Nightmare with rubbish collections for ground floor conversion flat with no front and rear garden

mitkx

Haylescom wrote: »

My home town went to fortnightly collections and wheelie bins about 6 years ago. The council told my parents their property wasn't suitable for having them due to the cul de saq layout (all our houses had built-in bin cupboards but they're too small for wheely bins).
Now they have 2 swing bins in the kitchen/diner; one for general waste and one for recycling, plus a small food caddy that sits on the window sill. There's 3 people in the house and they don't usually need more than this for each collection every fortnight. Is this not an option for your tenant?

I can only make this suggestion to the letting agent as I have no direct dealings with the tenant. It should not be up to me to tell her how I live her life but it is a petty thing to be kicking off over.

when i lived at the property I had a tall swing bin for my general waste and a blue fabric box/sack provided by the local council, in fact 2 of these sacks where in one went paper and card, and in the other went plastic and glass.

Nasqueron

I have a wheelie bin for rubbish and recycling. I leave the rubbish in a bin in the kitchen and empty it the night before the collection and put it out the front (did this before we had bins and just used black sacks). Same with recycling which is emptied once a week into the recycling bin and put out once a fortnight

Mojisola

mitkx wrote: »

The tenant recently complained to the letting agent (who manages the property on behalf of me) that there was no place to put her rubbish. The Chiltern area of Buckinghamshire does fortnightly rubbish collections alternating with general waste one week and recycling the next. The tenant generates approx. one sack of general waste a week and has no place to put it.

mitkx wrote: »

I recycled every bit of bottle, cardboard, plastic you can think of.

on occasion i would drive to the tip and dispose of it.

So you stored your rubbish somewhere - can’t she use the same space?

Throwaway1

Doesn't a large swing bin hold one sack? (I know ours does). I'd suggest she tries to cut down on waste or maybe buy her/suggest she buys an extra bin. Perhaps one could hold recycling and one could hold general waste, that's what we do.

marliepanda

At the end of the day its not the councils responsibility to make exceptions for one persons household layout.

She doesnt want to keep the full bag in her house - her problem
She doesnt want to take it to the tip - her problem
She has nowhere to store it outside - her problem

As she is your tenant these are starting to trickle into your problems, but what exactly do you want the council to do?

lisyloo

Are there no utility cupboards at all in the property?


The bottom line is that if this tenant is not willing to make any adjustments or go to the tip then the property is not suitable for her.

~shoozy~

Slightly different situation but I have no access to the back garden for a wheelie bin to be brought round on bin day and instead the council gave me blue bags for general waste and clear bags for recycling.
I have 2 bins, one for general waste and one for recycling, a bag in each and it means one bag goes out each week hence no need for storing.

The problem with this, is if the birds get to the bags before the binmen do... but that's a separate issue.

[Deleted User]

I think however much you recycle, household rubbish can get a bit smelly in two weeks. I wouldn't be happy to be living with that odour myself inside a property.

Can you contact the business next door and arrange for bins to be left there as long as the tenant is tidy with her disposal? As said already, you might have to pay for this and pass the cost along to the tenant.

Or you could offer to let her move out early and make sure the next tenant can live with this arrangement (without being a horder lol).

I know as I don't drive, and my local dump (which is a couple of miles away) has closed down, its not that easy to get to a dump anymore.

pimento

I'm assuming that she will get a council tax rebate for taking her own rubbish to the tip.

mitkx

Mojisola wrote: »

So you stored your rubbish somewhere - can’t she use the same space?

I was rarely ever home at the flat apart from the weekend being at work between 8am and 7pm each day. The only kind of waste I would generate would fill up one sack for the fortnight and 2 recycling bags. Now I am not saying I am unclean but I learnt to live with it. On occasion I would throw it in the back of the car and take it down to the tip 1 mile away.

The tenant is a retired lady in her 60s who is mostly at home.