Scottish property law

[denisegordon]

We live in a terraced street with houses on the street level and also on the first floor level. When we bought our ground floor house we knew we were jointly responsible for the roof with our upstairs neighbours.

The street is made up of units of 4, with 4 front doors and chinmeys at the start and end of each 4. There is a sort of division between each 4, I think there would be fire walls in the roof at the end of each 4. I am happy with paying for repairs on shared chimneys and the roof immediately above mine, but I object to paying for the roof diagonnally above me. On one side within the group of 4 maybe it still works as our roof, but on the other side it is beyond our group of 4 and is not above me so I don't think it affects our ground floor property.

How do I find out what we legally have to contribute to? Do we have to get a solcitor to check our deeds? How much is that likely to cost?

[Stu Dent]

_____________________________
Flat1 | Flat2 |
| |
_____________ |______________ |
Flat3 | Flat4 |
| |
_[]__________[]_|_[]__________[]__|

Are the properties divided like the above? If so, let's assume you own flat 3, and that it's the owner of flat 2 who believes you should contribute to the costs of fixing his roof.

The coomon law position is that the owner of the top flat owns the roof. If the title deeds were silent as to who paid for the repairs, then the common law position was that the owner of the roof was also responsible for it's repairs - the owner of flat 2. Your title deeds do not appear to be silent and you must share the costs of roof repairs - but what part of the roof does this obligation extend to?

If the properties are divided as I've sketched above, and the title deeds specify that you only share costs of repairs to the property directly above you (flat 1), then you have no obligation towards the owner of flat 2's roof. He should probably look towards the owner of flat 4 who lives beneath him.

However if the title deeds are silent on the specific issue of what part of the roof you are obliged to share the cost of repairs with, and just generally states that you should share the costs of roof repairs, then you have a problem.

The Tenements (Scotland) Act 2006 (that came into force on Nov 28, 2006), introduces a ' tenement management scheme'. The TMS sets out that all owners of the tenement share the costs of repairs to the roof where the title deeds are silent. In your case, all owners of the four properties would then be obliged to pay 25% each of the repair costs.

[Stu Dent]

Sorry, the diagram should have looked like a square window with two doors on each half of the block.

In additon to my answer check out this publication from the Scottish Executive, and Schedule 1 of the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2006.

If you want to check your title deeds (or any of your neighbours) contact Registers of Scotland. There is a modest fee to pay for the deeds, and you should be able to make sense of them yourself. If not then a solicitor can check them for you - but you'll be able to show him/her the deeds you've already purchased. Many solicitors offer 30 minutes of free advice - that should be enough time to solve your problem.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/1 1/2194749/47514#15
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/76169/ 0019425.pdf - (see paragraph 123).
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/scotland/ac ts2004/40011--b.htm#sch1
http://www.ros.gov.uk/customerservices/eservic esteam.html