Dealing with a lodger

[Jemblue101]

Hello, I've recently got a lodger and he is drying washing in his bedroom (sometimes with the window open but not always) and putting on a load late in the day then leaving it wet in the drum for a few hours. I'm really concerned about mould and damp and as a first time owner, I take pride in my home. Should I say something?

Why don’t you just buy a dehumidifier for his room and stop worrying about it?
I got a new one from our local auction house at about 1/3 of the usual cost.

I know it’s not your preference but would stop you worrying about damp.

Yeah, you sound pretty unpleasant now.

Yeah, after receiving so many unpleasant replies.

I thought this was an actual proper advice forum. It's just like twitter.

Get a new lodger.
Life is too short.

Be more explicit when you look for your next one.

Have a friendly chat explaining how drying clothes works. He’s probably never considered it. Your house will soon have damp and mould if he persists like this. Ask him to dry outside when possible and in the bathroom with ventilation if not.

Definitely not a standard thing.

Putting a load on first thing in the morning and hanging it out once home from work is a really normal thing to do. As is putting it on in the evening and hanging out first thing in the morning.

Feeling that a load needs to come out very soon after finished is the more unusual approach. Mould growing in door seals is a valid concern, but that won’t come from the machine staying shut for a few hours after finishing running. It happens from being left damp but door nearly shut. So you get damp and no air circulation. When the cycle finishes the door seal is engaged so there’s no damp sitting across it. You want a machine left properly shut until it’s emptied. The mould growing scenario is when the load finishes and the door gets opened and left ajar but machine not emptied. Stay away from that set up and machine is fine and washing is fine. Leaving within a same day period won’t do machine or clothes any harm at all.

(and conversely, for some types of clothes and dyes, drying in direct sunlight will fade them very very quickly so there is a good reason not to do with it those. Eco dyes are prone to it).

It sounds like you place a relatively unusual emphasis on importance of a particular approach to washing and drying clothes. You tend to find people’s views on drying indoors are very split depending on whether they’ve ever had issues with damp. Damp issues are generally a feature of the property. In some properties you can do pretty much anything and never get damp. In others, you have to be meticulous on how handle all moisture otherwise will get damp rapidly. Sounds like you’ve experienced the latter which will make you cautious.

It’s your house, you get to pick what’s important to you. But when you communicate that, do it with some context that this lodger isn’t doing anything that a lot of responsible home owners wouldn’t think is perfectly reasonable behaviour. They may be trying to be considerate and you’ve just got really different views on what’s considerate in this case.

Another landlord would hate washing in the bathroom or extractors being left on.

OP 'am I being unreasonable?'
Most replies 'yes'
Response 'you're all horrible and have no standards'

I know you were upset by my previous comments about not being suited to be a landlady. That isn't nasty, it's realistic, most people aren't. I had to move around lots for years due to work, house shares and lodging. You very quickly realise that what is 'common sense' for one person isn't for another, and it's actually just different ways of living.

As someone else mentioned, I leave clothes in the drum - because I put them on when I go to work. I dry washing in my room - habit, to keep them out of other people's way, and not having space. I do now have a yard but wouldn't dry outside due to having bad hay fever (and a neighbour who likes random bonfires) I do open a window of I'm home but shut it if I'm out for security.
All of those things to me are common sense, but to you would be interpreted as low standards. They aren't though - they're just different. And accepting those differences is necessary if you want to make money from renting out a room. If you find it really hard to accept differences like that, as many people do, then it's not well suited.

In my years of sharing space I had to deal with people selling furniture that came with the property, people inviting randoms over, someone who cut the wiring to all our electrics (paranoia) someone growing weed in the wardrobe, men who rented single rooms who had declined to share they expected their kids to sleep over, a landlady who threw out anything in the kitchen she decided was junk, regardless of who it might belong to, a landlady who invited half her family to stay from abroad for three months, someone who regularly left the oven on at night after making late dinners after their shift, someone who kept putting the alarm on in the day when I worked nights... If putting clothes on a dryer in his room is the worst thing this lodger has done, I think you should count your blessings.

These were all in 'professional' house shares btw, not in student accommodation.

