Current status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 14 March 2019
To ask the Scottish Government what statutory protection is available to home owners to protect them from excessive charges for repairs by (a) registered social landlords and (b) factors.
Registered social landlords (including subsidiaries) who operate as a property factor are regulated by the Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011. The Act requires all property factors to be registered and then to comply with a code of conduct (the Code) which sets out minimum standards of practice in the delivery of services to homeowners.
The Code, amongst other things, requires all registered property factors to ensure transparency in financial and charging arrangements as well as when arranging for repairs and maintenance to be undertaken. The Code also requires a property factor to provide a homeowner with a copy of its complaints procedure that should set out the steps taken by the property factor to resolve such complaints.
These measures allow a homeowner to hold their property factor to account and to challenge poor practice where this arises.