Not allowed to flush loo roll

[userc]

Looking for advice please.

Live in a rented apartment, there are ongoing issues with drainage which management have largely ignored for the last couple of years (i.e., dealing with emergencies and then not taking advice that proper maintenance was needed). Big flood yesterday. Pipe is "compromised" and apparently is a big job to replace due to various structural issues.

Have now been instructed that toilet paper must not be flushed down and instead must be taken to general waste, which is down 6 flights of stairs and across the road for people on the top floors. Email breezily states other countries do this as a matter of course, and that we need to adjust our habits. They do not give a date as to when this is fixed, but it is likely to be months (I heard six).

AIBU to think this is crackers? You have a guest round, you insist they must put toilet roll in a bin and if it's a poo you'll just nip out across the road?!

If I was in a big family home that I owned I'd move to something like reuseable cloths or installing a bidet, but this is something I can't afford nor feel like I should be forced to. E.g., I run my washing machine twice a week (& don't have a tumble dryer) and it's already incredibly expensive.

Any advice?

I haven't read the full thread, but you could seek some advice from the housing ombudsman: www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk

At the very least, your landlord should communicate a timeline for repair of the pipe and any residual works to the tenants. I would also be pushing for some kind of rebate or rent reduction whilst the works are carried out. UK WCs and sewers are designed to take toilet tissue and you can reasonably expect not to have to dispose of it via an alternative method for an extended period of time (and especially not up to six months).

Like you say, OP, six flights of stairs and no facilities for hand washing having just disposed of a waste containing excrement is not ideal.

I'd be bloody fuming at the 'breeziness' of an email telling me 'other countries' do this as normal practice. It's a huge inconvenience.

Op has already said it's the management company rather than the landlord. Unfortunately in flats it is the management company who is responsible and although as a landlord you can put pressure on the mc, it really is a difficult position for all concerned. It sounds as though the pipe is cracked and this leads to paper being snagged on the crack which causes a build up of paper and consequently blocks the pipe. Putting in a new sewer pipe and instructing contractors can take time, which appears to be the position here. Op is in no worse situation than any owner or occupier would be in this position.

And we don't have adequate sewage arrangements in this country which is why water companies are continually discharging raw sewage and paper into the rivers and seas.

It doesn’t matter what other countries do - you don’t live there. You’re paying rent which includes the plumbing, which is now not working properly and they need to get their arses in gear and sort it out.

I would contact Environmental health immediately

I haven't read the full thread, but you could seek some advice from the housing ombudsman: www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk

You have to go via your MP or local councillor first @Tabitha005 , you can't go straight to the housing ombudsman. And it's a bit more complicated here, because the OP is a tenant and the managing agent/freeholder could insist that they only deal with leaseholders, not the leaseholder's tenants.

I'd be interested to know what the council's EH department thinks of it though. The housing disrepair issue EHO at my local council is very fierce when it comes to standing up for tenants and getting stuff fixed.

It might be worth giving them a call, OP. Have you told your LL that you've been told you can't flush big roll?

My mother does it 🤷‍♀️ She’s knitted her herself little cotton pads and washes them. I’ve no idea how often, but she’s a complete loon anyway. I don’t think it would bother me as much as you. It doesn’t seem that hard, bout anything toilet-related is always made out to be much more of a big deal that it really needs. If you put your prejudices aside give a fair it a go, you’ll certainly find you’re thinking it will be worse than it actually is.

I may not be the most balanced person on this subject, as at the moment my dog has diarrhoea in the hall multiple times a day and frankly loo paper bin would be lot less unpleasant!!!

Ok, this is hilarious. I love it.

Did the U.K. finally win the right not to have to put poo-covered loo paper in the bin on 24th June 2016? After all those
years under the yoke of EU tyranny, the U.K. no longer have to suffer looking and smelling poo every time they open the bathroom bin!

Because I’m sure everyone remembers that the U.K. was in the EU or previous equivalents for over 40 years and in all that time I certainly never had a nameless EU bureaucrat forcing me to put loo roll in the bin. Did you?!

