Shared pipes and the Tenements (Scotland) Act

Read your title deeds before anything else. The Act steps in where they say nothing, and it gives every flat on the stair a vote, a share of the bill and a way to act quickly in an emergency.

For a cracked shared pipe in Tollcross or Dalry, that means the owners decide together.

Do the title deeds or the Act come first?

The deeds come first. Section 1 applies the Act's boundary rules only except in so far as the title sets different ones. Section 4 does the same for the Tenement Management Scheme, rule by rule: Rule 2 on decisions, for example, applies unless a tenement burden provides its own procedure. The council adds that shared areas and cost shares should be in your deeds, which owners can get from Registers of Scotland.

Which pipes count as common property?

Any pipe serving two or more flats. Section 3(4) lists parts such as a rhone, pipe, flue, conduit, cable, tank or chimney stack. If one of those wholly serves one flat, it belongs to that flat. If it serves two or more, each flat it serves gets a right of common property in it. The close, meaning the shared passage, stairs and landings, is common property of the flats it gives access to.

So the branch from the shared supply pipe to your kitchen is yours, while the stretch that feeds every flat on the stair belongs to all of you.

What is "scheme property"?

It is everything the scheme makes owners maintain together. Rule 1.2 of the Tenement Management Scheme includes any common property, any part the title burdens make two or more owners maintain, and by default the ground, foundations, external walls, roof, gable walls and load-bearing walls. Rule 1.3 takes out doors, windows and vents serving one flat, and any chimney stack or flue. Rule 1.5 says "maintenance" includes repairs, replacement, insulation, cleaning and painting.

How do owners decide on a repair?

By majority. Under Rule 2, each flat has one vote, and a scheme decision is made by a majority of all the votes allocated, not just the votes of owners who turn up. An owner calling a meeting must give the others at least 48 hours' notice. Rule 3.1 lets owners decide to carry out maintenance, arrange an inspection, appoint a manager and arrange common insurance.

Owners can also require each owner to pay a deposit towards an estimated cost, giving each of them 28 days or more. Any deposit above £100, or over £200 in total within 12 months, needs written notice and must go into a maintenance account.

How is the bill split?

It depends on the part. Under Rule 4.2, costs for common property are shared by each owner's share of it. Costs for other scheme property are split equally, unless the largest flat is more than one and a half times the floor area of the smallest, in which case they go by floor area. Under Rule 5, if one share can't be recovered, the other owners pay it and can recover it later, unless the local authority has paid it under section 4A. Edinburgh's version of that is covered in missing shares.

Can an owner overturn a decision?

Sometimes. An owner, or owners, who did not vote for a maintenance decision and would pay at least 75% of its costs can annul it within 21 days.

What counts as emergency work?

Work that cannot wait for a vote. Rule 7.1 says any owner may instruct or carry out emergency work, and Rule 7.3 defines it as work to scheme property needed, before a decision can be got, to prevent damage or in the interests of health or safety. All owners then share the cost.

Rule	What it covers
Rule 1	What counts as scheme property and maintenance
Rule 2	One vote per flat; majority of all votes; 48 hours' notice
Rule 3	What owners can decide, including deposits
Rule 4	How costs are shared
Rule 5	What happens when a share can't be recovered
Rule 7	Emergency work by any owner

Asked on the stair

Does the top-floor flat have to pay for the roof alone?

The Act says a top flat extends to the roof over it, but Rule 1.2 makes the roof scheme property by default, so its maintenance is normally shared. Your deeds can say otherwise.

Can the council step in if owners can't agree?

It may. The council says it will consider arranging essential repairs if it has the resources and most owners agree to it going ahead, and owners must show they followed its tenement toolkit. See council help with shared repairs.

Is a cracked soil stack common property?

If it carries waste from two or more flats, section 3(4) gives each of those flats a share in it, subject to the deeds. The council lists blocked or broken soil pipework among the most common reasons it steps in.

Does the scheme cover improvements?

Not as "maintenance". Rule 1.5 leaves out demolition, alteration and improvement unless reasonably incidental to maintenance.

Where this comes from

1. Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004, section 1 — legislation.gov.uk: deeds come first
2. Section 3 — legislation.gov.uk: pipes as common property
3. Section 4 — legislation.gov.uk: when the scheme applies
4. Section 4A — legislation.gov.uk: local authority paying a share
5. Schedule 1, Tenement Management Scheme — legislation.gov.uk: votes, notice, costs, emergency work
6. Section 9 — legislation.gov.uk: support and shelter
7. Shared repairs and maintenance — City of Edinburgh Council: deeds and shared areas