• udon@lemmy.world
    14·
    2 days ago

    Depends on where you live. In Japan, most of the time it’s either way too hot to hang out on the balcony or way too cold. In Europe it’s fine in many places for most of the year.

    Some of it also has to do with rent prices which can be higher if you have a balcony.

    Also, and again in Japan: There is an emergency balcony exit in some apartment buildings in case a natural disaster hits. It’s probably easier to climb your way down a bunch of balconies with holes in the ground than a blank wall

    • forgotaboutlaye@lemmy.world
      7·
      2 days ago

      I live in Berlin, and while I don’t have a balcony myself, I spend a lot of time enviously starring at my neighbours that do, as they use them quite a bit.

  • visnae@lemmy.world
    611·
    3 days ago

    97% of the time, the average car just sits in the parking space, taking up space not being used.

    I guess you can say something similar applied to balconies. They are probably being used, but only a small portion of the day.

  • sp3tr4l@lemmy.zip
    1445·
    3 days ago

    You add tiny, mini, useless balconies so that you can check off another tick box on a zillow or trulia search, justify an increased rental cost.

    Then you make the balconies as small as possible, as featureless as possible, and throw a whole bunch of rules into your rental agreement that prevent you from actually using them for basically any reason: Can’t smoke on the balcony, can’t dry clothes on it, can’t cook on it, can’t display any thing like a flag or banner on the balcony because of some made up aesthetic code, etc.

    I’ve lived in a lot of different apartments of differing quality and location, and while I’m not saying that modern apartment residential balconies are entirely a scam, they very often are.

    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
      7416·
      3 days ago

      Can’t smoke on the balcony,

      Because that smoke goes into other people’s apartments. People who may not also be smokers or may have asthma or other medical conditions in which 2nd hand smoke is bad. not actually a building choice… most states now bar smoking inside or near a multi-unit residential building.

      can’t dry clothes on it,

      19 states have some form of “right to dry” legislation, most of which would protect drying on patio space.

      can’t cook on it,

      usually a matter of firecode. where I am, it’s illegal to have wood burning fire pits or charcoal grills, but gas grills are fine. Also, turkey friers.

      These rules are because people are stupid and have caused apartment fires numerous times with these things. can you use charcoal safely? sure. Also, another reason smoking is generally illegal. there’s always that one smoker that forgets to clear out the ashtray every so often and that catches fire. (or they put a tissue in it or something, and that’s not at all fire retardant.)

      can’t display any thing like a flag or banner on the balcony because of some made up aesthetic code, etc.

      not actually legal. if there’s a residential building code that bans political speech (banners, flags, etc) then that’s a first amendment violation. The apartment can (maybe) ban things in their contract agreement, but that’s not a building code. that’s a contract agreement, and as long as it’s not exactly graphic, it probably falls into the “unenforceable” category.

      • EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        35·
        3 days ago

        19 states have some form of “right to dry” legislation, most of which would protect drying on patio space.

        Two points which I would like to interject here:

        1. OP (of either the post or comment above) may not be in the United States, and

        2. Even if they are, there are 50 states and 1 capital district. That means those 19 states only make up roughly a third of the United States. Odds are they are not in one of them.

        • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
          12·
          3 days ago

          Fair enough.

          though, my understanding is that the opposition to clotheslines is a mostly US thing. Especially in places where the weather is warm year-round. (specifically its the HOA’s because HOA’s are the devil.)

          edit: also, there’s no state here that forbids the practice. (there may be cities that do, but I imagine those are in places like… florida. Government small enough to fit in your backyard.)

          • EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
            6·
            3 days ago

            though, my understanding is that the opposition to clotheslines is a mostly US thing. Especially in places where the weather is warm year-round.

            That’s fair. I’m not personally knowledgeable about said rules; I just thought I’d point out those couple things.

            (specifically its the HOA’s because HOA’s are the devil.)

            Agreed. I would say they need to go fuck themselves with a cactus, but really now. What did the cactus ever do to deserve that?

          • HelixDab2@lemm.ee
            3·
            2 days ago

            My house is in an HOA. I’m not allowed to have a clothesline.

