Flytipping and service charges

[TheMysteryCat]

I've just been told by our Housing Association that they are using a part of the service charge for our estate to pay for the clearance of flytipping (by tenants or non-residents). There hasn't been any anyway!

direct.gov.uk says that flytipping is a) illegal and b) the responsibility of the local authority.

AIBU unreasonable to tell the HA that I shan't be paying for this element.

They have already had to redo the service charges several times, because they keep trying to charge for things we don't have or that are the responsibility of the Local Authority.

YANBU

The local authority is not responsible for clearing private land, the landowner is.

I would want evidence from the HA to prove thay have been paying to clear rubish before agreeing to pay.

It depends where the fly tipping is occurring. As cwtches has already pointed out, if it's on private land, then the landowner is responsible.

It does sound like your HA needs to get their act together and figure out what is their responsibility, what is the responsibility of residents, and what the LA are responsible for. Perhaps you could send them a link to your LA website?

does a housing estate owned by a housing association constitute private land then? if so, that's interesting, thanks!

the roads and the communal spaces are owned by the LA, but not the properties or their gardens, so I suppose if it was fly tipped it would be clear that it was either on a particular tenants property or on the council's land.

The HA are frankly shite at all this. they've already been charging us all for all sorts that doesn't exist including special communal lighting (we only have street lights), car park maintenance (there isn't one!).

It really annoys me, as I think that quite a few residents might not have waded through the huge fiddly spreadsheet they sent us and just trusted the HA's judgment without question. I'm so glad I've queried some of the other things. They've conceded that they will be deducting some elements now, but this fly tipping thing is a new one... (suspicious ol' me thinks they've added it to claw back from some of the things they've had to take off)

It's not much per tenant per week, but it adds up to thousands over the year for across all the properties and feels like they are just topping up their income without doing anything for it!

You are right to query the charges.

There should be a paper trail for the fly tipping. I'm assuming the HA is classed as a business for rubbish purposes and don't business get charged for LA rubbish/recycling sites.

Freedom of information - ask about cost of disposal, amount disposed and type. I'm sure the local council would also give you answers for what and where they are responsible for.

afaik, there hasn't been any incidents of flytipping and there has not been any removal in a year of living here.

Don't suppose anyone knows how you reclaim for unspent service charges or if the HA are entitled to hold onto the monies?

the excess will go into a sinking fund for future repairs and maintenance which gets more expensive as the development ages.