Neighbour scolded me about washing out in the front

[OrangeSplot]

Hello.

I'm feeling a bit stung and embarrassed.

We rent in a close. A few retired homeowners take care of the communal area (off their own back - do the gardens etc but I think our LL pays for lawn to be cut etc).

My neighbor just told me that I should dry my washing at the back as its "not nice for the neighbours".

Incidentally, my DH hung washing out front yesterday as the stand was there from kids playing and was sunny.

I was a bit taken aback - although I know/suspect they look down on us for having toys in our front lawn etc and more weedy than theirs. I can imagine it's not ideal but you just accept that you have a neighbour with lower aesthetic standards than you, surely?

If it's relevant I was told off last year because my friend had left her car in the communal grounds (not obstructing etc, just parked) for about 2/3 days because she ended up getting a taxi home. Another neighbor had a real go at me about it disrespecting the neighbours etc. It's just a car in my eyes, it was removed on day 3 or 4 I think.

I said little because I didn't want to say 'yes of course'. And I didn't want to argue so I just said 'I'll think about what you said' and I think I may have uttered 'I think it's an unreasonable request'. She said 'Well, , if you don't hang your washing out the back, I think you should know that it will be taken further'.

I just feel upset. It's not nice to have upset from neighbours. I'm polite and friendly and my kids play with their grandkids happily.

Is she being unreasonable or am I?

[SeptemberFlowers]

I LOVE that gnome, I want it for my back garden so I can put it by the gate and hopefully nosy neighbour gets the hint when she tries to stare in through the gate.

[ppeatfruit]

No, washing is not offensive. We wear the clothes fgs are we all offensive and skanky? It's inhumane IMO.

[dangerrabbit]

It's not uncommon to have a no hanging laundry rule - we were not allowed to hang laundry on our (ground floor) balcony or garden in my first rental flat.

[BarbaraofSeville]

Our house is an ex council house and when we bought it found out there was a covenant preventing washing being hung in the front garden. I mentioned it in the 'would you sit in your front garden' thread and speculated that anyone small minded enough to care about people sitting in their front garden would probably also be bothered if people hung their washing there and lo a behold here's a thread about people small minded enough to care about other people's washing.

It appears that it is not socially acceptable to use a front garden for anything except looking at which is total bollocks and I hope that no-one in authority would give brain space to anything so trivial.

Save the mental effort for something that matters.

[BarbaraofSeville]

If I was faced with such a pointless and pathetic rule rabbit I would fight it all the way highlighting the ridiculousness of it all and the right to common sense. I would be like the school holidays man on the news yesterday.

We all need washing and hanging it out to dry where possible is the best way. Rules banning the hanging out of washing should be unenforceable on environmental grounds because some people will use tumble dryers instead.

[sharknad0]

Our house is an ex council house

you don't say....

[KayTee87]

I would think it was weird if someone was drying their washing in their front garden rather than their back but I'd never say anything to them because it doesn't affect my day at all where someone is drying their clothes.

[BathshuaSpooner]

In your honour, I have just flung my hand washing, including my "delicates" over the front railing of my porch! Fortunately, we own our home and there are only two other houses on our street. Weirdly, the person most offended this is my mum.

[TheWernethWife]

Lots of terraced houses in west Yorkshire have washing hanging out at the front, even on main roads, no-one gives it a second thought. Definitely not a sign of mental illness at all - very annoyed at the post that suggested that. Not everyone lives in lovely leafy areas.

[Chrysanthemum5]

I usually hang washing out on the back garden, but the front gets more sun so if I have a lot of washing then some will go out on the front garden on a clothes airer. Everytime I can hear my mother in my head telling me it's just not acceptable to have washing on display, but really life's too short.

I would try to maintain good relations with your neighbours and hang the washing in the back garden, but equally I think your neighbours need to stop worrying about pointless things.

[crazymammy]

Okay, I'll edit. In my experience; it's extremely rare. Maybe that has to do with area as most here are on what's called a Tyneside lease. Management companies / freeholders can put these clauses in a lease but I haven't seen it happen often. If the property is freehold (most are here) then there will be no lease therefore no restrictive covenants attached.
Check your tenancy agreement. Also worth checking land reg and actually reading the lease yourself (also can check to see if it's freehold)

[crazymammy]

Also, where can I get that gnome? I want one haha

[Gwenhwyfar]

I've never heard that you're not allowed to sit in the front garden either. I just assumed those who had back gardens chose the back garden because it's more private - though neighbours can still see you if they're in their back gardens. Would be quite nice to sit out front and watch the world go by,

In the middle of this discussion, spare a thought for those of us with no garden, balcony or terrace who have to dry our washing indoors.

[Legendofthephoenix]

What you have to remember is they are old and bored. They have nothing better to do with their time. To keep the peace keep front garden clean and clear.

