Nothing can be more frustrating than a neighbor parking out in front of your parking spot repeatedly. There is a process that you must take to have the best chances of reaching your objective of stopping your neighbor from parking in your spot. Before I begin covering this topic, I understand that there are all different types of situations, on the defendants side of the story, that would exclude the following but for the majority of the cases this is useful and relevant advice.
As I grew up I learned that, generally, it was an unwritten law to consistently parking in front of another persons house. Besides my environment influencing, there also seems to be a primal instinct as well that gave me the feeling that it is wrong. Then, having my own residence I experienced it myself. My neighbor had parking spots in front of his house but insisted upon parking his car directly in front of my house by my mailbox. Here is what will work for you:
1) First, always verbally and calmly confront the problem. As simple as this sounds it can be tough to calmly communicate to your neighbor and be assertive yet not loose your temper. This always needs to be the first thing you do because nothing beats simply telling the person that parking in front of your house is unacceptable. Never skip to step three because it is inappropriate for the first way your neighbor finds out that you do not appreciate their behavior.
2) If the neighbor continues to park in your spot, which he probably will, then have the second and last talk with this person to try and solve the problem. I am speaking from my own experience and so I am listing what I did. There are certain unwritten laws that people should know and abide by when it comes to street parking. I thought long and hard about what I should do and how I should go about it and in retrospect I still agree with each step I took so I believe this is a good route to take.
3) At this point, if the neighbor continues then you need to change directions in your approach. The third step that I took was to put my two large trashcans in the street against the curb in that spot. I would personally not use cones because I think they are silly. I left the trashcans there for several weeks. I trained him to wean off this parking spot and gave him no other option but to figure out another spot. I received an immature note on one trashcan several days into his training but I held strong. Another option is to park a car in the spot for several weeks without driving it. I didn't have a second car and I didn't want to give up my garage parking for my truck. This is what ultimately worked for me and I will explain the dynamics of why I believe it will work for others.
The dynamics of this solution are not the trash cans, cones, or car. It is the fact that they must park somewhere else, especially a car since they cannot move it. First they get in the routine of parking somewhere else and secondly, when you remove the object they will remember you do not tolerate bad behavior.
Additional Tips
Take your emotions out of the situation. Don't become upset and do anything that will not help you reach your objective or even make the situation worse.
Don't threaten because actions speak louder than words.
Another option is to park your car in that persons spot. I didn't do this because I like parking in my garage and didn't want their behavior to make me change where I park, it would almost be as if that person had the power in the situation. But it is an alternative that I think would be less effective to reaching your objective but more spiteful and get the point across.
Unwritten Laws of Neighborhood Parking Click to take a look at the comedic Unwritten Laws of street parking in your neighborhood!