Ongoing battle with landlord (well, estate agent) re washing

[blackswan29]

Looking for a sense check please as I feel like I’m losing my mind!!

We rent a ground floor flat and have been drying our washing outside the front of the property on a clothes horse. We’ve now been told by property management that we MUST not dry washing outside and should instead dry it indoors or “even in the bathroom”.

The issue is.. we already have mould and condensation problems. Before going on holiday recently we wiped everything down and came back to visible mould across multiple areas (and we sent photos to them).
Our bathroom is tiny (no bath, barely floor space for a clothes horse) and the extractor fan is not even working properly. Property management say the landlord thinks it was replaced, but they have no records and are now asking us to confirm.

We have contacted them multiple times about this and their only solutions are:

• Open windows “even only ajar” (in winter, with rising energy bills, on a ground floor flat with fire windows that don’t latch). We’re out all day every day for work so this is completely out of the question.
• Buy multiple small dehumidifiers ourselves and place them around the windows (yes, we have to purchase them ourselves!!)

They’ve also acknowledged that other flats in the same block are drying washing outside — I’ve seen at least three — but say they “won’t discuss other properties” and are only concerned with ours, which feels pretty targeted.

We’re paying high rent, already ventilating as much as realistically possible (trickle vents open 24/7, heating set appropriately), and now being told to dry washing inside despite existing damp and mould. They’re also implying the cost of managing this (dehumidifiers, higher heating bills) should fall to us!!!

Am I being unreasonable in thinking it’s not fair or enforceable to ban drying washing outside purely due to ‘aesthetics’ (they’ve not given us a better reason). And they can’t insist we dry it inside when it’s actively worsening mould
This feels like a landlord/property issue, not the fault of our lifestyle!

Would love thoughts, especially if anyone’s dealt with similar.

I’m not surprised other tenants have complained. Drying washing in January outside the front of flats on a main road? D’you dry it all out there? Bed sheets? Knickers? Towels? Bras? Sorry but that must look pretty dreadful. I’m surprised it doesn’t blow away or get nicked.

Many house builders have clauses in the lease about this type of thing. I worked for Redeow homes in the 90s and they had this clause. Nice hotels always state you can’t hang towels over the balcony.

Buy a humidifier from Argos for £30 and keep the heating at 20 degrees while you’re at work. Keep wiping the mould and keep the trickle vents open.

OK so just seen this, I read that as saying you can't dry in or out and so you need to use a launderette! And yes, it says you cannot dry inside.

Your current contract will cease to apply from May as the Renters Rights Act comes into effect. Fixed terms, such as the one I assume you are in, will cease to exist and you will probably find yourself in a periodic (rolling) contract which you can end with two months notice.

Yanbu

I rent out a flat and would be very happy this was done rather than black mould creation!

Unless its in the contract then they cant do anything. Id also check if they have a black mould section to say its not their problem if you create mould ... which of course would be contrary to their current position

*sorry didn't read full thread... i see u have a clause about creating mould. Very odd 🤔 on their part

Ring the Environmental Health department at your local council. They can enforce the landlord to do repairs and/or fine him/her.

Are you in England or Wales or Scotland? I would call up your local authority housing dept & ask for advice on the basis that the mould is making the flat unfit. That’s the real issue here. The exact rights you will have will depend on where you are.

I think your lease is ambiguous at best. I think on one reading it definitely does say that you should only be drying clothes around the back which I assume is the “designated drying area”. It could be argued that drying washing at the front is “around” the property and since it’s not a designated drying area it would be a breach. There are other interpretations- especially since they refer to condensation which is only an issue inside- but it’s unclear.

In reality it would take them ages to do anything about it but you do need to be careful just in case you might need a reference.

I would email them asking where the “designated drying areas are” and that they have formally agreed to vary this clause by allowing you to dry clothes inside. Then I’d get a heated airer and a dehumidifier.

If it's not in your lease I'd ignore them if you can

Upon buying ourhouse we were prohibited to dry clothes in the front garden and put a fence higher than a certain point.
When we lived in a very old cottage we had to utilise the laundrette, once a week, baby in the sling laundry in the pram there and back in 2.5hrs every Wednesday.

Hang in in the back gardens.

The other way is washing machine/clothes dryer and then immediately on radiators, they come out dry within 1 h ....in the summer similar , just on chairs on wide open windows

It’s pretty standard for most leasehold flats to not allow the drying of washing outside and is usually a condition within each leasehold agreement. So a landlord allowing this to happen could easily be in breach of their own lease and the freeholder can take legal action against them.

So either dry your washing inside or use the area outside that you’ve been told you can use.

The mould is a separate issue. If you have no bathroom window and your extractor fan doesn’t work properly then the fan needs to be fixed. And if the mould continues after that, talk to your agent / landlord again. If you can prove that it’s the flat rather than your lifestyle, they should provide you with a solution such as a dehumidifier. However, it may be down to your lifestyle in which case any costs to resolve it (and any damage caused by the mould will actually be on you as the tenant causing it).

