Holiday cottage asked to take rubbish to tip?

[Bluepolkadots42]

We have just begun a UK SC holiday as a family. Upon arrival we were asked to dispose of all our rubbish at the local tip? The owner has said this is part of their covid measures. DH are a bit confused as to why we cant use wheelie bins and let bin men take stuff? We can't understand why we need to take time out of our holiday to visit a tip. Also our local tip is stringently checking people's proof of addresses if you want to access it and it doesn't take general household bins (to my knowledge) only stuff that can be recycled including electronic goods, white goods etc. I know we have driven 2.5hrs from our area to be on this holiday so perhaps this area has very freely available tips. AIBU to think this request is OTT and grossly inconvenient for us? Wanted to check with others in case we are being total CFs for querying this.

[Witchend]

@Alexandernevermind

How bizzare! I'm bemused at being told we must clean our cottage on departure, strip the beds, leave it as we found it etc because of Covid, whilst vacating an hour at 10 am. I'm wondering if I should set my alarm for 5am.

That's normal wherever we've been. We normally do all we can do the night before and get up about 8:30/9am and get out for 10. Normally it's just a case of stuff in the fridge to pack, breakfast stuff washed up and strip the beds.

[girlwithadragontattoo]

Do you have to pay a security deposit, be careful, they might end up holding money back

[ScribblingMilly]

So you've booked through Airbnb? The Airbnb cleaning protocol is on the website and makes it clear the rubbish is the owners' responsibility. I'd just fire off a friendly message to the owners saying you're not willing to sacrifice any of your holiday to a trip to the council tip & that you've paid quite enough to cover rubbish collection. Airbnb will sort out any disagreement - you might want to email them within 24 hours of arrival just to let them know there's a possible issue. If the owner's got the same grant for her holiday cottage I did courtesy of the government, she'll be doing ok financially this year so absolutely no need for you to do her job for her.

[user327253]

I would reply to them asking them to give you details for the nearest tip, say that because you hadn't factored this into your packing, it would have to be a seperate round trip as you won't fit the rubbish into your car with everything else in when you leave and don't want to drive in the current heatwave with children and rubbish in the car. Please could they provide distance, postcode etc so that you can plan accordingly, and ask that the round trip time it takes is factored in to your leaving time. So if it's half an hour drive away you will need to stay for an extra hour plus queuing time. I would also express your concern that you won't be able to use the tip when you get there, as all the tips you know of locally have to be booked in advance and show proof of address etc. Ask them to confirm and provide screen shots that this is definitely ok for you to use.

This way you aren't outright refusing, but they will realise it's not just a simple request and if they are as nice as you say they seemed, they will hopefully realise their mistake and say it's fine to leave it without it becoming a problem.

[Staffy1]

Is it Wales by any chance? We normally go there and they are so strict about the amount of rubbish. I'm all for using the bins on site even if it fills them, but DH fixates on it and we usually have to take bags of rubbish out in the car with us and look for bins on our travels. Last time he threw away our bag of wet swimming gear in an Asda bin instead of the bag of rubbish and had to go back and route around in the bin for it.

[Bluepolkadots42]

@Madcats no- we are down in Dorset. Near Swanage.

[2bazookas]

Just bag it securely and put it in the appropriate wheely bin.

[Gogogadgetarms]

It’s a no from me.

[BrightYellowDaffodil]

Ours is local addresses only and booked up about 3 weeks in advance.

Ours too, and proof of residence is required. Maybe check to see if the local tip does something similar so, if the owner questions why you didn't do it you can say "Well we wouldn't have been allowed to use the local tip even if we'd booked a slot in advance"?

[LaurieFairyCake]

There's no way I'd be cleaning a holiday let - you pay for it to be cleaned in the rental
(My friend has a holiday let and she pays £175 a week for cleaning!)

I wouldn't go to the tip either

I would strip the beds and put all towels/bed linen in the bath

That is the extent of what I would do as I go on holiday to enjoy myself

[HolidayLetter]

This is a crazy request, and not one that any reasonable owner would make.

@Alexandernevermind That is insane, too. I am. not asking guests to do anything differently. They are on holiday. I am responsible for making sure everything is spotless and sanitised to within an inch of its life.

Re. business rates/council tax/rubbish collection:

Owners get small business rates relief on one property (only one property). The rubbish is still collected from a property on which they receive SBRR. Even when I owned an 'off grid' property which could only be occupied for six months of the year, and could not be used as a permanent residence, the rubbish was collected (it had to be in special and rather expensive Council bags, but it was always collected).