[PaniWahine]

It's very common in new developments in Ireland especially where there's apartments. Personally I think it looks really tacky driving past a building seeing washing racks - it reminds of the washing lines strung between buildings in the slums. It certainly put us some estates.

We have a small garden but cannot hang washing in it. Our downstairs WC was abnormally large (larger than our ensuite) so we reorganised it and built in a cupboard for a drying rack a dryer and extra storage. It's fully enclosed so visitors are not aware of anything drying.

[Ifailed]

SquigglePigs and others, I just googled 'mooning gnome'. I can't be held responsible for any images that pop up though!

[dementedma]

Don't pull out bluebells. They will die back naturally.
Brighten it up with a few pots and cheap bedding plants.
Chuck down wild flowers seeds, poppies and nasturtiums...you will soon have a riot of colour for very little effort

[vienna1981]

When I lived at my parents' house, one of our neighbours got an earful from one of the other neighbours for daring to hang out her washing on Sunday. The guilty party was not a Presbyterian (alluding to an earlier post in this thread) but a Methodist. She told the complainant, in no uncertain terms, to wind her neck in. Nothing more was said.

[Gazelda]

I'd do a double take if I walked past a front garden with laundry hanging. It's not something I recall ever having seen before. The norm is to use the back garden. And I'm a bit funny about letting others see my washing - I take great pains to hang my undies on the inside of the line, surrounded by outer wear to hide it.

Having said that OP, I dare you to leave your washing out in your front garden overnight.

[carabos]

PiLs used to live in a flat which was part of a very grand old house that had been converted. The garages were screened from the house by trees, and behind the garages was a little forest of those umbrella washing thingies. There was one for each flat. I once hung the washing out - never saw any washing out there so assumed that actually nobody but MiL used them - and when I went to get it in, it had all been moved to another one of the thingies. No other washing was out, but it turned out that one of the residents liked everyone to keep to their own line, despite it not being clear whose was which iyswim.

This same resident also used to knock and ask for cars to be moved if they were parked nose out because nose out meant that exhaust fumes went onto the plants when the engine was started. She was very emphatic that this must not happen and would knock at all hours about it.

[wasonthelist]

Our company rented a house for us in Bath once as lots of use were working there. The house was nice and we had a single allocated parking space in the little courtyard. We used to co-ordinate so there was never more than one car, and we only ever used our space.

One of the residents complained that she'd seen too many different cars there and demanded to be given a list of all the vehicles and when each one would be there.

[BlueJug]

Ha! Ha! - No - no baggy undies here - just my experience that those with nice undies rarely string them out for all to see!

However it is a question of what the rules are and respecting others. All this "Life is too short" and "They are old and bored and should keep their beaks out" does not apply when it is something that YOU, ( whoever "you" is) don't like. (Smoking, loud music, snogging couples lying on the front lawn, inappropriate something or other). MN is full of people policing others.

Still OP sounds like a good neighbour - just a question of adapting a bit for the sake of neighbourly harmony.

I lived in a lovely close once and the neighbours were great but there were endless arguments over the communal front gardens, (kids, smoking, a couple who used to sunbathe virtually nude, parking, toys, music, drinking - and yes -washing)!!

[OrangeSplot]

It was nice to hear everyone's stories.

Thanks dementedma for gardening tips. I did last week plant lavender and few flowering shrubs but a slug ate the only flower as soon as it bloomed. I have no luck with these things. I'll ask another nice neighbour for advice as it would be nice to have a nice front. Shame the offended neighbour couldn't instead offer tips about gardening as she is so passionate about it.

Loving the obsession with knickers and pants! I was more pre-occupied with the fact DH had put a red jacket in with some whites (yes it all went pink!). Maybe it was a jinxed load.

On a serious note, I don't like feeling like a second class neighbour. Pulling into the house now I felt a bit worried they'd stare or judge - just a smidgen .... intimidated.

NIght all. That was a pleasant AIBU experience.

[Grilledaubergines]

crazy. I'm not sure of your qualification on this but I fear you are incorrect. Well I know you are. You stated to check with the land registry to see if your lease is freehold. It's a contradiction in terms . A leasehold cannot be a freehold. A leasehold property (usually flat/maisonette, very occasionally a house) may be owned with a share of the freehold of the building i.e in a block of 10 flats, each leaseholder having a 1/10 share of the freehold. But the flat/maisonette is still leasehold and therefore subject to a lease. Which is why when a lease term is down to less than 70 or so years remaining, a lease extension is required. Otherwise the lease expires.

[gandalf456]

Wow. Have people nothing better to do? ?

Yes, it would seem unusual to see washing out the front, although, objectively, there's nothing wrong with it.

As for the garden, I really wouldn't notice the state of anyone's lawn unless very overgrown . And bluebells are lovely. I can't believe she objects to them.

Speak to your nice neighbours, hold your head up and brush yourself down. Bet they all think she is weird