Who Rules the Roof - Owners responsibilities

Please note that the following is taken from a pdf file and has therefore lost its pictures and formating.
Who Rules the Roof - Guide to the Tenement Act

The Edinburgh council version of this can be found on http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/4017/who_rules_the_roof   Tenement flat Converted Building Ex-council flat ‘four-in-a-block’ Modern apartment Who Rules the Roof? Common Repairs: how a major change in property law will affect you and your neighbours. Are you one of the owners affected? Although it is called the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004 the law affects every owner (home, business or shop) in a building which is divided into two or more flats on different floors. What the act can do for you The Act aims to ensure that the communal parts of buildings are kept in good repair. It sets up a decision-making structure that should make it easier to carry out repairs and maintenance and deal with disagreements between owners. In most cases, this will mean that common repairs can be carried out with the agreement of the majority of owners. Filling the gaps Your Title Deeds will continue to be the key legal guardian of your rights and duties when it comes to common repairs. But where there are gaps in your Deeds, or where clauses are unworkable, the new rules will apply instead. From now on, if you want to organise a common repair you will need to be familiar with: • What your Title Deeds say, and • What the Tenements Act says Read on for details of what the Act says. If you want specific advice about your title deeds or the law, you should consult your solicitor or property agent. THE TENEMENTS (SCOTLAND ) ACT 2004 2 3 What you need to do now 4 Check your Deeds & get organised 5 Who is responsible for what? 7 Questions & Answers about communal property issues 8 Resources 14 THE TENEMENTS (SCOTLAND ) ACT 2004 What you need to do now Check your Title Deeds carefully • Your Title Deeds prove that you own your flat and define where the boundaries are. You can get copies of your own, or your neighbours’, Title Deeds from the Registers of Scotland for a small fee. (See Resources on p14) • Your Title Deeds might contain a Deed of Conditions or other document that specifies what counts as repairs and maintenance, who is responsible, who owns what and how decisions should be made. If so, follow the rules in the deed or other document. If your Deeds don’t cover some or all of these matters, ask your solicitor about using the Tenements Act to sort out disagreements. Organise • Talk to your neighbours. Consider setting up an “Owners’ Association” (if you don’t already have one) to decide which repairs are needed – and which are the most urgent. Contact our Property Maintenance Co-ordinators (see p14) for advice on setting up an Owners Association. New rules on insurance • Check that your building insurance is up to date. The new law makes it compulsory to insure your flat, and any parts of the building that you are responsible for, to full reinstatement value, regardless of what your Deeds say. Bear in mind that reinstatement value is likely to be different to the market value of your home. 4 Check your deeds What to do if you’ve found gaps or defects in your Title Deeds If your Title Deeds were drawn up recently, they may well contain effective procedures for repairing and maintaining communal parts of the building. However, many older Deeds don’t allow for efficient management and maintenance. But even if this is the case, your Title Deeds still take precedence over the new law. But if your Deeds don’t fully cover certain vital common repairs, such as repairs to the roof or stairs, then the Tenements Act fills the gaps. It sets out a structure where each flat gets one vote and decisions are reached by majority. Before, if your Deeds said nothing about how decisions were to be made, you would have had to get the agreement of every owner – this prevented many repairs from going ahead. Badly maintained buildings are dangerous Want to keep your property in good condition? Failure to carry out communal repairs will dent the value of your home. Where the majority of owners want to carry out repairs before costs escalate, the Tenements Act can be used to ensure that necessary repairs can’t be prevented by one or two owners who don’t want to pay. 5 Getting organised You and your fellow owners could consider using an architect, property managers or surveyors when deciding which projects are the most urgent. (see p14). What can owners deal with? Unless the Deeds say differently, owners can decide what needs to be done, appoint contractors to carry out the work, organise surveys and appoint property managers. If they want, owners can install door entry systems and arrange common insurance. It is a good idea to set up an owners’ association to help organise common repairs and maintenance. However this is not a requirement. How do owners make communal decisions? Unless your deeds say differently: • Each flat affected gets one vote and decisions are reached by majority • You must give 48 hours notice of a meeting – or speak to all the other owners individually • Tell owners about decisions as soon as practical • Majority decisions are binding on all existing owners and can be enforced by a single owner • Those who were not in favour, can appeal to the sheriff within 28 days • An owner who is due to pay 75% of costs can annul the decision within 21 days. 6 Who is responsible