Revealed: the great property factor scandal

[u/TimesandSundayTimes]

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/article/revealed-homeowners-face-big-bills-from-factors-they-cant-hold-to-account-cqj888hc5?utm_source=reddit&utm_campaign=scotland&utm_medium=story&utm_content=branded

One year after Kristian Stevenson bought his first flat, the 34-year-old received an unexpected demand for £4,000.

The property factor who looks after the roof, garden and maintenance of his tenement flat in Cessnock, Glasgow, claimed that he was liable for a debt owed by somebody else in the building.

The letter from 91BC, which manages almost 4,430 properties, said: “Our role as factor is to facilitate communal works and charges relating to your building. We have exhausted our debt collection process and as a last resort, we must reapportion this debt to you.”

The £16,000 bill for the building, which Stevenson said was run up before he purchased the two-bed property, had never been mentioned in conveyancing and he was liable to pay £4,200. Nothing existed in the title deeds to suggest he would be culpable for somebody else’s debt. The factor said the deeds were outdated and he must pay the bill according to their written statement of service, which he said he did not receive until two years after moving into the property he bought for £180,000.

The statement of service did state that homeowners were jointly liable for debt, even if they did not cause this themselves, as is the case for most property factor contracts.

Stevenson, a freelance TV and film production co-ordinator, pays about £130 a month to 91BC and said the “absurdly high bill” included £6,000 in late payment fees and legal fees the property factor paid when chasing the other owner’s debt.

“If I was to pay this off it would wipe out any savings I’ve rebuilt,” he said. “A substantial bill without notice, consultation or even a real explanation is both unethical and a poor business strategy.

“Dealing with a massive sum of money like that puts significantly a lot of pressure on me.”

There are hundreds of thousands of property owners like Stevenson across Scotland collectively paying tens of millions of pounds each year to factors who are almost impossible to hold to account.

A long multi-step complaints process, which requires homeowners to compile evidence and documents and often take legal advice, has been blamed for poor regulation and accountability of property factors.

[u/ElJaffacakeo22]

9 times out of 10, people who moan about Factors don't understand their role or the role their neighbours play (or don't play) in getting work done.

[u/Alasdair91 → u/ElJaffacakeo22]

No, we moan because we do understand their role and they completely neglect everything and continue to take money for very little. Our Factor (Newton) has been taken to court 30 times in 4 years and lost 57% of the time. Hardly a ringing endorsement, is it?

[u/ElJaffacakeo22 → u/Alasdair91]

When you say "taken to court" you mean to the First Tier Tribunal? That's not the same thing and a Factor will "lose" a claim even if a letter has a name spelled wrong on it.

I'd really love to know what evidence you have that your factor is charging you for things they haven't done.

[u/Alasdair91 → u/ElJaffacakeo22]

The FTT is an independent judicial system that has the power to decide whether the law has been broken; that’s as much a court in my eyes as anything else. And you’re clearly being obtuse in your claim, because when factors do lose their case(s) (and its always a fight to get to that point, as opposed to it being trivial as you jest) it’s often for major infractions of the laws they are supposed to follow.

Our factor has a history of taking our money (they love to increase the management fees endlessly) and actioning nothing in return or when works are finally actioned they are done to poor standards and they vanish - after they’ve taken their additional 10% “large work fee”, of course. Alternatively, they just accept invoices from contractors with no due diligence and breach their own internal policies and then bill everyone in the hope people cough up.

Maybe if factors weren’t so universally shit (as this thread shows) then we wouldn’t be so fucking fed up of them all? 🙂