Owner Occupier Homes

Each property that is factored will have a Written Statement of Services which will specify the Factor’s areas of responsibility within your development.   Typical examples of what is covered include: 

A Management Fee is charged for services provided for the factoring of the common areas. This fee will generally be reviewed annually, and the Written Statement of Service will set out what this fee covers for your specific property and how and when annual revisions will be made.    Management fees include: 

• Carrying out regular inspections of the block/development 
• Arranging routine maintenance and repairs of the block/development common parts 
• Reacting to customer queries, requests for repair etc. 
• Liaising with contractors and tendering for the best service and price to ensure best value for our customers 
• Ensuring works are carried out professionally, legally and safely 
• If required, facilitating meetings with owners, producing minutes and distributing to owners 
• Arranging buildings insurance for the owners within the block/development and providing adequate details to allow owners to make claims 
• Administrative costs relating to invoicing, letters and newsletters 
• Providing credit control to ensure that everyone is invoiced for their respective share of costs and non-payers are actively pursued 
• Working together with solicitors to recover outstanding debts on behalf of the owners within the block/development. 
• Liaising with energy suppliers to make sure all charges are accurate and fair 
• Making payment of energy invoices and recovering the cost from the owners within the block/development for common supplies 

What are my responsibilities? If you live in a property with areas of common ownership or maintenance responsibilities, you and the other owners in the block and development will be responsible for the costs of maintaining and repairing these areas. 

Flatted Properties   Flat owners are responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of their own property. This includes the flat entrance door and flat windows as well as private garden grounds, fences, gates and balconies.  With regard to the common parts of the building i.e. the roof, gutters, downpipes, common close, communal gates and fences, these maintenance costs are shared equally between the owners within the close or block. Your Title Deeds will provide the exact proportion of these costs and this will be detailed in your Written Statement of Services.  In addition to the common property costs, some flat owners must pay a share of the common estate maintenance costs. These proportions relate to the total number of properties within each estate and, in mixed tenure developments, are shared equally with tenants, each of whom pay a separate service charge in addition to their rent for this service. 

Houses  If you live in a house, you are responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of your own property, garden grounds, driveway and perimeter fencing.  Like some flat owners, you must pay a share of the common estate maintenance costs. These proportions relate to the total number of properties within each estate and, in mixed tenure developments, are shared equally with tenants, each of whom pays a separate service charge in addition to their rent for this service.  Your Written Statement of Service details the share which must be paid towards the upkeep of the common parts of the estate.   

The Association has a delegated “authority to act” limit which is defined in your Written Statement of Services.  This limit allows us to instruct and have carried out repairs and maintenance to the common parts provided that the anticipated cost of the repair or maintenance at the time when it is instructed, will not exceed this limit. If the anticipated cost of any such item exceeds the limit, we will seek the permission of the homeowner’s first.   In an emergency, where the integrity of the building is severely compromised or personal health and safety is at risk, the Association will arrange emergency work as required, irrespective of the level of cost. 

To report a common repair Monday to Thursday 9am to 5pm and Friday 9am to 4pm please: 

Email: [email protected] 

Click and complete the Website Report a Repair Form 

Call: 0800 678 1228 

We also operate an Out of Hours service for emergency repairs to common areas and will provide a make safe repair until the full repair can be completed in working hours. 

Emergency Repairs Service call BR24 0800 783 7937 

5pm to 9am Monday to Thursday and 4pm Friday until 9am Monday 

Please remember the Out of Hours Service will only attend emergency communal repairs. 

Most of the flatted properties we manage are covered by a block buildings insurance policy arranged by the Association.  If you are not sure if your property is included on the policy, you can check your latest invoice, where there will be a charge for insurance on your bill if your property is included. 

We do not provide contents insurance to cover your personal possessions, and for your own peace of mind, we strongly recommend that you take out adequate content’s insurance. 

A Summary of Insurance Cover can be obtained from our office – call us on 0800 678 1228 or email [email protected] for a copy. 

