Other issues at your property
Sharing ownership, use or responsibility of common areas with a wide variety of neighbours and co-owners can be both rewarding and challenging.
As your Factor, we are here to help you wherever possible when it comes to the maintenance of your common property. However, there can be subjects which affect you or the common areas of your property, where our ability to resolve an issue can be limited.
If there are social issues, problems with private property, or if the behaviour of individuals in or around a property are causing concern, you may require assistance from other services, not just MPS.
There are a wide range of other organisations and service providers who are there to help homeowners and residents of shared properties, including:
Scottish Fire and Rescue Services
You will find below some circumstances where residents of shared properties often need assistance, but we may not be best placed to help.
The Dog Fouling (Scotland) Act 2003 protects residents from the risks of abandoned dog fouling. It states that it is an offence for the person in charge of a dog to leave its mess and not remove it.
Both the police and authorised council staff can issue a fixed penalty notice to those they identify committing an offence under the Act.
As a Factor we cannot enforce the payment of cleaning or remedial works to rectify damage caused by dog fouling against an individual. Where we are asked to assist in removing dog fouling charges will apply, against all homeowners collectively.
Graffiti can be considered an act of criminal damage and should be reported to the Police.
In some instances, the local authority may remove graffiti from your property, and you can report it here: https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=17179
While we may be able to assist homeowners in the repairs or cleaning required as the result of graffiti vandalism, by instructing third party contractors, costs incurred will then be charged to the homeowners collectively.
The communal stairwell and landings within a block of flats are shared areas and it is forbidden to store personal items in this area.
Storing personal property in these areas can cause inconvenience to other residents and can also pose a fire hazard, risk injury, or be vulnerable to theft or damage.
If items are being stored in common areas, please report this to the Association immediately.
The Citizens Advice Scotland website https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/scotland/ has lots of information on Antisocial Behaviour, which it defines as ‘acting in a way that causes or is likely to cause alarm or distress to one or more people in another household. To be antisocial behaviour, the behaviour must be persistent’. The website outlines options for assistance, such as from the local authority, who have the ability to intervene.
The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman have a leaflet outlining the assistance that can be provided by the local authority https://www.spso.org.uk/sites/spso/files/leaflets/InfoASB.pdf
If the anti-social behaviour is by a tenant, contact details for the landord can be obtained from the Landlord Registration Service https://www.landlordregistrationscotland.gov.uk/. Action can be taken by this service if landlords fail to follow appropriate action to combat their tenants’ behaviour.
If you become aware of water flowing from overflow pipes on your building, action should be taken by the owner of the pipe to resolve it immediately. Each overflow is private to an individual property. If you are not in contact with the relevant homeowner, we may be able to assist by forwarding the information to them so that the issue can be fixed.
Overflow pipes are generally connected to bathroom or kitchen fixtures, and are a sign that they need repair, rather than flooding into a property.
Local authorities have a duty to keep their area free from vermin. Should you discover an outbreak of vermin in or around your property, contact Glasgow City Council on 0141 287 1059 or via their website to report the issue.
