Hi all, sorry if a strange question. We are new landlords for just one property, just recently replaced fence posts at the property after the storms blew down the fence. We have big chunks of concrete that we had to dig out with the old posts in. I was researching how/where to dispose of this and then came across the Landlord and Commercial waste laws. Waste from landlords - Durham County Council
I now am not sure how to get rid of them as the laws (I think) state I can’t take it to the local recycling centre as it’s waste from a repair on a rental property? But I don’t need a commercial license as I’m very unlikely to use it so this would be a very costly way. The amount of concrete is no way enough to fill a skip.
Anyone have any advice?
Many thanks!!
never heard of that. i take my occasional waste to the local tip with no problem.
Hi Colin, thanks. It states in here that I could be fined?
It does not say you cannot take it to the tip
@Colin3 … Apart from the bit that says: “Landlords attempting to take this type of waste to an HWRC risk being fined up to £50,000 or even imprisonment.”??
Having said that, I just took something to the tip - oops!
I have used Scoup in the past… https://www.skoup.co.uk/services
Their man in a van service was very good. The problem is estimating the volume - if you estimate too little, they do make you pay more on the day, but probably better that than paying too much to start with! It also saves the hassle of skip licences and they load it for you.
If you don’t have much, they do bag collections too.
Your local council might have a commercial waste offering too.
different councils have different policies then
@Colin3 I suspect they don’t - it’s not domestic waste by law. I think you just get away with it because they can’t tell the odd fence post is from a rental property. And it would take too long and cost them too much to police it if they had to question the history of every car driving in.
Any commercially licensed waste company should be able to collect from the property. Plenty on FB but make sure they are licensed. If it is just a few lumps of concrete just take them to the tip. Some tips charge extra for rubble, ours charges £2.50 per sack which i’m happy to pay.
when I lived in Wales the local tip said 3 bags of rubble could be disposed of… West Lancs now no limit as long as in a car . no vans without a permit
If you’re using a car not a van just take it. If they ask its from your garden. They’ll never know otherwise
Just take to tip. The worst thing that can happen is they say you can’t, in the highly unlikely event they ask, which they won’t. Too busy zombie scrolling on their mobiles.
I doubt they would have a clue anyway.
Do they ask you if you are a landlord? Normally they just say: Urry up gov and point out the right skip
Can you imagine them asking every person if they are a landlord?? Ridiculous. Plus anyone with a fraction of a brain would just say no.
The obvious ting is to say no but if we want to get into legal technicalities. You could argue that it is from a residential property not a commercial property. Probably easier to say no. Save a fortune on solicitors fees.
Actually, this is a good example of how local authorities do everything in their power to make life difficult for anybody who wants to let their property and do people looking for somewhere to live a favour.
https://www.hartlepool.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/955/landlords_waste_-_hwrc.pdf
I see that they consider the landlord to be running a business but does the inland revenue consider it a business or an investment? Anyway If it is the tenants waste or from their flat /house then if they can take it to the tip -no problem
The long and the short of it is: Waste that a landlord needs to dispose of from a rental property is commercial waste and you shouldn’t take it to the tip.
Technically, they can turn you away if you bring stuff that a tradeperson has left at your property when doing a job for you too because they should include the waste disposal in the job.
But, can you get away with it: yes. Should you do it: that’s up to your conscience.
Personally, the odd item, yes. Bulk (eg from replacing a whole bathroom/kitchen), no - partly because it’s not worth my time and effort compared to the ease of using something like Skoup. And to be honest, if it was an odd item that would fit in a bin bag, I’d probably still use Skoup because my time is worth more to me!