Meeting of the Parliament 09 January 2014
Despite my obvious deprivation in not being a member of the Justice Committee, I am nonetheless grateful for the opportunity to take part in this debate. Jenny Marra has reminded us of the relevance of the committee’s post-legislative scrutiny of the 2003 act—and, indeed, that such scrutiny is a key role of the Parliament—and the debate has largely been constructive with many good contributions from across the chamber.
The clear consensus is, as Roderick Campbell made clear in relation to the operation of section 53 and common schemes, that the act is not operating as effectively as it should be, and I note that the Law Society of Scotland has welcomed the decision to refer the matter to the Scottish Law Commission for review. I, too, very much welcome the fact that this recommendation by the committee has been accepted and implemented by the Government.
There is little doubt that the relationship between home owner and factor is tremendously important and can, as colleagues have observed, sometimes be problematic. Like other members, I have received correspondence from troubled constituents for whom that relationship has broken down. I was particularly struck by Patricia Ferguson’s comments about non-resident owners. How does one change factors or ensure that common repairs commence when a majority of owners are absent or apathetic? That very well made point resonates with my own experience as an Edinburgh constituency member serving many tenemental properties in Marchmont, Morningside and Polwarth, and such issues certainly affect many people across the city of Edinburgh.
Ensuring that the act’s operation and implementation are as effective as possible is of the utmost importance and, indeed, John Lamont and the Law Society of Scotland have highlighted the need for solicitors to point out home owners’ responsibilities and obligations when advising clients on such matters.
The Office of Fair Trading came to the conclusion, in its evidence to the committee, that few options are available to home owners who are unhappy with the service that they receive from their factor. In its submission, it states:
“the options available to homeowners who were unhappy with the service provided were not effective.”
Clearly, this is a matter of real concern and an area in which further progress needs to be made.
I have received personal accounts from constituents who say that they have no choice over who provides their property maintenance services and few options available to them when standards of service are not met. The area of consumer choice—the issue that Alison McInnes highlighted well—requires further action so that we can address the issues that our constituents bring before us almost weekly.
As some of our constituents have reminded us, they perceive there to be a complete absence of effective choice, and a shortfall in their right to redress. I think that the Scottish Government recognises that in its response. I accept that the Homeowner Housing Panel, which was introduced by the Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011, will go some way towards alleviating that concern. However, I am of the view that more needs to be done to address issues that cause the most concern to home owners, such as the cost of services.
I look forward to the Scottish Government taking the necessary steps to remove some of the complexity in this area and, more critically, to providing assistance and information to empower home owners in order to bring about an improvement and a rebalancing of the relationship between the factor and the owner. In doing that, it will provide an invaluable service to our constituents and the people of Scotland.