very loud yapping dog often after we were in bed to pick up her Uber Eats.

I texted her nicely asking if she could not come out with the dog if it was after 9 pm because my husband works at 4 am and it wakes him up every time, but she said, “Oh he’s just protective.”

That would get old quickly.

I repeated, “Can you just not bring him out with you?” and she ignored me after that. I swear that dog sounded like it was barking right next to our ear.

So, here we are. I don’t have high hopes about her moving her car but this is what I was thinking of texting. Can you give me feedback? Thanks!

Let’s see how she wants to approach this.

Hi! I wanted to reach out about something. Between the three of us, I was hoping we could chat about parking in front of our house, that spot is really best to keep open for my mom and other visitors.

Would one of you be open to parking by the avocado tree next to the picket fence (preferred) or under the pepper tree? I’m not sure if that space in front of our house has become your go-to spot, Krystal, but I wanted to see if we could work something out.

Suggesting that they fix their cars might come across the wrong way.

On a related note, have you had a chance to talk to Cody about moving the non-working cars out of the driveway? It’s definitely not something we’d ever involve the city in, but getting the driveway usable again would give your cars a lot more security, too.

I know public street parking is fair game and that parking in front of other houses is only a courtesy request, but I wanted to have a friendly conversation about it since I consider you guys friends and enjoy having you as neighbors. Let me know what you think!

Her intentions seem good, but I don’t think it will come across that way. Saying that she thinks it would be best to keep the spot open for her mom is kind of demanding. Instead, she should write it from the perspective of asking for a favor.

Let’s see if the people in the comments have anything to recommend.

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You can’t control where people park when it comes to public parking.

Lots of people seem to feel bad for the neighbor.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who finds his parking spot at a hocket game in jeopardy from a rude driver.

Here is someone who says that she is the bad neighbor.

This commenter says she can take her dog out and park anywhere and any time.

She needs to approach this as asking a neighbor for a favor, which is exactly what it is. She can’t demand the neighbor do something that she isn’t obligated to do.

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Author

Michael Levanduski

Senior Contributing Editor, Workplace & Community

Michael Levanduski is a veteran journalist and digital culture specialist with over 15 years of professional writing and research experience. While his background spans emerging technology and complex technical subjects, Michael specializes in analyzing workplace ethics, property disputes, and viral interpersonal dynamics across modern digital forums.

Since joining TwistedSifter in 2024, Michael has authored some of the publication’s most widely read coverage on corporate policy, malicious compliance, and neighborhood relations. Rather than simply aggregating online debates, he brings rigorous research, organizational context, and an empathetic editorial voice to everyday human dilemmas—transforming raw forum discussions into insightful, highly engaging narratives.

When he isn’t covering internet culture, Michael enjoys traveling, keeping up with tech trends, and spending time with his family. Connect with Michael on LinkedIn and Facebook.