Building factors

[shallIswim]

Can anyone advise an Englishwoman who knows nothing about Scottish property?
My DS bought a flat in Edinburgh and initially I was delighted to hear that the building is 'looked after' by someone called a factor (I think).
Anyway, some months ago there was a fire in the block (early 20th century block) and the roof needs work.
DS says the Factor is doing precisely nothing and is leaving the individual flat owners to collectively 'sort it out'.
Is this usual?
And if not what can this poor first time buyer do about it?
Thanks!

Factor normally gets contractors in to give quotes for the work and then each household in the block would pay towards the work being done

I assume she pays factors fees. She should chase them up and ask them to sort our someone to fix it. Do you know who the factors are?

Who is the factor?

I don't know who the Factor is. Pretty sure they do pay fees and therefore expect the quotes to be arranged.
They obv expect to pay their eventual share of the work - just not have to organise it

The term "factor" is used instead of "property management/manager" but usually the monthly management or factor fee includes buildings insurance. As pps have said it would usually be the factor who arranges quotes for building repairs but some are better than others and in this case it sounds like the owners need to contact the factor and ask what's happening.

It is possible for owners to get quotes if they don't like the quotes provided by the factor/feel they can get better but you would expect that the factor would be dealing with it in the first instance especially if a claim on the buildings insurance is involved.

Ok thanks everyone. You're giving me a much clearer picture. I imagined the Factor as having a property managers role. But it seems s/he isn't really managing anything!

There may be a communal insurance policy in place so that's the first thing to clarify. I would wonder why they are not making a claim. The roof is fully communal and as such it is the job of the factor manage repairs.

You can search the Scottish property factor register to find out who the factor is if your ds doesn't know.

Unfortunately loads of factors are utter shit and do precisely fuck all for their money. Your ds needs to be calling the factor to find out why they aren't doing anything.

In my experience of living in various tenements in Glasgow, factors are universally shite and do fuck all for lots of money.

The factor are legally responsible (it's written in to the title deeds) for keeping the building in good repair so they need their arses booted.

So. Stupid question - who actually employs the Factor? Is it the flat owners directly or is there an overarching Leaseholder (as in England)?

The flat owners all pay a quarterly fee and an amount into a sink fund.

@shallIswim

So. Stupid question - who actually employs the Factor? Is it the flat owners directly or is there an overarching Leaseholder (as in England)?

Sometimes the factor is written in to the title deeds, usually for newer builds and for x number of years then owners are free to change factor.

Otherwise a factor is appointed by a majority vote of all owners, this is then legally binding to all owners whether they voted yes or not, until the owners terminate, again by a majority vote. There are various conditions that need to be met to appoint a factor, the process is laid out in your title deeds.

I've never really understood about freehold/leasehold so can't say how that compares to England.

The factor IS the equivalent of a property manager and is employed by the owners.
As @heymammy says the title deeds often stipulate who the factor is and with new properties they may be appointed for a fixed period of say 5 years. However it is possible to change factor - and the process for doing so is also specified in the deeds. Usually a change of factor requires a majority of owners to vote in favour and then a new factor is appointed.

I would be very surprised if the buildings insurance is not arranged via the factor. When your ds bought the property the name of the factor, the monthly charges and whether or not there is a communal buildings insurance policy is in the Home Report - it's in the questions at the end of the HR.
I found this website very useful when the block I own a flat in decided to change factors underoneroof.scot

And no there is no overarching leaseholder. Virtually all property in Scotland is sold as freehold including tenement flats. It is extremely rare for a property to be Leasehold in Scotland - and as far as I know those that are are rarely mortgageable.

There used to be a thing called a feudal superior but those were abolished about 25 years ago

Check the bills from the factor and you will probably see that there are charges for the building insurance policy.

Email the factor and ask for information about the claim, do they have quotes for the repair work , when will it be starting etc .

Don’t do anything by phone, you want a paper trail.

Set up a group email for all the owners and keep each other informed.