Don’t Park in Front of an NYC Driveway until you read this.

My new neighbors have a fire hydrant in front of their house. To accommodate the hydrant, they move forward and their head lights stop at the very beginning of the sidewalk dip to access my driveway. I have to pass my house and reverse and back into the spot in front of my house which puts me on the very edge the house after me’s dip, also putting me in jeopardy of getting ticketed and towed.

The house after me parks in front of their driveway, but their taillights are on the end of the dip so I can not park in front of my driveway and when exiting my driveway I am between the vehicles and can’t get out with out ripping up my car with my own gate, ripping up either their headlights or the tailights. I’ve call 311 several times. They won’t ticket the vehicle by the hydrant which is clearly within the 15 feet required by law and they won’t tow when called. I am seeking someway to make both of these neighbors understand the inconvenience and realize the plot of land attached to their house is impacted by the hydrant and on the next house the width of the driveway is 2/3 of the vehicle and puts the 1/3 on the dip causing me difficulty. Also puts me on the reverse because if I park behind them, then my car is on the edge of the dip the house with the fire hydrant, exposing me to be ticketed/towed. Please help.

Hello! There is a restaurant on a side street in my neighborhood that has put up No Parking/Active Driveway signs outside on their gate. There is no way they can drive a car into since there are chairs and tables in that gated area, but the curb is cut down. I always see the same car parked in the street blocking the “driveway” and I recently found out it’s the owner of the restaurant. I see this as him saving himself a spot. Can I park there? What are the rules when the business is not using the “driveway” as a driveway?

Thanks.

I live were there is a community driveway. It seems like now people feel free to park there cars in front of there garage, instead of putting the car in side . Is it legal to park a car in a community driveway, which can cause people to have trouble putting there cars in there garage. Also it seems when people have guest over they just feel its OK to let them park there. Is there any law that says they are not allow to park in a community driveway.

Hi,

There used to be a retail store that has gone out of business about 8 years ago. I parked in front of what used to be their driveway and got a ticket for obstructing a driveway. Your website mentions that if a driveway is inactive and I have proof of that then I can successfully get my ticket dismissed. What sort of proof can I mail to the DOT court that will be considered by their judges?

P.S. there is a for sale sign hanging on this property but also their “old no parking in front of driveway” signs as well which they never took off.

The driveway is not obstructed in any way all I know is that the store has been shut down and there is a “for sale” sign on wall. Is this not sufficient defense?

To my knowledge the driveway is never used (the gate is ALWAYS down). The building itself looks abandoned with the for sale sign being there for years.

I work in a school located in a residential neighborhood. Almost every house has a curb cut for a driveway that is either new or non existent. These people turned their front yards into “driveways”. Because of this, there are no spots left for me and my colleagues to park on the street. How do I know if the curb cut is legal?

I parked in front of a gated space with a “No Parking, Driveway” sign on it. But the space inside was full of junk–no way a car could fit in there–and, more importantly, there was no curb cut at all. The owner (I presume it’s the owner) of the building had painted some yellow lines on the sidewalk and gesticulated wildly about the sign and the yellow paint. Can he legally designate the area in front of his storage yard a “driveway” in New York City if there is no curb cut?

Thanks,
Amy

I have come across a number of signs that say “1 hour parking” or something similar, and have muni-meters downthe street or even close by, but the sign does NOT say anything about muni-meters, as most signs do. must I buy a receipt, or am I safe so long asa I do not overstay my one hour?

thank you, Larry

I live on a busy residential street where there is a house of worship. Every Sunday the drivers who drop off service attendees sit it their cars blocking the driveways of every resident in the vicinity of the church. In some instances the drivers leave and park their cars, either partially or completely blocking driveways. Additionally, many drivers double park their cars to stop in for prayer and/or wait for other attendees causing a serious and hazardous traffic condition. Trying to leave our own driveways on Sundays is treacherous because of the amount of cars that are blocking driveways and double parked. Visibility is poor. I have called 311 many, many times and have seen the police make a quick pass on maybe 2 separate occasions. Is there another solution?

Hi Larry,

My car got towed for allegedly blocking a driveway. I am unsure waht the fees are, aside from the towing company’s required payment to retrieve the vehicle. do you have any idea at all? I’m looking online, but I can’t seem to find any resources.

Thanks for all the help!

Hi Larry, could do with some advice on driveway blocking .

Mine is blocked all the time by people trying to avoid theaters on the right side of the drive and hydrant on the left side- so like many others I’m either squeezed or completely blocked

Is there anything I can do aside from posting a sign in the window of the house?

Orange stanchions ? 1 ft of yellow paint on each of curb cut?

