The adjective “Byzantine” comes to mind.

"Dumb” comes to mine.

And if you break the rules and put up a clothesline, what are the consequences?  Who has standing to file suit? 

If it’s the condo association, it (you and M) could decline to file, couldn’t you?  Or perhaps assess yourselves a modest fine ... to be used, say, to acquire clothespins.

That’s crazy.
And here that’s one of the reasons I would like my own house & yard - for a clothesline. 

I’m wondering what the reasoning is behind this prohibition??

The reasoning behind the prohibition is that clotheslines are unattractive. It’s purely someone’s idea of aesthetics. I’ve lived in one other neighborhood that had a neighborhood association (not a condo association) with legal covenants that also outlawed clotheslines and even specifically laid out the colors one could select (from an approved list) to paint one’s house. I was glad to get out of there!

I am going to erect a ‘temporary’ clothesline. It’s ridiculous that I can’t based on some document that was never changed to reflect the new reality of individual home ownership. My backyard behind my house is out of street view and very private. If M doesn’t mind, then so what? She wants one, too. But, if any of the neighbors were to decide this was not appropriate and was setting a ‘dangerous’ precedent for the neighborhood as a whole, and pointed out to authorities that it was a violation of the condo docs, authorities would have no option but to require me to remove my clothesline. Even if I am 50% of my own condo association. This issue has cropped up before with a couple of other neighbors with regard to a swimming pool and a hot tub. Stupid condo docs.

I suspect that this will have to be addressed at some point. It wasn’t lost on either M or me that when the house’s insurance company had to cut a check for me for an overpayment (when I refinanced the house), I couldn’t cash it without an approved signature from the condo association and it turns out that neither M nor I have the approved signatures since we have nothing on paper that says we are the legal representatives of our own damned condo association. The insurance company (local) finally went out on a very skinny, and probably rather questionably legal limb, and changed our ownership values in the system for five minutes—long enough to cancel the old check and cut a new one in my name alone.

I’m not sure how we go about rectifying that, but it’s something we’ve been talking about recently. Makes both M and I very nervous.

But why would the next house’s condo association have any say over what happens at your condo?  They’re entirely separate entities, aren’t they?  How would someone down the street have standing to enjoin you from flouting yourassociation’s covenants?

Or is there some sort of {condo}^2 association that sets out rules and regulations for the entire street?  If so, where are its officers, its meeting minutes, its documents?

From what I understand, and there is considerable confusion over the way these things were written, the condo docs create legal zoning restrictions within a city zoning district. Therefore, if someone totally unrelated to my specific set of zoning restrictions doesn’t like what I’m doing, they can complain about what they don’t like and the city is then obligated to enforce my zoning restrictions even if they have to hold their noses while doing it. As I said, this happened with a swimming pool and hot tub a few years back.

There is a provision that says if I want to erect a swimming pool or a shed or other temporary structure on my property, I’m supposed to get signatures from neighbors on both sides of the house giving me their blessings. If they don’t agree, then I can’t put the temporary structure on my property.

I will say that this was a much larger problem when the first homeowners moved in. Everyone was busy making sure the other guy didn’t do something they weren’t supposed to do. Ten years later and several owners later, the condo docs are more annoyance than anything else. Most people just don’t care what their neighbors are doing, building, installing, etc. There has been so much home improvement and landscaping going on that everyone is happy with the way things look.

My sense though is that clotheslines fall in a slightly different category. A good number of people really hate them. I’m going to try it, though. I don’t really anticipate any trouble as long as no one can see it. But it’s still not legal.

At least with swimming pools (& maybe even hot tubs), someone could argue about potential disasters, I imagine.  But I just don’t see how your clothesline would flood the neighbors yard.  haha.

The specific colours you can choose to paint your house…
Yeah, that’s why the new housing developments I’ve seen in some areas look exactly like the low income apartment housing projects. 
Stepford at best. 
Everything the same.  Ugh.

I’m all for aesthetics to a point… zoning rules, say.  Like no yellow neon arches or titty bars in residential neighborhoods, stuff like that.

But a clothes line?
They’re almost romantic really.
Why do some people hate them?

And would these people be happier living in a lunar colony?  hehe.

I loved when I lived in Edwardsville, I was surrounded in an old folkes neighborhood, where everyone had those clothes lines that came out from upper level porches & crossed the yard.
But anyway, aside from the odd girdle & tidy whities, it was a very pleasant, comfy view.

Watermelon Punch - Photo Album - 22 Sep 2001 - Neighbors’ laundry

Of course I also once saw butt cleavage… heh-heh. 
Watermelon Punch - Photo Album - 25 Mar 2003 - man works on a roof
Now that could’ve used some zoning.  ;)

I myself hung my clothes inside my enclosed porch.

Watermelon Punch - Photo Album - 22 Sep 2001 - Chloe’s laundry on porch

Nowadays I have 5 folding laundry racks where I dry my clothes inside.  And one small clothes line on the porch that I’ve only really used when I waited too long to go to the laundromat & there was more than could fit on the racks.
When you pay 25 cents for 12 minutes of dryer time, and have a lot of stuff that can’t go in the dryer… And well, I also think clothes stay new-looking much much longer if you don’t put them in the dryer.

OH LOL. I was so nervous when we went to sell that it was going to cost us big bucks because of those stupid doc’s! I say do it. If anyone complains I will come over and we can egg there house!!! That would be an equivalent mature thing to do to someone that would complain about something like that y’know!

While I grew up, everyone had a clothesline of some kind. EVERYONE. Then somehow they became a symbol of the lower-middle class and heaven forbid should the perfectly manicured suburban neighborhoods even suggest such a thing.

I have a feeling, with rising energy prices, that clotheslines are about to make a come-back.

And you can’t beat the smell of fresh sheets just in off the line nor can you beat the bright whites that the sun gives you for free.

A symbol of the lower middle class?
heh.
I had no idea.
That really is very ridiculous, in my opinion.

Especially since there are more than monetary motives, as said.

Well of course it’s ridiculous to you and me, Chloe. But it sure isn’t for people who live in the upscale ‘burbs and the wannabe ‘hoods. I don’t think my neighborhood makes any pretense of being a gated community, but clotheslines are still prohibited because they clutter the landscape with flappy, multi-colored clothes.

Clothesline story: I had an apartment in Tucson once which had a dirt/gravel parking lot.  The complex had a coin-operated washing machine but no dryer, so you had to hang your clothes on a line which was slightly off to the side of the main route through the parking lot.

How clean do you suppose those damp clothes remained after being hung on that line?

Well, it was a nice thought, anyway. But, it sounds like whoever put the clothesline there didn’t have any close personal experiences with doing laundry. So where did you dry your clothes if you wanted them to stay clean? Was this during the 70s energy crunch?

Of course, in Tucson it only took about 45 seconds to dry a load of wash on a clothesline.  OTOH, that’s plenty of time to build up a nice load of dust in the desert.

It was 1975, and as N says, it didn’t take long (this was spring/summer) for clothes to dry on the line.  I kinda kept a close eye on the comings/goings of my fellow residents and tried to hang things accordingly.

This was a small, small complex; I think there might only have been four units behind the landlord’s single-family house.

That’s right! It’s the dry heat!