for what? Individual Responsibility Anything serving only one flat, including the door from the stair, its windows and the inside of walls, floors and ceilings to the halfway point with the next property. You are solely responsible for all repairs and maintenance to your own flat. Mutual Responsibility Mutual property is anything used by two or more flats including the stairs, stair windows, chimneystacks, service cables, pipes etc. Repairs to mutual parts of the building should be paid for equally by all who use that part – unless your Deeds say otherwise. ‘Scheme’ (Common) Property This is the most important part of the new law. It outlines all the parts of the building where maintenance is paid for by all owners. These include: the roof, the foundations, external walls and any other part of the property which the Title Deeds set out as being the property of two or more owners. It is important to note that paying for roof repairs now becomes the responsibility of every owner in the building – unless your Deeds say otherwise. Scheme Responsibility Mutual Responsibility Individual Responsibility 7 Questions & Answers A majority of owners have agreed to carry out common repairs in our tenement. Do I have to pay for my share of the costs if I did not agree to the works? Yes. Unless your Deed of Conditions say otherwise, and so long as proper procedures have been followed, you are liable to pay your share. If you do not pay, your co-owners can take legal action to recover your share of the costs. You can appeal to the Sheriff Court. We’ve agreed a programme of common repairs, but one owner has now decided to sell. Do we have to start again? No. Each owner becomes responsible for their share of the bill once the final decision is made. Someone who has moved may be hard to trace, so owners can protect themselves by serving a notice in the Land Register or Register of Sasines at least 14 days before a sale takes place. Then they can choose whether to ask the previous owner or the new owner to pay up. New owners can recover their costs from the seller. Should every flat in the building pay the same share towards repairs? In most cases, yes. If flats are all roughly the same size, then they should pay the same share. But if there is a big difference in size and the biggest flat is more than 50% larger than the smallest, then repair costs must be divided according to floor area. If you hire a professional property manager, fees should be divided equally among all flats, no matter what size. 8 Questions & Answers My upstairs neighbour won’t repair his windows and dry rot is spreading into the floor joists. What can I do? You can insist that repairs are carried out if the support or shelter of your flat is being reduced. The same goes for alterations that would reduce natural light in any other part of the building. This applies to all flats regardless of the Deeds. How will disputes among neighbours be sorted out? A lot of disagreements can be sorted out by a neutral mediator, such as a property manager. If there is a disagreement, then the Sheriff Court is the final decision maker on all aspects of the Tenements Act. For instance, if you don’t agree with a stair decision you have 28 days in which to Talking to your neighbours can remove any misunderstandings! appeal to the Sheriff Court. The Sheriff can overturn any decision he or she decides is not in the interests of all of the owners, or is unfairly prejudicial to one or more owners. How do I give my neighbours notice of a repair decision? You can do it by post, fax or email – either to the owner or his or her agent (such as a solicitor). If you don’t know who the owner is, or if they are uncontactable, you can post the notice through their letterbox addressed to ‘The Owner.’ 9 Questions & Answers My neighbour has given me notice that she wants to change her Title Deeds, but I think it might be to my disadvantage. What should I do? Take action as soon as you hear that a neighbour wants to change their Deeds. You may only have a few weeks, or less, to challenge their proposed changes. Speak to your solicitor urgently. I suspect that one of my neighbours has inadequate building insurance. Can I do anything about it? Yes. The act over-rides anything said in the Title Deeds about insurance. From now on every owner is obliged to carry enough buildings insurance to pay for full reinstatement of the flat and other parts of the building they are responsible for. Bear in Leaky pipes don’t just look bad – they damage your property mind that ‘full reinstatement’ will usually be different to the market value of your home. You are entitled to ask your neighbours for evidence that their insurance is fully paid up. Owners can set up a common policy and divide the costs as they wish. How do we find out who owns a flat? Registers of Scotland will be able to tell you who owns a flat and where they were living when they bought the flat. They may also be able to tell you if they own other property. 