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I recently got told off by the Owner’s Corp chairperson not to hang laundry outside. Apparently some neighbours complained.
I checked the by-laws and rule specifcally says:
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An owner or occupier of a lot must not, except with the prior written approval of the Owners Corporation, hang any washing, towel, bedding, clothing or other article in any part of the parcel in such a way as to be visible from outside the building other than on any lines provided by the Owners Corporation for the purpose and there only for a reasonable period.
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We do have a community lines on the rooftop, but the missus is not keen on hanging our washing in public.
As our balcony is not solid – ie its a metal railing with gaps, they will always be visible from the outside.
I am thinking about working around the by-law by putting up some folding screen about 1.5m high to hide my cloth horse behind them. Do you think this would be feasible? Any past experience on this?
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Your Owners Corporation is in this instance using its By-Laws to assist in maintaining the visual appearance and thereby the overall value of its Building, and if you’re an Owner you have a vested interest in assisting in the achievement of that objective.
Were you to install the folding screen, then you’d be in breach of another By-Law stating that “the owner or occupier of a lot must not, without the written consent of the owners corporation, maintain within the lot anything visible from outside the lot that, viewed from outside the lot, is not in keeping with the rest of the building“.
My advice….. place personal / small items on the clothes-horse inside your Unit in a position where those receive sunlight but from where they’re not visible from the outside (such as behind the balcony door), and convince your “missus” to use the clotheslines for the remainder.
Believe me, that will be much cheaper than the $550 fine that you’ll receive for a continued breach of the By-Laws!
As you say, it’s subjective.
In my subjective opinion, the screen you prefer would be “not in keeping with the rest of the building”.
But, there is another alternative. There’s a new appliance they’ve invented recently called a clothes dryer. Not particularly “green”, but your clothes come out soft and fluffy, and nobody “snow-drops” your intimate apparel, or sees the holes in your undies.
If your missus doesn’t want to make the arduous journey up 10 floors in a lift, perhaps you could consider one of those?
And it saves the cost of electricity to run the lift.
If all the owners feel the same as you, maybe the OC could install a solar PV array on the flat roof in place of the clothes line array, to defray the cost and carbon emissions of the electricity.
And don’t blame the lady downstairs. It’s never who you think it is.
To me, if you used that screen you would just be compounding the problem – you would have the washing and the screen.
When I use my clothes horse I put it up inside. Otherwise do as Kangaroo suggests and get a clothes dryer (even though I hate them).
You could ask your EC if they would 1) enforce the by-law if you did use a clothes horse on the balcony or 2) if a screen such as you suggested or some other form of screening such as they might think of would enable you to avoid offending the by-law. Nobody should be forced to use a clothes dryer!
I have mentioned it before but this bylaw would be probably be invalid in the ACT unless the alternative solar powered clothes drying facility were reasonably convenient to use.
@gtchen said:
Thanks for the opinion. I guess I will hang them inside – don’t feel like going up the lift or spend my own $ buying cloth dryer & pay for electricity. I heard from my friends that they use a lot of electricity.Guess that steels my resolve to buy a house soon. Hang them where ever I like.
Probably not. Most councils require clothes lines to be in the back yard. Very similar rationale to not hanging them on your front balcony.
I’m on the top floor and our clothes lines are in the back yard. I would love to take the lift down to hang them out. But, seeing as we don’t have a lift, I just walk down three flights of stairs to do so.
Whose $ would you like to spend buying a clothes dryer?
The Vic Gov website says a clothes dryer costs about $1.90 per load @ $0.25/kWh. That might be an overestimate. I happen to be measuring my appliances’ electricity usage at the moment. Did a (light) load of drying for 1.7 kWh @ @0.25/kWh = $0.43.
To avoid offending the hanging of clothing by-law I just dry my washing on a clothes horse in the spare bedroom with the windows ajar. A gentle westerly breeze does the job in a few hours and no one is the wiser .
@Kangaroo said:
As you say, it’s subjective.In my subjective opinion, the screen you prefer would be “not in keeping with the rest of the building”.
To what extent can an OC/EC decide what IS in keeping if it is inside the lot?
Again, it’s subjective.
And the interpretation is particular to each scheme.
I have heard of schemes which insist on every lot having the same style and colour of blinds.
But I haven’t ever heard of a scheme which insists on every lot having the same colour lounge just in case the the blinds are open and people can see in.
My conclusion would be that “visibility” stops at or near the blinds.
Boronia said
To what extent can an OC/EC decide what IS in keeping if it is inside the lot?
If it is visible from outside the lot then it must be in keeping with the building – except with the written permission of the owners corporation. This is the key. Write to your committee and ask permission to keep whatever it is you want to keep in view. Point out the steps you will take to ensure you will not detract from the look of the building.
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