Under One Roof Newsletter - October 2023
Under One Roof Scotland
Promoting the maintenance, management, and preservation of tenement buildings in Scotland.
In this edition, find out about installing solar panels, our six top tips for tenement owners, and the new features on our website.
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Visit our?website?for more information about tenement maintenance and repair management, and use our?Ask a tenement expert feature to receive tailored answers to specific tenement-related queries.
Our website has a new look!
Did you notice that our website has been updated? You'll still find all our useful articles on building maintenance and tenement management, but we've added some new sections, such as one on retrofit. Check out this new article on 'What is retrofit?' and explore the new site.
Events update
Perth & Kinross Council: Tenement maintenance and repair management event
Angus Council: Maintenance and retrofit for tenement owners
City of Edinburgh Council: Tenement maintenance and repair management event
September was a busy month of events! Thank you to everyone who joined us.
We hosted and participated in online and in-person events with various local councils, including Falkirk, East Lothian, Argyll & Bute, and South Lanarkshire. At these events, we discussed various tenement maintenance and repair management topics, including working with co-owners, title deeds, and the importance of building insurance, as well as the challenges of energy efficiency and retrofit in tenement buildings.?
Check out the new Events section of our website to see where we’ll be going next.
We also took part in Doors Open Days in Glasgow and Edinburgh, guiding two walking tours and hosting a tenement surgery.
Nearing the end of the month, we delivered a presentation at the Scottish Housing Network (SHN) Private Sector Housing Conference to local authority, housing association, and Scottish Government staff on how we reach and engage with owner-occupiers and landlords.
Additionally, we worked with Scottish Association of Landlords to provide an online event for their members.
We ended the month with a collaborative in-person event with Glasgow City Heritage Trust (GCHT) at Queen's Park Govanhill Parish Church in Glasgow.
Enquiry of the month: I want to install solar panels on my roof. What is the best way to go about this?
Installing solar panels is one way to reduce your energy bills and the carbon footprint of your property. However, for tenement flat owners, there are a number of things to consider and certain steps that need to be taken before installing solar panels on the roof of your building.??
Do your research?
You will first need to speak to organisations dedicated to helping you with the process, legalities, and funding of installation, such as Changeworks, the Energy Saving Trust, and Home Energy Scotland.?
Obtain planning consent from your local council?
If the installation is 50 kW or less, it will likely will not require planning permission, though it would be wise to double check with your local council before proceeding. No matter what, the installation will still be subject to certain conditions and limits, such as whether the panels are roof or ground mounted. You may need planning permission if you live in a listed building or conservation area.??
Contact your co-owners and get consent?
Assuming your title deeds are silent on the issue of solar panels, the Tenements Act states that all owners in a tenement building are responsible for any changes or alterations made to the roof.??
The Tenements Act does not specify whether installing solar panels (including the related cabling) is considered?maintenance, and therefore needs the majority approval of owners, or is an improvement and therefore needs the agreement of all owners in the building to go ahead. If one or more owners is opposed to installation, you should seek the advice of a solicitor before proceeding.?
Additionally, if the solar panel installation does not provide benefit to all owners, you may need to consider offering in writing to pay?for the removal and reinstallation of the solar panels if the roof needs repairing, as well as a commitment to cover the costs of any damage caused to the roof during installation or by maintenance of the solar panels in the future. You will want to speak to a solicitor before drawing up such an agreement.?
Alternative options to consider
If you live in a four-in-a-block property, you may want to consider installing solar panels in the back garden, instead of the roof, if this area gets enough sun. This can avoid some of the issues with roof installation, such as the risk of damage to the roof and needing consent from other owners to lead cables over communal walls. If choosing to install solar panels in the back garden, you will need to check your title deeds as to any relevant rules regarding the back garden, and still need consent from co-owners before proceeding.?
As you will have noted above, installing solar panels is difficult due to the rules you are required to follow regarding common maintenance in a tenement flat. However, if you are keen to reduce the carbon footprint of your building, consider taking a ‘fabric first’ approach. This involves making alterations to the material of the building, such as wall insulation, draught-proofing windows, or insulation under the floor to improve its energy efficiency and lower emissions output.?
Have a specific question about tenement maintenance or management???
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Navigating flat ownership: Six top tips for tenement owners in Scotland
Owning a tenement flat in Scotland comes with certain responsibilities and considerations. Sometimes, it can be hard to know where to start. We’ve compiled a list of six things that every flat owner can do to ensure they’re meeting their obligations.?
1. Know your responsibilities??
As a tenement flat owner, you are likely responsible for maintaining the common parts of your building that provide support and shelter, such as the roof, the external walls, and the foundations. Additionally, you may be responsible for keeping common areas safe and clean, such as an outdoor area or the close and stairs. You may also be responsible for certain parts of the building that some, but not all, owners share.???
2. Know your title deeds??
To have a full understanding of your responsibilities, it is essential to refer to your title deeds. Title deeds are proof of ownership of a building and contain a building’s?rules. When making decisions or carrying out repairs in your building, always check your title deeds. If they are unworkable or don’t say anything on the matter, you must follow the guidance in the Tenements Act for that particular case only.??Download our building’s rules checklist to note down what your title deeds say about your building.?
3. Know your co-owners??
Knowing your co-owners is essential to ensure that when issues arise or common repairs are necessary, quick action can be taken. It's good practice to have an up-to-date list of contact details for the other owners in your building, so you can easily get in touch with them when you need to.?
4. Get your building surveyed every five years???
Knowing which repairs to carry out and when can be tricky. A professional building survey, carried out every five years, provides an objective assessment of the issues in your building. It ensures that you have an awareness of the condition of the building, can prioritise repairs, and notice when something is not quite right. In between professional surveys, keep an eye on your building for anything that could be a sign of a problem, such as damp, water ingress, or cracks.??Download our DIY building survey checklist to record your findings.???
Use our repair checker to figure out the cause of a problem in your building.??
5. Have the correct building insurance??
All owners of tenement flats should have adequate building insurance. Without insurance, owners must pay for any damage to their property themselves, even if they did not cause it. To calculate your insurance cover, you need to find out what it would cost to rebuild your property. To do so, it is recommended to have a Building Reinstatement Valuation carried out by a RICS chartered surveyor every three to five years.?
6. Maintain your gutters??
One key way to maintain the condition and value of your property is to get your gutters cleaned once a year. Blocked gutters can lead to damp which can cause decorative or structural damage to your property if left untreated.?
Dispelling myths on energy efficiency standards and traditional buildings by the Engine Shed
Increasingly, in the housing sector, attention is being turned towards sustainability and improving the energy efficiency of homes, including those which are traditionally built.??
Senior Technical Officer Moses Jenkins and Content Officer Anne Schmidt from The Engine Shed have written an informative article on the commonly held myths about energy efficiency standards and traditional buildings.??
They delve into and dispel several misconceptions, such as that traditional buildings are unable to meet energy efficiency standards, listed buildings are exempt, and that EPCs do not apply to traditionally constructed buildings.??
The article provides useful and digestible information, as well as where to find out more.?
If you would like to take a deep dive into the energy retrofit of traditional buildings, check out this detailed guide from The Engine Shed.
Guest article from Retrofixers Collective's Richard Wright
The Edinburgh Tool Library (ETL), a member of EdinBRIC, the Edinburgh Building Retrofit and Improvement Collective, enables members to borrow the tools that they need instead of needing to buy them themselves. There are several hubs dotted around Edinburgh which offer different levels of activities and services, including a delivery service of tools from the Meadowbank main hub.?
This guest article is written by Richard Wright, a cherished volunteer at Edinburgh Tool Library’s Portobello branch, who is a tool sharpening guru and founder of the Retrofixers Collective.??
How did you get involved with Edinburgh Tool Library??
In summer 2018, Porty Tool Library had an opening event and I went along out of curiosity. The place was full of timber and other interesting stuff, and I met Chris Hellawell for the first time. He converted me in just a minute! Not only do I live only a seven-minute walk away, but I also discovered that the tool library was perfect for someone with a lot of tools, limited space and no workshop as I could donate stuff and still use it! I never imagined volunteering when I joined, but I loved the workshops and the community spirit so much that it wasn’t long before I became a ‘tooligan’. To start with I helped at open workshops as well as the library, but felt more suited to library shifts as there’s always something useful to do when not talking to visiting members.?
Last year, you and some other ETL volunteers started the Retrofixers Collective - can you tell us what that’s all about??
We are building a community of volunteers who want to learn, and help others make homes more energy efficient through DIY elements of retrofit. We go to each other’s houses in groups of up to five or six to do draught-proofing and simple insulation such as loft insulation, thermal blinds or secondary glazing, and the important thing is to have fun while we’re doing this.
The host of the day provides a meal and refreshments, as well as any materials, and agrees to participate in other retrofixer ‘parties’! Most of us have some DIY skills, but that’s not essential as it’s also a learning opportunity. Some are good at caulking gaps and others can sew or fit heavy curtains, and anyone can squidge DraughtEx between floor boards as long as you can kneel! Ultimately, we want to have fun and build community while reducing our carbon footprint and saving money all at the same time!??
What’s next for the Retrofixers??
We are eager for more people to join our community - we currently have 26 members and there’s plenty of room for more! Join up and embrace the opportunity to build your skills, meet new people, and save the planet. See our Linktree for more info.??
We have also recently got together with HeatHack - an organisation focused on helping community buildings save energy. One way they do this is by logging temperature and humidity over a period of time in all the different occupied spaces throughout a community building to see how it matches occupancy patterns. The sensors required for such an exercise are unaffordable off the shelf but can be made up from electronic components for less than ￡10 each. We hope to help them in this task by making the sensors at the Tool Library, and who knows what we might learn from this!?
If you’d like to get involved in the Edinburgh Tool Library and the Retrofixers Collective, check out their website and visit their membership page for information on how to join.?
If you have any articles of interest that you think we could include in our newsletter or any topics you’d like to see us cover, please get in touch with our Communications Officer, Anny, at?[email protected].
??Subscribe to stay up to date??
Visit our?website?for more information about tenement maintenance and repair management, and use our?Ask a tenement expert feature to receive tailored answers to specific tenement-related queries.