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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Drying washing on our balcony

493 replies

Emmabryant123 · 03/08/2019 11:37

We private rent in a block of 16 flats
The flats vary from rented to owned .
We put our washing on two airers today on our balcony
No offensive clothing etc on show
We came down to this message on the main front door
Are we being unreasonable!? Or is this person who wrote this note being unreasonable?

Drying washing on our balcony
OP posts:
Thread gallery
13
ChiaraRimini · 03/08/2019 20:18

I would be so tempted to rip the note down and replace it with something that would really annoy them like "no perving over my undies drying on the balcony"

PancakeAndKeith · 03/08/2019 20:25

No one here is offended by pants

Well then what are people offended by? Clothes?

Mia184 · 03/08/2019 20:28

OP, your washing is hardly visible.
During the summer months, I like to put out my giant bedcover outside for a couple of hours. It smells heavenly at night after a day outside and I would simply ignore a note such as the one you posted. And I dry my laundry outside as well.

loopylindasdaughter · 03/08/2019 20:28

Honestly just fuck em' carry on regardless.

justasking111 · 03/08/2019 20:28

I just cannot imagine 100 flats all banned from hanging washing out, how much damp is being put into the building each day. It cannot be good for the fabric of the building nor the health of the residents.

diddl · 03/08/2019 20:39

You need a different airer, Op.

A lower one with "wings"-wouldn't be visible!

But no really if there's nothing to say that you can't do it-no need ti stop.

StoneofDestiny · 03/08/2019 21:09

The note is crass, but it's not a good look.

Drying washing on our balcony
Passthecherrycoke · 03/08/2019 21:12

No one is offended by clothes, or pants, as far as I am aware- although feel free to correct me if I’ve missed someone saying that.

Saying it looks unpleasant isn’t being offended and surely, anyone with any comprehension skills can understand the different meanings of objects/ words/ expression in different settings? Clothes on your body- not unpleasant. Clothes strung across your balcony? Unpleasant.

Call it cultural if you want, many of the leases banning it are older than the posters here so just because you don’t understand it doesn’t mean it exists.

Passthecherrycoke · 03/08/2019 21:13

*Doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist

Singlenotsingle · 03/08/2019 21:13

In some places they string the washing up to the flat opposite, across the road

Lalapurple · 03/08/2019 21:30

I am shocked by this - if I ever had a balcony of course I would dry my washing on it - would be great not to have it inside all the time (perhaps if washing really visible I would keep my holey knickers and underwear inside). Maybe you could get a lower dryer so it's less visible? Never heard of this being a problem before, but I have only ever lived in flats without balconies.

gobbyone · 03/08/2019 21:44

You can't ban sensible, utilitarian things just because some people think that they look ' unpleasant'! That's bizarre.

You can't go around insisting that the world is made nice and pleasant looking all the time.

I don't see washing as unpleasant. Quite the opposite, there's something very reassuring and homely about clothes on the line.

Sign of a comfortable, well managed home where things are cleaned and aired properly.

Alsohuman · 03/08/2019 21:48

Well,you obviously can ban those things because a number of us have experienced it.

StoneofDestiny · 03/08/2019 21:58

If balconies were on the back of properties, nobody would mind. Like hanging washing out in the back doesn't raise comment, but hanging in your front garden would.

PancakeAndKeith · 03/08/2019 21:59

Clothes strung across your balcony? Unpleasant.

Why?

A wreck of a car/broken fridge/old sofa outside is unpleasant because it make the place look uncared for and can be dangerous.
Washing means that someone is caring for the household.

Passthecherrycoke · 03/08/2019 22:09

@gobbyone well we have been banning it for 100 years, and they do so in many other countries (you have surely heard of the laundry rules in Switzerland-in private homes) the fact that you don’t care is irrelevant. You don’t own freeholds where you make the rules. When you do, do what you like

DurexCertified · 03/08/2019 22:23

Commiserations, one of your neighbours thinks they Chief TARA.

Maybe wash the note and hang it to dry somewhere seeing as they went to the trouble of writing it.

LonelyGir1 · 03/08/2019 22:53

Makes sense. Looks dreadful and affects the perceived value of an area.

Fishfeedingfrenzy · 03/08/2019 23:01

God some people are dicks. So they would rather you took the less environmentally friendly option of tumble drying? Does that mean those common folk in social housing are more environmentally friendly because they hang laundry out, or do posh people not wash their clothes? What a nonsense thing to write.

Hang a new note up saying "No inspecting my pants on the balcony you sad judgemental pervert. This is not a fucking brothel"

Dotty1970 · 03/08/2019 23:10

Fishfeedingfrenzy

God some people are dicks. So they would rather you took the less environmentally friendly option of tumble drying? Does that mean those common folk in social housing are more environmentally friendly because they hang laundry out, or do posh people not wash their clothes? What a nonsense thing to write.

Hang a new note up saying "No inspecting my pants on the balcony you sad judgemental pervert. This is not a fucking brothel"

Grinspot on and I agree.... Dicks

Fishfeedingfrenzy · 03/08/2019 23:11

Create your own Victorian pantry by hanging pheasant and game on your clothes horse instead, and say "but I thought you wanted me to be like those posh people in those period dramas?!"

JoxerGoesToStuttgart · 03/08/2019 23:18

Cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would be offended by clean laundry.

Do you like to imagine people don’t wash their clothes? Do you object to seeing people’s clothes while on their body?

8misskitty8 · 03/08/2019 23:25

If it’s in the deeds/covenants not to dry washing on the balcony, what happens if you do ? Who does it get reported to ?

YesQueen · 03/08/2019 23:30

@8misskitty8 the management company for my building

mussolini9 · 03/08/2019 23:35

YANBU.

I would be v tempted to mount the pass-agg note by a communal entrance way with a response:

"Dear Cowardly Anonymous Notewriter
My laundry is not your business, & I am not interested in your snobbish views about Council housing.
Next time you have something to say to me - try my face.
Cheers.
Emma at Number X"