10 Questions & Answers We want to paint the stair, but one neighbour won’t pay because she says that’s not a repair. Is she within her rights? If she is a joint owner of the stair then she has to pay her share of all maintenance costs. These include cleaning, painting, gardening, routine work, repairs and ‘incidental improvements’ such as installing a new street door. What if an owner goes bankrupt or can’t be traced? The other owners will have to cover that person’s share of management costs and repairs to start with. It may be possible to recover these costs at a later date if the flat has a value or if there are any traceable assets – seek legal advice if large sums are involved. If one owner simply cannot pay Checking your roof regularly stops problems spreading and saves you money their share, the other owners may decide to share the costs equally between them. Registers of Scotland (see p14) can help you identify the owner of a property in your building. One flat owner won’t pay up. She says her ex-husband is still a joint owner and that he should pay. Can we force her to pay? When a flat has more than one owner, either of them can be required to pay the full share of costs – even if they have separated. It will then be up to him or her to recover the other owner’s share. 11 Questions & Answers Can I change some of the conditions in my Title Deeds? Yes. Under the Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003, you can apply to change conditions in your Title Deeds. You could use this new right to improve the rules for carrying out repairs. If the majority of owners in your building are in favour of changing conditions, it may be possible to achieve improvements. You should ask your solicitor to advise you. Our Title Deeds say that flats should only be occupied by a single family. The owner upstairs has let his flat to a group of noisy students, what can we do about it? You should take action quickly. If no-one challenges this breach of title conditions within five years, then that condition is removed and you won’t be able to get that condition put back later. Speak to your solicitor about challenging the breach of conditions. There’s nothing in my Title Deeds about the roof, but the top-floor owner is asking me for a share of the costs. Can she do this? Yes. In this case each owner now has to share costs of repair and maintenance of the roof. Blemishes like this may be a sign of worse happening underneath 12 Questions & Answers I’m still paying feu duties, how can I put an end to them? Feuduty was abolished by the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland ) Act 2000, which came into force on 28th November 2004. No new feu duties can be created after that date. If your property has changed hands within the last 30 years or so the feu duty will probably already have been compulsorily redeemed or indeed, it may have been voluntarily redeemed at some time over that period by an owner. However, if neither of these things have happened and the feu duty still existed on 28th November 2004, the former superior had a period of 2 years from that date to serve a notice on you claiming “compensation” for the loss of the right to collect feu duty. A statutory formula was put in place for calculating the “compensation” figure similar to the formula which was previously used to calculate the “redemption” figure. If you did not receive such a notice by 28th November 2006, and you were not in any arrears with your feu duty on 28th November 2004, then you can’t now ever be asked for anything by way of feu duty or “compensation” for loss of the right to collect feu duty. However, if a notice was served, the former superior can pursue you for payment of the “compensation” for a period of 5 years. Similarly, if you were in arrears with your feu duty, the superior has 5 years in which to claim same from you. Any sum due by you will remain as a personal debt and will not pass to any new owner of your property. 13 Resources To find your title deeds… Register of Sasines/Land Register Erskine House, 68 Queen Street Edinburgh EH2 4NF 0845 607 0161 www.ros.gov.uk To find an architect… The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland 15 Rutland Square Edinburgh EH1 2BE 0131 229 7545 www.rias.org.uk To find a building surveyor… Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Surveyor Court, Westwood Way Coventry CV4 8JE 0870 333 1600 www.rics.org British Institute of Building Technologists 01224 643106 Mediation service… Aberdeen Community Mediation Service 110 Crown Street Aberdeen AB11 6HJ 01224 560570 To find a solicitor… Law Society of Scotland 26 Drumsheugh Gardens Edinburgh EH3 7YR 0131 226 7411 www.lawscot.org.uk Publications… COMMON REPAIRS COMMON SENSE Communities Scotland has produced a free detailed information leaflet covering the Tenements Act. Ask at your local library or contact: Homepoint 0131 313 0044 www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk TENEMENT HANDBOOK Detailed advice about repairing older tenement properties. To buy a copy visit: www.thetenement.co.uk THE TENEMENTS (SCOTLAND) ACT 2004 The Stationery Office Scotland Bookshop, 71 Lothian Road Edinburgh EH3 9AZ 0870 606 5566. www.hmso.gov.uk The above publication is also available online at: www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/scotland/ acts2004/20040011.htm For advice and information relating to private housing please contact… Aberdeen City Council Property Maintenance Co-ordinator 01224 522536/523398 privatehousing@aberdeencity.gov.uk 14 15 This document was reproduced with the kind permission of City of Edinburgh Council who originally produced it for Homeworks. DISCLAIMER: This leaflet can only give general information and cannot be an authoritative statement of the law. Specific advice should be sought in individual cases. www.aberdeencity.gov.uk Tenement flat Sub-divided property Ex-council flat Modern apartment Converted Building Common Repairs: how a major change in property law will affect you and your neighbours. Who Rules the Roof?

