Do you provide trash cans at rentals?

[Benjamin Haberman]

BP community, I just filled my top unit of my duplex and my tenants are asking where the trash cans are. The bottom unit has been in there for 3 months and have never asked for trash cans and come to think of it, i don’t think I’ve ever provided trash cans. Do you usually supply trash cans? I searched forums prior to posting this and didn’t really find anything. Thanks! Ben

[Marcia Maynard]

City ordinance requires us to provide both garbage and recycle service for our multifamily properties. We pay for the service and the service provider delivers the bins, and replaces them when necessary.

For our single family properties, we require the tenant to pay for their own garbage and recycle service. Again the service provider delivers the bins.

Although garbage service (which includes recycle service) is mandatory for all households in our municipality, yard debris service is optional. 

When we use a landscaping service, they haul away the yard debris. Even so, we pay extra for a yard debris bin at each of our multifamily properties for things we may want collect in-between service pickup dates. 

Tenants in our single family homes pay for yard debris removal unless they choose to hire a landscaping company to remove it as part of their service, or haul it to disposal sites themselves.

Note, in our city and county the garbage/recycle/yard debris collection trucks use a device that attaches to the bins and hydraulically lifts them from the street or alley and dumps them into the truck. So, traditional individual personal garbage cans wouldn't work. That's why the bins come from the service provider. At our 8-plex we have a dumpster. Our duplexes have a bin for each household. As do our single family homes.

I'd check with your city or county, as well as call the waste management company that services your properties to see what is required or customary for your location.