Text by Iain Cairns and Emma Miller, University of Strathclyde

What are property factors?

The Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 defines property factors as follows:

Property factors, also known as property managers, are employed by you and your co-owners to manage the common parts of your building. Property factors are governed by the Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011.

In other words, a property factor is contracted by all the owners to act on all owners’ behalf, to manage the parts of the tenement (often called the ‘common parts’) that are collectively owned by the flat owners in the tenement. For more information on property factors please see here.

What is energy efficiency in a tenement?

Energy efficiency in a tenement (as well as other building types) means a level of energy consumption which maintains comfortable living conditions for the residents without excessive cost. To make a tenement more energy efficient a tenement can be retrofitted. You can read more about retrofit in tenements here.

Are property factors responsible for energy efficiency in tenements?

No, property factors are not responsible for ensuring energy efficiency in tenements.

Individual flat owners are responsible for energy efficiency in their own flats. And flat owners are collectively responsible for the energy efficiency in the common parts (e.g. stairways and hallways) of a tenement.

However, owners are entitled to appoint a factor. And owners can ask their factors to undertake certain tasks which form part of their role to manage the common parts of the tenement, which can have an impact on the energy efficiency. For example, owners can ask a factor to help assess the support amongst co-owners for an installation of energy efficient windows in the communal stairway by asking owners to vote on it.

For more about appointing property factors click here.

Do you need to have a factor to do energy efficiency works in your tenement?

No. But it can be helpful for manging energy efficiency in the common parts of tenements.

You can undertake many energy efficiency measures in your own-flat without consulting your co-owners or a factor. Some examples include:

• Heavy curtains: 14% heat loss reduction
• Modern roller blind: 22% heat loss reduction
• Victorian blind: 28% heat loss reduction
• Thermal honeycomb blind: 36% heat loss reduction
• Modern roller blind with low-E film backing: 46% heat loss reduction

(See this technical paper Historic Environment Scotland)

Appointing a property factor to manage the common parts of a building is not compulsory in Scotland. While owners can appoint a factor, owners can also self-organise to get the work done themselves (sometimes called ‘self-factoring’). For more on self-factoring see here.

But owners may find getting energy efficiency work done in the common parts of the building very difficult without a factor. Self-factoring can be hard work and it can be difficult for co-owners to organise payments from all the co-owners for work done to the common parts of the building. Factors, because of the experience they have gained in building management, often make major renovations, including retrofit, far less work for owners. You can read more about the advantages (and challenges) of hiring a factor here.

In sum, while you do not need to have a factor to undertake energy efficiency works in the common parts of the building, it is highly recommended.

What roles do property factors perform that can help with energy efficiency in your tenement?

The tasks that property factors are contracted to perform for you will appear in your Terms of Service. If you are not sure what your Terms of Service are then you can contact your factor and ask them to send you a copy. It is worthwhile to remember that the terms of service must comply with the Property Factor’s Code of conduct, which can be found here.

Some of the tasks needed to get energy efficiency work done in a tenement are routine tasks for factors. These include:

• Responding to owner enquiries, e.g. about carrying out improvement works, including energy efficiency.
• Contacting co-owners to see if there is sufficient support in the building to do the work.
• Sourcing tradespeople to do the energy efficiency work (although not all factors provide this service).
• Securing payment from co-owners.

Your factor might be willing and able to support you in other ways. For example:

• Coordinate regular inspections to assess both maintenance and energy efficiency needs.
• Advise on available grants or loans, such as through Home Energy Scotland, that support homeowners in financing energy efficiency upgrades.
• Set up a building maintenance fund, which helps accumulate resources for large-scale projects, making it easier to plan and pay for energy-saving upgrades collectively.

Some property factors will have more knowledge and be more willing to help you and your co-owners with energy efficiency than others. It is always worthwhile to ask them how they can help you.

What are some energy efficiency measures that affect the common parts of the building?

Always refer to your titles to check who owns which parts of the building outside your own flat. The Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004 provides a set of default statements about ownership of certain features of the building. For example, according to the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004 the top floor flat extends up to and includes the roof. But that is only if the titles do not state that the roof is common. Titles take precedence over the law; in other words, your titles have the final say on who owns what in your tenement.

Measures which can improve the energy efficiency in tenements and typically involve common parts of a building include:

• Installation of energy efficient doors at the front and rear of the close.
• Installing a common heating system for the whole tenement (or block).

Other measures which may or may not affect common property (depending on your titles) are:

• Under floor insulation.
• Roof insulation.
• Roof or floor insulation.

Energy efficiency for close and backcourt lighting measures may or may not be a common responsibility, depending on whether some lighting services are provided to common stairways by the local authority. Some local councils are responsible for maintenance and / or paying for the lighting in your close or backcourt. So finding out who is responsible might involve contacting your local council.

It is also worth noting that certain measures may be better implemented across the entire building to be most effective. Your factor might be willing to help you with these. Such measures include:

• External wall insulation.
• Solar thermal hot water heating panels.

How can owners get a factor involved in improving energy efficiency in their building?

Owners can contact their factors to ask how they can help them with energy efficiency in their building. Having an informal chat with your factor is a good way to better understand how they can help you improve the energy performance of your building. Through their often considerable networks, they may be able to put you in touch with a range of relevant specialists.

Having regular meetings with the factor can help to ensure trust and good lines of communication between the owners and the factor. This will make it easier for you to involve the factor in the energy efficiency in your building.

To carry out tasks which will help improve the energy efficiency of the building, the owners need to provide clear instructions to a factor. These will most often be supportive tasks, such as, contacting other owners to arrange a vote on a particular proposed plan of work affecting he common parts. If these tasks are within the factor’s terms of service you can expect the factor to carry them out.

In order to give clear instructions to the factor it is a good idea to speak to co-owners to decide what energy efficiency related tasks you would like the factor to pursue for you.

To do this it is recommended to form an owners’ association. Owners’ associations can give leadership to the process of building maintenance and improvement (including energy efficiency) and improve communication between owners and with the factor. You can read more about owners’ associations here.