HB 1523 – AS INTRODUCED
2008 SESSION
08/05
HOUSE BILL 1523
AN ACT relative to the use of clotheslines.
SPONSORS: Rep. Harvey, Hills 21; Rep. Borden, Rock 18; Rep. Owen, Merr 4; Rep. Devine, Rock 7; Sen. Janeway, Dist 7
COMMITTEE: Municipal and County Government
This bill allows the use of clotheslines and drying racks.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
08-2029
08/05
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Eight
AN ACT relative to the use of clotheslines.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 New Section; Right to Use of Clotheslines. Amend RSA 155-D by inserting after section 10 the following new section:
155-D:11 Right to Use of Clotheslines.
I. In this section:
(a) “Building, housing, and health regulations” mean any law, ordinance, or governmental regulation concerning health, safety, sanitation, or fitness for habitation, or concerning the construction, maintenance, operation, occupancy, use, or appearance of any premises or dwelling unit.
(b) “Dwelling unit” means a building or the part of a building that is used as a home, residence, or sleeping place by one or more persons who maintain a household.
(c) “Landlord” means the owner, lessor, or where applicable, the sublessor of a residential dwelling unit or the building of which it is a part.
(d) “Premises” means a dwelling unit, its appurtenances, and the building, and its grounds, areas, and facilities.
(e) “Tenant” means a person entitled under a rental agreement to occupy a residential dwelling unit to the exclusion of others.
II. Counties, municipalities, cooperatives and residential associations may facilitate the use of clotheslines and drying racks through reasonable allowances of residents to use such devices.
III. Notwithstanding other provisions of law to the contrary, no building, housing, or health regulations of any government entity, and no contract of any manner whatsoever, including those between landlord and tenant, those between members of cooperatives, or those between joint owners, may prohibit one or more persons from erecting and using clotheslines and/or drying racks on the premises, for the purpose of drying clothes. Any such regulations or contractual provisions in existence on enactment of this section are void as of the effective date of this section.
IV. This section shall not limit the reasonable regulation of times for drying or the location of clotheslines and/or drying racks on the premises in order to protect access to buildings, to protect the ability to evacuate buildings in case of fire or other emergency, and to protect aesthetic values.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2009.