Common repairs
Getting council help with a shared repair
Edinburgh shared repairs help comes mainly from the council's Edinburgh Shared Repairs Service, which gives private owners free advice on organising common repairs but offers no grants towards the work.
By the Pipes Up the Stair site team · how pages are checked · Updated
A slipped slate, a cracked rhone or a blocked soil pipe in the back court rarely belongs to one flat. Getting six or eight owners to agree and pay is the hard part, and that is where the City of Edinburgh Council's shared repairs team comes in.
It is advice and, in limited cases, action. It is not a fund that pays for the work.
What does the Edinburgh Shared Repairs Service do?
It helps private owners get a repair organised. The council says the service offers free advice and information to help owners organise repairs to shared or common areas, and it publishes a step-by-step tenement toolkit with templates and checklists. It is meant for private owners; the council directs its own tenants elsewhere.
Which parts of a tenement count as shared?
Usually the roof, the stair, the drains within the property boundary, downpipes and rhones, and the back green. The council lists those as examples and says details of your shared areas and how to work out your share should be in your title deeds, which you can get from Registers of Scotland. Pipes are covered in shared pipes and the Tenements Act.
Will the council pay for the repair?
No. Its page states plainly: we do not offer grants for repairs and maintenance. What it may do, in some cases, is cover an owner who won't or can't pay and recover the money later; see our page on missing shares.
How do owners reach a decision?
By the rules in the title deeds, or the Tenement Management Scheme where the deeds are silent. Under the scheme each flat has one vote and a decision needs more than half of every vote allocated, counting owners who stay away. Common property costs follow each flat's ownership share; for other scheme property each flat pays an equal part, and floor area takes over only where the biggest flat is over one and a half times the size of the smallest.
What if the owners simply can't agree?
The council may step in, but only sometimes. It says it will consider arranging repairs if it has the resources and the majority of owners agree for it to go ahead, and owners must show they have followed the tenement toolkit first.
What happens when something is dangerous?
The council can act first and bill afterwards. It says it will only serve a statutory notice where there is a risk to safety or health, usually after doing make-safe work, and that blocked or broken soil or waste pipework is among the commonest causes. Those notices bind every owner even where the deeds don't mention the part. The leak and burst pages, leak into the flat below and burst pipe first steps, deal with water in your own flat.
What does emergency work cost?
The council's published charges, from 1 April 2026, are £64.31 an hour for Emergency Officer time with a minimum of 5 hours, or £321.55, per standard job, plus a 10% admin fee. Costs are shared by all the properties under the roofline, from fire wall to fire wall. The service also says it no longer attends drainage problems in the evenings or at weekends, when owners should instruct a contractor themselves.
Can you find out about past notices on a building?
Yes, for a fee. The council keeps a register of addresses with statutory notices, and a notice enquiry costs £78, which is not refundable.
£64.31
Emergency Officer hourly rate from 1 April 2026
Source: City of Edinburgh Council
£321.55
minimum officer charge per standard job
Source: City of Edinburgh Council
| Item | Charge |
|---|---|
| Emergency Officer time | £64.31 an hour, 5-hour minimum of £321.55 |
| Emergency Manager time | £86 an hour |
| Surveyor time | £77.56 an hour |
| Call-out with no work, office hours | £178.66 including VAT |
| Call-out with no work, other times | £246.71 including VAT |
Asked on the stair
Does the shared repairs service help council tenants?
Not directly. The service is for private owners, and the council points its tenants to a different route for repairs.
Is there an app for organising a common repair?
The council says it supports the Novoville shared repairs app, and that fees apply only to repairs actually carried out.
Who pays if the council does emergency work on the roof?
Every property under the roofline, fire wall to fire wall, shares the cost, along with the admin fee.
Can one owner order urgent work without a vote?
Yes, in a real emergency: under the scheme, an owner may instruct work needed before a decision can be made, to prevent damage or for health or safety, and the cost is shared.
Where this comes from
- City of Edinburgh Council: Shared repairs and maintenance — free advice, tenement toolkit
- Council: Shared areas — examples, title deeds
- Council: No grants — no grants for repairs
- Council: When owners can't agree — council arranging repairs
- Council: Emergency repairs, notices — statutory notices, soil pipes
- Council: Emergency repairs, charges — rates from 1 April 2026, roofline
- Council: Emergency repairs — no evening or weekend drainage visits
- Council: Statutory notice enquiry — £78
- Tenement Management Scheme — votes, cost shares, emergency work
- Council: Shared repairs — Novoville app