We had a tenant in my building complaining about condensation in his flat and how it was causing mould etc and blaming the landlord who was then blaming the freeholder. The freeholder paid for an investigator who confirmed it was all down to the tenant and both the tenant and landlord got landed with the bill.

I wouldn't want to dry my washing out the front that's very scruffy

Either use a launderette or buy a humidifier

I dry my clothes inside with a humidifier (as a homeowner) but would do the same in your situation. I dont want mold in a house I rented or owned.

Cant understand why you are resistant to something that would improve your life for £80.

Check your lease with a fine tooth comb for any clauses relating to where you can and cannot dry laundry.

Check it again for the powers of 'block management' to prohibit or allow activities in the units and outside them.

If the lease doesn't prohibit drying outside and if there's nothing to indicate the 'block management' can issue diktats to residents, then carry on.

Look into your LA's landlord rules wrt mold, and look at your lease too, for responsibilities of the landlord.

Complain to your LA about the mold. In your photo, it looks as if there's a spot above the blind where water has damaged the ceiling.

They told you in the contract that you can only dry washing in the designated area.

Check your lease with a fine tooth comb for any clauses relating to where you can and cannot dry laundry.
Check it again for the powers of 'block management' to prohibit or allow activities in the units and outside them.
If the lease doesn't prohibit drying outside and if there's nothing to indicate the 'block management' can issue diktats to residents, then carry on.

This is terrible advice I’m afraid. None of these phrases (nor most of the actual words!) appear in a template AST tenancy agreement (in the UK) and why would they?! This is fantasy land advice.

It also doesn’t mean the tenant can do whatever they want and ignore their landlord (or their agent) or the managing agent. 🙄

In the OP’s position I’d actually be more concerned by this:

4 CARE, MAINTENANCE AND REDECORATION OF THE PROPERTY
4.1 The Tenant must take reasonable care of the Property, any items listed in the inventory and the Common Parts (if any). This includes (but is not limited to):
(a) taking reasonable steps to keep the Property adequately ventilated and
heated so as to prevent damage from condensation;

In addition to
3 USE OF THE PROPERTY, PETS AND PROHIBITED CONDUCT
Section C: Tenant’s obligations
3.4 The Tenant must not do anything to or on the Property or any Common Parts which may reasonably be considered a nuisance or annoyance to the occupiers of neighbouring properties.

Suggest the OP checks to see if the extractor fan is included in the inventory that was done when she moved in. If yes, the landlord is responsible for fixing it but if not, it’s down to the landlord’s goodwill assuming it’s a private rental.

It's absolutely crap that they can say this. Unfortunately it's quite a common rule- it was the same in my old place. Not sure whether/how they can enforce it.

I haven’t finished RTFT but a lot of leases have clauses about not drying washing outside. Your landlord owns the leasehold to the flat, and it’s highly likely their “long” lease of 125-999 years contains provisions about washing.

I’ve acted for quite a few residents management companies and a lot of them get funny about flats being sublet on ASTs even when there is nothing prohibiting that, so it’s entirely possible there are other residents in the block using your washing to complain because they can’t complain about the AST situation. I know it sounds completely barmy, but I’ve seen it happen (and been instructed to write many a letter on the same or similar grounds). Ultimately the freeholder could potentially forfeit their long lease for breaches (they won’t but it’ll cost everyone a pretty penny to resolve).

That is the only reason I can think of why they don’t like the washing situation. As to the damp, if you’ve got the heating set appropriately and the house gets aired regularly then any further works are on them to fund.

Yes, it can be enforced by the freeholder on the leaseholder (the OP’s landlord). And the freeholder’s legal costs could get charged back through the service charges to all the flat owners (including the landlord) as well as the landlord being in breach of the lease and being liable to financial penalties for that too.

So how to make friends and influence people. 😜

What about a small tumble dryer? I have a 4kg dryer in a cupboard in my bathroom, it's vented but I bought a converter kit. I dislike drying washing indoors due to the moisture, occasionally I'll put an airer in dd's room when she's not here, but I leave the window open

Contact your local council and ask for the private housing section. Tell them about any complaints you have , mould etc that isn’t getting sorted, extractor tan not working, etc and whatever else your landlord isn’t doing and They will speak to the agent/landlord about it on your behalf

We had a complaint from the EA about drying clothes inside our flat because it was next to the Juliet balcony and visible through the glass. I guess it was a posh block but we were very 🙄. We were on the first floor too.

Drying wet washing inside is always going to cause damp and mould - drying outside on an airer is just a bit …. Downmarket and clearly against your tenancy

either buy a non vented tumble dryer or take your washing to a laundrette

Just saying - that trickle vent on the image is not open? Basement flats are notorious for damp. You really do have to tick all the boxes every day (and that’s no guarantee). Can you move?
I know sometimes these things are 100% down to lifestyle, I let a property for 20 yrs, various tenants, no problems at all, except one for 2 years who created mould that could be a world record holder! But I have rented myself in a bungalow, that no matter what I did, it got very mouldy!
Seriously, if you’re doing everything by the book, it may be time to consider somewhere else.