There is clearly impetus to handle this well as people become agitated with ticketing and towing

Thanks for any advice

Ivan Schwartz

Hi Ivan,

Is their any certificate or document that can be used as proof of legal driveway.
The church i attend has a driveway with a no parking sing but it is always being blocked, as someone recently told us, the word on the street is that its an illegal driveway. However we have a blueprint showing this driveway was approved in 1959. We have tried to work around this, even not parking the church van there, but recently we got a new driver who lives far and its a bit time consuming to look for parking in the area.

Hi, Larry:

Here’s a question for you:

We own a row house (legally a two-family building, currently used for one-family) in a New York City neighborhood where on-street parking space is very tight and highly coveted. Many years ago, a previous owner of our house tore off the front stoop and turned the front half of the ground floor into a garage. The next owner of the house, quite few years later, convinced the city to give our building a legal curb cut when the street was under reconstruction. So now, lucky us, we own a house with a garage and a legal curb cut in a neighborhood where on-street parking is very scarce and private parking is expensive.

Here’s the thing: We hardly ever put our car in the garage. We use the garage maybe two or three times a year when we go out of town for longer periods of time and we can’t leave our car out on the street due to street cleaning. For the most part, our garage is filled with bicycles, winter coats, boots, gardening supplies and that sort of thing. It’s kind of like a big closet. Still, we keep a “No Parking” sign up in front of our gate and we often park our own car in front of our own curb cut. Sometimes, when we move our car, a neighbor will park his or her car in front of the curb cut. When that happens, we will usually just go park our car elsewhere. Sometimes, we might eventually ask the neighbor to move their car. In the many years that we’ve lived here there have only been three or four instances where we’ve actually needed to have cars ticketed and towed.

So, here are my questions:

1. Is it legal for us to hang a “No Parking” sign on our fence and block our own curb cut if we hardly ever use the garage for automobile storage and the garage is filled, most of the time, with things that would need to be moved to park a car? Based on your previous responses, I believe the answer is that what we are doing is, in fact, legal, as long as there are no fixed obstructions in the garage or front yard to prevent a car from being parked there.

2. More philosophical but perhaps the real question: Is what we are doing fair? Is it “neighborly” for us to hang a “No Parking” sign on our fence and block our own curb cut if we hardly ever use the garage? Is it wrong or unfair of us to take an on-street parking spot out of commission in a neighborhood where parking is so scarce and coveted?

Thanks!

Thanks, Larry.

To clarify: We have a garage and a small front yard. There there’s a sidewalk, a curb cut and the street. When I say that we “block our own curb cut,” I mean that we park our car on the street in front of our own driveway. We don’t park our car in our front yard or on the sidewalk. There is no space for that.

Our neighbors are mostly pretty great. Often, a neighbor will stand or park his or her car in front of our garage. We recognize most of our neighbors cars and if we need them to move, we’ll knock on their door and ask them to move it. More often than not, we’ll just circle the block and go find another parking spot. We know that we have the legal right to ticket and tow vehicles that block our driveway but we make a big effort to never do that.

We do have one neighbor who objects to our use of the public street space in front of our “No Parking” sign as our own “personal on-street parking space.” On the one hand, I absolutely see where this neighbor is coming from. I have always thought it somewhat strange that the presence of my legal curb cut, essentially, gives me a kind of ownership or control of the ten feet of public street space in front of my house.

On the other hand, experience shows us that if we do not block our own driveway, someone else certainly will, and it won’t always be a neighbor whose car we recognize. If we did put our car in the garage every time we parked it, it would be pretty much guaranteed that the next time we went to take our car out of the garage, there would be someone else’s car blocking our driveway. We live near a busy commercial street and that’s just the nature of this neighborhood. So, the best way to ensure that our legal curb cut and garage function as automobile storage is to simply block our own driveway with our own car.

Anyway… I am trying to figure out how to respond to this neighbor who objects to our blocking of our own driveway. She does not own a car, I believe. She seems to object to the principle of us parking our car in front of it. She seems to want our curb cut to be treated as a kind of community asset so that others in the neighborhood can use it for loading, unloading and drop-offs. Of course, if I took down the “No Parking” sign, the curb cut would no longer be available for those uses. So, I think what she is suggesting is that I ought to keep the “No Parking” sign up on my fence but that I should not park in front of it for long periods of time, nor should I enforce against others who make use of it.

Legally, I don’t think she has any case to make. I believe that as long as my garage is functional for parking and we use it every once in a while, I am allowed by law to block my own driveway. So, perhaps this is more of an ethical question. Maybe I need a rabbi more than I need a parking guru.

That’s going to be tough to find, Larry. All of the rabbis in New York City have clergy parking placards. They know nothing of the parking struggles of the common man.

