Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 08 December 2010
08 Dec 2010 · S3 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Property Factors (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
I echo others in the chamber in congratulating Patricia Ferguson on the bill, which touches on a subject that is of great concern to many of our constituents.
Some 36 per cent of the population live in tenement flats—many in Glasgow and Dundee—maisonettes and apartments, and around 50 per cent of those people live in privately owned flats that have a property manager. Some 30 per cent of those have a private sector manager and 20 per cent have a registered social landlord as a manager.
Although the majority of people are happy with their factors, a large proportion—30 per cent—are dissatisfied, and the problems that they face are highlighted by the fact that in 2009 as many as two thirds were unhappy with the way in which their complaint was handled.
The Scottish Government has been acting on the recommendations of the recent OFT report that suggested self-regulation of the industry and has been working with stakeholders towards a voluntary accreditation scheme for property managers and land maintenance companies. However, the support today for Patricia Ferguson’s bill demonstrates the Government’s commitment to taking the matter further to ensure the best protection for residents. As Bob Doris said, the work that has gone into putting together the voluntary accreditation scheme will not be wasted. I hope that it will feed into Patricia Ferguson’s bill at stage 2 and, perhaps, beyond.
The bill aims to improve the position of those who are dissatisfied with their factor and Patricia Ferguson must be congratulated on introducing it.
I will use an example from Dundee to demonstrate why we need to establish a system of statutory registration for all property factors and an alternative means of resolving factoring disputes. I am sure that the situation will be all too familiar to members from experiences in their constituencies.
Panmurefield village in Dundee is in the constituency of my colleague Shona Robison. It is a new-build estate of 71 properties that has its open spaces managed by a property manager. Residents were charged £80 or £120 a year by the factor for the upkeep of the common spaces, and it was not long before problems started to emerge, such as the lack of maintenance work or sub-standard work being done. Members will be aware that the Local Government and Communities Committee has been presented with a raft of similar complaints from across Scotland.
After repeated attempts to rectify the situation with the factor, the residents formed an association and householders united to force the property factor to give up its role of manager of the common ground. One would have thought that that would have been the end of the situation but, despite losing the contract, the property factor continued to issue bills to residents and threatened to send sheriff’s officers to enforce payment. That caused great distress, particularly among elderly members of the community, and it took a civil court ruling before the demands for payment stopped.
The residents have now awarded the management contract to Dundee contract services, which has highlighted just how much they were being overcharged by the previous factor. As most people probably know, Dundee contract services is a contracting arm of Dundee City Council. It maintains the city’s open spaces and competes with the private sector to provide building services such as common ground maintenance. As a result of changing their property factor, residents in Panmurefield village have seen their annual bill fall from an average of £110 to less than £20 a household.
The residents of Panmurefield village were lucky that the size of their community made it less difficult to change their factor than it would have been if the common ground had been owned and maintained by a land management company such as the infamous Greenbelt Group.
The committee and other members have highlighted a number of issues that warrant further consideration at stage 2 and beyond. I hope that the consensus that has been expressed in the chamber today will continue so that the bill will be supported not only tonight, but at stage 2 and stage 3, so that it can become law. It addresses some important issues.
16:54
Some 36 per cent of the population live in tenement flats—many in Glasgow and Dundee—maisonettes and apartments, and around 50 per cent of those people live in privately owned flats that have a property manager. Some 30 per cent of those have a private sector manager and 20 per cent have a registered social landlord as a manager.
Although the majority of people are happy with their factors, a large proportion—30 per cent—are dissatisfied, and the problems that they face are highlighted by the fact that in 2009 as many as two thirds were unhappy with the way in which their complaint was handled.
The Scottish Government has been acting on the recommendations of the recent OFT report that suggested self-regulation of the industry and has been working with stakeholders towards a voluntary accreditation scheme for property managers and land maintenance companies. However, the support today for Patricia Ferguson’s bill demonstrates the Government’s commitment to taking the matter further to ensure the best protection for residents. As Bob Doris said, the work that has gone into putting together the voluntary accreditation scheme will not be wasted. I hope that it will feed into Patricia Ferguson’s bill at stage 2 and, perhaps, beyond.
The bill aims to improve the position of those who are dissatisfied with their factor and Patricia Ferguson must be congratulated on introducing it.
I will use an example from Dundee to demonstrate why we need to establish a system of statutory registration for all property factors and an alternative means of resolving factoring disputes. I am sure that the situation will be all too familiar to members from experiences in their constituencies.
Panmurefield village in Dundee is in the constituency of my colleague Shona Robison. It is a new-build estate of 71 properties that has its open spaces managed by a property manager. Residents were charged £80 or £120 a year by the factor for the upkeep of the common spaces, and it was not long before problems started to emerge, such as the lack of maintenance work or sub-standard work being done. Members will be aware that the Local Government and Communities Committee has been presented with a raft of similar complaints from across Scotland.
After repeated attempts to rectify the situation with the factor, the residents formed an association and householders united to force the property factor to give up its role of manager of the common ground. One would have thought that that would have been the end of the situation but, despite losing the contract, the property factor continued to issue bills to residents and threatened to send sheriff’s officers to enforce payment. That caused great distress, particularly among elderly members of the community, and it took a civil court ruling before the demands for payment stopped.