Roof pictures

Burdens pdf to big will re-size and send later Have attached PDF.s and images that you may want to upload to the blog. Page 7 of the tenement act, is very interesting as it concerns who is responsible for what and the chimneys seem to be the concern of the users, which would mean some of the flats at 50, 50a and 52 Brunswick St and 45. Montgomery Street would also be part liable for two sets of chimneys respectively. Alan Duff shares the same chimney stacks as myself, so when the quotes come in, i and simon will be happy to liase with all who share our chimneys. This will also mean that the satalite dish/ aerial holders will be responsible for their own costs. Although this seems to complicate things it does mean the bill will be shared amongst more people so it should be less per household. Alan Duff and our flat are I believe users of three chimney stacks. See pic 0009 & 10. Chimney at the front is only used by eight flats, The other two are shared by Ten flats, so we can isolate the costs from the final estimate, and be responsible for these three chimneys. (Hope this makes sense) Look at the images and count the chimney pots is the best way of figuring out which flats are responsible for which chimneys. Images 1-4 are on Montgomery st. 6-11 are Brunswick Street. We were unable to take pics of the rear chimneys from the back garden. John Whyte flat is similar see photo 0002 & 03. This Shows how the flats share the x2 Chimney stacks Also attached copy of title deeds from erskine house. This shows the "burdens" associated with the property. Have also contacted Angus Blair for a quote. Sharon www.sports-portraits.co.uk

BBM Common Stairwell redecoration quote 01/03/11

BBM 129

Lochend Road

Edinburgh

EH6 9BX

tel 0131 538 3511

07900034733

email bbmcontracts@live.co.uk

01/03/11

Quote nr bbm/SSBS/02

 

FAO Sharon Saffery
46 Brunswick Street
Edinburgh EH7 5HY

 

Estimate for Common Stair Painting.

 

The paint to the upper walls of the common stair is not adhering to the walls and is flaking off in all areas. The cause of this is a lack of oil based plaster primer when the stair was first painted. To just scrape and paint these upper walls would see the same situation return within a short period of time. I therefore recommend that the walls are treated with a primer prior to the extensive filling and painting.

 

I propose that you undertake some or all of the following:

 

• Erect Scaffold at the top of stair to give access to cupola and high level walls.
• Prepare, undercoat and gloss timbers to the inside of cupola.
• Scrape walls above dado and paint with an oil based plaster primer.
• Fill and sand all walls as required.
• Apply two coats of emulsion to walls above dado.
• Undercoat and gloss walls at dado and below.

Costs for this area of works: £4900.00

 

• Railings.
• Rub down, undercoat and gloss railings.
• Rub down and Varnish banister with two coats of varnish.

Cost for this area of works: £950.00

 

• Individual flat entrance doors and facing can be undercoated and painted for £160.00 each on request.

 

• Block out and plaster bricked up doorway at the bottom of the stair: £250.00

 

Please contact Stephen Buchan if you wish to discuss this quote.

 

Kind Regards

 

