Ongoing battle with landlord (well, estate agent) re washing

I hate bloody agents. Its one of the jobs people go into when they have neither the skills not qualifications to do anything else.

Agents need to be put back into their box. They are not your parents, your manager or your boss. They are service providers and their commission is paid out of your rent. So they work for you. Remind them of this in no uncertain terms. Also hit them with a threat of mould disrepair direct to the council.

If you are planning to buy in October I would not be worried about them trying to evict you. If you complain direct to the council and they are ordered to do the works they cannot begin eviction proceedings for 6 months. Evicting a tenant who does not wish to go can take a year or more. And if your planning to buy you dont need a reference from them. You have them over a barrel if you choose to. And you can also threaten contacting their regulator and leaving negative reviews on public forums.

If there was ever a thread that demonstrates people just don’t read the full thread it would have to be this one.

OP posted her contract. It clearly states there is a designated drying area at the back of the block fir drying clothes.

Yet because OP chooses not to use it, 90% of you think the landlord is being unreasonable.

Talk about thick as fucking mince.. 🙄

Other property owners will likely have clauses in their leases to not allow washing to hang out at front of property. Basically there is a traditional view that hanging washing out is 'common' and unsightly and will devalue their properties.

My relatives apartment block won’t let them dry washing outside on their balconies , shame because it’s really very sunny ☀️ at the right times of year .
So it’s not uncommon for that to be mentioned in the lease or the deeds if you’re an owner of a property.
I dry my laundry outside on a line in my garden whenever the weather permits .
Other days I use a laundry airer and a dehumidifier which works really well and would help with your awful damp issues ( I do have a tumble dryer but limit use to items that can be tumble dried I check the care labels )
So I’d advise investing in one in any case
The damp and mould issue is for the landlord to sort !! they ought to make that good and supply a dehumidifier even if only temporarily.

YANBU!!! What a hell you are living and living in!! - if mould gets into your lungs and spaws begin, you'd be in deep shit health wise so stand your ground! Dry your clothes outside and in this climate are they even drying properly!! U got that to worry about too! Health is wealth and with the pics i can see that look awful, cant imagine the damp/mould smell or even considering drying inside!! If you gave those pics to your local councillor/mp, i'm sure your landlord would have to pull fingers out and do something! Also if you find you get ill and it takes longer than usual to recover mention to your GP that you live in a mould infested flat where the landlord insists you dry clothes inside - show pictures of the mould to your GP.

If the landlord will not listen to you - perhaps they'll listen when you rally up evidence why they need to maintain THEIR property and sort the mould/damp problem! Provide some aide how can they expect all those costs to fall to you??

You should be living rent free until they sort the mould out - its a deadly thing to be living with and dont let them fob you off with cleaning it or adding sealant.. if the walls are bad the whole thing will need gutting out and replastering etc etc ..even worse you find your problems are stemming from the upper flats' poor drainage or something!!

Targetting you? It does seem that way, especially if others are doing it without a problem!!

Target them back!! - shine many lights on your living conditions and show responses from your landlord saying to dry clothes inside and see who has the last laugh!

Look after yourselves OP - log it with GP you live in a mould infested flat etc and monitor everytime you get sick/poorly. You have the right to feel safe, the right to a private life etc and your cheeky landlord is breaching!

Christ almighty are people really this hard of comprehension? They aren’t trying to stop her! They are just asking her to use the allocated drying area at the back of the building (as it says in her contract!) SHE IS CHOOSING NOT TO!!

YANBU I'd tell them to go to hell if they dont like where your drying your washing then sort the issues out or give you notice to leave. If they give you notice to leave they would have to sort out the issues in the house in order to re-rent the flat put the ball.in their court it would cost them more to get you to move rather then letting you put your washing outside

The agent isnt stopping her

And no the wording does mean the opposite of what you are being told. It means exactly what you are being told.

Where are the areas designated for the purpose of drying clothes. You have to use these. Obviously, this does not include the front of your property. It seems clear to me that you are breaking the terms of your contract and others have objected. The rules are there for everyone’s benefit. It isn’t fair for you to break them just because you find them inconvenient.

Do you own or rent the front of your flat? Aka Is it a garden in your tenancy? If it’s not then you’re being unreasonable and can’t use public space how you please.

All the advice regarding mould is NOT to dry washing indoors. Damp inside will grow mould. Most landlords would be pleased that you are putting the wet washing outside. If you get mould because you are forced to dry wet washing indoors, ask the agent what happens then. There's been a great deal about black mould caused by poor ventilation and drying washing inside. People have become ill and even died. There is a law about it now I believe. I'd look it up and tell them asking you to dry washing inside and risking health is not being reasonable.

I know! That's why the agent is being unreasonable to try to stop her. Besides the fact it's better for the property for clothes to be dried outside.

But if that was the case wouldn’t you be strict about it during contract writing ?

Well yes, these terms are reflected in my lease, but the poster I quoted had no idea what the lease said when they replied.

id go to your local council private renting department for advice on this - they will be able to not only give you advise on where you stand but help you with estate agent. Damp is a big problem for renting and also drying wet clothing inside is going to make the problem worse.

No offence but it looks like a shithole. Living with mould issues is not normal. Why bother fighting this, why not use your energy to find a new place? I’d be negotiating exiting the contract with the landlord.

This can be a common rule. DD lived in a townhouse complex and there were no outside clothes drying facilities available. The developer supplied dryers in the buildings, but a subsequent owner removed it.

her choice was to dry it in her garage where she set up a thin rope line, or take it to the laundromat. For the most part hanging the line above where her car bonnet stopped, worked a treat.

They aren’t denying anyone anything. There is an allocated area at the back of the block just for drying clothes. OP just chooses not to use it.

my last tenancy said I couldn’t dry washing outside
or

inside.

so I just throw my clothes away then?!?

so I sympathise with the bullshit!!
house before that did have damp issues and no heating, so! I used a dehumidifier with a clothes drying function, amazing! And used a launderettes tumble dryer, which actually, I really enjoyed. I took a book and all my weeks washing, 20 mins and it was done.

Any professional landlord would ensure that covenants and relevant requirements from the freeholder were reflected in the lease agreement, so that the tenant was aware and so that the landlord could enforce! This seems not to have been done in this case. How are tenants supposed to know?

Just get back to them and ask them to send over the document containing the clause that prohibits drying out the front. Even if there is one, it will delay things and look as if you're compliant.
Your mould issue is bad OP - I would buy a dehumidifier irrespective of the washing. They're really good.

I would move, I wouldn’t be living in that environment and breathing that mould in. Clearly an issue. My apartment doesn’t look like that when I have been away for a week.

I'm assuming there's a washing machine in the flat as you have wet laundry to dry. I suggest swapping the washing machine for a washer dryer, either vented to the outside or a condenser style designed to empty via the usual washing machine outlet. This is if there's insufficient room for a separate dryer. I'm suggesting a washer dryer as your flat sounds small and it would occupy the same space.

Its probably some mad legal thing

We bought a 3 bed terrace new ish built and on the info it said not allowed to put washing in front gardens. Our neighbor sfill did