Drying washing on our balcony

[Emmabryant123]

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?

In Dorset there is an estate build about 30 years ago now called Poundbury. It was all very fancy when it was built and has all sorts of clauses about what you can and can’t do, no trade vans or hanging washing out for example. The only thing is that in the middle of it all are two council houses that were there before the estate was built, my dad lived in one as a boy. They seem to love that they aren’t subject to the same rules and I’ve never seen them without washing hanging out.

As others have said there may well be a clause in the overall lease/deeds that there is no drying of clothes on the verandah. It IS unsightly for others to look at . You need to clarify this as you could have your lease terminated if you flout these . You could be reported to the Management Company so best to find out .

Fairly standard for the lease to not allow washing on balconies. DD's lease states that when on balcony appropriate clothing must be worn but she is allowed high quality patio furniture - so that's alright then

Joking aside, the rules are there to keep the apartments looking nice and be a pleasant place for all residents to live.

Imagine if every apartment in your block put washing out - it would look awful.

And if you own your flat and want to sell - the sight of somebodies knickers and bras hanging off next doors balcony would not be a good selling point.

This is not a council estate .
Nearly spat me coffee out reading that - I used to live in a council tower block flat, and it was written into the rental agreement that "no laundry is allowed on balconies".

I am lucky enough to live in a house with a garden, both sides of ours I can see washing on lines. Doesn't bother me in the slightest, they are just clothes! I would do the same but my DH can't be arsed to put one up so we have stupid amounts of 'clothes airers' dotted about the garden at the moment. Covenants are a snobby way of making people feel better because they personally don't like something. We live on a street which is a mixture of new and old builds, my husband works in the trade. Where on earth would be expected to park?? Ridiculous!

This is snobbery and ridiculous at the highest level. Drying outside is good for the environment ( not using dryers) good for household economy and makes sense. Goodness knows, good drying weather is not always plentiful in the UK.
I wonder if your other neighbours might offer some silent, but colourful, solidarity?
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/06/12/town-rallies-around-mother-told-not-hang-washing-launching-laundry/

@notangelinajolie I get that when it's a large block. I've been arguing for years why the rules can't be changed for ours which is a block of 6, and my own garden. Even asked if it could be changed to say not on balcony but fine in garden and they said no
Which seems ridiculous when you look at the gardens and every single garden has washing it in (house so freehold) bar mine

It is not snobbery - it is an attempt to keep a place looking decent eg there are other stipulations where we live eg no wrecked old cars, no huge trade vans etc . No one wants to look at that crap .

I can't believe that anyone thinks a laundry ban is sensible. Are we really so ridiculous that we're more offended by the sight of a laundry airer on a balcony than the knowledge that every flat contains a tumble dryer for no good reason other than snobbery? Really. Get a grip.

YANBU at all! I lived in China for the last 2 years, where EVERYONE puts washing out on every available surface, and it has never occurred to me that drying your washing would be classed as in any way "trashy". Surely trashy people don't actually DO their housework??

I’ve never looked at someone else’s clothes airer and thought ‘tacky’. Clearly I must be very uncouth as I didn’t know it was a so offensive!

I grew up on a council estate and people were not allowed to dry washing on their balconies.

I'm not the only person that lives in area where every house with a back garden has those old school big metal poles in the ground with washing lines wrapped around, am I? They've been like this for as long as I can remember and the new builds have them too. Even high rises have a communal laundry area that is a mix of airers, dryers, and washing lines. In flats everyone dries their washing on the balcony.
Shouldn't we be encouraging everyone to dry washing outside whenever they can, no matter how unsightly it might be? I've never heard of anyone being like this. Learn something new every day on MN

In an era of climate change there should be no reason not to save energy and dry laundry outside. I'd be disappointed if Poundbury still doesn't allow laundry outside, I though Prince Charles was always speaking up about climate change.

My neighbours are quite grotty and rarely use their washing line. I judge them hard.

Imagine if every apartment in your block put washing out - it would look awful.

Would it?

Who are these people who are getting upset at the sight of other people’s washing?

It is not snobbery - it is an attempt to keep a place looking decent eg there are other stipulations where we live eg no wrecked old cars, no huge trade vans etc . No one wants to look at that crap

Wrecked cars I’ll give you but the rest is snobbery.

FFS. In what world does washing being dried outside look trashy, unpleasant and unsightly and make a block of flats an unpleasant place to live? It's clean clothing and bedding, not a rusty old bike or an ancient damp mattress or a load of junk or something one wouldn't expect to see outside. It's completely normal to dry washing outside.

Drying inside if you don't have proper ventilation can cause damp, and tumble drying is environmentally unfriendly. But some people appear to be so sensitive that they are disgusted by seeing washing drying, so for their sake's let's fuck the planet and all unnecessarily tumble dry everything.

I never did, but my because we were not allowed, not actually sure if we weren’t. However I was paranoid my knickers would end up on someone’s head or elsewhere! 🤣

Clean washing drying is not the same as old fridges, etc.

Yanbu keep doing it

Shit that would make me double my efforts. Position a blow up doll and a load of fetish wear out there

Same here!

If there was nothing in the lease forbidding it, I would hang all the washing Could think of out there, and would probably trawl the charity shops for some (clean but enormous) bloomers to add the the entertainment.

Your neighbours are total wankers!

Wrecked cars I’ll give you but the rest is snobbery.

Maybe but this is the line in many areas of new housing.

I lived in a flat and we would all get letters every so often about it not being allowed to hang out washing on the balconies. The area was a mix of owner-occupiers, local authority tenants and buy to let tenants. I didnt like the look of the place when washing was out on the balconies on airers. Some people even hung washing over the wall or railings on the balconies. That seemed really ugly. There is adequate space and poles for ropes in the communal gardens for many people to hang out washing. I think it may have been laziness that people would not use the garden area.

I’d put it back out and ignore the note.
If you do what they ask they will keep putting notes up or telling you what to do.

Imagine if every apartment in your block put washing out - it would look awful

Would it though? I don’t think I’d even notice?