Revised Property Factors Code of Conduct published
A revised Code of Conduct for Property Factors has been published today by the Scottish Government, replacing the original code from 16 August 2021.
Introduced under the Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011, which requires any organisation operating as a property factor to register under the Act, the code sets out minimum standards of practice for registered property factors, encouraging transparency in the way that they conduct their business. All registered property factors are required by law to ensure compliance with the code.
A homeowner who believes their property factor has failed to comply with the code and is unable to resolve the matter with the factor, can apply for a determination by the Housing & Property Chamber of the First-Tier Tribunal for Scotland.
Introducing the code, the Scottish Government said it was engaging with the Scottish Law Commission with a view to a project on legislation to implement recommendations of the Scottish Parliamentary Working Group on Tenement Maintenance. These include proposals for new statutory duties on owners in tenements to have owners' associations, building reserve funds and five yearly building condition reports.