In fact, the problem has grown to such an extent that it has resulted in “parking wars” among neighbors. The issue has become so sensitive for some families that they are now banning their neighbors from parking in front of their houses. Those who violate this “rule” are either blocked or they see their tires flattened.

Some apartment buildings specify parking slots for each apartment. For families with more than one car, this is a big problem. They often park their cars far away from the area to avoid any trouble.

The municipality made it a must for new buildings to define a parking lot on the ground level for residents in order to avoid problems. Nevertheless, some neighbors park on other people’s lots, resulting in tension over parking.

Muhammad Al-Zahrani, a resident of Al-Salam district, said that he had problems with a neighbor in the opposite building who always parked his car on his space. He said: “The first time he parked his car on my slot, I ignored it because I did not want to make a big issue of it. The second time I wrote him a letter asking him not to park there again. When he did it for the third time, I was forced to block him. He had to wait until I showed up and warned him not to park on my space, since he was not living in the same building.”

The problem, however, continued, and the neighbor insisted on parking on that spot since there was no other parking space available.

Al-Zahrani was left with no choice but to report the case to police.

Mahmoud Abdul Rahman, an Egyptian private company employee, believes that parking issues start when a family owns more than one car. “For each apartment, there is a parking slot.” He said: “When a family has two or three cars, they either take a neighbor’s parking space or park far away from the building.”

He added: “In the building where I live, my neighbors did not show respect for my space and I  always found someone else's vehicle parked on my space. This became a daily problem and I got sick and tired of fighting my neighbors. I decided to park my car far away. Sadly, there are people who lack respect and can do anything to drive their neighbors crazy.”

Mumtaz Ghulam, a Pakistani watchman, benefits from this "parking war." He is paid by the residents of the his buildings to prevent strangers from parking their cars there. He said: “The municipality should not connect utility services to new buildings until they make sure that the building fulfills all the conditions, especially parking spaces. Sometimes there are more apartments than parking slots available.”

“I have seen many problems between neighbors because of parking space. Residents started to pay me an extra SR50 per month to watch over their parking slots. It was a good deal for me, because all I do is prevent others — if needed even by force — from parking in the wrong place,” he added.