Dear Larry,
This is my question:
I have a semi detached (4 family)property and have a shared driveway with my neighbor on my right side. She also has two garages and another independent driveway with more parking. She has no car but rents her parking spaces to the public. During the day she also rents spaces to a restaurant in front of her property.We verbally agreed for many years that I can park there and we had no issues until she decided to finally fix her damaged sidewalk and driveway. We had a curb cut for our shared driveway but after she fixed she eliminated her curb cut. Contractor advised her that she could do that and I am not sure if this is legal. They even went over my property so they could level the gap with my curb cut. I had to call the police since contractor was so mad because I complained. Police forced him to remove cement from my driveway but now there is a safety hazard among her sidewalk and mine since she did not leave the curb cut. I spoke with the neighbor but they told me to do whatever I want. I called 311 about this but after couple of weeks they told me that they have no jurisdiction about this.
1. Is legal what she did by eliminating the curb cut?
2. Anyone could fall down now on the sidewalk, who will be liable?
3. People is now parking in front of shared driveway since there is only half curb cut. Can I put a sign so they can not park? Will the police put a ticket if I call?
4. Can I take her to curt or any other solution so I can park there?
Thanks for any help.
Moises

Dear Larry,

I have a shared driveway with my neighbor. And I would like to convert the front “lawn” space of my house into a carport. However, there is a fire hydrant in front of my would be carport.

1. Is it legal for me to convert my front “lawn” space into a carport?
2. Once I have the carport and park my car there, what is the required distance between the fire hydrant and my parked car?
3. How far can my parked car dip into the sidewalk before I get ticketed?

Thanks,

Kang

Hi Larry,

I live in a private house with 3 car garage. My driveway and garage entrance is a bus stop so I thought no one would park. But I live next to a bar and the patrons park illegally all the time and even have placards (NYPD/FDNY). I don’t want want to start altercations with off duty officials. Am I allowed to paint the curb yellow or can I request the city to paint the curb yellow so that they know that they are parking illegally at a bus stop.

Thanks.

Ron

Hi Larry,

I live in a residential area and my neighbor blocks his drive to park when he has a spot in front of his house. By him doing that he forces me to park farther up my curb where I’m almost blocking my driveway. He is doing this on purpose because he does not like anyone on the block and I’ve tried to talk to him but he refuses to hear me out. Is there anything I can do to get him to park in the spot in front of his house which he has more than enough room to park two of his cars so I can continue to park in front of my house and not block my driveway so I can park my other car in the driveway without being disturbed? Or should I just park in front of his so I don’t have to worry about blocking my own driveway? The spots in front of the houses are not private so I can legally park my car there.

Thank you in advance,

Matthew

I own a property that has a driveway. There is an area between my driveway and the neighbor’s driveway that cars park in. But the problem is that when they are parked there, they are partially blocking my driveway. How can I get the city to place a no parking sign or yellow paint put in this area so that no one can park there. I do not want to have these cars towed, but this is really an issue. Please help or direct me someone who can.

Thanks
GG

Hi Larry.
Sorry for my English.
Today we parked the truck on private driveway and left the truck for few minutes. Ofter we came to the truck . But in a front off the truck already was staying the owner off the electrical shop. The driveway is in a front off his property. He started to scream on us. We took a sit in a truck and turned on the engine. After a few bad words on us, he splashed his coffee on our window, after he brought the metal pipe and broke our side window. Old men was really crazy. So we called 911. They came and arrested him. But the officer also gave the ticket to us for blocking the driveway.
So, my question is: “If the driver sit in a car or in a truck, can he get the ticket for driveway”?
Thank you

I was towed in front of my own driveway. The car was booted in the morning (my husband is like ticket master) anyway when he came back with the pin to get the boot off the car was gone. It was towed by a private towing company. I pulled up the law and see that I am legally allowed to block my own driveway there where not any signs stating “no Parking” My question is do I have to pay the tow company and what do I do if they insist upon my paying and holding my truck hostage.

Hi Lawrence.

Right in front of my house there’s a hydrant but I also have a driveway. Between the hydrant and my driveway there is a green pole with a no parking sign on it and an arrow pointing away fromy driveway. I parked my car in front of my driveway and my back of my car was about a feet or two away from the pole. I still got a ticket the next morning. Am I wrong for being too close to the hydrant even though my driveway is right there and there’s a pole stating I can’t the other way and not towards my driveway?

I received a ‘double parking’ ticket parked in my own driveway. I immediately took pictures and tried to submit them on line but the NYC.GOV website refuses to upload evidence until one week later. So, I follwed ‘their’ instructions and one week later, I uploaded my evidence. I received a guilty verdict stating “no indication of time taken” and no evidence of correct address”. I could take off a day from work and fight this but past experienece with this sort of NYC beurocratic unethical nonsense says to me otherwise. It’s a losing battle. The judges employed at the DOT are all corrupt.

Lesson learned: make sure you time stamp all pictures, but even this is a gray area since who’s to say they don’t tell you a minute too late is a minute too late. Also, make sure you take a panoramic spread of the area indicating the closet visible posted address on a building but even this is a gray area since a number of buildings in Manhattan DO NOT post their address over their front door (also a code violation, that seems to go nowhere).

