Owners and factoring services

We provide a factoring service to around 850 owners living within the communities that we manage.

What does a Factor do?

A Factor is a property manager who has been appointed to manage the common (shared) areas in a close, building or development. The Factor will co-ordinate the upkeep of the common areas and arrange for any maintenance, repairs and improvements to be carried out. The Factor may also arrange buildings insurance for the common areas and the individual flats within a development. Whilst the Factor arranges these services on behalf of the co-proprieters, it is the responsibility of all owners to pay for any communal works which will be recharged by the Factor.

Why have a Factor?

The role of the factor is to instruct necessary repairs and maintenance and recharge those costs, along with associated fees, to owner occupiers. As a result, properties that are factored are generally maintained to a higher standard than properties where there is no management service in place. Common areas could be neglected by owners who may be unaware of their responsibilities to maintain the common parts that are attached to their property. This can lead to properties falling into a state of disrepair and can cause damage to the building and individual flats which in turn can affect their value. There are also benefits to having the whole building insured under one buildings insurance policy, which is often a requirement within the Deeds for flatted properties.

What are the Common Areas?

Common areas of flatted blocks include the roof, chimneys, outside walls, gutters and downpipes, the common close, close entry doors and close lighting. Common areas for houses usually include landscaped areas and occasionally car parking bays, fencing and railings. Repairs to these areas would be extremely difficult for individual owners to co-ordinate and would rely on one owner instructing the repair and trying to recover the costs from the other owners. If minor repairs, such as damaged roof tiles, were left unattended, these would quickly escalate causing significant damage to the building and the individual flats within it.

Why Thenue Housing?

We are a registered social landlord and registered property factor with experience and knowledge of your specific area. In the majority of cases, we will own a high percentage of properties within your development or block and will have had a long history of managing the common areas prior to ‘Right to Buy’ coming into place and properties being bought privately. Our robust procurement process ensures that all of the contractors we use provide high quality work at competitive prices, are fully insured and comply with current legislation. We operate with a view to covering the costs of providing the factoring service. We do not charge a mark-up on the cost of works that are completed on behalf of owners or receive commission on the buildings insurance we arrange. Our priority is to provide a high quality of service, ensuring value for money at all times.

Communal Landscaping

Your home may be within a development or area where Thenue Housing, as Factor, have the responsibility for the maintenance of the communal landscaping. As an owner, you will have a duty to pay for your share of this work. Charges that will be apportioned and applied to your account will be set in accordance with your Title Deeds.

As well as landscaping, we will also look after communal fencing, railings and trip rails within the common areas.

Although you will pay a set quarterly amount for this service, it would be normal practice that the annual programme would adapt to account for the growing seasons. You can expect to see greater activity during the Spring and Summer months and less so during the Autumn and Winter ones. Charges are spread equally over the course of the year to avoid a spike in charges during the growing season.  

In some of our bigger developments, many areas that we maintain may not be close to your actual house and sometimes owners can feel somewhat frustrated by this. However, your obligation to pay for your share of any works is set out in your Title Deeds and is not something we have the power to alter.

Back Court Cleaning

If our service includes the maintenance of your backcourt area, you can expect to see the following service:

• All hard areas cleared of weeds, moss and other vegetation
• Hard surfaces cleared of litter, fallen branches and leaves
• Cleaning of external bin stores

Should you be unhappy with the service provided, please contact our office using the detail provided.

 ‘How to report a communal repair’

Close Cleaning

One of our most important services is to provide our close cleaning service. This will be provided in those closes who have requested this, and where we have been able to receive majority consent.

For your monthly charge, you can expect to receive the following service:

• Brush and mop all stairs and landings.
• Clean any treads and risers.
• Dust and clean any light switches, skirting, dado rails and window ledges.
• Dust and clean banister rails.
• Damp wipe any wall tiles.
• Dust front and rear doors.
• Clean and polish any door brasses on entrance door.
• Clean common close windows.

Some closes have opted out of the full cleaning service and only receive the common close window cleaning service.

If your close does not currently receive close cleaning and you would like us to take on this service, please contact us and we can discuss with you what is required in order to obtain the consent of all owners to progress. We would encourage all residents to maintain a high standard of cleanliness throughout their close.

