Maintenance planning grant for a private historic building

Applications for this grant closed on Monday 29 January 2024.

Maintenance planning grant for a private historic building

What the maintenance planning grant for a private historic building is, who can apply for it, what you can and can't use it for, how much you could get, how to apply, how we assess your application and how we pay the funding.

On this page:

What the grant is

The grant can be used for a conservation accredited professional advisor to develop a maintenance plan for a privately owned historic property, built in 1945 or earlier, in one of eleven villages in Renfrewshire.

The scheme is designed to work with the grants for repairs to private historic buildings.

The closing date for applications was Monday 29 January 2024.

Who can apply for the grant

You can apply for the grant if you are the owner of an historic property, and your property is in or around the centre of:

Bishopton
Bridge of Weir
Brookfield
Crosslee
Elderslie
Houston
Howwood
Inchinnan
Kilbarchan
Langbank
Lochwinnoch

If you're a private individual or a joint owner, you can't apply for the grant if:

the property has previously received a maintenance planning grant
the property has previously received a grant to repair a private historic building
you have an unpaid or outstanding debt with the council.

If you're applying for a constituted voluntary or community organisation or a business, you can't apply for the grant if:

your organisation owns or rents 3 or more premises
you previously received a grant for repairs to a private historic building for this property
the property has previously received a maintenance planning grant
your organisation or business has an unpaid or outstanding debt with the council
your organisation or business's turnover was more than £1,000,000 in the previous tax year
your property is a place of worship.

What you can and can't use the grant for

You can only use the grant towards the costs, excluding VAT, of hiring a conservation accredited professional advisor to:

undertake an external survey of the property
prepare a fully illustrated building maintenance plan based on that survey which prioritises tasks according to urgency
list indicative costs for the tasks listed in the building maintenance plan
list indicative additional costs associated with different maintenance strategies.

You need to complete all four actions above to be awarded the grant.

You can't use the grant for:

an external survey which has already taken place
an internal survey.

Your building maintenance plan must:

be based on a current external survey
prioritise tasks according to urgency
be fully illustrated
include estimated costs for each piece of work
include any additional estimated costs for different types of maintenance strategies.

How much you could get

You could get up to 80% of eligible costs, excluding VAT, up to a maximum value of £1,500.

For example, if the costs for a maintenance plan was £1,250 before VAT, the maximum grant you could apply for is £1,000.

However, if you are awarded a grant, it may not be the full amount you applied for.

If you're applying for a shared ownership property, like a tenement building, the maximum grant will be £1,500 per building, not £1,500 per flat or individual residence.

How to apply for the grant

Applications for this grant closed on Monday 29 January 2024.

You'll need to include quotes and ownership and leaseholder information.

If you're a shared owner, you'll need to nominate one person to apply on behalf of all the shared owners.

You'll also need the contact details of each shared owner for the application including their name, address (floor or flat number in the building), phone number and email address.

The nominated person could be your factor or property manager.

Quotes

You will need to get a quote from 2 different conservation accredited professionals.

You can find lists of conservation accredited members on the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) website and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) website.

Where possible, get quotes from professionals based locally in Renfrewshire.

Ownership and leaseholder information

You must include evidence of who owns or leases the property in your application.

If you lease the property, you must also have a signed letter from the owner to do the proposed works.

Data protection

We need to collect certain information to process your grant application and to contact you about it.

See our privacy policy on how we use your data and rights.

How we assess your application

We'll assess your application based on the impact of the proposed maintenance plan.

This will include if the property is:

a listed building - you can check on the Historic Environment Scotland website
on the Buildings at Risk Register
in a village conservation area
prominently placed within a village
of historical significance to the local community.

It will also depend on:

if the property is occupied, when and how it's occupied
whether the property has a long-term sustainable function, such as a home or a business premises
how many owners there are of the property
evidence of the owner or leaseholder's commitment to repair and maintain the property.

This will determine if you'll get the grant and how much you'll get.

If we can't offer you a grant at this time, we'll let you know why.

We can keep your details on file and let you know if funding is still available, and you can apply again.

What happens next

We'll review all applications within 2 weeks of the closing date Monday 29 January 2024.

If we approve your application, we'll make you a provisional offer of a grant. We'll send you an 'offer of grant' letter to sign.

When we've received your signed letter, and you've met the conditions of the grant, we'll send you a 'permission to start' letter.

This includes a date for completing the maintenance plan, usually 3 months after the date of the letter. There may be scope to extend the schedule if necessary.

Conditions of the grant

You must make sure you have:

enough money to pay the conservation accredited professional advisor in full before they start any work
provided us with proof of the leaseholder or owner
provided us with proof of insurances.

We won't pay the grant until you have met all the conditions of the offer.

The maintenance plan must be the same as what was agreed when you were awarded the grant.

If the maintenance plan is not completed by the expiration date, we may withdraw the offer of the grant.

However, applying or receiving this grant does not affect an application for a grant to repair a private historic building

How we pay the grant

We will pay you the grant when you have sent us:

a copy of the maintenance plan
proof of payment by bank or building society transfer (BACS) to the conservation accredited professional advisor
a receipted invoice from the advisor.

You must send us the plan, proof of payment and receipts no later than one month after the completion date.

We will need copies of original receipts and statements. You can send us printed copies, PDFs or scans of receipts and bank statements. We don't accept screenshots or photos.

We'll make the payment to your nominated bank or building society account. We can't make interim payments or pay the grant in cash.

If you have an online bank statement, make sure this information is on every page:

the name of your bank
your name
your bank account number and sort code
the debit, credit, and balance columns
the name of the advisor and the amounts paid to them
the footer showing the webpage.

We aim to pay you within 28 days of receiving your maintenance plan, invoices and receipts.

More information and help with applying

Email us at regenerationandplace@renfrewshire.gov.uk if you:

need help with your application
need to send us additional details or documents
are sending us evidence of completion.

Apply online for a maintenance planning grant for a private historic building.