Face it, NYC government is corrupt and unless you ‘know the right people’ in the 1% community, you will be taken for a ride.

Hello Larry,
First off, thank you for all the valuable information and responses; extremely helpful.

I was recently issued a parking ticket for obstructing driveway in Brooklyn, NY 4:00 AM. The so-called driveway doesn’t have a curb cut and has been unusable for most of the year due to various construction activities. On the day I was issued a ticket, the entrance / exit was blocked with bags of bricks(to be used for construction activities for house), rendering it unusable.

I tried looking up the 4-01(b) in NY Transportation Traffic Rules but didn’t see any specific clause relating to curb-cuts and driveways. Can you please provide more information around this which can be cited in my defense statement

Given this information what would be the best defense argument.

Thank You
Kaycee

Hi Larry –

I live in an attached row house. Each pair of houses in our row shares the driveway access to the individual parking spots on our properties. Our neighbor (with whom we share the driveway) has an adult daughter who visits from another state and always parks across her mother’s side of the driveway. This makes it difficult for us to get our car out onto the street. I once politely approached the young woman and asked her not to park in this manner citing our concern about the ability to get our car out if an elderly relative needs us quickly. She lied and blamed the parking on her sister without any promise to cease this bad habit.

Today we again found her car parked across the driveway. We were trying to get to a funeral and blocked in. A traffic cop happened by and she refused to ticket the car even when I told her that the offending car was owned by a non-resident from another state; she advised me to call our local police precinct. Sadly, that’s futile as the precinct doesn’t respond to robbery calls. So what legally allowable recourse do we have in dealing with this situation? Discussing this with the mother will result in a nasty, useless argument as she won’t discipline her daughter.

Thanks for your advice!

I PARKED IN FRONT OF DRIVEWAY OF A BUSINESS THAT DOESN’T EXIST FOR ABOUT A YEAR..CARS BEEN PARKING THERE EVERYDAY..THERE IS NO NAME OF ANY BUSINESS IN THE FRONT OF GATE, ONLY SPRAY PAINTED GATE WITH A OLD ” NO PARKING ” SIGN PAINTED ON THE GATE..THEN RIGHT AFTER CHRISTMAS I DISCOVERED MY CAR GOT TOWED AWAY..THE YELLOW LINE PAINTED IN FRONT OF THE DRIVEWAY HAS BEEN SCRAPED OFF THE SIDEWALK…WHAT IS MY RIGHT .. CAN I SUE THE PERSON THAT HAD MY CAR TOWED..MY POLICE PCT. TOLD ME MY CAR GOT TICKETED FOR BLOCKING THE DRIVEWAY THATS WHY IT WAS TOWED…BUT THE DRIVEWAY IS NOT BEING USE ANYMORE..THERE IS NO SIGN INDICATING THERES A NEW BUSINESS BEING OPEN THERE , IF THERE IS ONE…WHAT IS MY RIGHT.. CAN I SUE THE NEW BUSINESS THATS NOT OPEN YET FOR THE TOW FEE.

Dear Bill,

I have been trying to dig my car out of the ice for about 4 days now. Originally, I was parked legally, but I as I was backing out, I got stuck in an active driveway that had not been salted. No matter how we and my neighbors dug (even with different shovels, cutting the wheels in different directions, and even with manual pushes while accelerating forwards or backwards), the car remains stuck.

I finally was able to salt around my car today. But I am wondering if there is a law requiring owners of active driveways to salt? I was just unlucky to drive into their unsalted part of the street. This is a newly opened building that might not have everything up to code yet.

(I’ve gotten a threatening note on my car, so I just don’t want to get prosecuted. Thanks!)

Best,
Sarah E

What is the rule in nyc how closely can you park to someone driveway my neighbor parks on top of my driveway everyday to last inch what can I do we don’t talk and he knows he doing it

Hello sir, today i received a ticket and also my car has gotten towed because of code 98 subsection f2, i tried doing some research my self but couldn’t find anything really so i’m going to ask a expert. there is two driveways side to side for the same house. i and also plenty of other people have been parking in front of this spot because of the fact that nobody uses the driveway. one driveway is open and i could see that being into use which i why nobody parks in front of that, but the other side of the driveway has like 6 cars backed up into each and has been there and hasn’t been moved for years honestly. now i looked into it a little and seen that a driveway has to have curb, but the problem is there is only one curb that is lower from the other side and stays the same length to the end of the street, so my question is since this is my cousins house and all these cars hasn’t been moved and there is only one curb, and he is okay with me parking there. and also the address on the ticket is wrong, so what is my options sir? is this a good case to fight against?

