HA Obligations

Trouble_double

Hi All,
A year ago I bought a house next door to an HA property. I was told any ASB would be dealt with promptly. Not being from a wealthy background myself, I gave them the benefit of the doubt. 

Against site T&Cs, my neighbour insists on keeping her rubbish bin and 8 recycling bins at the front of her house.  We now get her rubbish in our garden and this week we've had rats. 

The HA, initially sympathetic and helpful a couple of months ago, have gone to ground.. 

Nobody seems able to point me towards their responsibilities or contractual obligations. Any ideas please?
Thank you in advance.

elsien

If there’s a rat issue, then get onto environmental health. You could have the same issues with rental or with owner occupiers, so you need to think about other ways of chasing it rather than the housing association, if necessary. 

Baldytyke88

Trouble_double said:

A year ago I bought a house next door to an HA property. I was told any ASB would be dealt with promptly. Not being from a wealthy background myself, I gave them the benefit of the doubt. 

Against site T&Cs, my neighbour insists on keeping her rubbish bin and 8 recycling bins at the front of her house.  We now get her rubbish in our garden and this week we've had rats. 

The HA, initially sympathetic and helpful a couple of months ago, have gone to ground.. 

Nobody seems able to point me towards their responsibilities or contractual obligations. Any ideas please?

I find some council departments good and some not. You may get some action if you mentions rats. But councils seem to have very few powers of enforcement when tenants don't follow the rules.

I have recently complained about a house with 2 small sofas and more in the garden, I first complained at the start of 2023, still waiting.

youth_leader

I would knock and say you have seen rats plural,  ie a breeding pair, in your garden during the day.  They will be getting bolder as it gets colder and looking for food.   Tell her you have had some of her rubbish blow into your garden and ask  her to bag it up in future and keep the lid of her bin closed with a stretchy thing with a hook either end - I think they are called a 'spider'. 

I live in a surburban side street, they have built on the fields behind me, and my garden is now a rat run to gardens where they grow veg/feed the birds.  My beloved cat and dog died and a few months later I found tunnels either side of my shed as well as tunnels in the garden.  I had the rat man in, and  I also removed my plum and apple trees.  Sadly the balance of nature here has gone, the foxes are killed here so the rats run free without predators.

HampshireH

Trouble_double said:

Hi All,
A year ago I bought a house next door to an HA property. I was told any ASB would be dealt with promptly. Not being from a wealthy background myself, I gave them the benefit of the doubt. 

Against site T&Cs, my neighbour insists on keeping her rubbish bin and 8 recycling bins at the front of her house.  We now get her rubbish in our garden and this week we've had rats. 

The HA, initially sympathetic and helpful a couple of months ago, have gone to ground.. 

Nobody seems able to point me towards their responsibilities or contractual obligations. Any ideas please?
Thank you in advance.

The bit in bold.... what wealth you or they may or may not have is totally irrelevant.

Are the bins on their land?  I mean my bins (and everyone else's here) are at the front but that in itself isnt an issue and we don't have rats. But who needs 8 recycling bins that's a crazy amount of waste being generated 

Environmental Health are the department at the council you need to speak to.  Probably better to have a conversation with the neighbour first though.

Just having bins outside isn't ASB and the HA have absolutely no powers to force someone to move their bins unless there is a covenant of some description being breached

FlorayG

I'm going to look at this from the other side. You have a lot of rubbish and recycling every week so you need several bins. They take up a lot of space but you're not really bothered about the look of them so you keep them in your front garden. Unless there is a covenant regarding this specific thing then you're not breaking any rules as long as they are inside your garden
If they are overflowing and rubbish coming out then speak to the neighbour, nicely, and explain the problem but just having the bins outside the front should not be a problem for you.
One of my neighbours had two rotten rusty cars in his front garden, They were there when I bought next door and I'm pretty sure were one of the reasons I got the house at a considerable reduction. He was a great neighbour and we got on very well. I never mentioned the scrapyard because I considered it not my business; plus he saved me a lot of money 

Baldytyke88

When you can issue fixed penalties

You may issue them when householders do not follow your waste collection rules, and their failure to comply does one of the following:

  causes or is likely to cause a nuisance
  has a negative effect or is likely to have a detrimental effect on local amenities

Examples, You can issue fixed penalties if householders put waste out so it:

    causes an obstruction to neighbours, such as forcing people using wheelchairs or buggies to walk on the road
    restricts access to the pavement or street, for example leaving waste receptacles (bins or bags) out for several days
    is likely to attract vermin like foxes and rats, such as leaving bags or open receptacles out days before a waste collection

    is unsightly (torn bags or overturned receptacles are left out)

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/household-waste-bins-when-and-how-councils-may-issue-fixed-penalties

But those rules are seldom enforced.

fluffymuffy

I find this tool useful for these sorts of problems - https://www.pixelthoughts.co