Ireland, by European or even possibly North American standards, is a bit of an outlier when it comes to apartments (condos). Only 4% of us live in apartments / condos / flats. So line drying has been a feature of everyday life for as long as people have been doing laundry.
The climate here however, can be pretty wet. A recent survey I was looking at has about 70% of households here own a clothes dryer and an increasing number of those seem to be heat pumps, which is also possibly driving uptake higher as they’re less energy hogging and less annoying than simpler condensers or through the wall vented machines.
However, you’ll still find a lot of people who will line dry when possible and may finish items off in a machine or only use the machine when the weather is wet (frequently).
For rental properties here you have to provide at least a fridge, cooking appliances, a washer and a dryer (or washer-dryer combined units are legally acceptable - the landlord specials are often ... emm special in the sense they’re useless!)
However in apartments (condos or rentals) we’ve management companies which are owned by the households in the building and until all the units are sold, the developer usually retains shares. Many of these, like US HOAs are absolutely paranoid about laundry or anything else (eg satellite dishes) visible from balconies and will write stuff into your lease or try to enforce things. The legality of some of it is a bit questionable and enforcement would tend to be by means of a haughty letter rather than ever going to court but it’s becoming a signifiant annoyance for some people.
To be quite honest, I think it’s OCD and snobbish nonsense.
The satellite dish issue is probably more significant, as you’ll get people trying to fix dishes to the exterior walls of buildings which they don’t own. The management companies can then just remove them. However. I’ve seen management companies go after someone who had a very well camouflaged dish on her balcony. There was nothing ugly about it. Unless you went out of your way looking for it, it was totally invisible.
I just think with the clothes issue in particular, all people need is to be a little less sensitive to a drying rack on a balcony and also perhaps design balconies and other areas like that so that clothes can be dried unobtrusively. I know for example in Spain I rented a place with a huge balcony, part of which was screened with louvers, which provided excellent space for drying clothes. There was a very large closet at the end of the balcony on that side which contained a washer & dryer stack and an extra fridge freezer, all totally hidden away behind panelling.
The climate here however, can be pretty wet. A recent survey I was looking at has about 70% of households here own a clothes dryer and an increasing number of those seem to be heat pumps, which is also possibly driving uptake higher as they’re less energy hogging and less annoying than simpler condensers or through the wall vented machines.
However, you’ll still find a lot of people who will line dry when possible and may finish items off in a machine or only use the machine when the weather is wet (frequently).
For rental properties here you have to provide at least a fridge, cooking appliances, a washer and a dryer (or washer-dryer combined units are legally acceptable - the landlord specials are often ... emm special in the sense they’re useless!)
However in apartments (condos or rentals) we’ve management companies which are owned by the households in the building and until all the units are sold, the developer usually retains shares. Many of these, like US HOAs are absolutely paranoid about laundry or anything else (eg satellite dishes) visible from balconies and will write stuff into your lease or try to enforce things. The legality of some of it is a bit questionable and enforcement would tend to be by means of a haughty letter rather than ever going to court but it’s becoming a signifiant annoyance for some people.
To be quite honest, I think it’s OCD and snobbish nonsense.
The satellite dish issue is probably more significant, as you’ll get people trying to fix dishes to the exterior walls of buildings which they don’t own. The management companies can then just remove them. However. I’ve seen management companies go after someone who had a very well camouflaged dish on her balcony. There was nothing ugly about it. Unless you went out of your way looking for it, it was totally invisible.
I just think with the clothes issue in particular, all people need is to be a little less sensitive to a drying rack on a balcony and also perhaps design balconies and other areas like that so that clothes can be dried unobtrusively. I know for example in Spain I rented a place with a huge balcony, part of which was screened with louvers, which provided excellent space for drying clothes. There was a very large closet at the end of the balcony on that side which contained a washer & dryer stack and an extra fridge freezer, all totally hidden away behind panelling.
