Clotheslines and HOAs

[ericaz]

We're in a townhome community with a home owners association that prohibits hanging clothes out to dry. I'm not sure of the specifics (what we can and can't do) but I do know that if we're caught doing so we will be fined.

Our community is on an incline so our street is way up on a hill. We only own our house and the land our house sits upon...everything else is public property. We have a large, south facing deck that is about 16 ft off the ground and this is where I want to sun my clothes. I do not know whether our deck is technically on public property since it rests upon tall pieces of wood that my husband drove into the ground.

My husband wants to try and figure out a way to put up a retractible clothesline. We'd hook it to our house on one end and then perhaps build something to rest on the deck for it to go out to.

Aside from the environmentally friendly aspects of drying clothes on a line I also just started cloth diapering. Nothing gets rid of poop stains on prefolds than sunshine. And it's FREE!

I'm just wondering if anyone has had to deal with a pita hoa and what the outcome was.

fwiw, I bought a cheap, horribly made portable wood clothes hanger thingamabob today at Bed Bath and Beyond and have some diapers out on my deck drying now. It's no line, though...all the dipes that are on the lower lines are shaded by the ones above!

[TeaghansMama]

ugh HOAs! ours is horrible!
i have a couple of drying racks i use on the deck for diapers and stains. i like how they lie flat right in the sun. i also have a retractable clothesline (we got it at coleman) attached to the house and then it pulls out and hooks to a wood frame dh built on one side of the deck. it's just two pieces of wood coming up vertically at the corners with a piece of wood across the top. we put hooks on the cross piece and sometimes i hang a shirt or something on a hanger to dry but the original plan was to use the hooks for hanging baskets.
so far i haven't gotten any flack from out HOA but if they do come complaining i'm going to fight it. don't know how that will end up but it's important to me. our HOA also tried to fine people for letting their grass die even when we were in a severe drought. i can't wait til we move out to the country. i hate people telling me what i can do on my own property. but that is a rant for another thread......

[ericaz]

Hey Keira,
Do you happen to have a photo of that wood frame? I'm a little confused to what it looks like...

I just got back from having to pick up half my dipes because the wind blew them off that aforementioned piece of crap clothes drying rack I mentioned in the first post.

What's Colemans??

[ekortering]

We got around our HOA rules by using an umbrella clothesline. My husband dug a small hole in the backyard, inserted the pole support and filled in with concrete. It's very sturdy and the clothesline unit can be removed during bad weather and for mowing. Technically, it's not "permanent." We bought our umbrella clothesline from Lowes or Home Depot (can't remember) for less then $50. I LOVE MY CLOTHESLINE!

Erin

[chel]

my apartment complex just passed out a "newsletter" (first time ever) and it said not to use drying racks on the decks. On the same page it also said to be considerate of the sounds from washers and drying.

Well we could solve the second by doing the first.

Luckily, my deck can't be seen by anyone from their deck or apartment, but only if the were walking (no reason to walk by) or by the lawn maintenance.

[Turquesa]

Would you have enough support to change the rule? There's always a way. Sometimes it's outlined in your CC&R's, other times by state or municipal laws. In our HOA, we need a supermajority vote of homeowners. In the past, we've just collected signatures. I don't know who turned them in or where . . .

If you have the infinite spare time, there's a way to go above your HOA Board: Get your Senator or Rep to introduce Right to Dry legislation.

[SoHappy]

There were some great links in a recent thread about this. Probably worth poking around for!

[SleeplessMommy]

Join the board of the HOA and you can get this changed. Electric prices are expected to increase 30% plus in the next few years. (parts of MD went up 50% last year due to deregulation.) When you point this out, you can gain support for your cause.

[riverscout]

Unless you can get the support of most of the other homeowners to change the rules, you are pretty much SOL when it comes to a clothesline. And since you said the HOA "prohibits hanging clothes out to dry," you could be violating the rules even with a rack. I would find out exactly what the covenant states and see if there is some wiggle room. Even if the rack is prohibited, you could always just risk it since most likely you would first get a warning before a fine.

A woman in my town was in a similar predicament as you. Her HOA banned clotheslines specifically. She took her fight to the town council. They passed a law that prohibits future HOAs form banning clotheslines and "other solar collection devices," but they couldn't actually force existing HOAs to change their rules. She ultimately got way with using a rack because it wasn't technically a "clothesline" and the HOA backed off.

Good luck!