Hi. My issue is a bit different. A “neighbor” (around the corner and I never met them) built some type of shed that resembles an unattached garage, but clearly is not, on their propery. There is concrete from the street to the shed, but only large enough for a smartcar or motorcycle. (They don’t own a smartcar or a motorcycle.) There is no curb cut, but the sidewalk is low enough that they could drive over it if need be. I have never seen a car parked in the so-called driveway, but I do often see what I presume to be the owner’s car parked in front of it. The issue is that whenever I, or anyone else, parks there, the owner tapes a note to the windshield saying “you parked in my driveway.” I think he’s just illegally hogging the parking space, but I’m hoping for confirmation before I tape a note to the front door telling him to bug off. Thank you.

My neighbor’s driveway is not as wide as the parking pad it leads to. The curb cut is 15 feet wide and the parking pad it leads to is 20 feet wide. He left me a note saying not to block his driveway but i was not past the curb cut on the street. Is he right?

Another neighbor has a wide curb cut in front of his garage that extends in front of another gate that leads to a house in the rear of the property. This walkway is clearly used as a path to the residence and not wide enough for vehicle use. Where does the legal street parking begin and/or end?

Final question. Is there a resource that shows the legal curb cuts on a city street? I live in NY City, Brooklyn.

Thanks for your help.

Good morning.
Thank you for all you explanation.

We re living in a private house in Brooklyn with three apartments and a parking available just for two cars.
The landlord has a non fonctional and non moving used car in the parking. His nephew has a new brand car.
We live in the second apt and we have a car.
The third occupant family in the third has his own car in the parking.
On one Sunday night my wife came from her work , the parking being full(with the used and non fonctional used landlord’s car plus the third family occupant’s car), she parked in the driveway in front of the house in which we re living more than one year ago.Before midnight ,11:30 the landlord and his nephew called us to move away our car so they could park their vehicle,because they said: driveway belongs to landlord, nobody can take his position. He( the landlord) wanted to call for towing our vehicle.We resisted with them for a few minutes . And finally we moved away our car .

Because we re living in the same house , is it possible for the landlord to request us to move away our car to put his nephew’ car in our place when he has yet his non moving used car in the parking?
Do we have any right in using this driveway?
What can you suggest us for this issue?

NB. Just for recall.-
House with three apt.
Parking lot available for two vehicles.
Total of cars in the building:4
I hope I was clear in my explanation.

Thank you for your prompt answer.
Lucien B.

I own a 2 family detached house built in the 1920s.It has a driveway that I never used, Now,that my children are older and own cars I placed 2 no parking signs on my gate in front of the driveway. My neighbor says that it is illegal and I will receive a fine. She also said that she will not me grant me access to my driveway when she is parked in it. She further states that I must receive a special permit to register the driveway.
Is this true ? How can I prove that my driveway is legal.

My question is about a parking space by the tree on a city street in NYC shown in the image I included. Is that a legal parking space? The owners of the properties in front of the space claim that this is not a parking space and constantly harass drivers or slash tires of anyone who leaves a car there.

Hi Larry, I fell upon this site by chance and started reading away..
For years I had problems from people blocking my driveway.. They would come back and say “it’s not a driveway” I would ask how did the two cars and garage in the back just appear?..
Well in the late 1980’s into the 1990’s It became quite fun.. I had uncaring store owners from the avenue and their customers parking because the felt entitled .. It was to hard to find a traffic agent or the Police to write a ticket so things had to change.
I am a licensed locksmith and an automotive repossessor with access to a wonderful array of tools and skills..
A fun game of hide and seek would begin.. (the statute of limitations are over now) I would get in and start cars and park them down the block.. sometimes I would park them backwards (one way street) I would leave them at Fire Hydrants.. but not block them in case of fire 9′ from them.. I once took a car to a major intersection to make a left turn.. I got out in the middle locked the doors an walked away… never looked back.. A minivan with an alarm, a club.. was moved to the wrong side for alternate parking the alarm and club were put back on … I had an idiot who kept parking there.. I opened his trunk and added old tires someone dumped in front of my house (how often do you look in your trunk) Next time he went shopping left him scratching his head .. As the years went on the electronics in the cars made it difficult to move the offenders without damage (I didn’t damage anyone’s car..just moved them) I had an older high-end car blocking.. I removed his rear lic. plate (inconvenience me, I inconvenience you) .. how often do you look at your lic plates? About a week later I heard a story on the news about a man who was arrested for driving with 20 or 30 suspended licences.. the reason he was pulled over… he had a missing rear plate… I looked deeper into the story and the color and make matched..I guess he got really inconvenienced… As far as painting the curb cut and asphalt… “I didn’t do it”, “Did you witness it?” “May be it was the guy I yelled at last week for parking there?” .. Yes I would fight that ticket.. We had a dog crap problem..we were told they can’t do anything unless they personally watched the dog taking a squat.. (talk about a crappy job)..

