Waltham Forest Council will start charging for larger bins in a move that has been described as a “stealth tax.”

Landlords and letting agents will soon have to hire larger bins from the authority for blocks of flats with five or more apartments in from November 1.

But tenants fear the added charges will be passed on to them.

They are also furious there has not been proper consultation, however, landlords can opt out of hiring the bins and make alternative plans.

Proposed charges are £103.76 for the largest refuse bins and £122.12 for the largest recycling bins per year.

James O’Rourke, a member of the campaign group Walthamstow Independents Forum, said the issue was first raised to him by tenants.

He added: “They came to me very concerned. It is a very surreptitious and covert way of levying charges on tenants.

“It is going to be them that ends up paying this stealth tax and you can not describe it as anything else.

“If you go down this route, the thin edge of the wedge is that every resident and every household technically rents their bins from the council.

“It is nonsense, people will have no idea about these charges until they are getting service charges added to their bills every month.

“The council’s justification for introducing this stealth tax is that councils across London have done the same thing and, in its own words, ‘we are following others’ well established lead.’

“The council’s admission of following rather than leading is astonishing. We expect to have leaders, not sheep, in the town hall and Waltham Forest residents should not be punished for local and national Government failings.”

James Philips, an anti-litter campaigner, added: "It really sickens me when I hear representatives from the council’s environment department blathering on about ‘government cuts’, particularly as it is a department that wastes a lot of money through poor enforcement of litter and enviro-crime legislation and consequently misses out on valuable revenue from fines.

"This scheme is unfair, because it places a financial burden on some residents, the less well off, perhaps, but none at all on the vast majority of residents.

"At a time when this council is building scores of high rises in the borough, it may only be a matter of time before every householder is roped into a similar charge."

Cllr Clyde Loakes, deputy council leader and cabinet member for the environment, stated that letters communicating the changes and reasons for the decision were sent to landlords and letting agents “in plenty of time.”

He said: “It is increasingly not the norm with local authorities across London and the UK to honour weekly bin collections. The revenue raised through the introduction of an annual hire charge for bulk bins at blocks of flats will help us continue to provide that popular weekly collection service for recycling and residual household waste.

“Waltham Forest has resisted the pressure to introduce charges for as long as it could but agreed to introduce and begin the roll out of hire charges for bulk bins as part of a budget review in January 2016.

“To be clear this charge has been introduced in the light of unprecedented and sustained reductions to our council budget. It we would be irresponsible for Waltham Forest as a council not to regularly review and scrutinise our use of taxpayers’ money in ordinary times, never mind during the sustained period of cuts of recent years. We do that so we can continue to provide the essential services residents expect.”