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.

As a landlord I provide a decent plug in dehumidifier. I do think if there is nowhere else to dry laundry then this is essential.

Check your lease it often says you can’t dry clothes on radiators etc

Yes, I think it is just you. Thankfully.

If you’re out during the day, couldn’t you dry it in the living room or wherever is the warmest space? I have no outdoor access, so have to dry clothes indoors. However it’s freezing and raining every day in winter, so no one is drying clothes outdoors!

I think YABU because really a dehumidifier is essential in this situation. You don't need ten - you need a decent one (from around £100 - e.g. in Asda). It's an essential in a UK winter, particularly if you can't open windows during the day. It should last you twenty years!

I'd also get the bathroom window fixed - why doesn't it open?

We used to live in a block of flats. A single mother with 3 small kids moved in downstairs. Obviously lots of laundry required, school uniforms, etc. She hanged the washing out in the back garden. Soon after she moved in, she started receiving letters of complaint from her letting agency concerning laundry drying outside, kids playing outside or making noise, etc. It turned out it was an elderly lady living in the next door flat downstairs who was making all these complaints. She even stopped saying 'Good morning' to the mom. The mom was finally bullied out of our block and she had enough and moved out. Old lonely lady simply didn't like the nuisance.

I think there are a few things overlapping here

I havent read the whole thread but many leases dont allow washing outside, or outside the front so thats not uncommmon. The fact that others do is neither here nor there if your own landlord doesnt want to break the rules

The extractor fan needs fixing and I would focus on that

We dry washing in the house now when its winter and we have a dehumidifer theres no other way round it and its hugely efficient and stopped us getting condensation and mould in our utility area where were were drying the washing

When I lived in a flat, I would use a launderette, a service wash, drop it off, pick it up, lovely.

And forgot to add that yes we keep the windows open all year, in the conservatory, all the bedrooms, the bathroom. Whether we are in or out, whether we are on holiday or not.

Oh Ive just realised that this thread is one of those waste of time threads as OP can dry her washing outside, just somewhere else that she chooses not to.

Honestly.

I put my washing outside all the time - but it's in the back garden. Out the back, not in the front.

I can't understand anyone putting washing out the front. It's just not done is it.

Yeah but they’re expensive and expensive to run. Landlords shouldn’t be relying on the tenants to sort out condensation and mould. Trickle vents being open should be adequate.

Do try a dehumidifier. A dd uses one all the time to dry her washing - no tumble dryer and she doesn’t hang it out of doors. It’s truly astonishing to see the amount of moisture they will remove.

I had a situation where the building company wouldn’t let us dry our washing outside (we had a balcony only) and the landlord wouldn’t let us dry washing indoors. He refused to let us install a dryer too.

Every time one complained about where the washing was I’d forward it to the other to argue over. Nothing ever happened.

I was glad to move out! My new place has a drying attic which is amazing.

It is in your contract though!
I agree that being advised to dry your washing indoors also seems to breach the contract you copied here too. That being said, it’s not your landlord’s responsibility to provide the wherewithal to dry laundry inside - that’s never a good option unless you use a tumble dryer, dehumidifier or heated laundry rail set up. If you opt to dry it by just leaving it near / on a radiator, you will most certainly get mould due to excessive damp caused by the laundry.
You have options -
tumble dryer
washer/dryer
heated dryer rail + dehumidifier
taking washing to a launderette.

‘No’

what they going to do 🤷‍♀️

Landlords aren’t nannys

No, they're not. Mine cost £140 from Argos and the running cost is less than a 48" OLED TV.

You quoted the part of your contract that says exactly this some time ago, op 🙄
What part are you failing to grasp?!

Who do you think 'sorts out' condensation and mould in the homeowners house?

No trickle vents are not adequate, hence my post about having windows open

Trickle vents have never been demonstrated to work well enough in practice to keep a place properly ventilated. Unless you have access tonsome different research to what I've seen?

OP that mould is serious - id get a dehumidifier but either go on drying laundry outside, get a condenser tumble drier or dry at the launderette.

And hope that Awaab's law is extended to the private rental sector this year as promised
https://www.nrla.org.uk/news/how-to-prepare-for-awaabs-law-as-a-private-landlord

OP does have permission to dry washing outside in a drying area, she simply chooses not to use it.

It's likely a condition of the leasehold on the flat. How well that is enforced can vary, DH and I own a flat, the management there are good at enforcement and can be litigious.

If you can, get a washer dryer or a dryer. Also, buy an ebac dehumidifier if you can. They're very good, will dry clothes quickly and as they are known to last for years, they retain some resale value when you move.

They need to buy you a proper bloody dehumidifier! Sending massive sympathy OP had my share of shit landlords and cheaply fixed up properties (one landlord tiled over bloody wallpaper in the bathroom, guess what happened with that...) we ended up buying our own dehudifier in our second rental because every bloody house we've ever rented the and since has suffered from damp and they just shrugged. So glad to own my own home now.

Landlords that allow untreated and unaddressed damp or let any other issues slide that endangers tennants after they've been informed about it should quite frankly have their properties repossessed by the council and get a charged for a crime!

Oh, moron is it?

Its about 20-30 quid a year

50p a week