Hi Larry,
Do I have a doozy for you… I live on Plumb 1st Street in Gerritsen Beach. I have owned a house for 20 hears. Every house on the bock has a shared driveway since the houses are attached. These houses were built in the 20’s and had garage in the back of them. The garages are now all gone with the exception of one. Me and all my neighbors have had an understanding about parking all the years. It’s a first come, first serve attitude, even when someone larks in a shared driveway. Now all the houses have gates around them and there is no way you can get a car I to the alleyways.
We have a neighbor that is now Declaring her alleyway to herself. This being do e without any verbal notice and no NO PARKING signs on her property. She has been calling 311 and having tickets issued to those that park at her curb cut. Someone told me if the property does not have a c of O for 2 structures then the curb cuts are no longer legal. I do not k ow if this is true or not since I researched the question and have not found a definitive answer. This owner is a young woman that happens to be very bitter and walks around d with a scowl on her face. I actually feel sorry for her. We have had a few heated exchanges, and just today she went ballistic. She has told people on the block that her deed shows a legal driveway on it. And then today she told me that she has a permit from the build it back program. Whichever is true I would like to know for sure. If the curb cut is legal then that’s great for her, and me for that matter. Although I will still be a good neighbor and let people park in my shared driveway. It’s just seem so PETTY for her not to inform us since she clearly knows that this block has always shared our spaces with each other. I did read that one does not have to post signs but our block issue is different. Word of mouth is helping but I really need answers as I don’t want to this k about this person for much longer.
Thanks for any help and advice you may provide.
Liza in the beach.

a new neighbor decided to break the whole curb in front of his front property of his house leaving no spots originally available to park. in front of his property there is a driveway for a 1 car which was originally made to the house but apparently this was not enough for him so he decided to go ahead with his plan. i received warning letters from the home owner and second notice was received as a parking violation ticket of 95$
i strongly believe the construction of his breaking the full curb to his land was made illegally and unlawful + i believe he knows a cop or two to help him do his work.
in addition there is no indicated posted signs, markings or other traffic control devices in front of his property.

how can i find out if his construction was made legally and how can i prove the following to the near by police precinct

Hey,
In my neighbors driveway and mines there is a curb. But he usually takes all of the curb and leaves me with no space to park my car. He thinks the curb is his parking. Is he right ? Or should that curb be share?

I visit a friend who gave me permission to block his driveway and I got a ticket. How can I fight this ticket? Can my friend write a letter to the judge saying he gave me permission?

I live on a residential block and Brooklyn across the street from my house there is a4 car garage structure that is not attached to the building that the owner owns there are no signs posted saying no parking and I got a ticket for parking in front of it which I’ve been doing for 3 years because he is illegally renting them out to one of the people who owns a car is it legal for the police to write me a ticket just because this person called the police because somebody else was blocking the last stall of a four stall garage with no parking signs listed anywhere? What are the laws requiring a building owner to make it legal for people to park in the structure it is just a one story four car garage structure and I’m just wondering if it’s legal I’ve been told by the neighbors it’s not because there are no signs anywhere on it saying no parking

We have a business located in Queens. Our driveway is constantly block. There is a spot next to our driveway that if a car parks it will partially block our driveway. Since this is a very small spot – not big enough for a car, is there a way that we can reserve this spot for our business.

Thank you,
Henbert

Does this law apply to westchester county as well?

Hi
I live in Brooklyn
parking is very hard …
i have a house on my block that was empty for a while and it has a small narrow drive way and was never used
someone recently moved in and put up a No Parking sign
i would like to know if there is any website or phone number i can check if the driveway is legal
Thanks in advance

Hello.
After the blizzard, the is nowhere to park on my street. I own a house with a single car driveway but I have 3 cars. I usually park my other 2 car on the street. However, after the blizzard, I parked one car in front of my house. The second car is parked on the driveway and the 3 rd car parked behind it. The third car’s back is already on the street, behind my first car parked in front of my house. Is my 3rd car going to get towed or get a ticket if I do this?
Hope I get an answer immediately.
Danny

I live in Brooklyn NY. On my block, there is a home, which has been vacant and for sale since October 2010. The windows and doorways are boarded up, and there is a Warning sign on the front door indicating that Rodents and Animals may be living in or around the property. The owner lives in Florida.
This home, like all the other homes on my block, has a driveway which can fit at least 3 mid sized sedans. The family who lives next door, has started parking one of their cars in the abandoned homes driveway. They claim that the owner of the home has given them permission to do so. However, recently, a friend of mine who works in Residential Real Estate in the area, informed me that the home actually SOLD 6 months ago. For whatever reason the new owners have not yet shown up.

My concern and my informal gripe is…
Can the neighbors monopolize this driveway?
What would happen if I parked there? Or what if I parked on the street in front of the driveway entrance?
Am I correct in saying…only the OWNER of the property can arrange to have me ticketed and towed? And furthermore, would this tow or ticket arrangement have to be done IN PERSON? Or could they call it in over the phone?
Sorry for the lengthy and wordy story. Please advise.

