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Landlords urged to sign ‘Green Pledge’ and oversee tenants' recycling

A London council is urging private sector landlords with properties in their patch to sign a pledge urging their tenants to recycle as part of its bid to reach Net Zero targets.

A lengthy statement to landlords from Conservative controlled Wandsworth council includes the plea: “We ask you to help make sure that new tenants know how to dispose of their household waste and recycling responsibly. It’s also important that residents do the right thing with their waste during their tenancy, as well as importantly when they move out.”

Wandsworth says that by signing, landlords agree to ensure that tenants are aware of their responsibilities to dispose of their waste and recycling correctly. And any letting agents that sign agree to ensure that landlords they work with are aware of their responsibilities.

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The wording of the pledge is very long and detailed - we reproduce most of it below:

“All landlords and estate agents are invited to sign the pledge. By signing, landlords agree to ensure that tenants are aware of their responsibilities to dispose of their waste and recycling correctly.

“And any estate agents that signs up, agree to ensure that landlords they work with are aware of their responsibilities. And in return, we’ll publicise those who sign up by adding you to our website as a supporter. 

“… What you pledge to do: The pledge is simple and means that by all working together we can help keep the borough looking at its best.

- Estate agents are invited to ensure that landlords are aware of their responsibilities. 

- Landlords are invited to ensure that their tenants do the right thing when they move in, during their rental period, and importantly when they move out.

Your responsibility as a landlord

“As a landlord, please help everyone locally, by making sure your tenants know what to do with their waste.

“Please ensure,

- your tenants are disposing of their waste correctly. There is lots of information to help you do that on our website. See section below – rubbish, recycling and bulky waste collections. 

- where applicable ensure that tenants have appropriate bins to dispose of their rubbish and can access any communal recycling and waste collection areas (bin stores). This includes taking all reasonable steps to make sure areas are kept clear to enable access to and collection from containers and providing any necessary key or access code to the tenant and council collection crews.

- that you use a licenced waste carrier to dispose of any business waste. Ensure the contractor has a Waste Carriers Licence and that a Duty of Care waste transfer note is provided showing the description and disposal route of the waste.

- any waste or unwanted bulky items (i.e. mattresses, furniture etc.) left at the property are removed appropriately from the premises.  


Rubbish, recycling and bulky waste collections 

“Below is all the information residents need to dispose of their waste correctly,  

- Put your rubbish out correctly to reduce the risk of missed bin collections.

- Find out what you can and can’t recycle …

- Make sure you know your rubbish collection day.

- If you have any large items, book a bulky waste collection or visit the household waste recycling centre. And don’t pay cowboys to take away your rubbish

- Rework, repair, sell or fix items at a reuse workshop

- Donate unwanted items via charity shops

- Donate, sell, giveaway, plus find and buy items online …


Remind residents of their responsibilities

As a landlord, you can help do your bit by reminding residents of their waste responsibilities,

-

Pre-tenancy: please provide tenants with information on recycling and waste services.

- Give residents information on our recycling and waste service, ensuring they have the opportunity to separate and dispose of their recycling and waste responsibly from the start of their tenancy (see section above).

- Written information can be provided as part of a ‘welcome pack’ or via a notice board, or be included within the inventory or appended to the tenancy agreement.

- For example, you could include a clause requiring the tenant to ‘store, separate and place for collection all recycling and residual waste (including bulky waste) in accordance with the written information provided at the start of the tenancy and in accordance with the policies set out by Wandsworth council.’

- Please sure that the correct communal bins are in place, where applicable, to enable tenants to responsibly separate and dispose of their recycling and waste.

During their tenancy: during a tenancy, check with residents that they are disposing of their waste and recycling correctly.

- When visiting the property (for example to carry out an inspection) you may want to check that tenants are storing and separating their recycling and waste and placing it for collection correctly.

- If you identify issues, remind the tenant of their responsibilities and encourage them to contact us if they have issues preventing them from managing their waste properly.

End of tenancy: once you know a tenancy is ending, please remind the tenant of their responsibilities for leaving recycling and waste out for final collection by the council and removing any extra or bulky waste that won’t fit in the bins responsibly or by using our bulky waste collection service or a registered waste collection business.

“Landlords should note that once a property becomes vacant, any waste or unwanted items left from the previous occupancy is no longer considered as household waste and becomes commercial waste, so you will need to arrange for disposal of any waste left behind.”