Believe it or not, not that long ago, the cleaning of a close was a very sociable activity. Residents took great pride in their cleaning duties and organised their own rotas. We do appreciate that times change, however, the responsibility for keeping a close clean does not.

Stair Lighting

Glasgow City Council provides the stair lighting maintenance service for our tenement and  deck access properties. If you receive this service, you can expect to receive the following:

• payment of all electricity charges for the system  to the electricity supplier
• a 24 hour service, 7 days a week freephone telephone number (0800 595 595) for the reporting of all faults
• a 5 yearly wiring test to ensure the installation is electrically safe and to comply with legislation
• planned re-lamp of all the lights in the close at regular intervals to ensure that lamp failures are kept to a minimum
• replacement of old light fittings and control equipment at regular intervals with the latest energy efficient equipment
• minor wiring repairs
• replacement of any lamp that is reported faulty within a maximum of 5 working days
• attendance and repair at any close that is reported as being completely dark within 32 hours.

As you pay a charge for this service, it is important that you contact Glasgow City Council for any repairs and maintenance issues.

The council will provide a 24 hour service, 7 days a week, please contact:

City Building

Freephone: 0800 595 595

Communal Electricity

Whilst any Glasgow City Council Stairlighting Maintenance charge will include payment of the electricity supply to the lighting that they maintain, it is common that a further electricity supply will exist in a close where there are additional resources that require electrical power. The most common elements will include any front and back security entrance door systems and any lifts, should these be present in your close.

We will receive an invoice from the energy provider for any of these additional supplies and these invoices will recharged to you on your normal apportionment basis as set in your Title Deeds.

Buildings Insurance

The title of your property may provide that a communal building insurance policy is provided by the factor and requires to be in place on behalf of all of the owners within your block.

The Association will not carry out an insurance revaluation to your property unless this is specified in the Deed of Conditions. It is the responsibility of individual owners to ensure that their property is insured for an adequate reinstatement value. 

If a claim requires to be made on the building insurance, each owner will be required to contact the insurance broker whose contact information will also be provided on the annual Summary of Cover provided by the Association.  The Association will not submit insurance claims on behalf of owners unless the damage relates to common areas of the building. Any decision on whether a claim is settled or not is the responsibility of the insurer and not the Association.

Where owners are entitled to take out their own buildings insurance for their property they will be required to provide evidence that insurance is in place and covers a share of the common parts of the building and continues to be in place on an annual basis.  

Please note that sharing owners cannot opt out of the Association’s block buildings insurance.

The Association will also arrange for public liability insurance in respect of common parts of the block.

Door Entry Maintenance

This contract that includes the repair and maintenance of the electronic door entry system for a set quarterly fee.

You should note that the contract is for the electronic system and does not cover items such as joinery repairs and locks or any repairs required as a result of vandalism. Any repairs of this nature would be recharged to you as a communal reactive repair.

Should you require any repair or maintenance to the door entry system, please report these to us in the normal manner.

Management Fee

If you are an owner receiving our full factoring service, more commonly those owners residing in flatted properties, the Association will charge a management fee (£170.53 per annum from 1 April 22) for carrying out its function of providing the core services including those services listed below. This fee will be reviewed on an annual basis and you will be advised of any increase no later than 28th February each year with the increase taking effect from 1st April of that year

The Management Fee will be detailed on each invoice and covers the following:

• Arranging maintenance and repair of the common areas.
• Liaising with contractors and tendering for the best service and price.
• Working with an Insurance Broker to provide buildings insurance for owners where this is a requirement of the title deed.
• Administrative costs in sending invoices, letters and newsletters.
• Providing credit control to ensure that everyone is invoiced for their respective share of costs.
• Working together with solicitors to recover outstanding debts on behalf of all owners.
• Overseeing all maintenance contracts and any significant communal repairs.
• Dealing with owner’s queries.
• Updating information on change of ownership and managing and maintaining secure data on behalf of the owners in compliance with GDPR regulations.

If because of the complexity of a particular repair, or because of any other reason, the Association is involved in additional work beyond its routine management duties it may charge an additional fee in relation to a particular matter provided the same is reasonable and in accordance with the amount of time spent by the Association in dealing with the matter in question. You will be notified of any proposed charges of this nature. 

