Rental Property - Upgrading Bin Sizes

SkMed on 27/09/2016 - 09:38
Last edited 27/09/2016 - 09:54 by 1 other user

Hey All,

We are a household of 5 renting a property in Coburg, Melbourne.

We only have the tiny (80 litre?) rubbish and recycling bin for our house which are definitely too small for a house of 5.
I have called the real estate about 8 times over the past 5 months to request larger bins, or at the very least a larger recycling bin, but each time they just say they will ask the landlord and that's as far as it ever goes.
I'm assuming he doesn't want to pay for the increased rates that come with larger bins, or the real estate doesn't even bother to ask as nothing has been done.

On top of this we have also requested a green bin as we have a huge garden which produces a lot of green waste.
Again nothing has been done about this and we now have a giant pile of clippings/weed etc in the back corner of the property which we can't dispose of.

Is there anything I can do? We are literally having to do tip runs every 3 or 4 months because we don't have enough room in the bins.
Every time I call the real estate they just say they will ask the landlord and get back to me. Nothing happens and a few weeks later I call with the same request.

Thanks,

Home & Garden

Comments

  • gimme on 29/09/2016 - 09:03
    +2

    Buy a green bin (normal rubbish) from bunnings and put it out on the kerb among the many others. The truck drivers don't give a toss as long as it's the right color. Noone needs to know. Same with the garden bins as mentioned above. When you leave take it with you. It's Coburg after all - everyone's dodgy there anyway. And yes I agree, we fill up our 120L bins every week with just 2 people and we recycle so a smaller size for 5 is not enough.

  • SnoozeAndLose on 29/09/2016 - 11:24

    OP what did you end up doing?

    • SkMed on 29/09/2016 - 11:45

      I responded to the RE email saying that we needed a solution for the recycling bin at the very least and offered to pay extra rent to cover the cost of the larger capacity bin. Haven't head back of course.

      • captobvious on 29/09/2016 - 13:17
        +2

        Save the money, when i run out of space in my bin i just take the excess for a walk to the council bin at the park.

        Have a bit of a stroll at the same time.

  • Stphen on 29/09/2016 - 16:21

    You could speak directly with the Landlord and see if he will see reason, but keep it civil, there is a small possibility the Real Estate are being lazy and not actually telling him?

    If the Landlord has bigger bins, maybe you could swap your bins with the Landlord. Give him a taste of what it is like to use smaller bins ;)

  • OzzyOzbourne on 29/09/2016 - 17:16
    +2

    What you'll find is; property agents do the absolute bare minimum for both the landlord and the tenants, often less. They won't even care if you move out, the landlord will never know why and will pay the agency to find new tenants.

  • limey on 29/09/2016 - 18:27
    +2

    I am a landlord. My tenant requested a larger garbage bin. They said they would pay the extra fee. That's fine. So I got the bin strait away for them. Yet it took me months to get them pay the extra fee. It's an issue of trust. Next time they asked for something else, I did not respond them until after a few months.

    • neonlight on 29/09/2016 - 19:39
      -1

      Finally the person with the right answer. If tenants want it free, impossible. Even with fee they aren't playing cheapskate

    • SkMed on 29/09/2016 - 20:33
      +1

      But was that the tenants fault or the RE not updating the rent increase on their end? The tenant cant do anything until the RE puts the paperwork through on the rent increase.

      • limey on 30/09/2016 - 00:52
        -1

        I don't think there was miscommunications on the agent's part. I did keep sending emails (five emails over five months) to the agent to make her chase the tenant. I gave them the invoice from the council.

        You can push the agent harder. It's their job.

        • SkMed on 30/09/2016 - 09:26

          Oh right, but the fee for an upgraded bin is an ongoing rate rise per year on the property! So that means you would need to issue the tenant an invoice each year which is a bit odd isn't it? I thought the process would be to raise the rent slightly to cover the upsized bin, which would be the RE's responsibility to get sorted.

  • RockyRaccoon on 30/09/2016 - 05:43
    +1

    Have had our kids move back in while changing homes so our bins were overflowing.

    A simple solution was for those working to take some of the rubbish and put it in bins at work. A small amount each day.

    Sounds like your flatmates aren't really worrying about the issue, as its very simple to solve - Ozbargain style.

    Likewise if you host bbq's etc have the guests take some of the rubbish with them. A simple explanation works. The kids even had a bbq and one guest volunteered to take it all

  • fozzie on 30/09/2016 - 07:30

    Australia is the only country i know that charges according to.how much garbage!In Italy it goes by square meters whilst the Uk property value. You can then produce as much as you want.
    Also here in Nsw you can have up to 2 very big recycling bins in included rates. Only garbage bins incurr extra.

    • RockyRaccoon on 30/09/2016 - 08:28

      in NSW

      is a little inaccurate.

      Each council can have different policies, even bin sizes

      • fozzie on 30/09/2016 - 08:29

        I am lucky then :)

      • CLoSeR on 30/09/2016 - 08:38

        Certainly not all councils in NSW, Penrith for example provide tiny bins.

  • Herbert1955 on 01/10/2016 - 09:35

    Hi. Yes this sounds like a problem. Can I suggest you buy a huge enclosed compost bin for vegetable food scraps (and form another compost Pit in your back yard just for weeds and grass cuttings and leaves - plant vegetables in it from time to time) Keep a little bin inside for the food scraps and empty that into your enclosed compost bin. Also put some of your weeds and grass cuttings in it as well. I bought worms from Bunnings ages ago - only once - and they eat their way through. Don't put meat or egg shells (you can put a few egg shells but they take forever to break down). Hope this helps

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