Want to comment on this story? If so...if any post is considered to victimise, harass, degrade or intimidate an individual or group of individuals on any basis, then the post may be deleted and the individual immediately banned from posting in future.

  • James B

    It’s like looking after children or openly seen that way

    PossessionFriendUK PossessionFriend

    Yes James, we all know that Tenants can act like children, but making Landlords their ' Parental responsibility ' isn't the answer ;-)

     
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    We can pass the message on by adding it to AST contracts but in no way is it or should it EVER be up to landlords to be responsible for the inaction of their tenants. The tenants are humans and responsible for themselves, like I don’t expect anyone to force me to recycle or dispose of waste properly…it’s down to me!
    Such a nanny state we have now!

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    WTF! Next we will be told to go and wipe their arse every time they have a crap and a reminder not to forget to wash our hands afterwards

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    I have tried all that but they want to challenge everything you tell them about what not to put in recycle Bin.
    James is right they are not children, we are not running a kiddies nursery.
    Lovely anti-Landlord rubbish one sided Program on ITV last night, saying rents gone up 10% in a year while I haven’t increased any rents in years and have been loaded with costs by LA, not a murmur about this.

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    Councils could help by putting a waterproof sticker on each Wheelie Bin to say what goes in each Bin, then no need to tell anyone, a cost saving exercise by comparison to sorting out wrong waste afterwards.

  • Getting out  Landlord

    Oh my goodness! Really! My heads still shaking...what are we? an extention of the nanny states social services? Unbelievable. I've started selling up. One a year and then I'm out. Had enough. Investing abroad.

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    Wow, i thought we were letting our properties to adults who had capacity...... clearly not. I would love to see some of the local authority estates and how their own tenants '' re-cycle'', from what i have seen when out and about during my day job, it is somewhat....'' patchy''.

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    When it comes to dumped rubbish just take a drive around any council / housing assoc estate

     
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    So glad I got rid of my HMO's. Occupied by "young professionals" ie the people we are supposed to be saving the planet for. On weekly visits I saved plenty of recyclables from the general waste as they really could not be bothered. I took tons of their empty bottles to the bottle bank. Really don't miss sorting other people's rubbish. My other tenants pay their own council tax so I think the council can send them whatever information they want about recycling.

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    The council clearly has no respect for tenants.they believe renters are so inept, that it is not worth engaging with them, and so they are asking landlords to step in as parents.

    They may as well ask landlords to sign the adoption paperwork at the same time.

    Renters are adults with responsibilities. Treat them as such!

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    Wandsworth Council has jumped the gun here, April 1st is still two weeks away...

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    I make sure all my properties have wheelie bins, I also super glue labels with house number and post code to them, I also personally have a waste carriers licence (£39) , I've made the effort the rest is down to tenants and the council

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    Funny how we are commercial with everything except tax. Then victim or mug should replace the word landlord.

  • icon

    If tenants are not capable of recycling without intervention, then one has to seriously question their capabilities to understand/sign a tenancy agreement and responsibly run/look after the premises...

    Here's an idea Wandsworth...petition the Department for Levelling Up,
    Housing & Communities to add recycling requirements, and where to find them, to the How to Rent guide - that way, there's no need to involve LLs directly.

    I'll even do the wording for you:

    "As the occupier of the property, it is your responsibility to ensure the correct use of any recycling bins/boxes. To find more information on how to recycle in the correct manner, please visit your local council's website for further details."

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    Why can't the council put a leaflet through everyone's door? Then they will reach both owners and tenants.

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    Leaflets I get through the door go straight in the bin or on the log burner I don't bother reading them and neither will the average tenant

     
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    I don't have UC tenants. However the government pay housing benefit direct to tenants, in many cases refusing to pay the landlord direct, as it "encourages" tenants to manage their financial affairs properly. Many just don't pay rent, spending the benefits on other stuff.
    However, when it comes to rubbish and recycling, the poor tenants can't cope and need the landlord to hold their hands.
    Not sure if the idiots running the show can see the irony of this.

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    Alison, with the great respect forget any leaflets through the letter box, put the stickers on the Bins. Tenants come & go, leaflets goes out in the rubbish, just like a tool for any machine keep it with the machine and no where else.

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    Is this a joke?

  • George Dawes

    My dustmen take the separate bags and just throw the whole lot into the crusher

    Whole thing is quite literally a load of garbage

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    We would all have a better chance of recycling properly if all areas recycled the same items and were clear about what is recycled and what is not. It is almost impossible to get it right even if you want to.

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