Thank You

Peter

Hi Larry,

Regarding parking on the street near the curb – drivers are constantly parking OVER the curb in front of my property (because the road narrows in the area and they’re probably afraid to get their mirrors clipped by passing trucks.) What is the legality of cars parked on top of the curb, and also over it unto the grass cut? Is this something I can ask a traffic agent to come write a ticket for?
Thanks.

Hi Larry! I have a legal curb cut/driveway at the commercial space I lease. Am I allowed to paint the curb yellow, or no? I can’t find a definitive answer. What I’d really like to do is paint the entire curb cut apron yellow with black “no parking”, and paint a yellow striped box on the street adjacent. What do you think? I see this done in several places, including at least a dozen in the immediate area of this space.

Hello

I had a rental car on my name and i park it between two driveway one of my friend and the other one from another person and because the place between the two driveways was small so the back bumper was a little bit on the driveway of my friend (but was place to go in and out from the parking of my friend) and i get a ticket!
If i can fight it and how with wich paper (i can ask him that he say that i live there, or that the vehicle was on his name etc.)please?

i get also another ticket with fire hydrant because i park my car in double (because its was cleaning the street) but at the moment that i park it i didnt see the fire hydrant because was a car park next to the fire hydrant, how i can fight it please?

Thank you

Great Info Article!!! Thanks Larry

Does your driveway start where the curb cut starts or where the house is?

Hi Larry,

Do you know what happens if the curb-cut extends past a property line?

In the area of North Brooklyn we live in, it’s not uncommon to see a curb-cut extend 5 or six feet to each side of a garage door (that opens onto a sidewalk), and that often cuts into another property line. For example, a garage on an apartment building might start 1-2 feet into the property line — but a curb-cut starts 2-3 feet before the property line begins — so there is a considerable margin between the curb-cut’s start and the garage . From what I can tell, the curb-cut ignores most zoning regulations and would be illegal (too wide, crosses over property lines). But it’s still there.

Just to be clear — I’m not concerned about the legality of parking in front of the garage with a (possibly) illegal curb cut — that would(obviously not allowed. My question is about parking in front of an adjacent building and having part of the car overlap with the curb-cut — but that overlap does not encroach onto the property of the building with a garage and is offset 1-4 feet from the plane of the garage opening.

Hi. My house sits on 2 lots so my legal driveway is larger than usual. I have a legal curb cut that is 18′. I need that extra wide space because in order to get into my driveway which is only wide enough to accommodate the width of one car, I need to turn into the driveway, on a bit of an angle. The point is, it is hard to notice that the curb cut is as big as it is, especially because it is so unusual in my neighborhood. I painted lines on the street to show where my driveway starts and ends, and I got a $250 ticket from DOT because as I learned, I’m am not allowed to mark the street. They offered no help to my problem and as a result, people block my driveway all the time making it extra hard for me to get on and out. Any advise?

why is a summons required before you can have the car blocking your drive way towed? as long as cars can pass, why can’t i double park and block the guy in until the two truck gets here, which i’m told could take 8 hours!

Hi. I live in queens nearby the mall where street parking is not easy to find. I own a 2family house with 2car parking. I have 3cars. I park my 3rd car (old small RAV4) on the street if I’m lucky but if not, I park it on my private driveway ramp in an angle since it don’t fit to park parallel on my driveway ramp. Since my car is small my bumper sticks out on a portion of the sidewalk in front of my house & left 1 1/2 slabs open space for sidewalk for people passing by. When I park like that I ask a cop passing by if it’s ok that I park like that & they said I’m fine as long as I left at least 1slab for sidewalk since the sidewalk is kinda wide anyway. But I still got the ticket after few hours of parking in front of my driveway. Ticket stated angle parking unattended in front of my house. Is it right that I got this ticket? Thanks!

Hi Lawrence,
Are driveways solely meant for vehicular traffic? I ask because I was ticketed for blocking a driveway which I don’t feel was an actual driveway. It was in front of a gate, about 6ft wide, meant for storing building trash. No car can fit in there. It had a curb cut that also measured 6ft wide.
The Dept of Transportaiton defines a driveway as a path meant for vehicles and Dept of Buildings says a driveway needs to be a minimum of 8.5ft x 18ft.
Do I have a chance?
Thanks

I am friends with a local business owner who allows me to park in his commercial driveway after business hours. Is this legal in NYC? Thanks.

Hello,

If I have a sign on my fance ” don’t block drive way tow away at owner expenses” can I legally tow away any vehicle that block my drive way? If no what’s my rights for having the sign on my fance?

Hey Larry,
I am a teacher in NYC, Brooklyn Borough, and parking is tough around schools. Many teachers pay to rent a driveway. I have come to an issue where the owner needs me to not pull into the driveway and asked me to park in front to block in her driveway. Am I able to do this if the owner gives me permission? ? I have read things about only if the car is registered to the house in front? Do they really enforce this rule?

