The city council has launched a campaign to encourage flat owners to work together to keep their properties in good repair as we move towards winter.
The Council wants to raise awareness of a toolkit, produced by the Council’s Shared Repairs Service, to offer private homeowners help and guidance when seeking to repair their properties. In some cases, the Service will be able to cover the ‘missing share’ to enable much-needed works to go ahead if an owner in a tenement property is unable or unwilling to get involved.
The new, easy to use step-by-step toolkit will provide helpful advice to anyone looking to fix a leaking roof, blocked guttering, a chimney, or stonework in need of repair. The toolkit will take homeowners through the process with their neighbours to get these and many other areas of their property fixed more easily and efficiently.
Since the new service was launched earlier this year it has proven to be popular with Edinburgh residents. It has enabled over £600k of work, carried out privately in 46 tenement buildings, and completed over £350k of repair works on behalf of owners in four tenements. The service has helped around 500 people in all so far.
Cllr Alasdair Rankin, Convener of the Finance and Resources Committee, said: “Storm Ophelia was a reminder to us all of the need to keep our property in good repair. The launch of our campaign and the toolkit is very timely as we approach the winter.
“The aim of the new service and the campaign is to help and guide people to take care of their own properties such as helping to set up stair meetings, explaining legislation and guiding towards trusted traders, all of which can help when speaking to or writing to your fellow owners. Whilst the relatively new Shared Repairs Service will only step in financially as a last resort, it is a necessary part of helping to maintain the built fabric of the city.
“I was personally involved in a case in George Street, where by supporting the lead owner, we managed to help everyone in the building carry out major works and at no cost to the Council. I feel sure that the service will continue to prove its value to tenement property owners.”
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