Communal Bins Advice Please

Diamond78

sofaspud1234

I looks to me that there are not enough bins for amount of rubbish. If you had more bins to accommodate the amount of rubbish the lids could be closed and contain the smell.

TeamLowe

Have you spoken to environmental services at your council? In the very least they should be able to say how many bins that many flats should have and what the emptying frequency should be, it's clear from the pictures what is in place isn't adequate.

Definitely speak to your local councillor. If you have more than one, try to go for one who isn't a member of the majority party, they'll cause more of a stink for political point scoring and the bigger the stink the better, if you'll excuse the pun.

cattie

The rubbish room itself looks very clean & most of the rubbish does at least seem to be bagged, so that's something to be thankful for.

I agree with sofaspud that there appear to be not enough bins to cope with the amount of rubbish that tenants have & am sure if this was addressed, you wouldn't be having the problems you are now having.

Are the large items thrown in there, such as beds etc. collected & taken away as regularly as the general rubbish?

It's just a great pity you didn't realise before taking your flat that living directly over bin stores would be the worse position to be in out of the whole block. I can only hope a solution is found soon, but I would feel that for you in the long run, moving elsewhere would be better as you don't want to have to face this kind of problem ever again in the future.

GwylimT

Are they all the bins for 37 flats? Where I am there are 35 and we have 10 waste bins and 10 recycling bins.

Why do you need to put your sons name/photo in the local paper, all you need to do is to be called a resident at blah blah blah.

Diamond78

Thank you everyone for your advice and help. Yes I have spoken to Environmental Health but he said they only deal with private landlords and it was the HA's duty to keep the place safe and clean. But he said he would write to which he did. The pictures you see are nothing compared to when its full of furniture and ripped bags on the floor but I can't access the other pictures as my laptops broke.

The neighbour on the ground floor constantly cleans the mess with her son as she is also affected by the smell, although not as bad. She has also complained without success.

The senior officer that came on Tuesday said it would very unlikely and very hard to get the bins emptied more than once a week. They promised a meeting last year with all the residents but it never happened, letters were promised to be sent out but that never happened. The only letter we got was about the homeless man sleeping under the stairs.

Yes the large items have been dumped in there from when we first moved in. We was all told before moving in any large items had to be dealt with the council who pick them up for free but these are are either that lazy to walk a few more steps or just ignorant. At the moment there is aTV, a sofa and mattress in there.

I so wish they told me the flat was above the bins but they never and they never showed us where it was either. It was by asking around that we found out. The doors are often left unlocked too. When I pointed it out that it would have been nice to be told that my flat was above the bins, my housing officer lied by saying we was told. But there were at least ten other tenants signing the tenancy agreement with me as it was a group signing. Not one of those neighbours heard her tell us or me about it.

I've told them we can't undo the past and mistakes have been made but enough is enough now. You are all right, we do need more bins but there isn't enough room. There are 38 flats, four large bins and two recycling bins and one small bin, the ones small families are given.

I thought if you wanted to papers to report something you'd have to give your name but thank you for the idea lol, I shall be a concerned resident

I have also sent an email to the Fire Safety Regulation team to see if they carry out a Fire Risk Assessment. I read that

-landlords must keep their properties you live in safe and free from health hazards. (Especially we're there is a potential fire risk, then it must get taken seriously because of greater risk or arson.) Also

Under the housing act 2004 the housing authority must inspect properties if they become aware of significant fire hazards.

So fingers crossed. I'm going to email the local councillors. I'm not good with politics, Labour is the biggest party in our borough. So do you mean don't go to them lol? Sorry to sound thick. Do you recommend a party that is ok?

Diamond78

Good Morning Everyone

I just wanted to update on what the housing association have decided to do regarding the smelly bins.

They will be holding a tenants meeting to see what solutions can be reached! Like the tenants give a dam. Cannot see this working.

They will be putting up more posters to remind tenants were and what to put in the bins.

Estate officer will be visiting three times a week to inspect and tidy any rubbish but not clean.

The cleaners will come on Friday, the day the bins get emptied and rotate the bins and close the lids. But the problem is, the bins lids end up staying open because of the rubbish over filling them.

Willmott Dixon will install a mechanical extractor fan, once they get costs.

They will change the locks to the rear door to the communal bins, the door under my son's room. Like that's going to stop them dumping their garbage in front of the door.

The communal bins cannot be moved due to planning permission and extra bins cannot be provided for health and safety reasons.

While they are trying to make an effort, a year too late, like some of you have mentioned, there are not enough bins to accommodate 38 flats and their tenants.

The smell has been very bad since last week, with the communal hall, stairs and lift really smelling. My son vomited Friday as the smell was too much for him. I just breathe through my mouth rather than nose nose. We stayed at my brothers at the weekend and it was bliss, came back home yesterday to only want to go back to my brothers.

All this time I just plug ins and every air freshener as well as those sticks you burn but I had constant headaches and migraines so stop using them.

I asked the housing last week if they could try and fast track these things because with the weather getting warmer, it makes the smell worse. But they did not respond. They said I could do an exchange but no one is going to want to move in here and I would never lie and let another family go through the same. When I said they left me no option but to take them to court, they agreed I could transfer but not in the same borough due to councils criteria.

So I have decided to follow your advice and contact my local paper because that is what they deserve. Wish me luck.

TeamLowe

Sorry, I should have been clearer, you need to contact Environmental Services, Environmental Health is a completely seperate department who have very little to do with bins.

Environmental Services is the department in your Council that organise the bin rounds and ensure that bins are emptied. if anyone is able to say 'the bins need emptying more than once a week, we'll change the rounds' it will be them and they may be able to come to some sort of agreement with your HA as to how the problem is dealt with

as far as I'm aware whilst the HA may pay for the actual containers, they don't pay for/have much to do with the collections as you all pay for that as part of your council tax like all residents.