Whose Responsibility is Waste and Recycling?

It is the responsibility of the tenant to ensure that the waste they generate whilst living in a property is properly disposed of. However, for Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs), it is the landlord’s responsibility to ensure that adequate facilities are provided for disposal of rubbish.

Council Policy

Local government controls policy for disposal of domestic waste and the facilities provided can vary quite significantly. Most of Norwich has become accustomed to a four-bin system (Black for general waste, Blue for mixed recycling and Kitchen and Roadside Caddies for food waste). However, there are still streets in the city centre where only refuse sacks are issued for general waste and people are expected to take their recycling to neighbourhood recycling points. Other parts of Norfolk have different systems. At Pearl Lettings, we are familiar with all systems of refuse collection in areas where we manage rented housing and can ensure that our tenants have access to everything they need to dispose of their waste and recycling – advising tenants on contacting the council when bins haven’t been collected or need replacing.

Landlord’s Responsibility

It shouldn’t have to be the case, but where previous tenants have finished a tenancy but neglected to remove their waste, it is ultimately the landlord’s responsibility to dispose of it. Some of the costs of this process may be recoverable from the damage deposit. But, obviously, if the landlord wishes to find new tenants or sell the house, the waste has got to go.

We’ve cleaned up plenty of houses when the landlord has come to us after a bad experience with a tenant. We specialise in finding tenants who will treat your property more respectfully.

Tenant’s Responsibility

Waste should be responsibly disposed of by the tenant with bins containing the correct contents put out on the correct days. Some of our tenants are young students who may not have had such responsibility before. We give them all the support we can – making sure they know where to find all the up-to-date information about collection dates and what can and can’t go into the recycling. Our tenant information pack contains details of the correct ways to dispose of different types of waste.

If you like the idea of a responsible property management firm finding you good tenants, then please get in touch. You can email us on hello@pearllettings.co.uk or call our office on 01603 980770.

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