Would laundry on a clothes line on someone’s patio bother you?
Asked by
JLeslie (
65743
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August 1st, 2022
from iPhone
Someone I know was bothered by clothes hanging on someone’s back patio. We live in a community with rules similar to most HOA communities. The houses are close together, and overall the community is very well manicured and pretty, although houses are very close together. I think she saw the house with the clothes while playing a round of golf.
I pointed out to her that Florida has laws that protect people who choose to line dry their clothing.
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54 Answers
I line dry my clothes and love it. Line dried sheets are the best. It doesn’t bother me at all.
Not at all, but you live in an HOA what’d you expect?
There are so many horror stories about those places.
They need to maintain the image of perfect clean community.
Line drying clothes is what normal people and villagers do lol.
@rebbel Home Owner’s Association The community police so to speak. They harass everybody for not conforming to community standards!!! One lady took her job so serious that she went around the community measuring the height of ALL the mailboxes. She found one to be ½ inch lower than the community standard, so she cut it down & told the owner that it better be right the next time.
That would not bother me at all. My mom does that all the time when the weather is nice. I love the smell of fresh air in my clothes.
@LadyMarissa but by what you said about that lady cutting down someone’s mail box seems to be criminal.
Why would laundry on a clothesline bother anyone? It shows a real effort by someone to take offense.
Not at all. Line drying is more eco-friendly than using a machine. Objecting to that, especially in someone’s back yard, is supremely silly.
I would be bothered by living in a community where someone is offended by clothes being line dried!
Depends on the items, sheets or blankets I understand but unmentionables not so much.
Does the HOA have rules on this? If so, the person needs to follow the rules.
If not, the complainer should shut up.
It actually makes me smile and makes me happy to see laundry on a clothes line. It reminds me of my childhood where most people dried their clothes on a line.
It wouldn’t bother me. I think antiquated rules like that should be taken off the HOA rule books, especially now when we all should be trying to reduce our energy consumption (also known as carbon footprint). Another antiquated rule is having lawns, mowed and lovely. There should be more eco-friendly landscapes which don’t require watering and mowing.
I live in a place where clothes lines are not allowed. I will sometimes take wet clothes or wet towels and blankets and throw them over the lawn furniture, and usually within a few hours in the sun, they’re dried. They smell great, too.
A friend tells me if she has a tablecloth or something that has a stain on it, when you hang them in the sun, the sun will bleach out the stain.
A friend of mine lives in a community with an HOA with a community swimming pool. She came back from the pool and had put her wet towel on her balcony to dry. They called her within 15 minutes to tell her to get her towel down. It’s ridiculous.
The law trumps anything the HOA might try to do. Florida law as I stated in the OP protects the rights of residents to utilize line dry if they so choose. Possibly, it is ok to have rules like it must be done in the back yard. I’m pretty sure Florida law also protects a person’s right to have solar panels on their roof. An HOA can’t try to say the solar panels aren’t aesthetically pleasing. “Green” efforts generally are protected in FL. I’m very happy about those laws.
I don’t live in an HOA community technically, but the community is governed by a similar type of entity.
@chyna That is ridiculous, and horrible in my opinion.
As though filthy clothing might somehow be preferable?
My husband’s clothes on my patio are filthy. Lol. He puts them across the patio chairs after a sweaty work out. They aren’t hanging on a line, just strewn across the furniture.
There would be something that comforts our soul seeing a laundry line.
HOA are a bunch of nudnik yentas. But…
Well then! Were there skid marks? That would be a valid point.
@WhyNow Ewww… that is what the washing machine is for.
If anyone is interested:
I looked up the rules regarding this issue for where I live. It’s covered in the restrictions for my village under section 2.25 of the linked document below. Basically, it says whatever the law is, is what the rule is.
https://www.districtgov.org/images/DeedRestiction/lake/L-32.pdf
To clarify about the governing body, The Villages doesn’t have an HOA it has Community Development Districts (CDD). I think that similar to Reedy Creek of you remember the Disney DeSantis thing not long ago. Here’s info about CDD’s where I live. https://districtgov.org/faq.aspx
We pay an “amenity fee” to The Villages and some other fees on our tax bill for the upkeep and recreation in the community.
They obviously haven’t got a dry sense of humour.
While looking for land to build a home for our grandparents, we made sure
there was NO hoa within two zip codes!
The residents should fight the restriction in 2.25 – tell them to hang in there.
