Fly tipping of waste

ice82

Hello all, 
I'm after some wisdom please. 
Recently we had a bathroom renovation and our  builder paid a man who was driving up and down the street to take away the rubbish. The man said he was licensed and took £200 for about 8 bin bags plus 3 piece bath suite. 10 days later a private landowner sent us a letter showing pictures of numerous skips full of black bags plus a 3 piece suite outside the skip. He stated that some packaging had our name and address on it and that we had 10days to clear it before it was reported to the authorities. The man who took our rubbish away hung up on me and didnt answer further calls, although I understand the police may have seized his vehicle for whatever reason, I only have his telephone number. The landowner wants me to pay for the skip. On the basis that the skips are all full of their own building materials, its really unfair. I haven't admitted liability and really dont feel I should pay this at all, his effectively asking me to clear both mine and his rubbish. 

So what do I do? 
A. Ignore him completely - what are the consequences legally?
B. Admit some liability and  try to negotiate?

I would appreciate any advice as this is really stressing me and so unfair . The builder says its not his problem...
Thank you

neilmcl

It's not the builder's problem. It was your legal responsibility to ensure your waste is disposed of correctly. This could come back on you if the landowner, who now has the responsibility in clearing it up unfortunately, passes on the evidence to the local authority.

TELLIT01

I would suggest that the builder is responsible to the proper disposal of the bathroom suite and any associated waste created by his work.  That doesn't let the OP off the hook regarding their household waste as that would be outside any contract between the builder and people who dumped the waste.  It might be worth contacting the council assuming you can get hold of them and land the builder in the doo doo too if he is denying responsibility for the building rubbish.

Bottom line though is that paying for a skip will in all probability be a lot less than the fine for fly tipping.

chrisw

Fly tipping is a criminal offence with potentially unlimited fine and 5 years prison sentence. You are ultimately legally liable for your dumped rubbish, I don't know how you'd prove which was yours and which wasn't.

You say you had 8 bin bags and a bathroom suite and he's only asking you to pay for one skip, in which case that would seem more than reasonable, particularly if it avoids legal action.

You could always try and pursue the builder for the cost through the small claims court due to his lack of diligence but I'm not sure how successful that might be.

giraffe69

So a man who was driving up and down the street was paid £200 for taking away some rubbish.
He said he was licensed but this does not seem to have been checked.
Not totally clear where he could have legally dumped it given most centres have been closed.
You took no responsibility and did no checking but it is "unfair"
The cost of one skip seems reasonable as does some words with the builder.

EssexExile

giraffe69 said:

So a man who was driving up and down the street was paid £200 for taking away some rubbish.
He said he was licensed but this does not seem to have been checked.
Not totally clear where he could have legally dumped it given most centres have been closed.
You took no responsibility and did no checking but it is "unfair"
The cost of one skip seems reasonable as does some words with the builder.

Waste transfer sites are open. Otherwise I totally agree!

stragglebod

Your responsibility. Pay the landowner to clear your flytipped waste, then get your builder to cover your costs.

maisie_cat

If I were you I'd pay the landowner very quickly and apologise for being so naive, who on earth would believe that a bloke driving up and down the road would be legit?

couriervanman

OP only one person to blame .....YOU

pinkshoes

ice82 said:

Recently we had a bathroom renovation and our  builder paid a man who was driving up and down the street to take away the rubbish. The man said he was licensed and took £200 for about 8 bin bags plus 3 piece bath suite. 10 days later a private landowner sent us a letter showing pictures of numerous skips full of black bags plus a 3 piece suite outside the skip. 

Your contract is with your builder. 
From what you have written, it was your builder who hired and paid for this person to collect the rubbish and dispose of it. 

You need to deal with this, as it is indeed your waste, so don't ignore it, but if your contract with your builder states that he is responsible for disposing of the old bathroom suite, then he needs to be the one paying for it. I would tell him to either go collect the waste, or pay for the skip as per the request of the land owner. 

(this is assuming that it was indeed the builder and not you that agreed for this person to take the rubbish without checking his credentials...)

TELLIT01

pinkshoes said:

You need to deal with this, as it is indeed your waste, so don't ignore it, but if your contract with your builder states that he is responsible for disposing of the old bathroom suite, then he needs to be the one paying for it. I would tell him to either go collect the waste, or pay for the skip as per the request of the land owner. 

(this is assuming that it was indeed the builder and not you that agreed for this person to take the rubbish without checking his credentials...)

That doesn't change the fact that 8 bags of household rubbish were also dumped there.  The builder wouldn't have a contract to dispose of that.