Apartment buildings that restrict residents from drying their washing outdoors are facing a push to relax the rules as sustainability and cost-of-living concerns make dryers less desirable. More than 2.5 million Australians live in apartments, the 2021 census estimates, and both NSW and Victoria are pushing for more high-rise homes to solve the housing crisis.
Karen Stiles, executive director of the Owners’ Corporation Network of Australia. Credit: Oscar Colman Karen Stiles, executive director of the Owners’ Corporation Network of Australia, said conflict over laundry was becoming more common in both states because new developments were not being designed for people’s needs. While older apartment blocks typically had communal clotheslines, this had “gone out the window with the new builds”.
“It’s outrageous that in this day and age, people are being forced to use dryers,” Stiles said. “We’ve got to get off the fossil fuels and start focusing on cutting down emissions however we can, let alone the cost of living and the cost of clothes dryers.” Stiles said no one wanted to see “sheets draped over balcony railings”, but residents with a balcony should be able to set up a temporary clothes rack or mount a retractable or folding clothesline on the wall.
A clothesline is the cheapest and lowest-emissions method for drying laundry. The next best option is a heat pump dryer, which uses technology that draws in heat from the outside air. It uses about a thir.
