A city council has slammed what it calls ‘neglectful landlords’ as part of an illegal dumping crackdown.
Stoke-on-Trent’s Labour authority has declared enforcement action after - in the words of the council - “landlords continue to blight the city.”
A statement says: “Landlords are reminded they are accountable for waste from their vacant properties, and the appropriate methods should be used to clear rubbish.”
Councillor Amjid Wazir, cabinet member for environment and enforcement adds: “We will not tolerate this any further. We know we have private-rental landlords across the city who have multiple properties, and allow them to just become a dumping ground.
“We also know that a lot of the landlords don’t live in the city. Action and accountability are needed and we will continue to fine neglectful landlords. There is no place for illegal dumping in our towns.”
A vacant property in the area was recently cleared after the owner left illegally dumped waste outside.
The landlord has been issued with a £400 fixed penalty notice.
This comes as the city has pledged to clear a thousand locations across the city in the next 100 days and has sent what it calls a stark warning to people who illegally dump waste.
In the first week of the zero-tolerance approach, 90 incidents were cleared, rubbish which filled the equivalent of 85 skips.
Wazir adds: “We promised to tackle the issue of illegal dumping and we have started this. Over the first week, we have issued 12 £400 fixed penalty notices and continue to investigate all reports of illegal dumping across the city. We will catch the culprits”
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So, whose rubbish is it? Does it belong to a tenant who has left it? If you ‘own’ the rubbish then you are (or should be) responsible for it.
Again and again councils ignore ‘individual responsibility’ and society is corroding as a result.
The owner left the rubbish?
Really? Was this witnessed.
How does a Landlord who doesn't live there manage to accumulate so much rubbish?
Another labour council… anybody who votes for these idiots seriously need their head reading.
I expect it was the tenant's rubbish who no doubt had been paying council tax while he lived there so the rubbish should have been taken away by the council
It's a business. If the tenant moves out, rubbish becomes the landlords responsibility and it needs to be disposed of in the correct way (paid disposal because it's now commercial waste).
Jimbo, if it’s a business then why do we not benefit from the same taxation policy as a business?
Cannot have it all ways kid… by your reasoning S24 will be reinstated
I have just spent four long days in bringing a property back up to standard with 3 full car loads of rubbish taken to the dump. Only the packaging of a new bed and mattress was my rubbish.
My first trip to the nearest dump in Glasgow was fine but on my second trip I was challenged by a Council "worker" and prevented from entry as I wasn't a Glasgow resident. The fact that I was dumping stuff left by former Glasgow residents was irrelevant and he even said that the rubbish was commercial not domestic as I was a Landlord. I had then to make a 30 mile round trip to my own dump - and do the same with the third load. All in all over 4 hours spent getting rid of tenants' rubbish.
I don't condone fly tipping but sometimes Councils reap what they sow! I remember the outcry over fly tipping when the Councils needlessly kept outdoor dumps closed for months during 2020. I ended up hiring a skip to get rid of accumulated tenant rubbish from various flats left unoccupied in 2020, with no rental income and no furlough as BTL isn't a "business"!
Exactly the same with Preston council and there horrible set of gestapo watchmen at the tip.
I ended up flying back and organising a company to shift 70 bags of crap from one tenant. Any help from anyone?? Of course not because I am vicious horrible landlord
It used to be at the Norwich tip that you left your driver door window open with a fiver on the seat and you dumped what you liked
Andrew
I have been told that when asked for proof of local residency, a tenner works just as well as any proof of address.
As a proud Scotsman, I would rather do a 30 mile round trip to my own local dump than part with a tenner!
I don't let my flat out furnished. So the rubbish belongs to the tenant.
All rubbish is household rubbish, no matter who it belongs to.
I've experienced prejudice from at least 3 labour councils now.
They forget that the landlords are the ones giving a roof over their tenant's head, whom they dearly love.
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