            I do anyway. It’s on my screened in porch, and not visible unless you’re climbing trees in my backyard. And if you are, fuck you, I’ll walk around naked all day if I goddamn well please.

      • jerkface@lemmy.caEnglish
        181·
        2 days ago

        that’s a first amendment violation

        It is a first amendment violation when THE STATE and ONLY THE STATE restricts your expression. You can absolutely have your expression restricted by private agreements that you willingly enter into.

        • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
          64·
          2 days ago

          When it’s a private agreement, that’s not BUILDING CODE.

          Read my comment again.

          Building codes are regulations imposed by city, state, or federal governments. Not by HOAs or landlords. If there is a building code that restricts political speech, it’s a first amendment violation.

      • sp3tr4l@lemmy.zip
        31·
        2 days ago

        So, a bit of discussion about a hypothetical me has spawned from this and I’ll say some things here:

        I am from the US, have mostly rented in the PNW.

        I am aware that smoking is bad and can affect other people, and that idiots running grills can be very dangerous, but I’m old enough to remember when these used to be a major use case for residential balconies.

        AFAIK, generally, you can still do these things if you own (or even rent) a house in a lower density area with a balcony or patio.

        Hell, I’ve lived in places and with roommates who are entirely capable of nearly burning down an apartment complex by not knowing how to cook on the oven/range in their apartment, or by just smoking inside and woops that cigarette butt or spliff or joint missed the tray.

        I’m not saying it should be the case that we ignore safety concerns in more dense housing, I’m more just pointing out that things which many people are used to be able to do on some kind of residential balcony are not actually doable as more and more people live in rentals.

        As for clothes lines, decorations, hell in some places even public drinking of alcohol on a balcony all being technically legal to some extent but still being against a rental contract:

        Surely you are aware that the landlord and property managers hold basically all the power in these situations unless you have the time and depth of pockets to legally challenge their usually illegal frivolous stipulations.

        They can just fine you and threaten eviction or withhold your security deposit, and it will almost always be 5x to 10x less expensive to just accept this than to attempt to challenge it.

        Hell, I have literally never received my security deposit back, anywhere I have ever rented, despite doing no actual ‘damage’ to the unit. They will always just invent some reason to withhold it.

        … Anyway, my main drive here isn’t that you should just be allowed to do whatever you want on an apartment balcony, its that these balconies are functionally useless to the renter due to them being designed as an afterthought to drive up rental costs, as well as having all kinds of functionally real restrictions unless you want to get into a legal fight with your landlord.

        Basically, at a glance, the balconies are just scams, false advertising that looks like a neat bonus at first, but then you realize you can’t actually do anything on them besides maybe sit on a chair on them, if one will even fit.

      • datelmd5sum@lemmy.world
        1·
        3 days ago

        interesting that charcoal is banned but gas is fine. I’ve never had the grease accumulated on the bottom of the grill catch fire on a charcoal grill, but with a gas grill…

        • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          3 days ago

          gas can be turned off, charcoal can’t.

          it’s caused way more fires than uncleaned gas grills. mostly because people go inside to eat and forget about the coals (an then the wind comes up or something happens and sparks fly).

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.caEnglish
      4·
      2 days ago

      Can’t smoke on the balcony,

      Legally you cannot smoke here within 100ft of a door or window that ventilates another’s workspace or living space as it represents carcinogenic pollution you’re willfully emitting despite knowing the risks.

      In allowing it, the landlord would be subject to a number of complaints, some of them like human rights violations carrying no upper limit to the compensation – they could actually be sued for millions in the right extreme circumstances.

    • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6·
      3 days ago

      My friend had a balcony so small that one person had to crab walk out sideways and then a second person could stand in front of the door. We still stood out there and smoked though. The view was nice.

        • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
          516·
          3 days ago

          I figure Jeff Bezos and Nestle ARE guilty of so much evil shit that they get away with, that it’s not actually in bad faith to blame them for things they had nothing to do with. They can accept blame for SOMETHING for once in their miserable god damned evil lives.

          As for Clooney…well he’s just a smug bastard, and my Clooney bashing is well known here on Lemmy.

          So you CAN blame them all for whatever it was we were talking about. Doesn’t make it true…per se…but you CAN blame them for it! Because fuck them anyways!

  • Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca
    13·
    2 days ago

    As someone who can barely approach the edge of a 3-story parking structure, I would come unraveled on one of those balconies.

  • corsicanguppy@lemmy.caEnglish
    38·
    3 days ago

    Counterexample. We love our little balcony. We have some plants, a bench, and a hummingbird feeder. We take our coffee out there for ‘cocktail hour’ at 7, and sit, talk, watch the world go by a few floors down, and enjoy each other’s company.

    If you’re not using your balcony, you really should.

    • trolololol@lemmy.world
      2·
      2 days ago

      Totally

      Same with backyard. None of my neighbors are ever in their backyard. How do I know? If it’s not raining and it’s above 20c very likely I am in mine.

      • njordomir@lemmy.world
        1·
        1 day ago

        Agreed. I live on my back patio when it’s warm enough. I’ve gotten called out (not in a bad way) on meetings for my hammock background. ;-)

        • trolololol@lemmy.world
          1·
          1 day ago

          Oh mate I love sleeping in hammock, it takes some technique but it’s the best. I haven’t done that in 20 years so I may need extra research to be able to stand up now.

          Unfortunately I can’t hang one where I live, the fence is not strong enough and I’m renting.

      • blackbirdbiryani@lemmy.world
        71·
        2 days ago

        There are a tonne of apartment balconies that are just afterthoughts by the developer though. I see plenty that are narrow to the point of being useless, or 30 floors up with no enclosed overhang which just generally feels kinda terrifying.

        • gwen@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          1·
          2 days ago

          wait we had the same issue with our apartments balconies, had to call some guys to manually install barriers so me/the cat/people who leaned over too far wouldnt fall and die

  • kersploosh@sh.itjust.works
    70·
    3 days ago

    In some places that is a strategy to satisfy zoning requirements. The builder has to provide a minimum amount of outdoor area per dwelling unit. They could create a large ground-level courtyard, or they can create a bunch of tiny balconies that sum up to the same total area. The ladder latter strategy allows a larger building to exist on the same lot.

    Edit: Stupid voice-to-text always gets me.

  • HelixDab2@lemm.ee
    12·
    2 days ago

    As a counterexample, look at the Marina City towers in Chicago (aka the corncobs); all of the units have balconies, and the balconies are definitely a selling point. They’re quite large; in the case of the studios, the balcony can be nearly as large as the living space. (I think that I recently saw a nearly all original condo in Marina City go up for sale in the mid $400s? It was an interesting time capsule.)

      • HelixDab2@lemm.ee
        1·
        4 hours ago

        I’ve seen people on them. Not a ton. But I would see people on them every so often when I was heading to shows at House of Blues, usually later in the evening in the summer and early fall. I can’t imagine using them in the middle of winter, when it’s -10F and winds are whipping around at 30mph.

    • WoahWoah@lemmy.world
      4·
      2 days ago

      I had a friend that was drunk and was smoking and leaning back on a balcony and went over. No one even heard him. One minute he was there, the next minute he was gone. No one even looked down for a few minutes because people were regularly coming and going from the balcony and people just assumed he went back inside.

      Broke both his arms, his neck, fucked up his back, and had a major concussion. I think maybe he broke some ribs too. Really fucked him up. He didn’t die, but the head injury caused a dramatic personality change and the neck and back stuff created chronic pain.

      Another guy I knew intentionally jumped off a dorm balcony and severely and multiply fractured both his legs and fucked his knees forever.

      Don’t… uh, accidentally drop from great heights, people.

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.caEnglish
      1·
      2 days ago

      We had a great balcony on 15 but wow, standing at the railing was only a sometimes-thing and only for a short while. Sorry of our guests wouldn’t go outside at all, and I completely understand why.

      I used to be afraid of heights. Then, in basic training, we did some rappelling. Every second of the process was a trained and well-practiced task, orchestrated on the day by sergeants “speaking clearly” as is their talent. There were no mistakes, there was no fear while wrapped in the process, and there was no hesitation. The actual heights part was a few fleeting seconds.

      This achievement stayed with me 20 years until I absolutely lost my shit while rock climbing a familiar route out in New Paltz, embarrassing myself, my family, my friends.