Landlord’s responsibility
If your waste is discovered to have been disposed of illegally, even by your carrier, you could face prosecution by the Environment Agency.
As a landlord you must make sure:
- your tenants dispose of their waste correctly, responsibly and safely.
- when using a waste carrier service, the contractor has a Waste Carriers Licence and a Duty of Care waste transfer note, which shows the description and disposal route of the waste is provided. Find your nearest registered waste carrier or you can take the waste to your nearest licensed disposal site.
- any waste or unwanted bulky items (i.e. mattresses, furniture etc.) left at the property are removed appropriately and legally from the premises. Leaving waste in the garden or yard could result in a £2,500 fine or illegally depositing waste on the street could also result in a £50,000 fine and up to 5 years imprisonment.
HMO landlord’s responsibility:
As well as the above responsibilities, a landlord of a HMO property has to:
- use a private waste collection contractor should your tenants exceed their 180 litre household waste and 240 litre recycling bin service allocation and the tenants do not take responsibility of it. The liability is with the landlord.
The council also offers a trade waste collection service.
Report a problem
Letting agencies and landlords can report their tenants who dispose of waste illegally. Please email ResilienceandEnforcementTeam@slough.gov.uk and give as much detail as you can.