Hansard

I certainly do not disagree with the approach that has been recommended—inquiries should be made. I will, however, play devil’s advocate a little bit. My experience from being a solicitor over many years is that, although people do not necessarily enjoy paying factors’ fees, the whole purpose of having a factor in a tenement is to ensure that there is a system for carrying out common repairs. If there is such a system, it needs to be paid for. In my experience, factors’ fees are not particularly great and, in many ways, being a factor is a bit of a thankless task, because the level of the fees is generally not huge. There is therefore a general public policy imperative that it is desirable that there be a system, which is normally very clearly set out in the title conditions, for the appointment and removal of factors by a majority of owners. The desirability of having a factor is clear. Indeed, if there is no factor, there is a serious risk of major repairs not being done and things becoming much worse. I would have thought that that would be a rather more serious issue than the few cases where there may be concerns about overcharging and so on. I say that to stick up for the humble factors who, in my experience, are often on a bit of a hiding to nothing and who have eight masters: eight people who can phone them at any time of the day to demand that action be taken immediately on all sorts of things. I am just playing devil’s advocate, for a change.