Summary: Mr X complains the Council repeatedly failed to collect the communal household waste and recycling from a block of flats in which he owned a property from late 2018. Mr X complains the accumulation of waste was unsightly and smelled and led to a rat infestation at the premises. The Council’s repeated failure to collect household waste and recycling from communal bins servicing Mr X’s flat amounts to fault. This fault has not caused Mr X a significant injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I shall refer to as Mr X complains the Council repeatedly failed to collect the communal household waste and recycling from a block of flats in which he owned a property from late 2018. Mr X complains the accumulation of waste was unsightly and smelled and led to a rat infestation at the premises.
2. As a consequence, the managing agent for the flats, arranged for the waste to be disposed of privately and for pest control to deal with the rodents attracted to the accumulated waste.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by Mr X;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided; and
• Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Refuse and recycling collections

6. Councils have a duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to collect household waste and recycling from properties in its area. The collections do not have to be weekly and councils can decide the type of bins or boxes people must use.
7. The Council's practice is to make a weekly household waste collection and a fortnightly recycling collection.
8. At the end of December 2018 collection crews began industrial action. The Council introduced a contingency plan to make one collection for all waste types each week rather than separate collections of household waste and recycling. The crews began working to rule on 29 December 2018 and the first full day of industrial action was 19 February 2019.
9. The Council moved to a fortnightly collection for all waste types in February 2019. When the industrial action ended in mid-March 2019, the Council returned to weekly household and fortnightly recycling collections.
10. When a missed collection is reported to the Council, the Depot will ask the crew to return to complete the round as soon as possible. When the collection is complete, the Council closes the report.

What happened here

11. Mr X also owns a flat in a block of 15 flats but does not live in it. He complains that the Council has repeatedly failed to empty the communal bins servicing these flats since late 2018. The uncollected household waste and recycling has accumulated and attracted rats and foxes. Mr X states the repeated failure to collect the waste meant the managing agents had to pay for it to be removed. The managing agents also paid a private pest control company to deal with the rats and blue bottles attracted to the waste.
12. The managing agents state they have arranged for the waste to be cleared nine times over the last 15 months at a cost of £350 each time. It has also paid £350 to a pest control company.
13. According to the Council’s records, Mr X reported four missed recycling and four missed household waste collections in 2019. Other residents reported four additional missed household waste collections. The reports are all closed which indicates the missed collections have since been made. However, the dates these reports were closed are inconsistent and do not suggest the collections were all made in a timely manner. The records also suggest that other collections were also missed.
14. For example, Mr X reported a missed household waste collection and a recycling collection on 1 April 2019 and the Council closed both reports on 7 May 2019. This suggests that the intervening scheduled collections were also missed. If the Council had made these collections, it could have closed the reports sooner.
15. There are also inconsistencies between reports of missed collections made by Mr X and other residents. Mr X reported missed collections on 4 June 2019, which the Council closed on 20 June 2019. However, another resident reported a further missed collection on 20 June 2019 and the Council did not close this report until seven weeks later on 6 August 2019. This not only suggests more collections were missed, but also raises questions about the accuracy of the Council’s records. If the Council had collected the waste on 20 June 2019, it would not have been necessary for another resident to report a missed collection.
16. The Council states there may be a delay between the missed collections being made and the report being closed, so it is not necessarily the case that the intervening collections were also missed. However, the Council has not provided evidence of the dates the missed collections were made where they are different to the date the report was closed.
17. As reporting missed collections did not resolve the problem, in May 2019 Mr X made a formal complaint to the Council. He complained that the communal waste and recycling had not been collected for six months and there were now rats and foxes in the private car park where the bins were stored. The managing agents had paid for private waste collections at a cost of £825. He asked the Council to reimburse this and to collect the waste and recycling.
18. In its response the Council apologised for the reduced level of service and explained it had faced challenging circumstances since January 2019, which had resulted in missed collections. It explained it had stabilised the service but there were operational difficulties which it was working hard to resolve.
19. Mr X was not satisfied by this response and raised a complaint with the Council’s Chief Executive. The Chief Executive responded and advised that on receipt of Mr X’s complaint they had requested the waste be cleared. The Chief Executive also confirmed that the Council did not pay compensation to residents who have missed collections. Nor did it retrospectively pay residents or managing agents who had arranged their own collections.
20. The Chief Executive advised Mr X that it offered a free rat treatment service to residents, but not companies, and that residents could request this on the Council’s website.
21. As there were further missed collections, Mr X asked the Ombudsman to investigate his complaint. In response to my enquiries the Council states that during 2019, there were unexpected staff absences which resulted in some missed collections. The depot has since made alternative arrangements to empty containers as scheduled. It states the household containers were checked in January 2020 and had been emptied.
22. The Council has also provided photographs of the communal bins which show residents do not properly separate the waste and recycling, and the bins are contaminated. The photographs also show a bin belonging to another local authority which is not compatible with the Council’s collections vehicle.
23. The Council states it has repeatedly tagged the communal bins to indicate the Council will not collect contaminated bins. It has recently emptied the bins to allow the residents a fresh start, but there are still issues of contamination.
24. The Council set up monitoring of the communal household and recycling bins for January/ February 2020.
25. In relation to Mr X’s complaint the Council states its response accurately reflected the operational situation at the time. But it acknowledges it did not respond to all the issues raised or address the accumulation of waste in a timely manner.

Analysis

26. It is clear from the Council’s records that it has repeatedly failed to collect the communal waste from this block of flats. These failings in the service amounts to fault.
27. The Council accepts it has missed collections, and that there will have been delays in making these missed collections. Its records of Mr X’s reported missed collections, when it subsequently made the collections, and then closed the reports are incomplete and inconsistent. I do not therefore consider the Council’s records to be a reliable reflection of the extent of the missed collections, or when it actually collected the household waste and recycling.
28. Notwithstanding the Council’s failures, I note there have also been issues with residents not separating the waste properly so that the recycled waste is contaminated. The Council has informed residents it will not collect contaminated waste, so collections missed due to contamination would not amount to fault. Nor would we expect the Council to empty the additional bin belonging to another authority. Particularly as this does not fit the lifting mechanism on its collection vehicles.
29. The managing agents acknowledge the service improved in late 2019 and the Council’s monitoring in January/ February 2020 should have ensured an improved service.
30. The Council acknowledges it did not respond promptly to all of Mr X’s complaints or address the accumulation of waste in a timely manner. This delay amounts to fault.
31. Having identified fault, I must consider whether this has caused Mr X a significant injustice. While Mr X owns a flat in this block, he does not live there, so will not have directly experienced the problems associated with the accumulation of waste. I recognise residents may have wanted him to assist in resolving the problem and in removing the waste, but there is no reason why they could not contact the Council directly. Residents could also have requested the Council’s free rat treatment service.
32. The managing agents have incurred costs in disposing of the waste and in engaging pest control services. But I do not consider it follows that the Council should be responsible for these costs. I also note the managing agents have not passed these costs on to the flat owners or residents, so Mr X has not incurred any additional costs.
33. In the circumstances, I do not consider the Council’s failures have caused Mr X a significant injustice.

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Final decision

34. The Council’s repeated failure to collect household waste and recycling from communal bins servicing a Mr X’s flat amounts to fault. This fault has not caused Mr X a significant injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman