To ask neighbour not to use my washing line

[Sundaycoffee]

My next door neighbours keep using my washing line. They have two of their own lines which are right next to my line but within their boundaries. My washing line starts attached on the wall at the boundary to our property's and crosses slightly over my garden where it is attached at the other end to a concrete post on my property a metre or so inside my boundary.

Being a family of 4 with a lot of washing, they often hang any extra washing that they can't fit on their line on mine.

Disclaimer: I live alone and don't tend to use the line much except for when I wash towels or sheets. My clothes I usually just stick on a clothes horse and put outside the door.
I'm sick of looking outside and seeing their washing hanging across my garden but equally AIBU if I rarely use the line myself and they need that extra bit of space for theirs? 😬

To all the posters saying take it down or spend out on a new retractable line - the point is they shouldn’t have to do this. And now it’s getting warmer the OP will most likely want to use the washing line more so there will come a time when they are unable to use it. It might be a hassle for the OP to have to keep taking her washing line down and putting it back up again each time they need to use it. Honestly there was someone on here banging on about the virtues of older people selling up their homes so that families could move into them and going into smaller homes with communal living spaces and gardens - this situation is a prime example why I would hate to do that. There are always people out there who will try to push the boundaries.

OP I think you need to be polite but firmly tell them they are not to use the washing line and if they do take their clothes off the line and leave them outside side their front door. Hang up your own clothes to get the point across if it helps.

Another vote for a retractable one.

Ours isn't fixed to the wall. You just fix the bracket onto the wall, then clip the line on when you need to use it.

If they ask where the other line went tell them it broke because someone kept hanging their massive knickers on it.

im petty as fuck and this would bother me too.

take it down and buy a retractable one.

and then a fence!

Hang a padlock on it

As others have said ask them not to use it and take it down when not in use. Its nots neighbourly to use things that don't belong to you, especially without asking.

Hang some hanging baskets and bird feeders on the line, with trailing plants. Much nicer to look at!

I wouldn't mind so much if they asked nicely, but just to use it without seeking permission? My hackles would be UP.

I'd prioritise getting that fence built.

Exactly. When did it become so terrifying to speak to your own neighbours? With no rancour, "Good morning cheeky, get your knickers out of my garden and buy yourself an extra washing line."

I don't think it's petty, though. It sounds intrusive and disrespectful. Surely a person should ask first? I would. And when you live alone it's even harder to be assertive and tell them not to do it in these situations as you don't know how they'll react. I guess they took the liberty because op lives on her own.

This is definitely an issue op, and you have a right to leave your line there and it not be used by them. Who wants a strangers' washing hanging in their garden?

I think that i would ask them not to use it as there have been occasions when I wanted to put my own washing out but didn't because line was already in use and you felt awkward asking them to their washing down. You could actually just write them a letter.

Agreed. Do people genuinely not have any issue with their neighbour hanging their laundry in their garden? Without doing the basic courtesy of asking ?

Not on Mumsnet, when the garden in question is someone else's.

There's nothing petty about not wanting your cheeky, rude neighbours to hang their washing in your garden.

I was with you until I seen the comment about the kids running around and annoying you. Now it just sounds like you're being petty for the sake of being petty. It's a washing line. If there's no clash with your washing is it even an issue? If the kids are being noisy then that's a separate issue to be dealt with in an adult fashion. Not by throwing your toys out of the pram, which honestly, it comes across like your doing 🤷‍♀️

Any 1870s miner who wants to walk across my land to reach a mine is very welcome to. Everyone else can fuck off because its private property!

Put a very cheap temporary fence up until you can afford the proper fence .

If its bugging you and causing you to be stressed, but you also feel a bit embarrassed asking next door. Just cut it down or move it so its not as close to their garden.

Alternatively leave something up all the time that's yours.

Because in my experience, people who take an inch will soon be demanding a mile. They could have just politely asked OP, couldn't they?

😂🤣

Set booby traps.

Make it fun.

Why is your washing line at the boundary? It's quite a selfish thing to do. Every time you hang sheets and towels on it, they'll be flapping all over the neighbours side - even when it's at the '1m in' end - why should they have to look at your washing flapping over their garden?

I have lived next to some really annoying neighbours at various times but this really wouldn't bother me. Definitely not the hill I would want to die on and I wouldn't want to cause friction over something like this.
If you don't like it then you have 3 options.

1. Take it down so they can't use it.
2. Always have your own stuff on it so there isn't any space for their's.
3. Tell them to stop using it and risk making things awkward between you and them.

Luckily now we have good neighbours and all have a bit of give and take. Our drive is out the front of our house and my neighbours drive is across our back gate. We once parked in their drive (without asking) so we could load some heavy stuff from the garden into the car and they were fine with it. Another time they went away in a motorhome and while they were loading it up they parked across our driveway for over an hour (again without asking). If they parked across their own driveway they would have blocked the road which is why they parked across ours. We can't get to each others washing lines but it wouldn't bother me if they did use it. None of us hang out as friends but we all get on and can ask each other for favours.

If their two lines are right next to yours and yours is only crossing the boundary by 1m, it doesn’t really make a difference to your view. They’ll have washing on their line only 1m further away anyway. The only thing that will make a difference is getting a fence. So don’t waste money on a retractable line, just save up and get a fence asap.

First world problems fgs, it's just a washing line. If this is all you have to worry about, count yourself very lucky.

This really is so simple. Just take it down and only put it back up the one or two times a month when you use it yourself. How difficult is that? I live in a block where one tenant seems to think all of the lines are just for their use. The lines are not provided free of charge. I had to buy them myself because there were none here when I moved in. When people took the piss with me I just took the whole lot down as they belonged to me anyway, and let them go and buy their own like I had to. Strangely when they have to pay for their own line they don't seem to want other people using it lol 😆

What use will that do?