Factoring call for all tenements
EVERY city tenement should have mandatory factors to make sure they are safe and maintained, a local politician has claimed.
MSP John Mason made the suggestion in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire and storms earlier this month which caused the face of a tenement to blow off.
It later emerged the building in the South Side had been derelict for more than a year as it had structural problems with the windows.
A Scottish Government minister said while factoring is important, not all residents may welcome the costs.
Political Correspondent EVERY tenement should have a factor to ensure repairs and maintenance are carried out, according to a Glasgow MSP.
John Mason, SNP Shettleston MSP, said factorless properties make it difficult for owners to get organised properly.
He told Housing Minister Kevin Stewart, that as some title deed do not have any provision for a factor, there can be problems for owner occupiers and private landlords wishing to carry out communal works.
He asked:“Does he agree that there may be a need to ensure that a factor is in place for every single tenement?”
Earlier this month, during the storm in the wake of Hurricane Ophelia, an empty tenement property in Crosshill in the South Side which was empty and undergoing repair work, suffered a wall collapse.
Other tenements have become dangerous or in poor condition as a lack of planned and regular maintenance or repair work.
The Housing Minister said owners should plan ahead for works and agreed factors have an important role.
However, he added: “The services of a factor come at a cost and some home owners would not welcome a requirement to hand over sums of money to a sinking fund for repairs that are not required at that point in time. I encourage home owners to work together to share the responsibility of looking af- ter their properties”.
Mr Stewart said to legislate would put an additional financial burden on owners and could be difficult to enforce.
Labour and Conservative MSPs in the Scottish Parliament were also concerned about tenement maintenance.
Graham Simpson , Conservative MSP asked if Mr Stewart agreed with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, who say there should be tenement health checks.
Labour MSP Daniel Johnson said it was “an important but often overlooked issue”.
He called for support for credit unions to help provide loans and financing for communal repairs to tenements.
Linda Fabiani, East Kilbride SNP MSP, said newer properties suffer as well and said properties with right to buy owners and private landlords can lead to problems.
She said some private landlords were not willing to play their part.
She said: “It can lead to severe factoring problems and many owners feeling that they get neither good value for money nor good social value.”
Mr Stewart said a trial in Glasgow was helping owners with the cost of communal repairs.
He said: “We are running a pilot of area loan schemes that assist owners to carry out essential repairs and energy efficiency improvements.
“I will look at that pilot’s findings to see whether there is sufficient demand to establish support for procurement of a nationwide scheme, as part of Scotland’s energy efficiency programme, to continue to upgrade Scotland’s tenement properties.”