Shared Driveway With Neighbor

[Bryan Igboke]

I am soon to close on my first rental property (so excited!!). To be precise, I am househacking and living in an adu conversion in the back. The deal is great on paper and everything has gone very smoothly so far.

One minor problem that has come to my attention is that my property shares the driveway with the neighboring home. The previous owner of my home said he would park there half the week and they would park there the other half. I could see this possibly causing unnecessary problems in the future if someone parks there on the wrong day or if maintenance costs arise and we can't decide who should pay what.

Truth be told, I primarily want the space so I can park my cars and not have to worry about looking for a spot on a relatively crowded street or worry about street sweeping. One solution I thought of was simply paying the neighbor a lump sum amount to reserve rights to the driveway. Has anyone done this? If so, how much did you pay them? I would love feedback from anyone who has successfully navigated through this problem.

Thank you,

Bryan Igboke