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.

Buy a dehumidifier and put the heating on. There is only so much a landlord can do about mould. It's January, it's cold and incredibly wet. If you don't do the bare minimum, what is the landlord going to be able to do? Yes the heating bill is expensive, that's life.

Same here, the management company say I can’t dry outside. I have a garden… but they won’t alter the lease (I have the only garden)

Oh I just read that you can but at the back. That seems fine, I can’t dry outside anywhere! I use a heated airer and dehumidifier

I'd call their bluff & reply saying your GP has insisted you DO NOT dry washing inside as this is causing your Asthma to worsen, with already having mould it's not good to add more moisture inside & the mould could be causing asthma attacks.

She doesn’t have to dry it inside though, she can dry it round the back where they said it’s fine

If it’s in your contract that you can’t dry washing outside then you can’t dry washing outside no matter what your justification.
Buy a decent dehumidifier or even a tumble dryer. Open all the windows every morning when you get up and close them again when you go out to work. I know it sounds bonkers but it has been proven to work in reducing or even eliminating damp and mould.

She can dry washing outside

What is it with people not reading the thread?

I would really advise getting a dehumidifier but I would also keep drying clothes outside and ignore them.

It will be in the terms of the Title deeds and the managing agent would be remiss in their duties not to make you aware of a breach which affects their client (the landlord). It’s a very common stipulation and Deeds often defy logic and common sense. They can’t discuss other properties but will have also written to them.

Unless it’s in the contract they cannot enforce that . Maybe comply for a couple of months because there is no way he can evict you for that with the new reforms . If he what clothes drying inside he should pay for a tumble dryer and costs to run it imo

Send photos of mould and email correspondence to council and they will serve them a 28 day notice to address the issue or take further action on your behalf even as a private tenant. If your tenancy agreement doesn’t state you can’t use outside to wash clothes then ignore them. They should be thankful you’re using preventative measures to reduce the issue of mould

I’m a landlord, I wouldn’t mind but the freeholder of my building would, and would revoke my leasehold interest in the flat if this was continued behaviour.

Given I bought that lease for £190k and still owe £100k on the mortgage, I would think my tenant was pretty unreasonable for costing me hundreds of thousands of pounds by breaching a lease they agreed to.

And I would absolutely evict the tenant if this happened, reform or no reform - as I wouldn’t own the property any more to continue to let it to them, and it would be a breach of the lease so it’s a fault eviction anyway.

I had a problem with damp in the first property I rented, I raised the issue with the landlord and estate agents nothing was done. I had just come out of hospital after a major op and I had to get on my hands and knees to get it cleaned off and it ruined a lot of my belongings. After no contact from them I instantly raised it with environmental health maybe give them a go? You have evidence of trying to get it sorted and no luck so I’d say you’re going to get action from them. Hope it helps OP!!

I'd buy a small dehumidifier (Meaco is a good brand) and use it to dry your laundry inside. It'll dry better.

Others have already said this but honestly get a big boy dehumidifier, the biggest you can manage. Run it all the time. Wash mould down with a diluted bleach solution. Complain about it - black mould kills.
they MUST fix the extractor and it needs to be a good one ideally that you can leave on all the time.
I used to live on a road where the way the houses were built in such a way that they were prone to mould. My neighbour had some sort of vent put in that ran through the whole flat and had a fan that sucked the air in and drew it out. I don’t know exactly how it worked but it did. So it shows it can be done if landlords are willing to invest in it.

Firstly, they are wrong to try to stop you from drying it outside, although, it's probably a clause from the leaseholder, I'd ignore it as it's better for the property for clothes to be dried outside. So they are BU for this.

But you are BU for not adequately ventilating the property. Trickle vents alone do not adequately ventilate a property, no wonder you have a mould & condensation problem. It doesn't matter that it's winter, rooms should be aired by opening windows for at least 10 mins per day, you could do this while getting ready for work in the morning. The flat must smell so stuffy and mouldy with the flat not being aired daily all year round, yuck.

I didn't vote as both parties here are being unreasonable.

We had the opposite once - didn't want us drying clothes inside (in the winter). You literally can't win?

OP is allowed to dry outside, just in a place not of her choosing.

Its probably some mad legal thing

We bought a 3 bed terrace new ish built and on the info it said not allowed to put washing in front gardens. Our neighbor sfill did

I'm assuming there's a washing machine in the flat as you have wet laundry to dry. I suggest swapping the washing machine for a washer dryer, either vented to the outside or a condenser style designed to empty via the usual washing machine outlet. This is if there's insufficient room for a separate dryer. I'm suggesting a washer dryer as your flat sounds small and it would occupy the same space.

I would move, I wouldn’t be living in that environment and breathing that mould in. Clearly an issue. My apartment doesn’t look like that when I have been away for a week.

Just get back to them and ask them to send over the document containing the clause that prohibits drying out the front. Even if there is one, it will delay things and look as if you're compliant.
Your mould issue is bad OP - I would buy a dehumidifier irrespective of the washing. They're really good.

Any professional landlord would ensure that covenants and relevant requirements from the freeholder were reflected in the lease agreement, so that the tenant was aware and so that the landlord could enforce! This seems not to have been done in this case. How are tenants supposed to know?

my last tenancy said I couldn’t dry washing outside
or

inside.

so I just throw my clothes away then?!?

so I sympathise with the bullshit!!
house before that did have damp issues and no heating, so! I used a dehumidifier with a clothes drying function, amazing! And used a launderettes tumble dryer, which actually, I really enjoyed. I took a book and all my weeks washing, 20 mins and it was done.

They aren’t denying anyone anything. There is an allocated area at the back of the block just for drying clothes. OP just chooses not to use it.