Renfrewshire Council

What a missing share is

A missing share is where the majority of owners in a tenement or other flatted property agree to carry out common repairs or maintenance, but cannot take this work forward due to the minority of owners who are unwilling or unable to pay their share.

What the missing shares scheme is

We can help tenement flat owners in situations where one or more owners are not contributing to common repairs with a missing shares scheme.

Common repairs are any works that are needed to maintain the shared parts of a tenement style building.

We can consider paying a missing share if:

• the owners are responsible for repairs and maintenance work to shared areas of the building
• the majority of the owners have agreed to get the repairs or maintenance done
• the majority of owners have notified the non-paying owners that they are in the minority and their payment is needed in order for the works to take place
• it is unreasonable to ask an owner to pay
• if an owner cannot be found.

Payment of the missing shares will allow the other owners to carry on with the repair or maintenance to prevent more serious and expensive repairs in the future.

We also want to do this because it can help prevent Renfrewshire's tenement buildings falling into disrepair.

We'll then look to recover costs from the owners who have not paid for their missing share, plus any administration charges and interest.

What properties are eligible

The scheme is available to any fully privately owned tenement or flatted property.

If a property is owned by a landlord, it is the landlord's responsibility to pay their share of common repairs.

What repairs are eligible

We can pay a missing share on essential common repairs and maintenance for works which have not yet started, to keep the building wind and watertight such as:

• replacing a roof
• replacing a gutter and roofline
• essential stonework.

How much you could get

You could get from £500 up to £10,000 for each missing share.

We cannot pay a missing share for work that has already started or completed.

Before you apply

Before applying for a missing share payment, you'll need to:

• identify the work that needs to be carried out
• get quotes for the repair from a contractor - the majority of owners must then agree to the work and agree to pay their share
• open a maintenance account - this is a bank account to hold the funds which are used to pay for common repair or maintenance costs
• calculate the share of costs for each owner
• write to all owners saying they must pay their share into the maintenance account by a specific date - this is called a Section 50 notice.

If you have a factor, they will be able to help you with this process. A factor manages and maintains the common parts of a tenement or flatted property owned by more than one homeowner, for example the stairways, hallways and lifts in a tenement flat.

Otherwise, you can nominate an owner in the building to act as the co-ordinator.

See more information on how to carry out each step in the process in our Tenement repairs scheme for owners and property factors leaflet. [608KB]

How to apply for the missing shares scheme

If some owners are unwilling or unable to pay their share into the maintenance account by the date you have specified, you can apply for missing shares payment.

You can ask for an application form by emailing our owner services team at ownerservices.hps@renfrewshire.gov.uk.

You should complete and return this form to us by email along with the supporting information detailed on the application form.

After you've applied

After we receive your application, we will check to make sure:

• the repairs and maintenance are eligible and you have got competitive quotes for the work
• the Section 50 notice has been issued - if the conditions have been met, we will try and contact owners who have not paid their share into the maintenance account
• any owners with missing shares do not have existing debt with the council - we may not make any payments until this debt has been cleared.

If we decide to pay a missing share, we will then write to all owners before the work starts.

After the work is completed and we have received the final invoice, we will deposit the missing share costs into the maintenance account so the final bill can be paid.

If we decide not to pay a missing share, you can find more information and guidance on enforcing repairs on The Under One Roof website.

More information

For advice and more information about the scheme, contact our owner services team:

• phone 0300 300 0300
• email ownerservices.hps@renfrewshire.gov.uk