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Hi Jimmy,
I live in a predominately strata street of home units & duplexes. Beside me is a strata duplex, the owners of which has taken up drying theirlaundry on he front balcony, which is level with mine. This is most unsightly as she washes several times a week. I have not seen any other balcony in the street with washing hung out to dry in the last 20 years!
I have spoken to the neighbours and asked them to refrain from this, but without success.
My strata by-laws prevent me from drying washing on balconies in the building. Is this a common strata by-law? How can I find out whether the drying of clothes on the balcony is allowed under the by-laws in the neighbouring duplex?
Yours desperately
JT
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So does the QLD legislation list the things that are OK or does it just give some examples? I would have thought a very good case could be made that a clothes line is sustainability equipment. IE it is a solar powered clothes dryer that is more sustainable than an electric dryer, just like a solar water heater is more sustainable than a straight electric water heater. In the ACT a clothes line is given as an explicit example.
I would have thought that the OC might only be able to ban the use of a solar clothes dryer on a balcony if it provided a practical alternative place to put one.
The ACT (following my suggestion in a submission to the Unit Titles Act review) has the following (slightly condensed quote):
S.108 (3)d. An amendment to the Rules has no effect to the extent that it results in the rules … prohibiting or restricting the installation, operation or maintenance of sustainability or utility infrastructure.
…
Sustainability infrastructure, installed in relation to a units plan—(a) means infrastructure and equipment that—
(i) improves the environmental sustainability of the units; or
(ii) reduces the environmental impact of the owners corporation and the unit owners; and
(b) includes related utility service connections and equipment.
Examples—solar panels, clothes lines, rainwater tanks.
The QLD legislation is not quite so open ended and is a bit more specific:
see Here
Driving around Sydney now, it’s starting to look like a third world country with all the washing on the balconies.
Some of the blocks are even ‘high end’!
@LogicprObe said:
Driving around Sydney now, it’s starting to look like a third world country with all the washing on the balconies.Some of the blocks are even ‘high end’!
I’d be pleased to see that so many people are saving money and NSW’s coal-fired emissions by using solar and wind power to dry their clothes on the most cost-effective renewable energy equipment there is.
@LogicprObe said:
Driving around Sydney now, it’s starting to look like a third world country with all the washing on the balconies.We’ll look even more Third World when rising tides and extreme weather events have done with us.
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
Personally I am not offended by laundry on display.
I suppose Naples is not a good example of apartment living that allows drying on the balconies and extension poles.
We are in the situation where there is one clothesline of 5 strings (2 meters of line per string available) for a total of 4 units. This is on a balcony on common property. Potentially 12 people per floor and wanting to use the clothesline as there are no private balconies. I wonder how the residents manage.
Potentially 12 people per floor and wanting to use the clothesline as there are no private balconies. I wonder how the residents manage.
In the old days, small schemes worked out a rota for the clothes lines. It worked to a point except when someone forgot to take their washing in and found it dumped on the ground on someone else’s drying days.
By the way, I’m looking at my previous response, predicting extreme weather events, back in 2018. Not much chance of getting your laundry dry in a flood-prone area.
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
Hi junetem
i think the other responders have missed your point.
As I understand, the offenders live in the strata next door, not your strata.
If that is the case, there is little you can do because you have no jurisdiction over the neighbouring property.
The general rule is thst you can’t regulate the actions of your neighbour ( meaning the address next door). Obvious exceptions are noise.
i think the other responders have missed your point.
Some did, but then the discussion moved on to the general merits of drying clothes on balconies, But, true, there’s not much you can do about the behaviour of people in completely separate strata schemes. Even if they had a by-law banning laundry, no one who wasn’t an owner or tenant in that building could do anything about it.
It’s worth noting that the model by-laws for new buildings seem to have changed in this regard, with the default position to be to allow washing to be dried on the balcony. Section 14 “Hanging out of washing” says in item 2,
An owner or occupier of a lot may hang washing on any part of the lot other than over the balcony railings. The washing may only be hung for a reasonable period.
Compare that with the model by-laws for pre-1996 blocks, which say in Section 10:
Drying of laundry itemsAn owner or occupier of a lot must not, except with the consent in writing of the owners corporation, hang any washing, towel, bedding, clothing or other article on 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.
That’s another change that’s been quietly introduced via the Regulations.
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
To divert again
We had a tenant hanging washing over the balcony railing, despite their being washing lines available one level below.
The strata manager enforced the laundry by law but made an exception that if the clothes were below the balcony ( not over the railing) that would be acceptable ( that point was agreed with other owners )
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