Administration Fee

If you are an owner receiving our reduced factoring service, more commonly those owners residing in terraced properties, the Association will charge an administration fee for carrying out its function of providing the core services including those services listed below. The fee will be charged on a quarterly basis and is based on 20% of costs recharged with a minimum of £5 and a maximum of the quarterly charge for those owners receiving our full factoring service.    

The Administration Fee will be detailed on each invoice and covers the same services as the Management Fee.

Reactive Communal Repairs

As factors, the Association will try to set and maintain a high standard of maintenance and repair. Repairs procedures have been developed to ensure that repairs have been carried out to a good standard, in a cost effective manner and within a timescale which causes the minimum inconvenience and nuisance to residents as is reasonable in the circumstances/ 

Whilst our staff will report reactive communal repairs noted during any site visits, every resident (tenant and owner) has a responsibility to recognise and report repairs. This will ensure that repairs are picked up timeously and also prevent issues escalating to a more serious matter.

Reporting a repair - please see our section on ‘How to report a communal repair’ below

Cyclical Repairs

Cyclical maintenance is normally work that requires to be carried out on an agreed cycle and can be either annually or every number of years.

All flat owners will benefit from our communal gutter cleaning contract which will normally be carried out annually.

Where we can obtain majority agreement, we will also carry out regular painter-work contracts that may include the common  internal close, common external woodwork and communal fencing etc. These contracts will be set at a more infrequent basis but regular enough to maintain a high standard.

In both instances of these cyclical maintenance charges, you will be recharged the cost of these works as set out in your Title Deeds.

Unfortunately, we are unable to offer private home owners access to those elements of a contract that are not ‘communal’ in nature. An example may be a terraced home owner wishing their gutters cleaned or a home owner wishing their private  fence painted. We would, though, be happy to provide the details of the contractor carrying out these works on our behalf and it is possible that you may be able to contact them direct. Any works that are then carried out would be a private arrangement between yourself and the contractor. Thenue Housing would assume no responsibility.

Major Repairs

Major Repairs are by definition fairly substantial works carried out over a longer time frame. These include work such as stone repairs where necessary, work to the common fabric such as gutters and downpipes renewal, electrical upgrading, smoke detector renewal and renewal of common stair windows etc.

The planning for these types of repairs is of a longer term nature and the costs involved can be more substantial.

Depending on the type of repair required, it might not always be a necessity to obtain a majority agreement of all the owners to proceed with these works. The repairs are normally required to maintain the fabric and structure of the building, a key responsibility of Thenue Housing as Factor. 

Where we do require majority consent, we will always seek to obtain this and explain why it is in your best interest as an owner to agree to these works. 

As the cost for these works can be expensive due to their nature, we will always try and be as flexible as we can and agree a sensible payment plan that works for you.

Billing information

Factoring charges are invoiced quarterly for the following periods (including anticipated month of invoice issue):

• 1st April to 30th June (August)
• 1st July to 30th September (November)
• 1st October to 31st December (February)
• 1st January to 31st March (May)

Costs will be charged in arrears and the invoice will detail what you have been charged for, along with a mini statement of account showing all transactions for the previous quarter and the current balance. Major repairs and improvement costs may require an upfront contribution from owners prior to the commencement of the works. Quarterly invoices will be issued by post, or by email if this has been specifically requested.

Invoice Disputes

If you have a query or dispute with an invoice, please contact your Factoring Officer on 0141 550 9534 or by sending an email to . You may be advised to withhold the disputed amount until the matter has been resolved, however all other items should be paid in full to avoid debt recovery action.

How to pay your factoring charges

Unless you pay by direct debit, you will have a period of 21 days from the date of the invoice in which to make payment.

You can pay your invoice by the following methods  

• By cheque made payable to the Association
• By Payment Card (issued by our payment provider, Allpay) at various Pay Point locations.
• Online payments (following registration with our payment provider, Allpay).
• By Debit card at our offices.
• By Debit or Credit card over the phone.
• By bank transfer direct to Thenue Housing, Bank of Scotland, Sort Code 80-83-44, Account Number 10029865, using your six-digit customer reference number.
• By Direct Debit. The level of any Direct Debit payment should be agreed with the Factoring Officer who can be contacted by phoning 0141 550 9534 or by e-mail at

Please note that the Association does not accept Cash as payment for its Factoring Services.