It is important to remember that we only arrange the buildings insurance on your behalf and take no part in the claim’s procedure. When you make a claim against the buildings insurance policy, you will pay an excess charge directly to the insurance company. 

The billing frequency for your property will be outlined in your Written Statement of Services. 

If you have a query about any charges on your invoice please contact us via the website link, email  [email protected] or call 0800 678 1228. 

If you want to dispute any item on your invoice, you should raise this within fourteen days of receiving the invoice.  Other items on that invoice or any other invoice from us should still be paid by the due date while we investigate the disputed item. 

You can pay your invoice by the following methods: – 

• Direct debit – call us on 0800 678 1228 with your account number and sort code and we will set this up 
• Bank transfer – full details on the invoice 
• Debit or credit card over the telephone, call us on 0800 678 1228 
• By cheque made payable to the Association 
• At any Pay Point 

Further details of how to make payments are stated on our invoices. 

f you are finding it difficult to afford payment of your Factoring charges please contact us as soon as possible. We are keen to help you, and we can make arrangements with you to pay any arrears to us in regular manageable amounts.  If you do not contact us, or if you do not keep to your agreement for repayment, we will take legal action against you. Our Debt Recovery Procedure sets out the steps we will follow when you have failed to make payment. This includes action we will take to recover the debt.  You would be responsible for all legal expenses incurred, in addition to the arrears balance.  A full copy of our Debt Recovery Procedure is available from our office on request.  If you are having difficulty paying your factoring costs please contact us as soon as possible. We offer advice and links to organisations that can support you.  We are here to help. 

If you sell your home, you should notify the Association at least four weeks before the intended date of change of ownership and include details of the names of the incoming owner, the date of the proposed change and your forwarding address.  Your Solicitor will often provide us with this information on your behalf as part of their conveyancing service.  On receipt of notification of the sale, the Association will arrange to apportion the charges and sums due by the outgoing owner to the date of sale 

If you let out your property, you are still responsible for paying the common charges.  If you are letting your property or are planning to be away from the property for an extended period, it is also important that you provide the Association with a correspondence address and details of how to contact you, or a key holder, in the case of an emergency.  All private landlords must be registered with their local authority.  The aim of landlord registration is to ensure that all private landlords are “fit and proper” to be letting residential property. The requirement helps local authorities to remove disreputable landlords from the market and to protect tenants and their neighbours from the impact of antisocial behaviour and mismanaged property in the wider community.  To register as a private landlord, or to search the register, please visit www.landlordregistrationscotland.gov.uk. 

We are committed to providing quality services that meet the individual needs of all of our customers – and we set high standards to try to make sure we achieve this. We also know our customers have similarly high expectations of us.  We know there can be occasions where we fall short of our standards or do not fully meet these expectations. We have a detailed Complaints Handling Procedure that is designed to help us resolve any customer dissatisfaction quickly and as close to the point of service delivery as possible. It is based on a two-stage approach:    Complaints Handling Procedure: The 2-Stage Process  

  You can make a complaint by: 

• completing the website contact form 
• emailing [email protected]
• speaking to a member of staff in person
• phoning 0800 678 1228 
• sending a letter to any of our office locations.  

Further detail on our Complaints Handling Procedure can be found in this leaflet.   Anyone who remains dissatisfied at the end of our complaints process can ask the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber) to investigate the matter.  The First-tier Tribunal for Scotland provides the possibility for issues between homeowners and property factors to be impartially resolved.  Applications can be made to the Housing and Property Chamber First-tier Tribunal for Scotland where a homeowner believes that the property factor has failed to comply with their factoring duties or the Property Factors’ Code of Conduct.  Housing and Property Chamber  First-tier Tribunal for Scotland  Glasgow Tribunals Centre  20 York Street  Glasgow  G2 8GT  Telephone:        0141 302 5900  Email:              [email protected]  Website:           www.housingandpropertychamber.scot