Borough Council penny pinching

lighting_up_the_chalice

kazz3105 wrote: »

Sorry i beg to differ Erimus IS the local authority the 'old council' houses. They took over in this town about 10 years ago ish

Nope. Erimus bought the properties from the Council. They are now nothing to do with Middlesbrough Council and everything to do with Erimus, a separate entity altogether.

As for your friends bin.......

http://www.middlesbrough.gov.uk/ccm/navigation/environment/waste-and-recycling/household-waste/#internalSection1

anotherginger

kazz3105 wrote: »

Sorry i beg to differ Erimus IS the local authority the 'old council' houses. They took over in this town about 10 years ago ish

Please do beg to differ, but a housing association is not the local authority! As another poster pointed out, Erimus would have bought the properties from the council. So the council, aka the local authority, are no longer the owner or landlord.

Hump

See http://www.lgo.org.uk/GetAsset.aspx?id=fAAzADEAMgB8AHwAVAByAHUAZQB8AHwAMAB8AA2

If the link doesn't work then go to www.lgo.org.uk and doc Sec-C-Environmental-health.pdf

Mr X complained about a council’s
arrangements for refuse collection.
What happened
1. Mr X complained that the council did
not provide him with a wheelie bin
when he moved into his home, and
wanted to charge him for providing one.
2. Mr X said that when he moved into his
home there was no wheelie bin there.
Within two days he reported this to the
council. The council said he would need
to pay £20 for a replacement bin.
3. The council’s records showed that a bin
had been provided at that property.
Mr X said there was definitely no bin
when he moved in and it must have
disappeared some time before that when
the house was in the care of the council.
4. Mr X left waste out in black refuse sacks.
The council refused to collect the sacks.
The council said that its policy was that,
if a property was deemed appropriate for
a wheelie bin, it would not collect refuse
unless it was in a wheelie bin. Only
properties which were exempt, for
reasons specified under the council’s
policy, could have refuse sacks collected.
The council further said that its policy
was to charge for replacement bins
when they had been damaged or stolen,
unless they were damaged or stolen
whilst out for collection.
Outcome
5. The council accepted that the bin
probably went missing before Mr X
moved into the property. It also
accepted that its policy on replacing bins
did not apply to his circumstances.
6. The council therefore said it would
replace the bin free of charge and pay
Mr X £100 for the time and trouble
involved in pursuing the complaint.
7. The Ombudsman accepted that this was
a satisfactory outcome.
(Local settlement 03/A/1759)

Sound familiar?

lighting_up_the_chalice

Hump wrote: »

See http://www.lgo.org.uk/GetAsset.aspx?id=fAAzADEAMgB8AHwAVAByAHUAZQB8AHwAMAB8AA2

If the link doesn't work then go to www.lgo.org.uk and doc Sec-C-Environmental-health.pdf

So, there you go. All the OP's friend has to do is follow the complaints procedure all the way up to the ombudsman and put up with a front garden full of black bin bags in the meantime. And all for the sake of £25. Shouldn't take much more than six months. Kerching.

Notmyrealname

lollipopsarah wrote: »

why not just go to a local shop and buy a bin , sorry if that sounds harsh, just think maybe there are a lot of worse things you could have.
xx

Because unlike the backwards place you apparently live in who still dump their rubbish in bags on the street, much of the rest of the country use wheelie bins.

darkpool

!!!!!!! this is what gives council house/ HA tenants a bad name.

The OP would rather spend hours on the phone wasting everyone's time instead of spending 25 pounds. No matter council tax is so high.

kingstreet

A quick point on this Housing Association issue.

Councils transferred their housing stock into hived-off firms which became Housing Associations and Registered Social Landlords.

http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/evolution-stock-transfer-housing-associations

Background

In the past 15 years, social housing in Britain has been substantially restructured through the transfer of former council stock into housing association ownership. Associations now manage over a third of all social sector dwellings - a threefold increase on the percentage in 1991.

Since the transfer process began in earnest in the late 1980s, more than 870,000 (tenanted) homes have been passed from state ownership (local authorities, new town development corporations or Scottish Homes) to housing associations (and, in a few cases, non-registered housing companies). By early 2003, 111 local authorities in England had transferred all their stock to housing associations. In addition, over forty authorities (twenty-three in England and nineteen in Scotland) have carried out 'partial stock transfers', where a council disposes of a package of tenanted housing whilst also retaining stock in its ownership.

A large majority of transferred stock has been taken into ownership by newly created associations, more than 180 in all. In most cases, these have been set up as free-standing bodies, though a few were established as subsidiaries of existing associations. Transfer associations are continuing to expand and now account for almost half of total association stock.

poppysarah

dizziblonde wrote: »

Quite why they nicked my bin full of rubbish (apart from the possibilities of identity theft which I'm doubtful of) remains beyond me to this day.

Wasn't about the same time as kids had a bonfire was it?

One year they nicked about 6 from round here and threw them on a bonfire. They flared up really well. As did my garage guttering. Grr.

propertyman

darkpool wrote: »

!!!!!!! this is what gives council house/ HA tenants a bad name.

The OP would rather spend hours on the phone wasting everyone's time instead of spending 25 pounds. No matter council tax is so high.

That's a little harsh. It's so high because in an effort to penny pinch neither want to supply a bin, left wing councils and lazy bin men who only collect from wheelie bins, which the council supply at a profit, and finally lazy uncaring staff at both ends refusing to say NO and just passing the buck.

If they took a firm stance between them then there would be no need to complain nor go to the ombudsman.

lyn-the-legs

I used to work for Middlesbrough council and can confirm that if she is a pensioner on a pension or low income she does not have to pay. All she needs to do is take down proof she is on a pension and over 60 and you should have one delivered in 7-10 days