@elbanditoroso There is no restriction. The law in Florida is people can line dry, as I have said multiple times on this Q.
Here is the actual statute. I looked it up. http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0100-0199/0163/Sections/0163.04.html
The law always trumps HOA’s or anything written in a contract. You can’t break the law. For instance, it’s Florida law buyers buying a condominium from a developer gets 15 days to review condominium documents, and no contract can reduce that time. Even if the developer write 5 days on the sales contract and everyone signs, the buyer has the right to 15 days.
@RayaHope I agree with you!!! At the same time, she claimed that she was working in her official capacity for the HOA & the HOA chose to back up her claim. Then the homeowner decided it wasn’t worth what it would cost to get an attorney. It was just cheaper to replace the mailbox…sobeit!!!
It’s just a weird class thing that hasn’t fully updated yet.
Laundry on a line used to be a signal of low-income, and in high density urban areas, eventually became the signal of poverty, or at least non-waspiness.
Today, it’s a signal that you aren’t stupid and choose to use your available resources to save money and energy. Unfortunately, a lot of people in communities protected by HOAs are too old or rich to have flexible minds.
@LadyMarissa I wonder what would have happened if he cut her box down?!
Back in college, I had a friend whose middle aged widowed aunt insisted her bedding be aired daily (weather permitting) on a line strung on the grounds, and accessible from a second floor balcony. When told of this, I told my friend I had to see it, and she drove us to the place on the spot. The aunt turned out as delightful and full of fun and mischief as her niece and was proud to show off the setup and fed us a marvelous lunch to boot. The line was on pulleys so the wash or bedding might be wheeled out and back from the laundry room (converted bedroom). Neither the house nor the line were visible from the street, but I doubt if the jolly gal gave a shit who might see what hung from it. I grin now as I think back on the pair of fabulous women. I’ve had a line and pulley setup adapted to every house I’ve lived in since. The current one runs from the back deck adjacent the laundry room. We don’t air the bed linen daily, but do hang our washed sheets and my overalls and hoodies to dry. And the blessings of the sea breezes waft up as you open the drawers where they’re stored. Life is good.
@JLeslie I feel undergarments are a bit too far.
@KNOWITALL They could put another garment in front of the underwear in consideration of people passing by I guess.
I’m mildly curious if the complaints are coming from men or women..
People are triggered by undergarments? My education here continues.
My bra straps are always showing on my back when I work out, and I could care less if my skirt goes up while dancing and flashes my underwear, so I’m definitely not triggered. Not to mention I worked for underwear vendors for years. Although, I can understand being put off by men’s underwear hanging out in the wind.
@WhyNow It’s good manners. Keep your panties indoirs.
I think HOA’s are doing good in some respects. I don’t want to live next door to someone that collects junked vehicles and boats and brings down my property value.
@WhyNow Your housekeeper says you’re so rich you just throw the used ones out so she cleans and sells them behind your back. Haha!
You’re airing my dirty laundry.
My my did this take a turn…How did everyone get their panties in a twist so fast? LOL!
I put my underpants out when it’s really windy, only blow job action they see.
@RayaHope
“How did everyone get their panties in a twist so fast?”
They failed to heed the weather service’s warning about hanging their underwear on a clothesline, when there’s an active tornado warning. ;)
A bad HOA is usually nothing more than a group of Karens doing what they do. My last place was a condo with an HOA. They were a menace, they did all kinds of mean, ridiculous shit. When they hired a contractor to install screens over everyone’s dryer vents to keep the lint from getting out without telling anyone it was the final straw. They ignored me when I told them they just created a massive fire hazard. A group of us banded together and voted them all out at the next annual election. I ended up on the HOA voluntarily to undo most of what they did. It was a major PITA though.
^^The “HOA” in this case isn’t doing anything. They can’t do anything even if they wanted to.
It’s just a woman who lives here complaining and a few others agreeing. Most people on the Facebook thread think she should find something else to complain about.
The rules where I live are pretty reasonable. What you describe we call condo commandos in Florida.
I suppose some people just need something to complain about.
Not really.
Although I eschew anything sartorial, it would fun to tell someone that their clothing is well hung. ;)
I was president of my condo’s HOA for a year. Sucky position, if you ask me. There are plenty of complainers in the complex who have irrational expectations. They are impossible to satisfy without doing something stupid and/or expensive (which will get the other residents mad at you). There is no way to win.
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