Stephen Buchan (BSc) for BBM

BBM Full roof quote 17/03/2011

Attached is a copy of the full roof quote from BBM issued 17/03/2011 'BBM 129 Lochend Road Edinburgh EH6 8BX Email: bbmcontracts@live.co.uk Tel 0790034733: 0131 538 3511 Ref: bbm/46Brunswick 16/03/11 46 Brunswick Street Edinburgh Repairs to roof. The render and skews on several points to the chimneys are defective. The render has cracked and lost contact with its surface causing it to fall from the stacks. The mortar skews have also broken away causing a crack to allow water in behind and into the internal fabric of the building. To remedy this I would recommend the render and skews are removed and redone. Mortar skews are a cheaper option when doing a detail for roof to wall meeting. There is differential movement between the roof and the wall and mortar is not flexible enough to take up the differences thus leading to cracks. A much better method is to use lead watergates. Lead is raggled into the wall and sealed giving you a better and longer lasting solution. To do this work effectively it should be done prior to the rendering of a chimney to allow for a belcast bead to be fitted just below the raggle. The bead is part of the render and helps protect the lead seal from the weather. I have included a price for this option in the quote. This part of the quote will be open to fluctuations as the price of lead changes and is increasing in price. There is no scrap lead to help offset the price increase therefore the costs would have to be agreed on acceptance of the quote. Your neighbours on Montgomery Street have a missing ridge piece that needs replaced and although not immediately, may affect your building eventually. This should be brought to their attention. Rendering a whole chimney is a better option and as they are communal then the costs for both sides of the chimney should be shared between adjoining tenements. A large cost involves scaffold so it makes economic sense. Involving another stair becomes a bigger problem to co ordinate for the stair spokespersons. There is a missing chimney pot to the back Brunswick street side communal stack. Some eroded stone work to the back wall at the Montgomery Street side. This has been patched and pointed using cement. Cement pointing prevents the stone drying out naturally and causes the surface to erode. There is a corroded blow off pipe protruding that’s possibly redundant and after some investigation this could be capped below roof level . A pop up behind the stack that over looks Montgomery Street front elevation has a broken seal and also looks redundant. I have attached some photos showing the defects. The front chimneys look to be in a worse state than the back two so if economics dictate then I would tackle these first. I would recommend that the stair starts a bank account that is used for communal repairs. I would need assurance that the finances are in place before starting works. If a contractor has to invoice each flat individually then it becomes costly. These costs and risks are ultimately passed on to the clients. Regards Stephen Buchan (Bsc) For BBM. Quote. Ref: bbm/46Brunswick Front Elevation chimneys. Montgomery St Cut back defective render and render chimney with 2 coats of lime sand mortar (one scratch coat and one finish coat). Cut back defective mortar haunch to skew directly below chimney and rehaunch. Erect tower scaffold for safe working and access. Remove all associated debris and scaffold on completion of works. Cost for this work: £2150.00 Watergate below this chimney. Strip back slates and mortar skew at junction. Raggle chimney and skew wall. Fix tilting fillet to roof. Dress 300mm code 5 lead to form watergate. Fit overhang into raggle and mastic joint with polysulphide mastic. Dress and fit slates to form overhang at tilting fillet. Remove all associated debris from site. Cost for this work. £1240.00. (must be done in conjunction with chimney repair) Brunswick St. Cut back defective render and render chimney with 2 coats of lime sand mortar (one scratch coat and one finish coat). Cut back defective mortar haunch to skew directly below chimney and rehaunch. Erect tower scaffold for safe working and access. Remove all associated debris and scaffold on completion of works. Cost for this work: £2150.00 Watergate below this chimney. Strip back slates and mortar skew at junction. Raggle chimney and skew wall. Fix tilting fillet to roof. Dress 300mm code 5 lead to form watergate. Fit overhang into raggle and mastic joint with polysulphide mastic. Dress and fit slates to form overhang at tilting fillet. Remove all associated debris from site. Cost for this work. £1240.00. (must be done in conjunction with chimney repair) Back elevation chimneys. Montgomery Street Cut back defective render and render chimney with 2 coats of lime sand mortar (one scratch coat and one finish coat). Cut back defective mortar haunch to skew directly below chimney and rehaunch. Erect tower scaffold for safe working and access. Remove all associated debris and scaffold on completion of works. Cost for this work: £2350.00 Watergate below this chimney. Strip back slates and mortar skew at junction. Raggle chimney and skew wall. Fix tilting fillet to roof. Dress 300mm code 5 lead to form watergate. Fit overhang into raggle and mastic joint with polysulphide mastic. Dress and fit slates to form overhang at tilting fillet. Remove all associated debris from site. Cost for this work. £1300.00. (must be done in conjunction with chimney repair) Brunswick Street rear chimney. Cut back defective render and render chimney with 2 coats of lime sand mortar (one scratch coat and one finish coat). Cut back defective mortar haunch to skew directly below chimney and rehaunch. Erect tower scaffold for safe working and access. Remove all associated debris and scaffold on completion of works. Cost for this work: £2350.00 Watergate below this chimney. Strip back slates and mortar skew at junction. Raggle chimney and skew wall. Fix tilting fillet to roof. Dress 300mm code 5 lead to form watergate. Fit overhang into raggle and mastic joint with polysulphide mastic. Dress and fit slates to form overhang at tilting fillet. Remove all associated debris from site. Cost for this work. £1300.00. (must be done in conjunction with chimney repair) Other works. Cut back pointing and repoint using hydraulic lime mortar. Cut back and repair stone (4 nr) with hydraulic lime mortar. Cost for this work. £400.00 (must be done in conjunction with chimney repair) Repair seal at upstand/pop up. £35.00 Remove blow off if redundant £30.00 Supply and fit missing chimney can. £65.00 Remove satellite dishes and reposition after works £100.00 each dish. Four dishes on the roof. There may be badly damaged stone under the render that needs replaced or taken out and bricked up. Until the render is hacked off, it is impossible to tell if the backing is strong enough to take another render. I would therefore recommend you have a £500.00 contingency fund in place to cover this. Even if it is not used it’s a good thing to have in place to cover any future emergency repairs. This quote is valid for 3 months. Please contact Stephen Buchan if you wish to discuss this quote further. Regards Stephen Buchan (Bsc) For BBM. '