Yes, of course this has nothing to do with the EU. Everyone uses and flushes loo paper in EU countries except in towns or housing developments with inadequate plumbing, they have the same problem that the OP of this thread has, usually because something is inadequate or broken, as the OP has.

In the short term get one of those nappy bins that twists the inner bag between nappies, so that there's no smell. Dispose of loo roll in the bag, twist, leave. You'll only have to empty the bag every few days/weekly depending how many of you there are.

Seriously?

I've lived on the med for nearly 20 years and we put our loo paper in the bin.
Meh, it's nothing.
Empty the bin regularly.

One of the reasons we don't have adequate sewage arrangements in this country is because the privatised water companies prefer to pay their directors and shareholders shedloads rather than invest in renewing sewers and upgrading treatment plants.

In the year for which Southern Water got a record fine for polluting waterways with sewage, they paid their CEO £1m and made £124m in profit. And charged customers the second highest water charges in the country.

Write to them and ask for a reply in writing explaining what they are saying has happened; how long the repair will take and the discount they're applying to the rent.

Tbh what you're saying doesn't really make sense so an email will help to clarify the detail. If there was a big flood and the pipe is so compromised that it can't take toilet paper then they'd want to prioritise replacing it. Another flood would be even more expensive to fix and they've now alerted you all that they know it's an issue which means they'd be liable for any flood damage or illness caused by a second flood. I also can't think of any pipe replacement that constitutes a major structural problem that would take six months to fix.

You can also report them to the Landlord's Association if their reply is insufficient. You can also speak to the CAB and Shelter for advice.

There isn't any stipulation about a toilet needing to take toilet paper but there is an expectation that a property will function the way it did when you agreed to rent it.

So OP and the other residents are faced with blocked pipes and overflowing, unusable toilets? sounds like a good plan.

Hell no Id be washing my bum with a bottle of water each time like Arab countries. No way I'm storing used paper yuck.

I couldn't be bothered with that. I'd carry on with the toilet roll. They would never know who did it. You are not going to be the only one.

Not read whole post. Scented nappy bags tied up and put them in bin and emptied every day. Not ideal I know and I would not be happy doing it for long.

Place I'm in currently is like that, nothing that hasn't been though your digestive system in the loo. Been here for 5 months whilst our place is having major renovations. Its an old house with an old septic tank. To be honest you just get used to it, we have small pedal bins near the loo that get emptied when they get full. Its not ideal but we used to have a boat and didn't flush paper when on board.

This 👆. Although it’s a pain it’s really not that unsanitary to have a bin with a liner and change it daily. It’s a lot hotter in Greece than it is here too.

Jeezo, no way woukd I put up with this. It's the management company's fault for trying to avoid the works and, to me, it would make my home uninhabitable; can you claim alternative accommodation on their insurance?
No way would I be walking around with wet, dirty toilet paper. I don't care what they do in countries with clearly less well developed sewage systems; if I wanted that I'd move there.

I’m not sure how helpful this is, but you can buy these bidet toilet seats that you can retrofit to your toilet quite easily.

I’ll have a look on Amazon for you because I can’t remember the name for them.

I knew people would come and say "we do this in x so it's ok". Totally missing the point that the OP isn't in x.

She's paying rent to live here with a fully functioning toilet. This needs repairing immediately. She hasn't even been given a date...

Typical landlords I'm afraid... I know it's the management company, but it'd the role of the ll to pressure the company.

OP. You need to let your landlord know that this is not acceptable, that you consider this makes the flat uninhabitable and push for a timescale for a fast repair.

@userc I found one on Amazon for £70 with free click and collect or £25 postage. It’s called the Hibbent Non-Electric Bidet Toilet Seat.

That sounds so annoying, we had to do that too recently (not uk) as the toilet got completely blocked (mainly because the flush was crap). It seems gross at first but its not really smelly and so long as you tie up the bag you can put it in your kitchen bin and no smell gets out.

Get one of these travel bidet things to reduce the need for paper while it's sorted out - hellotushy.com/products/tushy-travel-bidet