To think this is unacceptable conditions for a tenant?

[FedUpTenant]

I've been living in a rented flat now for 5 months. It is very cold in the building, confirmed by other tenants who live in the above/adjacent flats. You can put the electric heaters on but it costs a lot of money, I averaged £500 over the last 4 months before I realised! I am willing to put up with the cold in the flat and wear a furry onesie 24/7, but my AIBU is this:

It is virtually impossible to dry clothing in the flat. It takes upwards of 3-4 days to dry one load. Even with the heating on during the evenings it will still take 2-3 days to dry one load of clothing on a clothing horse. As there is wet clothes hanging for days upon end it causes the walls to be damp and paint to rub off.

Living in a two bedroom flat with a toddler, I need to be able to wash clothing more than every 4 days. It's really stressful to have mountains of clothing piling up because it is impossible to dry.

I have resorted to buying a tent like device in order to dry the clothing in a reasonable amount of time: tinyurl.com/ycvu9z8n
As you can imagine this is again impracticable as I have a massive tent in my living room and I also work from home so it doesn't look particularly professional.

I was reasonably happy with this solution until a friend visited today and said that this situation is ridiculous and she believes I have grounds to ask the landlord to buy a washer-dryer. She also thinks I could go to environmental health for the cold and unacceptable drying conditions.

Do I have the right to argue this with the landlord? Is there anything in law that says that this is unacceptable?

Heated clothes horses or you can rent a washer/dryer in most places for a while if you are unable to afford one yourself. Failing that, take them to the launderette to dry. I don’t think it’s the landlords responsibility.

The oil filled radiators (Delonghi) that someone else mentioned chuck out a heap of heat, a large one would heat a small flat by itself, more than one room. I'd get one of those and abandon the storage heaters for warmth, then as everyone says, get a dehumidifier for washing and either a heated rack or service wash out of the home if you really can't have washing hanging about.

What you could potentially do is come to an arrangement with the LL re. getting in a washer/dryer.
I am LL for my house in the UK and recently had a problem with the fridge in the house (one that was a replacement for the one I had originally in place). It wasn't broken but it was a model fault, and caused a lot of freezing up. The tenants weren't happy with having to defrost the fridge so often but they offered to replace the fridge with one of their own. I agreed to this on the understanding that it wouldn't be covered by my white goods insurance, but by their own contents insurance - and if/when they leave, they will take it with them. At this point I will have to replace it with another fridge but that's ok.
So - just see if your LL would accept that as an option for you, if you can afford to buy a washer/drier.

Not sure if it's mentioned already, we struggle with damp in the winter so bought a dehumidifier 12l one, helped massively and we still use it when drying clothes, our washing now drys under 24hrs, it's a low energy one and has made life so much easier

Definitely not the landlords problem. Perhaps wash less washing at a time- this way there'll be more space for the clothes. Buy a cheap fan and have that pointed at the clothes.

answer came there none...

I have several friends who live in flats and have the same problem. Some rent, some own, it makes no difference. There just isn't enough ventilation for hanging wet clothes around indoors all the time.

All have solved the problem by 1) using their storage heaters more efficiently by finding out the optimum storage/output settings, and 2) using a dehumidifier when drying clothes.

Damp air feels colder, so a dehumidifier is almost certainly going to help with the cold as well. Much cheaper than a washer/drier or changing the heating system too. Whether you own or not you will still have to pay for those, a landlord will just increase the rent to cover their costs.

I dont think environmental health can do anything about damp caused by inadequately ventilating your home.

A dehumidifier will make a huge difference to the amount of water in the air, which will help you clothes dry but also make the air feel warmer. Mine was the £200 I've ever spent. It has a drying setting so we stick it next to the clothes airier and let it get on with it. It dries clothes within a few hours and is much cheaper to run than a tumble drier. There's also a noticeable reduction in the amount of damp in the house.

OP, you’re on slightly dangerous territory drying clothes indoors as this is sometimes in tenancy agreements as tenants do this and yes, it causes damp and damp causes structural damage. But I don’t know what you can do about that! If there is a washer provided I think you should go back to the ll and politely tell him that without it being changed to a washer dryer you will be forced to continue drying clothes indoors and this, even with the windows is causing damp which is not good for his/her property. So frame it that it’s in their best interest to switch it.

@Raven88

Personally I would look at your budget if you can't afford to heat your house.

I'm heating a three bedroom semi and I'm paying less for gas and electric than the OP is for heating a (I'm assuming) fairly small flat. I'm pretty sure it's the flat/heating system that has the problem rather than the OP.

Of course the damp caused by the laundry (and other sources) will be exacerbating the problem, which is where a dehumidifier would come in handy.

It's impossible for clothes not to dry within a few days. I think it is your drying process which is the problem.

The first thing you need to do is get a line for outside or a foldable clothes horse.

Also are you shaking the clothes before putting them out/on the radiator? If they are all bunched up nothing will dry.

Have you a shower rail which you could use to hang clothes from? I put all sorts on hangers. Just leave a bit of room between each hanger for the air to circulate.

I live in Australia, where our house doesn't have central heating. The laundry room has a concrete floor and if things are hung up in there without any heater, then they Do Not Dry properly. They are mostly dry but they feel damp to the touch and I have no airing cupboard either.
In the UK I'd never had the need for a tumble drier because I had central heating and radiators, but after one winter in Australia I bought a tumble drier because, during the winter, nothing seemed to dry properly.

I also now have a small convection heater in the laundry to act as an "airing cupboard" because of the dampness, so I can entirely understand that the OP has trouble getting stuff actually dry if her flat is built from concrete.

"The first thing you need to do is get a line for outside"

I presumed she didn't have an outdoor space?!
If she does, then the whole thread is pointless.

"OP, you’re on slightly dangerous territory drying clothes indoors as this is sometimes in tenancy agreements as tenants do this and yes, it causes damp and damp causes structural damage. "

This is bollocks. If the LL doesn't provide a garden or a tumble drier, of course the tenant will have to dry clothes inside! I also presume the OP knows better than you what's in her rental contract.

No, "OP, you’re on slightly dangerous territory drying clothes indoors as this is sometimes in tenancy agreements as tenants do this and yes, it causes damp and damp causes structural damage. " is not bollocks.

This is: If the LL doesn't provide a garden or a tumble drier, of course the tenant will have to dry clothes inside!

Of course they will, but they don't have to. They can go to a laundrette. I don't think OP has said if she's allowed to dry clothes inside or not.

HecTick - launderettes where I live are only open 9-5, so not accessible for everyone. Some people don't live close to a launderette at all. If a LL supplies a washing machine, but no dryer or garden, he/she knows that tenants will dry inside.

Washer/dryers are rubbish! We have one and I only use it for towels/sheets unless am desperate

justdance

Get some wool tumble dryer balls. They make a massive difference.