Introduction - Who, What, Why, How?

The purpose of this 'blog' or forum is to enable open and regular communication between all owners and tenants with regards to the maintenance of our property.

Who:  With 14 different properties sharing our building, it can be challenging to communicate the same message to everyone at the same time without considerable effort.  All 14 owners, then, and/or their representatives, along with any tenants, are therefore invited to subscribe to this 'blog'. 

What:   This 'blog' is a free area on the internet where invited members (see above) can post messages, links, documents, photos, comments etc with regards to the general repair, maintenance and security of our stair. 

Why: It is hoped that this method will make it easier to keep everyone informed and in touch with what's going on in the stair/building.  In addition to the physical structure, we all share the same objective of protecting our investments, while making sure that the building is a safe and pleasant place to live.  In order to achieve this, it is likely that some maintenance work will need to be done in the immediate future and then on an ongoing, but hopefully less frequent, basis. This is a way to make sure that everyone is informed, has a say, and is aware of any potential strangers who may require access.

How: Over the past few weeks, most of you have kindly provided an email address.  You will soon receive an email direct from the site inviting you to now become a member and an author of Brunswick Street Blog, with instructions of how to do this.  By clicking on the 'subscribe' button, you can then have any posts or comments sent directly to your inbox.  If you prefer, you can opt for a daily or weekly 'digest', and you can always still go online to view it.  

10th March 2011 Top Floor Meeting

On Thursday 10th March 2011, the owners of the top floor flats all met, with Sharon and Simon Saffery, long time owners of 1F1, and I thought it may be helpful to capture a brief summary of what we agreed, in our shared interest of protecting our building yet avoiding a council statutory notice:

We will obtain at least 3 separate assessments / estimates for repair / maintenance of the whole roof at 46 Brunswick Street, asking for a detailed check to be carried out and a breakdown to be given for each of the following areas:

• Gutters/Rhones
• Flashing
• Chimneys
• Slates/Tiles
• Arials, etc
• Roofspace
• Stairwell 

The firms we shall ask will be:

• BBM (Sharon to contact)
• AO Blair (Sharon to contact)
• Aardvark (Alan to contact)
• Lee McNeice (Forster Roofing) (Catriona to contact)

In asking for these quotes etc, we will also ask for an estimate for how much a regular maintenance check would be, and what is and is not included.  All top floor properties will be contactable to make arrangement for access where required.

In the meantime, City of Edinburgh Council Property Conservation Department has now been contacted to let them know that we have been able to organise ourselves to make our own arrangements for repairs.  We hope that you will join us in this endeavour.

In terms of ongoing communication, we agreed that it would be worth trying this ‘blog’ to enable more consistent and regular communication. 

I will send details of this out (hopefully this weekend) to all the addressees which will explain what we are proposing and why, and that they can choose to subscribe to it by email (top right hand corner).  I will also invite them all to become an ‘author’, i.e. to be able to post messages. (This involves having a Google account, but it costs nothing and takes only a moment to set up if they’ve not got one already). 

I will also post some links from there to relevant documents such as the tenement act, etc etc.

I hope that everyone agrees that is a fair and reasonable way to progress.

Kind regards,

Catriona