Concerned Amy

Hi Larry,
I live in a 2 family house with a garage in Queens. I park in front of my driveway often and leave a note in my car’s dashboard that identifies the car as the owner’s vehicle and even cites the section and clause of the traffic law (Section 4-08 (f) ) that gives me the right to park there. Every so often over the years I get an occasional ticket for no meter ticket — but recently I got a ticket for not having a permit for a private driveway! I’ve never heard of the city issuing parking permits for private driveways (if so, do you know where/how to apply for one?) — so I guess the city can give me a ticket for breaking a law that doesn’t exist??!!
Many thanks in advance.

Hello,

First, thank you very much for being such a valuable resource in trying to help us understand the different parking issues in NYC. I was wondering if there is a way to determine if a driveway curb cut is legal or not. I tried searching the buildings department website but was not able to find any information. Thanks again!!

random cars keep parking in front of the driveway because I live on a very busy street. Can I put a cone in front of my driveway to block the entrance? The cops do not respond and I am left a lot of time not being able to get into my driveway.

Can i put a cone to block the entrance of my driveway?

Hi Larry,

I recently was parked in front of what has always been an inactive driveway – no “no parking signs” or “active driveway” for business. Out of a lack of parking options (thanks to all of the daytime construction happening at once), I parked there for a couple hours and came back to move and VOILA! My car was gone. I eventually tracked it down being towed by a private company. I ended up having to pay $200 CASH ONLY to get it back and when I got home realized they had towed it by dollies and left damage on the front right rim.

After looking into the matter, I also found out that’s the improper way to tow an AWD vehicle and cause serious damage to the transmission or axles. Is there any documentation the tow company needs to provide or have on file for tows? My payment receipt doesn’t state how it was towed but I was hoping to get an official summary in the event damage was done internally from the tow. My biggest fear is my vehicle’s warranty would be void from an improper tow (which I had no say in). I’m trying to also decide where I take this claim – insurance vs small claims?

Any advice appreciated!

We have a neighbor who put a sign on her gate that says no parking in driveway without a cut. The driveway is a small passage way leading to a small building which someone lives in the back yard. So therefore, if a car was parked there it would not allow access to the building. The passageway is not large enough for a car to park but since she has 4 cars she uses it to Parallel Park on the street to maneuver 2 cars to block enough space for 4 cars when her family comes home from work, so she always has a spot. Not bad enough, but on alternate parking days she has a neighbor who has a garage save her spots. As she must be in front of the bogus driveway and if anyone else parks there she yells at them and tell them to move. All the neighbors are at wits ends. What can we do to end this?

Hi Larry,

I know this is slightly different, but wondering if you can help. There is a driveway that is on the other side of the fence from my building’s backyard. For years it has been used for its stated purpose, with cars parked there. This spring, a young man leased it and is throwing loud parties there (which he charges an entrance fee for) on weekends. I have looked up the zoning and it is zoned as “unlicensed parking lot”. Because it being used outside its zoned use, is it illegal? I’ve tried to report it to 311 but they didn’t seem sure how to direct my complaint. I tried to file it under illegal change in occupancy, but I’m not sure if that is the correct direction. Wondering if you have any thoughts. Thanks in advance for your help.

Hi,
The neighbor across the street from our house is running their business out of their home which is fine but they have people come by all the time and they always block our driveway. We constantly have to ask them to move the cars, it’s getting tiring. The people that live in that house are lawyers, what can we do to make them comply if they clearly don’t care about the situation. How can we fight the situation.

Thank you

HI Larry,

Thank you for all your great advice.

I have a contrarian problem. I parked in front of an illegal driveway by accident (it was dark and did not look like a driveway).

My car got towed by a private tow company and I paid $200 to get my vehicle back.

I fought the ticket and won.

But the city will not refund the money, the private tow company will not refund my money.

Do I have any recourse?

I’d really like to get my $200 back and the idea of being punished for someone else’s intransigence is deeply infuriating.

Thanks so much,

My driveway is large due to the fact I have a two car garage, but the driveway is the width of 3 cars. People constantly park in my driveway even when there are other places to park on the street. This is a residential neighborhood. Just tonight I was arguing with two ignorant people. A Man and a Woman. She was saying he is not parked, but yet he is outside of his car and it is running in my driveway. I had to honk him when I came home so he could move. Once I backed into the driveway he reversed back into my driveway hence the exchange I had with them. What I can I do to prevent this from happening? I feel helpless. Why are people so inconsiderate?

Can someone who is not an owner or tenant of the residence of the blocked driveway report the blocked driveway violation ?
Thanks.

Hi Larry,
I have a questions about a garage without a curb cut. I parked there not noticing the garage. The owner left a note on my car stating that I had blocked his garage. I looked around and there is definitely not a curb cut. I can tell curb/sidewalk have been there a long time due to the wear and tear on it. Is this a legal “driveway” without a curb cut?