Penalty Charge for 'Bin Store Misuse' in rented accommodation

Tones

Thanks for the input all I e-mailed the management company notifying them that

- I always break down / fill disposed boxes, thereby using them efficiently, and that the evidence provided could not disprove this or even prove it was our box
- Our bins are consistently overfilled to the level illustrated in the photo regardless of boxes, so this is an internal issue for them to sort out, not an excuse for them to slap charges on tenants / owners
- I'm disputing the charge

Will post updates when I have them

Slinky

Are they communal bins?

Tones

They are indeed. I believe they are only emptied once a week.

Miss_Samantha

Tones wrote: »

It looks like the box had an address label on it, so they traced it to us.

If that's the case then your claim that you always dispose of boxes 'efficiently' goes out the window, doesn't it?

Anyway, do not write too much when communicating with them. Just state that you did not misuse the bin and that you refuse their invoice.
That is, if they sent the invoice to you in the first place. If they invoiced your landlord then it is not your problem at this point. You may still reply to the landlord/agent that you did not misuse the bin as they have forwarded the invoice to you.

eddddy

Tones wrote: »

Thanks for the input all I e-mailed the management company notifying them that

- I always break down / fill disposed boxes, thereby using them efficiently, and that the evidence provided could not disprove this or even prove it was our box
- Our bins are consistently overfilled to the level illustrated in the photo regardless of boxes, so this is an internal issue for them to sort out, not an excuse for them to slap charges on tenants / owners
- I'm disputing the charge

Will post updates when I have them

It'll be interesting to see if the management company reply.

They may see it as a breach of confidentiality to discuss a 'issues' between freeholder and leaseholder with you.

Similarly, your LL may not be happy for you to approach his freeholder's agent. Especially, if this gets recorded as some type of 'dispute' over service charges.

You mention that you are disputing the charge (presumably on your LL's behalf). To do this, you would need to read your LL's lease, to see what charges your LL has covenanted to pay - and then explain why this charge is not covered by the covenant.

Tyler119

It seems crazy and appears that someone is just attempting to pocket some extra cash

Tones

Miss_Samantha wrote: »

If that's the case then your claim that you always dispose of boxes 'efficiently' goes out the window, doesn't it?

Not really - not only is it not evident from the photo evidence that the box was indeed addressed to us, but it also looks like the box was packed down, though it's hard to tell as only a small fraction of the box is visible.

Ultimately it's likely the cost lies with the landlords, however I'm willing to try to nip this in the bud as from my perspective this could otherwise recur every time I dispose of a box.

Tones

@eddddy: interesting points! I hope there will not be any backlash from my e-mail to the management company. I would be unpleasantly surprised if this did occur - the penalty notice suggested passing the charge on to the tenant / letting agent, and the letting agent agreed that I should e-mail them directly.

As I see it my role in this is to dispute the charge assuming the terms they've set out are valid. I think going through the terms of the LL's lease is beyond my remit. The LL has apparently already disputed the charge before passing it on, so perhaps they already had that discussion.

fed_up_and_stressed

I know from a chat with our local waste operatives (posh name for bin men) that indeed bin lids not being fully closed or rubbish peeking out is the number one cause of the bin lids being ripped off as they are being tipped into the back of the lorry. (Neighbour was venting that his bin was always being missed and I witnessed them explaining to him why - serves him right for overfilling his bin).

LEJC

I'm going to be a little bit contentious here....whilst I agree that the evidence provided to you does not actually prove you didnt break the box down to smaller pieces for disposal without them supplying the box back to you...I do have sympathy towards many management companies who have started to perhaps levy a charge back to those who can genuinely been proven to have disposed or even dumped items next to communal bins .
I have a property on a complex where a huge amount is paid from the service charge quite frequently to contractors to remove items dumped next to the bins or in other communal areas such as stair wells.

I would welcome a penalty fine being imposed as over the last year or so I have probably paid in excess of £100 as a collective amount to remove unsuitable rubbish...none of which I have added to...
genuinely if the culprits could be caught I would be in favour of passing the penalty back to the perpetrator

not everyone's view I am sure but I am sure management charges could and should be used for other more needy items than disposal of items correctly.