I'm with you Op.
My lodger has been with me two months now and washing clothes was one thing wenhad to agree on. I asked him how many loads he did a week and if he dried clothes outside,after having family members who did a load a day and through the winter used any space in the house to drape them over.
My lodger does a big load at the weekend,may be two and puts them on the line.
Not sure what will happen in the winter but he can have the spare room to hang clothes up. He is very in to having all windows open and says he keeps his wi fow open all winter...phew. it's hard to get a perfect match but some things are so important to me. I'm not bothered about other stuff but very aware of mould and damp!

Totally agree. Also in Summer it's not going to be an issue regardless.

Wow, I think that the sun is getting to people. Surely if anything the lodger is the one not suited to lodging? He’s asked not to hang washing in his room so he hangs it in his room.

Just give him a gentle reminder, it’s dry out so hang it outside. Remind him that it’s the only rule and that it’s to prevent mould. No need for confrontation or nagging, just a polite reminder.

Seems to have switched though from 'i told them about the outside space' to 'i made it clear before they moved it was the absolute number one rule' and 'it's common sense so they should know'
There's nothing to suggest that the lodger is being deliberately obtuse. It's entirely possible they think they're being polite keeping it out of the way (that's certainly been the 'common sense' in most shared houses I've lived in - don't take up the communal space/landlords space wherever possible)

There’s no such thing as common sense, people are all different and all think their way is the best. Your expectation isn’t unreasonable, but if he doesn’t know that’s what you expect then him hanging washing outside of your way in his own space isn’t unreasonable either. Leaving washing in the machine for several hours will have no impact on it really, it’s more important to regularly dry the seal, leave the door open if you can, and avoid using animal fat based softeners which cause a sticky base that mould likes.

if you want him to do things - dry washing outside, immediately empty the machine - or not do things - use the washer late at night - then you need to tell him clearly.

Unless I was absolutely desperate to find somewhere to live I would never want to be a lodger living in a house where there was nowhere to dry washing other than in my bedroom.
I’m well aware that the OP has an outside drying area but being realistic in this country there are not many days in the year when you can guarantee that if you peg washing out either in the morning before you go to work or leave it on the line overnight it will be dry when you bring it in.
My view is that as the ‘landlady’ (for want of a better word) if you are providing washing facilities, you need to provide somewhere/something for drying too which will do the job all day everyday not just when the weather allows. The question may have already been asked but where does the OP dry her washing if it can’t be hung outside.
The OP’s worries about mould are justified and a reminder to her lodger about the need to dry washing outside, as mentioned in the agreement is not unreasonable, providing there is some sort of alternative provision for him to use when it’s not practicable for him to peg it out.
As for not taking the washing out of the machine as soon as the programme finishes - I couldn’t get het up about this unless I had a pressing need to use it myself. In my view it’s bit like dealing with little children - you choose your battles and to me this isn’t one of them.

Brilliant suggestion. Not necessarily in the Summer months of course but certainly in Winter

The added thing - is he not going to make his room smell? That horrible 'single man smell' of inadequately dried clothes that people can get from drying indoors if stuff takes too long to dry?

I have a particular hatred of that smell and will always hang washing outside to dry (which can be a challenge as I live in the North), but maybe it's an angle to take...?

it's hard for me to see it treated like a student house now

It's really difficult to have a lodger

What are you expecting him to do in winter? You won't want his stuff drying in the bathroom. It's much better tucked away in his room. I think YABVU.

‘Previous poverty’ is a horrible statement. Shame on you, really. Shame on you.

How is my previous situation a horrible statement?

Yes, it already does sadly.

You've got plenty of advice, you just don't agree with it and feel the need to call those posters nasty.

I wouldn't call peoples opinions that wanting washing dried outside when it's hot is not reasonable good advice...

I also have a lodger and a flat prone to mould. I have two small dehumidifiers, and I gave the lodger one and said that as the flat is prone to mould, she should either open the windows or use the dehumidifier.

It's a bit noisy so I don't expect her to use it when she's in her room, but I do expect her to run it sometimes when she's out. The amount of water that collects in it acts as a heavy hint that it's really necessary!

I see what people mean when they say that the lodger needs to feel at home, but I don't think that means you shouldn't make clear what your preferences are. I have some detail in my online listing about what kind of person I am and what kind of household arrangements I like, and I give more details to anybody who comes to have a look.

Yes.

No, I interpret drying washing inside with the windows shut when you have a garden in a heatwave as low standards.

That sounds awful but that is beyond tolerance. You allowed a lodger to commit criminal drugs activities and steal from you. I don't have to allow any behaviour in my own home just because you allowed extreme behaviour