Summary: Ms D says the Council failed to provide her with an assisted collection for household waste at a property she owned but did not occupy. I have not found fault in the assisted collection matter. There was around five weeks delay logging Ms D’s complaint, but the Council has already acknowledged that error and apologised. There is no outstanding injustice to Ms D.

The complaint

1. The complainant (whom I refer to as Ms D) says the Council failed to consider reasonable adjustments for her disability when she requested an assisted waste collection for a property she owns but does not occupy in 2024. Ms D also says the Council mishandled her request for assistance and delayed logging her complaint.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(1), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

4. I considered evidence provided by Ms D and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
5. I shared my draft decision with both parties and considered their comments.

Back to top

What I found

What happened

6. Ms D owned a property which she rented out as well as residing elsewhere in the area. The property she been renting was vacated in 2024 with large volumes of waste left behind. On 14 October 2024 Ms D applied to the Council for an assisted collection at her residence because she was disabled. She also added that she had an extra address where she needed help because she was clearing it out (the property she had been renting out which was unoccupied at the time). On 23 October the Council told Ms D her request for an assisted collection at the empty property did not meet the criteria for the scheme. It sent her a copy of the criteria. I understand the Council did subsequently agree to assisted collections at Ms D’s residence. Ms D told the Council she could not manage to move the bins at the empty rental property and so needed the assisted collection service. On 1 November the Council advised Ms D it only offered assisted collections to occupied properties and Ms D did not live there.
7. On 23 December Ms D emailed the Council and said it had been unwilling to provide her with reasonable adjustments for an assisted collection. On 16 January 2025 Ms D emailed the Director of Public Services. She wanted the Council to reconsider allowing an assisted collection at the rental property. The Director replied on 22 January that he had referred the matter to the Waste and Recycling Deputy Manager (Waste Manager) to respond. On 24 January the Waste Manager emailed Ms D. Waste from the rental property would only be collected if left out at the correct collection point. The property did not have assisted collections in place. Ms D continued to exchange emails with the Council through to the end of January. On 30 January the Waste Manager told Ms D that assisted collections must be applied for by the residing occupant of the property, not a landlord. Assisted collections were not provided to unoccupied properties.
8. On 8 February Ms D submitted a web form to the Council stating she was making a complaint about the assisted collection decision. The Council says this was logged as a service request rather than a complaint. On 15 March Ms D asked the Council why she had not received a response. On 19 March a Complaints Officer spoke to Ms D and the Council emailed her apologising for any confusion and delay, it thought the issue had been dealt with by the service area. A complaint had now been logged. On 16 April the Council sent Ms D its complaint response. It said Ms D was not eligible for an assisted collection at her rental property because she was not the occupant. Landlords were responsible for disposing of any waste left behind by a tenant and Miss D had been provided with the correct information about the process.

What should have happened

Assisted collections

9. The Council can consider requests for assistance moving wheeled waste bins to the collection point near a property, these are assisted collections. Residents can apply for their home if they have a disability or are elderly. Assisted collections only apply to household waste. The procedure for assisted collections says applications can be made for permanent and temporary assistance. The applicant should fill out a form and provide evidence to support their circumstances.
10. The Council will not provide assisted collections to empty properties.

Commercial waste

11. The Council says it takes account of the Government’s ‘Waste duty of care, code of practice’ regarding what is commercial waste. Waste from a property that is used for a commercial business is regarded as commercial waste. Waste resulting from the clearance of premises after they have been vacated, such as a landlord or letting agent clearing out private housing, is not considered to be household waste.

Was there fault by the Council

12. Ms D feels the Council should have provided her with an assisted collection service at the property she had been renting out which was unoccupied at the end of 2024. I have not found any evidence of fault by the Council in this matter. The Council has correctly advised Ms D that assisted collections are offered to the occupant of a property, where a property is unoccupied it will not offer the service. Furthermore, the Council, in line with the code of practice, considers waste left by tenants in a private rental property to be commercial waste and as such it is the landlord’s responsibility to dispose of it. I appreciate Ms D disagrees with the Council’s decision, but the Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong. In this case I am satisfied the Council acted in line with its procedures, it considered Ms D’s disability when offering her an assisted collection at her home and correctly advised her the service was not applicable to her empty rental property.
13. Ms D says the Council delayed responding to her complaint. The Council should have logged the 8 February 2025 web form contact as a complaint. I see the Council has already acknowledged its error and apologised to Ms D for any delay in its 19 March contact.

Did the fault cause an injustice

14. I do not see there is an unremedied injustice to Ms D by the delay in logging her complaint. The Council has acknowledged the error in its contact with her and apologised. The Ombudsman could not seek any additional remedy on that point.

Back to top

Decision

15. I find fault in respect of the complaint delay but no outstanding injustice.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman