Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011
The Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 (“the Act”) which came into force on 1 October 2012 sets out minimum standards for property factors in a Code of Conduct, which requires that factors provide a Written Statement of Services to all owners.
As you may be aware, East Ayrshire Council has historically maintained areas of open space within the development of which your property forms part.
It is our intention to continue to provide this service free of charge to residents within developments maintained as at the date the Act came into force, which requires the Council to comply with the 2011 Act and the Code of Conduct. The Council acts as factor for this ground by “custom and practice‟.
Information on the Act can be found at Scottish Government: Property Factors.
The Code of Conduct can be found at Scottish Government: Code of Conduct for Property Factors.
The Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 places a duty on all factors to register the address of the properties which they factor on a public Register of Property Factors, which is maintained by the Scottish Government. The Register of Property Factors can be accessed at Scottish Government: Property Factor Register.
Factoring services
Our only function as factor of the areas of open space within the development is to provide a grass cutting/grounds maintenance service, which will be to the standard specified for grass cutting and grounds maintenance for Council owned open spaces, which may be altered from time to time at the discretion of the Council or its nominated officers.
We will, therefore, not undertake any other works on, or accept liability for, third party claims arising from the areas of ground. We will not be responsible for services contained within the grounds or any structures on the ground.
Your title deeds specify your responsibilities in respect of your own property and the areas of open space within the development.
View further information on the factoring service we provide.
Contact points
Owners who require to contact the Council about the service provided can telephone 01563 554400 during normal working hours (9am-5pm Monday to Thursday and 9am-4pm Fridays). Alternatively contact can be made as follows:
Emergency contact out with normal office hours can be made by telephoning East Ayrshire Council’s Helpline on 0345 724 0000.
Changing factor
As detailed above, we maintain ground within the development by custom and practice. Your title deeds may contain provisions outlining the procedure for appointing a factor if a majority of owners are unhappy with the present arrangements.
The Council reserves the right to withdraw the Factoring Service and terminate its role as your factor. If we do this, we will provide you with advance notice in writing to allow you to make alternative arrangements.
Complaints
We aim to provide owners with a reliable and efficient service at all times. We take complaints about our services seriously and deal with them in confidence. Information from customer complaints is used to improve services to prevent the same problems happening again.
If you do have cause to complain about the factoring service, you can do so by following our complaints procedure.
Data protection
For the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998, the Council is the Data Controller of your personal information and must tell you how it will use and share that information.
Your personal information, comprising of your name and address, will be used by us to operate our Factoring Service.
Accordingly:
- we will use your personal information as a factoring customer, comprising of your name and address, to operate our Factoring Service
- we will include your address (but no personal information) in the public Register of Property Factors, maintained by the Scottish Government
- we will hold your personal information on a secure database and will not allow access to it by unauthorised users/personnel; your personal data will be removed from the database if you cease to be a factoring customer.
If you need further information about how your personal information will be used, held and shared by the Council or used and held on the Register of Property Factors you should contact our Factoring Service Team.