24^th Dec 2018

A somewhat 'naive' landlord was fined after being found guilty of fly tipping waste, even though he had hired a contractor to carry out the work on his behalf. He told the court that he had paid a contractor to clear his property at the end of a tenancy and had paid him £205 for various items to be taken out of the bathroom, two bedrooms, the kitchen and the living room.

However the landlord told council officers that he had failed to carry out any checks on the person to see if he was authorised to dispose of waste with the property's items that ended up being fly tipped.

The council prosecuted the Stockport landlord for allowing his contractor to dispose of the waste without first checking that he was licensed to carry out such work.

In the hearing held at Manchester Magistrates' Court last month the landlord pleaded guilty to the charge and was fined £300, however he was also ordered to pay £700 in court costs.

After the successful prosecution, Manchester council's executive member for neighbourhoods, Councillor Rabnawaz Akbar, said: “Fly tipping is blight on our communities and our residents should not be left to suffer the consequences of such selfish crimes.

"This prosecution shows that we are determined to crack down on individuals or businesses that dump waste and track down those responsible.

"Jawdet tried to wash his hands of his responsibilities when he hired someone to remove waste from his property without checking that they were licensed, so I'm pleased that our officers made sure he paid the penalty.

"I want to thank the Biffa staff who initially detected this offence and our Environmental Crimes Team for successfully bringing Jawdet to justice.

"The law governing the proper disposal of household waste is clear and information is easily available about how landlords can dispose of unwanted furniture and large household items. There is no excuse for ignorance in this situation."

Hayley Cowburn, Marketing Manager of PIMS, said: "We always advise our members no matter what when employing contractors of any sort, even for small tasks, to personally check the work in progress throughout the 'term of contract'. We all know it's an obvious thing to do, however it can be missed when other priorities stack up.”



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