Set up a direct debit

Many of our owners now pay their factoring common charges by Direct Debit. If you haven’t previously considered this, you might want to think about the advantages of paying your factoring account by this method:

• Your annual charges can be spread over affordable payments to suit your individual circumstances. You will still receive quarterly invoices showing a breakdown of all charges, however these will be for your information only. 

• You have the option to pay every week, fortnight, 4 weeks, month or quarter and payments can be uplifted from your account on any day.
• The mini-statement included on each invoice easily allows you to monitor your charges and payments, which can be adjusted at your request at any point throughout the year.
• Your payments will also be reviewed by your Factoring Officer on an annual basis when you will be notified of any recommended increases or decreases to your payments.
• Your monthly payment can also include a contribution to any outstanding arrears you have with us.

If you want us to set up a Direct Debit for you, please contact our Factoring Officer on 0141 550 9534, or by emailing  owners@thenuehousing.co.uk or alternatively you can visit our London Road office.

Reporting of Communal Repairs

As factors, the Association will try to set and maintain a high standard of maintenance and repairs. Repairs procedures have been developed to ensure that repairs have been carried out to a good standard, in a cost-effective manner and within a timescale which causes the minimum inconvenience and nuisance to residents as is reasonable in the circumstances.

Each owner will assist the Association by reporting any common repairs to the Association office. Common repairs can be reported as follows:-

By visiting our office at 423 London Road, Glasgow G40 1AG.

By phoning the Association on 0141 550 3581. If the office is closed a message can be left on the answering machine. If the common repair is an emergency, the answering machine will provide the contractors emergency phone numbers.

By emailing us – .

Via our website – www.thenuehousing.co.uk

By writing to us at Thenue Housing Association 423 London Road, Glasgow G40 1AG.

 

Please note that we do not carry out repairs to individual owners’ properties.

 

When you report a repair please give us as much information as possible. If the required repair is straightforward the Association will pass the information directly to one of its approved contractors and they will carry out the works. If the repair is less straightforward the Association may request that our maintenance officer visits the block to assess the repair.

The target turnaround timescales for common repairs are as follows:-

Emergency                  Our contractor will attend within 2.5 hours to make safe or to restore services.                     

Non-Emergency           Carried out within 10 working days.

What are Emergency Repairs?

This category includes any repair which is required to avoid serious damage to property or risk to health & safety e.g., Water burst Dangerous masonry, loose slates, chimney heads etc.

All other repairs will fall into the non-emergency category.

These timescales may sometimes require to be extended if, for example, a contractor has to order parts/materials in order to complete the works or if owners are required to vote on proposed works due to the cost exceeding the delegated authority amount). If you are concerned about how long a repair is taking, or if a repair is not carried out to your satisfaction, please contact the Association.

Factoring contacts

Should you have a query on any aspect of our factoring service, please contact us at:

Email:                    

Telephone:      0141 550 9534

If the office is closed a message can be left on the answering machine.

In Person:        423 London Road, GlasgowG40 1AG

 

Useful links:

Glasgow City Council Stairlighting Contract

https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=17707

Provides further information and contact details for the stairlighting contract.

Under One Roof:

http://www.underoneroof.scot/

Provides impartial advice on repairs and maintenance for flat owners in Scotland.

Property Factors Register:

https://www.propertyfactorregister.gov.scot/PropertyFactorRegister/

 The register lets you search online to find out:

• who the property factor is for a certain property address or area of land
• the contact details of a certain property factor
• the latest number of properties a property factor manages (based on information provided to the register as required by the Act)

Selling your property

If you are selling your property, the solicitor dealing with your conveyancing will normally advise us of the change of ownership in writing to us, however please ensure they do so.  This allows us to update our records and issue the final charges to your solicitor who will normally raise any funds required from the sale proceeds. You should note that there is charge of £50 + vat for the provision of this service. This charge is highlighted in your Written Statement of Service.