Maintenance
63. Local authorities at present have powers to deal with houses that have fallen into disrepair. It is clearly desirable that they should be able to prevent disrepair from occurring as a result of poor maintenance, so the Act gives new powers to require that maintenance is carried out in order to ensure that houses remain in good condition. A local authority will be able to serve a maintenance order on the owner of a house which has not been, or is unlikely to be, maintained to a reasonable standard, or where any benefit resulting from work carried out as a result of a work notice or a repairing standard enforcement order has been reduced or lost because of a lack of maintenance. The latter criterion will help to protect any public money that has been invested in work on a house.
64. This power can be used in relation to an individual house or a group of houses, such as a block of flats. Furthermore, "house" is defined to include common parts and any garden, garage, out-house, etc, so a maintenance order may cover such features as well as the dwelling itself.
65. A maintenance order requires the owner or owners to draw up a maintenance plan for a period not exceeding five years. The plan must be submitted to the local authority, which may approve it (with modifications, if the local authority considers that necessary) or reject it. If the local authority rejects the plan, it can either make another maintenance order requiring that a new plan be drawn up or substitute a plan of its own. If a maintenance plan is not submitted to the local authority by the due date, it may devise a plan for the house or houses.
66. The local authority will have powers to vary or revoke a maintenance plan in certain circumstances. It will also be able to assist the owner to implement the plan or, if the plan has not been carried out, to take steps itself to ensure that implementation takes place (and to recover its expenses). In neither of these cases can the local authority pay money into a maintenance account (except under section 50 - see below) or to the owner (except under section 51 - see below).
67. It will be the responsibility of the local authority to register in the appropriate land register a maintenance order, a maintenance plan that has been approved, devised or varied, and notice of the revocation of a maintenance plan.
68. Repairs and maintenance of common parts (in, for example, a tenement) are often impeded because one or more of the owners does not pay his or her share of the costs. Under section 50, a local authority will have a new power to pay a "missing share" if certain conditions are met, provided that the owner who has not complied is unable to do so, it would be unreasonable to require that owner to deposit his or her share, or the owner cannot be identified or found. In these circumstances and on the request of any of the owners, the local authority will be able to deposit the money; it will have powers to recover it, including through a repayment charge (see paragraph 122). If these conditions are not met and an owner simply refuses to pay, it is for the other owners to resolve the situation, through legal action if necessary.
69. The Executive considers it desirable that owners of premises consisting of two or more houses (such as a block of flats) should set up a maintenance account, ie a bank or building society account to hold the money to pay for maintenance of the premises. Section 51 therefore gives a local authority the power to pay grants towards the expenses of opening, winding up or closing such an account (but not to make payments into the account). This power applies in relation to all maintenance accounts, not just those that are set up as a result of a maintenance order.
70. It may sometimes be appropriate to serve maintenance orders within areas that have been HRAs to ensure that the benefits of the work done are continued.
Scottish Executive approach
71. Implementation of this aspect of the Act will be taken forward by a team in Communities Scotland.
72. The key steps in implementation will be
- working with stakeholders to develop guidance on the new framework
- issuing guidance to local authorities.
73. Powers are provisionally estimated to be in place between mid-2007 and early 2008.
Local authority role
74. As well as deciding which houses should be subject to maintenance orders, the local authority will have to consider the circumstances of each house on which an order is served, in order to decide whether the maintenance plan is satisfactory. For example, in the case of premises consisting of more than one house, the local authority may consider it appropriate that the plan require the appointment of a property manager to manage the implementation of the plan and the establishment of a maintenance account to hold the funds to pay for works.
Local authority preparation
75. Local authorities will want to consider when and how to make best use of this new power. They will want to ensure that they have staff with the skills necessary to identify houses that should have maintenance orders served on them, to assess or draft maintenance plans, and to assist owners who are implementing maintenance plans.