[Deardonkey]

Tell the owners that the local tip doesn’t accept rubbish which can be left kerbside also any general waste (which can not be collected kerbside) must be bagged and left for 72 before taking it to the tip!
www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/bins-recycling-and-litter/disruption-to-the-bins-and-waste-service.aspx

[HolidayLetter]

@ScribblingMilly, you say If the owner's got the same grant for her holiday cottage I did courtesy of the government, she'll be doing ok financially this year

That's really not quite right. My income since Christmas (Jan and Feb are dead anyway) has been the £10,000 grant. I have no bookings at all until May 2021, so that £10,000 is going to have to stretch a very, very long way, between me (single parent with no other income) and my school-aged children. I am obviously very grateful for it as it has kept me from bankruptcy, but that's very different from "doing ok financially". I am really, really not doing ok financially.

[maggiecate]

Dorset council website says only waste that can’t be put into kerbside collections should be taken to the top so she’s talking nonsense

www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/bins-recycling-and-litter/disruption-to-the-bins-and-waste-service.aspx

[Bluepolkadots42]

@Deardonkey thanks so much! We will shove it in wheelie bins and just message at end of stay to say sorry but tip website said it wouldn't take any of the rubbish.

[ichifanny]

How ridiculous tell them to bolt Op is awful trying to get near the tip just now for a start never mind on holiday . For the people mentioning accommodations have been telling them to clean it when the leave due to ‘ Covid’ what a load of nonsense , Covid is even more reason for them doing a thorough clean when you leave and not leave it to guests to clean up . I’d be pretty pissed off if I booked a place and it had only been cleaned by the person staying before me .

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

Message now "local tip are asking for proof of address which we won't have as this is a holiday let. We will double bag all waste and make sure everything is placed in the right wheelie bin before we leave.

[cologne4711]

Where I am you have to reserve a slot to go to the tip so it wouldn't be very practical and as others have said, you need to be local too - Hampshire has introduced a locals-only rule since 1 August so you have to register your car. I see the details for Dorset are here: www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/bins-recycling-and-litter/disruption-to-the-bins-and-waste-service.aspx they are not doing booking so you could be there hours in a queue.

What's wrong with using the bins - like everyone else does? There is zero risk to the owner of you using the bins. Ok you've touched the handles. So the owners washes their hands/uses gloves. Big deal.

Just say no. Owner is being completely unreasonable (and introducing a new term to the contract at the last minute, which isn't enforceable anyway).

[ScribblingMilly]

Better to message early so they can plan to get rid of the rubbish rather than leaving them with an unexpected problem?

[1Morewineplease]

@Extracurricularfatigue

Can you contact the owner to ask whether the local tip will allow you to use it and whether it takes normal household waste? That might make her think, if this is a new system she’s come up with but hasn’t thought through?

I’d contact the local tip directly so that you can arm yourself with their regulations.
Maybe contact the company that you booked with? See what they say.

This is bonkers and unreasonable.

What if you used public transport to get to the cottage? There’s no way you’d be able to take a week’s worth of rubbish to the tip.

Madness.

[AldiAisleofCrap]

@Alexandernevermind How bizzare! I'm bemused at being told we must clean our cottage on departure, strip the beds, leave it as we found it etc because of Covid , we were told the opposite that we must not strip beds or clean due to Covid.

[boreda11]

Limit your rubbish and put them in local rubbish bins in the street?

[HouchinBawbags]

Where on earth would you be expected to keep the week's worth of rubbish while you're there? Can't stick the bags outside because of animals, you can't keep it in the kitchen because well, that's disgusting. Even double bagged, poop nappies smell a bit and all ours went straight into the wheelie bin and were never placed in bins inside the house unless it was due being emptied straight away. So will you be making a trip with a bin bag or two a couple of times that week?

Pfft! Screw that. Let the owner know that you won't be able to do that. If you must, refer them to AirBnB's website where it states that owners are responsible for refuse. Also, refer them to the tip's own site too. You may not even be allowed to go there!

[CottonSock]

No way and I'd be very annoyed at the request.

[HouchinBawbags]

@boreda11 you can actually get a hefty fine for that if caught. Someone I know accepted his mail off his postie on his way out to work. He had a look through while he walked and chucked the junk mail in a street bin as he was passing.

Never thought anything of it until he got a £250 fine through the post for I think they said fly tipping. Apparently they discovered his junk mail, decided he was dumping household rubbish in the public bins and fired off a fine. It got messy fighting it. Cost him a fair bit.