What was claimed
From 12 October the UK government is introducing a rule that means you could be fined £100 for hanging laundry outside in your garden.
Our verdict
False. No such policy has been introduced.
No, you won’t be fined by the government for hanging washing outside
Videos being shared on Facebook falsely claim that the UK government introduced a rule on 12 October which means people can be fined £100 for hanging laundry out to dry in their gardens.
No such policy has been introduced. Searches on gov.uk and Hansard, the record of what is said in Parliament, produced no results relating to this supposed policy, and Full Fact could find no credible media reporting on this either.
We’ve found some reports of people saying their landlords or tenancy agreements forbid them from hanging washing in communal outdoor areas, but we could find no evidence there is any law preventing it.
While it may seem obvious to many that this isn’t a real government policy, the hundreds of shares these videos received and comments beneath them such as “None of your business, I will still put my laundry out” indicate that some are taking it at face value. We’ve written more here about why we fact check things like this.
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The videos contain overlaid text that says: “£100 Fine for Hanging Laundry? Brits Furious Over New Ban! Outrage as UK Moves to Ban Outdoor Clothes Drying from October 12th!”, though the words used in the voiceover differ.
One video begins with a clip seemingly taken from GB News and audio that says: “Breaking News”. However, the audio does not match the words spoken by the presenter, and was probably made with AI. The voiceover says “Starting twelfth October 2025”, rather than ‘the twelfth of October’, which we'd typically expect.
This is the latest example in a series of alarmist videos we’ve seen being shared online that make false and misleading claims about supposed new government policies that affect people’s personal freedoms.
Before sharing videos like these on social media, first consider whether they come from a trustworthy and verifiable source. Our Full Fact toolkit can help you do this.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because no such policy has been announced or introduced.