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?

Another vote for getting yourself a HappyPo. The pressure of the water coming out is astonishing. Sandblaster!

“Pipe is "compromised" and apparently is a big job to replace due to various structural issues.”

…sorry ‘big job’ just made me laugh - but seriously this needs sorting and fast 😡

Hi OP,
Your landlord probably has insurance that pays to rehouse the tenant if their home is uninhabitable. Ask them to check if you can be rehoused until the issue is sorted. Might be a hotel.

Not even a bidet, just a 'Bum Gun', which is also widely used in many Asian countries. That said most of those countries can adequately cope with toilet paper in their sanitary systems.

In short the request is BS, keep following your normal habits

terrific when you're on the 6th floor 🙄
When I first moved to my ground floor apartment I'd regularly get raw sewage coming in my toilet bowel, and often flooding over the bathroom.
Resolved by installation (by the block managers after many complaints) by the replacement of the waste pipe so that it had a reasonable gradient & stuff flushed through - but it was grim.
If you're renting, complain to your landlord as well as the block managers - with our block, the management company act on direction from the leaseholders, rather than tenants.

Lidded bin by the loo,gets emptied daily. I would be fine with it but I was brought up in a country where that's what you do. It makes me laugh when people tie themselves up in knots about visiting countries like Greece because it doesn't seem a big deal but obviously there is great angst about it and people who flush aren't going to like it.

The issue I would have is the outside bins not being emptied regularly, you tend to find bins are collected very frequently where this is the normal. 2 or 3 weeks in a wheelie bin is going to start ponging fast🤢

If this is an option you would like to explore, you can easily add a “bidet” function to your toilet for less than £30 and a pair of pliers.

I would be reluctant to go bidet only for number 2s but it is so so much better for number 1s.

Presumably you just empty the bathroom bin when you leave your flat daily not after every time you use the loo! Take it with your normal rubbish.

I think this might be the case, yes. I used to put the waste in the ordinary bin, double bagged and it wasn’t a problem until the change from the weekly bin collection - then there was a problem with the smell, which prompted me to ask whether there were any special arrangements for waste of this type. I was advised in no uncertain terms that it was unacceptable to put what they termed ‘clinical waste’ in the domestic bin as it was a health hazard. Was pointed to the council website to apply for the clinical waste bin and separate collection. Not sure whether every council charges for this service, but ours does. Might be as well for people to check with their own councils.

I think the best thing to do would be to use the indoor bin and not worry about it.

I think you need to use an indoor bin and not worry about it.

As a short term emergency solution then I think you just have to deal with it.

I would be clearly asking for a timeline for it to be fixed though and asking what rent reduction you will be receiving for the inconvenience.

Also get some nappy sacks for dealing with the used paper on a daily basis/one per person if you have guests.

I live in Spain, which last time I checked was a ‘developed’ country and some people have to do it here, especially those living rurally. It’s really not that much of a big deal, but obviously in the U.K. you’re paying a load of rent and don’t expect to have to do that, so I’d be pissed off too.

I am a landlord and I would never expect a tenant to put up with this. It would be viewed as urgent and dealt with as quickly as possible. As a side note, I think that the public in general need to stop flushing everything else down the loo - sanitary products, dental floss, cotton buds etc - as well as general kitchen waste down the kitchen sink, but that's another thread!

I couldn’t believe how effective it was when I got mine.

As you are renting get in touch with your local council's Housing Office. They "police" all landlords, both private landlords and housing associations, its their job to make sure your landlord isn't taking the mick.

That made me chuckle because the OP is presenting exactly that as to what she’ll be driven to do (and in nice clothes). It’s a comical image

but incredibly frustrating and landlord needs to get a move on - OP needs a working flushing toilet

I heard about something called The Defective Premises Act 1972. Might be worth looking at

In a civilised country, which I assume the UK is, it's ridiculous to expect anyone to do as you explain.
Environmental Health at your local council will help go a degree but if it's a private rental their remit will be limited. Ring CAB (citizens advice) and see what they say. They're usually very good indeed and will tell you what the legalities of the situation are and point you in the right direction.
It's unbelievable that you are being told the situation is the same as in some other countries. 3rd world, maybe. Not in the UK.

I'm sure the landlord will magically produce a team of contractors the moment Op contacts environmental health and it will be fixed within 2 hours.

Or maybe the other leaseholders in the block who own their property will allow the management company to get the estimates in and plan the work to repair the damaged sewer pipe which probably lies under the building, and enable it asap to avoid too much disruption.

In the meantime Op can put her paper in a nappy sack and bin it the same as those of us on boats do and get on with it. The world won't end.

I lived in greece for 13 years and it was very simple and easy are you so lazy you cant empty a bin once a day

I don't think it's about being "lazy" it's the fact that putting a shitty bit of toilet roll in a bin is rank. I don't care if they do that in Greece, it's revolting.

You realise the shit is inside you don't you? 🙄

So is vomit and pus but I wouldn't leave them festering in a bin either.