Found a loophole in my town's old 'no clotheslines' law from 1952

So I live in a small neighborhood outside of Raleigh and I noticed this weird rule still on the books about not being able to hang laundry outside. My HOA tried to fine me $75 last summer for using a clothesline to dry my sheets. I got annoyed and started digging through old town records at the library. Turns out the law only mentions 'ropes or lines attached to permanent structures' but says nothing about freestanding drying racks. So I bought a collapsible metal rack at Target for $20 and set it up in my backyard. HOA sent me another warning but I showed them the exact wording from the 1952 ordinance. They backed off completely after that one! Has anyone else found a dumb loophole like this in an old law where you live?

3 comments

3 Comments

angelarivera28d ago

Ha, nice! Gotta love those old technicalities. I bet the HOA guys were so annoyed having to back down.

shanef3428d ago

What really gets me about the HOA backing down part is I actually read this article a while back about these old neighborhood covenants that were still technically active. People forget that some of those rules were written decades ago and the legal basis for them gets real fuzzy. @angelarivera you're probably right that the HOA guys were steaming over it, but the law is the law. It's funny how these older technicalities can totally flip a situation around when you least expect it. I bet the whole board had to sit through some awkward meeting afterward trying to figure out how to save face.

diana_kim6628d ago

Yeah just have a lawyer look at the original covenants before fighting it, saved me a lot of headache once.