Glasgow and Edinburgh are full of tenements with a roof that everyone owns and nobody has fixed. The technical problem is usually simple — slipped slates, a failed valley, a chimney head that needs repointing. The hard part is getting eight owners to agree who pays what, and getting them to agree before the top-floor flat is ruined.
Start with the title deeds
The deeds come first. Many tenement titles set out exactly how common repairs are shared — often equally between flats, sometimes by rateable value or floor area, and occasionally with the top-floor owner carrying more. If your deeds say something specific about the roof, that is what governs. Get a copy from Registers of Scotland if you do not have one.
Where the deeds are silent: the Tenement Management Scheme
The Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004 provides a default framework — the Tenement Management Scheme — that fills the gaps where the deeds say nothing or are unclear. In broad terms it treats the roof as a shared part, allows a majority of owners to make a scheme decision on necessary maintenance, and shares the cost equally between flats (with an adjustment where flat sizes differ substantially). It also lets any owner instruct emergency work needed to prevent damage.
The practical consequence people miss: you do not need unanimity. One reluctant neighbour cannot veto a necessary repair indefinitely if a majority agree to proceed and the process is followed properly. Serve notice properly, minute the decision, and keep records.
Why shared roof repairs stall
- Nobody can prove the repair is necessary, so owners who are not affected refuse to pay.
- Quotes differ wildly because each roofer surveyed a different problem.
- Absent landlords and empty flats are hard to contact and slow to respond.
- Owners cannot see the roof, so the whole discussion is based on one person's description.
- The cost of scaffolding on a four-storey tenement makes everyone hesitate.
Photographic evidence unblocks the argument
The single most effective thing in a stalled common repair is a set of clear overhead photographs with each defect circled, described and graded. It converts 'the roofer says it needs doing' into something every owner can see for themselves, it lets you send an identical scope to three roofers for genuinely comparable quotes, and it gives you a dated record if the matter ends up in front of a solicitor or the First-tier Tribunal.
It also protects owners against being sold more work than the building needs. A drone survey of a tenement roof, chimney heads, valleys and gutter runs can be flown from the street without scaffolding or roof access.
A practical order of events
- Get a dated photographic survey of the whole roof, including chimney heads and shared gutters.
- Circulate the report to every owner with a short summary of what is urgent and what can wait.
- Check the deeds for the cost-sharing rule; fall back to the Tenement Management Scheme if silent.
- Call a meeting, take a vote on a scheme decision, and minute it with the shares recorded.
- Send the same report to three roofers and compare like-for-like quotes.
- Check whether your local council offers a missing-shares or scheme-of-assistance route for non-paying owners.
AyeInspect surveys tenement and shared roofs across Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Stirling and Paisley. A commercial or multi-occupancy survey is £149 fixed, the report is back within 24 hours, and it belongs to you — share it with every owner and every roofer you want to quote.