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?

Vomit and pus isn't the issue though, that can go down the toilet. Did you never change a nappy?

We had to do this in Cyprus - for some reason it really really irked me. 😱😂

I don't really understand those disgusted by this. I'm sure most on here have changed a shitty nappy many times, then have put the shitty nappy in a rubbish bag INSIDE THE HOUSE.

Shit is shit. Baby or adult, no difference. Why be freaked out by shit stained loo roll in a bag, in a bin, in a loo, yet be fine with a load of shit in a nappy in a kitchen bin? 🤔

Gross.

Tes I know they do it in Greece. It’s gross there too and part of why I much prefer Italy!

OP your landlord is in breach of contract. You all rented the flats in a certain state they’re no longer in that state, you should as a group withhold rent until he fixes the pipe.

It does not take six months to fix a pipe. You can build an entite house in that time. He’s just stringing you all along.

It isn't within the landlord's gift to sort this out, it is down to the management company. And it takes a while to draft the tender then invite quotes and then get it done. It might be possible to skip the tender process if it's an emergency and what constitutes an emergency is defined within the headlease. I would say this is borderline depending upon the consequences of not getting it done as an emergency.
Plus if the pipe is under the building or runs through or underneath the basement flat it is a huge costly job. The management company have a duty to be cost efficient and can be held to account by leaseholders if they aren't which is why they need to go through due process hard though that might be. There are legal processes (see Landlord and Tenant Act 1985).

It is quite common in many countries and certainly you shouldn't flush tampons down the loo so it's not much different.

I'd forgotten about that. Love that book