Tenants pine for laundry room feuds
Tenants' incessant feuds over shared laundry facilities have prompted Lund council in southern Sweden to close down communal laundromats and install washing machines in individual flats instead. But now many tenants want the old laundry rooms back.
Arguments and conflicts over mysteriously missing laundry and other misdemeanours are rife in apartment buildings across Sweden. Relations in Lund's council flats were so unneighbourly when it came to laundry etiquette that Lund's council apartment association (LKF) decided to start closing down their laundry facilities in 1998.
Instead they installed washing machines and dryers in many of their apartments.
Gunilla Flygare, head of marketing at LKF explained the original decision to close down the communal laundry rooms.
"Our questionnaires showed that the laundry room was a common cause for conflict and source of unhappiness. This is why we decided to install individual machines in many apartments", she told Expressen.
Today, almost 4,000 of LKF's 8,500 apartments have their own washing machine and dryer, while several communal laundry rooms have been shuttered.
"It's a higher standard of living to have your own washing machine, and more flexible. But now we have had requests from renting tenants to increase the number of communal laundry facilities again, mainly for the better drying facilities there."
"This is why we are taking a break from installing machines into individual flats, and will re-evaluate the question again," Flygare said.
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Arguments and conflicts over mysteriously missing laundry and other misdemeanours are rife in apartment buildings across Sweden. Relations in Lund's council flats were so unneighbourly when it came to laundry etiquette that Lund's council apartment association (LKF) decided to start closing down their laundry facilities in 1998.
Instead they installed washing machines and dryers in many of their apartments.
Gunilla Flygare, head of marketing at LKF explained the original decision to close down the communal laundry rooms.
"Our questionnaires showed that the laundry room was a common cause for conflict and source of unhappiness. This is why we decided to install individual machines in many apartments", she told Expressen.
Today, almost 4,000 of LKF's 8,500 apartments have their own washing machine and dryer, while several communal laundry rooms have been shuttered.
"It's a higher standard of living to have your own washing machine, and more flexible. But now we have had requests from renting tenants to increase the number of communal laundry facilities again, mainly for the better drying facilities there."
"This is why we are taking a break from installing machines into individual flats, and will re-evaluate the question again," Flygare said.
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