neighbours wanting to vent their tumble dryer into my garden

[littlemissmagic]

Sorry not sure if this is legal or property but after some general advice

Some new people are moving in next door and are having some work done on the house before they move in.

The wall of their utility room forms a corner wall of my patio. There are already 2 air vent type vents there.

Today the builder asked me politely if he could come into my garden to access the back of the wall as he is fitting a vented tumble dryer

I said yes but will check the hubby is OK with it when he gets back home.

DH is not sure that we will want hot air blowing across our patio from some one elses tumble dryer.

I'm not too sure what to do. I don't want to cause any adverse effects to my property so the new neighbours can have a vented dryer, but I don't want to fall out with them either!

Can anyone offer any advice? Thanks.

Our dryer vents over our side footpath. We don't notice the airflow/noise/laundry smell, but the footpath does get wet with condensation. It can be slippery when it freezes in winter and sometimes has a sheen of green algae growing on it.
It is all easy enough to live with (put down some salt/clean the path etc.), but I wouldn't be happy to be making allowances for someone else's dryer.
In particular I would worry that the damp air would rot any wooden furniture it was regularly blowing against, that the damp air would be noticeable if sitting on the patio (damp air breathing on legs - uggh) or that it might become very algae-covered in the corner of your patio.

Condenser driers are rubbish.

I agree but I am a still damp sock puppet

It is messy around our dryer vent with bits of lint. It has to be cleaned of fluff every once in awhile, and when we blow out the dryer vent it all comes out outside. So my answer would be a definite NO.

It is very unattractive too, jutting out of the wall.

Our dryer vent is about 15 feet. Here in the U.S., it can be 25 feet I think, but allowable length is reduced by every bend. Maybe each bend reduces length by six feet, so if you have two bends, then you are only allowed 13 feet. Not your problem though!

Neighbour is being really out of order in my opinion ... no way i'd let that happen lol you've already let the house have 2 vents , thats enough! lol give an inch and they take a mile! geeze!

They are unreasonable to even ask in my opinion,
your personal space is your personal space.

No, No and thrice No.

This is will also stop you extending out and making it a party wall (or future owners of your property) as it cannot vent into your own property.

If there isn't a vent there, there is no need for the tumble drier to go there, it can go somewhere else venting into their own airspace/garden.

My drier vents onto our path by the house and it gets steamy and smells of washing, which is fine, because it is my garden but I would not put up with anyone elses. There will also inevitably be some noise. Tumble driers are not silent and the venting will allow the noise to be conducted into your garden, so as others have said if you have fairweather driers (I sometimes use mine in good weather) you'll have the noise to deal with too.

I'd say no too.

I use my drier all year round and there will be noise and fluff pollution that you should't have to put up with. The alternative solution is up to them.

I'd be a bit about a builder rather than the new neighbours asking. It is possible that he thought it had been discussed and agreed. As you have said yes, I would drop a note through the door ASAP saying you were put on the spot a bit and have a change of heart. Ask them over for a cuppa to talk about your reasons for making the decision and make it clear it isn't a negotiation. Say that you don't want to fall out about this but you don't want the vent on your patio.

Sorry, I wouldn't even consider saying yes. It is diminishing the value and enjoyment of your property. It's not as if it is a necessity. I would not dream of making such on imposition on a neighbour as they are on you. Be polite but firm "I would love to help but I have been advised to say no. I will look into it some more and get back to you" Then hopefully they will find another solution before you have to elaborate. Invite your new neighbours round for a drink so that they realise it is not that you are a grumpy neighbour. If they stop to think, they will realise how out of order they are.

wow .. lol you are all so nice! i think i would be more annoyed at being treated so badly by them, expecting it to just happen and actually sending a builder around as if they owned the damn world .. lol i certainly wouldn't be apologetic about not letting them devalue my house, but then i have a neighbour who actually peers over the fence every time we have visitors so i don't like them much anyway ..lol

Its actually against building regs to vent something - boiler, tumble dryer etc out directly onto another property.

Ring your local town hall building control dept and say that the neighbour has asked you this, and see what they say.

Our neighbours vented a condensing boiler out of the part of their house that forms part of our back yard wall. The first we knew of it was when we got home and found clouds of steam blowing onto our back door and under the back bedroom window.

We rang the council, and the installation company had to come back and re-install it in a different place. Thats how against building regs it is. The council told the installers if they didn't move it they would be prosecuted for not complying with installation regulations.

So you could ask the builder why he is asking you to do something that won't comply with building regs?

Imo they are being unreasonable to ask.

Hi all. Thanks so much for all your interest

Spoke with the builder today (haven't seen owners) and asked if he could find an alternative. I didn't say no but not yes either as would rather sort it amicably and its not the builders fault - he is just doing what he was asked to do

Building regs point is interesting. My house is a newbuild and around 15yrs old. Basically baratts crammed as many houses as poss into a small space. I can't really blame builder for someones elses mistake

When we moved in there were already 2 airblock type vents on the wall next to the patio that come from next door. So we would never have been able to build there anyway. Its a poor design but we never noticed it and tbh never bothered us before

According to the builder the previous occupants vented the dryer out the top airblock type vent (is this what other people do?) . He is asking to repkace it with a flappy thingy at the lower vent. I have a flappy thing but it is round the other side of the house.

Could you tell them a little teeny white lie if they have a problem and say that you are thinking of getting a conservatory on your patio in the future?

Am pants at any kind of confrontation

What might have been permissible über building regs 15 yrs ago might not be allowed today.