The residents have now awarded the management contract to Dundee contract services, which has highlighted just how much they were being overcharged by the previous factor. As most people probably know, Dundee contract services is a contracting arm of Dundee City Council. It maintains the city’s open spaces and competes with the private sector to provide building services such as common ground maintenance. As a result of changing their property factor, residents in Panmurefield village have seen their annual bill fall from an average of £110 to less than £20 a household.
The residents of Panmurefield village were lucky that the size of their community made it less difficult to change their factor than it would have been if the common ground had been owned and maintained by a land management company such as the infamous Greenbelt Group.
The committee and other members have highlighted a number of issues that warrant further consideration at stage 2 and beyond. I hope that the consensus that has been expressed in the chamber today will continue so that the bill will be supported not only tonight, but at stage 2 and stage 3, so that it can become law. It addresses some important issues.
16:54
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Alasdair Morgan)
SNP
The next item of business is a debate on motion S3M-7531, in the name of Patricia Ferguson, on the Property Factors (Scotland) Bill. Time is fairly tight for...
Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab)
Lab
I am pleased that we are debating the Local Government and Communities Committee’s stage 1 report on the Property Factors (Scotland) Bill, and I would like t...
Duncan McNeil (Greenock and Inverclyde) (Lab)
Lab
I am pleased to be taking part in the debate as convener of the Local Government and Communities Committee. We were the lead committee that looked at Patrici...
The Minister for Housing and Communities (Alex Neil)
SNP
I welcome the opportunity to debate the Property Factors (Scotland) Bill, which was introduced to the Parliament by Patricia Ferguson. The Government recogni...
Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab)
Lab
I, too, am pleased to take part in the stage 1 debate on the Property Factors (Scotland) Bill. I congratulate Patricia Ferguson on getting the bill to this s...
David McLetchie (Edinburgh Pentlands) (Con)
Con
Like other members, I congratulate Patricia Ferguson, the bill’s sponsor, on her persistence and dedication in bringing this measure to Parliament and, I mig...
Jim Tolson (Dunfermline West) (LD)
LD
The Liberal Democrats welcome the member’s bill that Patricia Ferguson has introduced and offer our congratulations to her. I also congratulate the clerks, w...
Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP)
SNP
I, too, congratulate Patricia Ferguson and thank her for introducing the bill. As one of the original signatories to the bill proposal, I am pleased to speak...
Paul Martin (Glasgow Springburn) (Lab)
Lab
Like other members, I congratulate Patricia Ferguson on introducing her bill and getting it to stage 1. She should be commended for her hard work and diligen...
Elizabeth Smith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con)
Con
Stage 1 is an important staging post in assessing the many issues that are the origin of the bill. I pay tribute to Patricia Ferguson for the methodical mann...
Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD)
LD
Does Elizabeth Smith accept that clarity on the point that she has just raised might make it easier for some people to accept liability for payments, and not...
Elizabeth Smith
Con
Mr Brown makes a valid point, and I and the Conservative party in general accept it. It is a strong message in the bill.The relationship between the property...
Bob Doris (Glasgow) (SNP)
SNP
I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Property Factors (Scotland) Bill at stage 1. I thank Patricia Ferguson for introducing the bill, and I thank my fel...
Malcolm Chisholm (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab)
Lab
Factoring is an enormous issue in the new-build flats in my constituency, albeit not in the traditional tenements, which in Edinburgh have never had factors....
Joe FitzPatrick (Dundee West) (SNP)
SNP
I echo others in the chamber in congratulating Patricia Ferguson on the bill, which touches on a subject that is of great concern to many of our constituents...
Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD)
LD
On behalf of the Liberal Democrats, I praise Patricia Ferguson for introducing the bill and for the manner in which she has done so. Although this debate wil...
Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con)
Con
The debate that we have had today and the process that led us to it form a good example of the Parliament at its best. I only wonder why it has taken us so l...
Mary Mulligan
Lab
This has been an excellent debate in which all members have made quite heartfelt pleas for legislation. That is not always the case in this chamber.As Jim To...
Alex Neil
SNP
This debate on the principles of the bill and the issues that are to be addressed at stage 2 has been good and consensual. I congratulate Patricia Ferguson a...
David McLetchie
Con
In relation to those figures—£2,000 a case and 220 cases a year for the private rented housing panel—is the minister convinced that the panel provides value ...
Alex Neil
SNP
The reality is that it is quasi-judicial. As Mr McLetchie will know, anything that is judicial, and particularly anything that involves lawyers, can be extre...
Robert Brown
LD
Will the minister take a further brief intervention on that?
Alex Neil
SNP
Of course, from another lawyer. Are they going to declare an interest, Presiding Officer?
Robert Brown
LD
The issue is about the need to have at the end of the process an enforceable order so that everybody knows where they stand. It is a judicial process and it ...
Alex Neil
SNP
The enforceable order would be the responsibility of other authorities and not necessarily the panel or ombudsman. My point is that there are a great deal of...
Patricia Ferguson
Lab
I very much welcome the content and tone of the debate. I will try to respond as best I can to the issues that members have raised. The debate has demonstrat...
Malcolm Chisholm
Lab
At the recent meeting that I referred to, it seemed that a large number of people were paying 35 per cent commission to factors for their insurance.
Patricia Ferguson
Lab
I would not dispute that. I have heard a variety of figures mentioned. I have also heard about what, in the trade, are loosely called gentlemen’s agreements,...