Call for mediation service to resolve homeowner and factor disputes The Scottish Government has been urged to set up a mediation service for payment disputes between homeowners and property maintenance companies. Holyrood's Justice Committee made the plea in a report examining how effective legislation on property law has been. It said "some improvements" could be made to the Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003, which was part of a programme of property law reforms. MSPs are "concerned to hear" that some homeowners "feel they have little recourse where standards of services are not met." They suggested that "the provision of a mediation service in relation to disputed bills may be one way forward." Ministers are also urged to consider changing the law to make it easier for people to switch their property factors, as the "complexity of legislation may be creating barriers to switching." While two-thirds of residents should be required to change, this could be "difficult to achieve where, for example, data protection measures prevent information relating to owners and landlords being available." As a result the Government should "give careful consideration to whether the legislation could be amended to remove these types of barriers." About 50% of people living in privately owned flats have a property manager. Committee convener Christine Grahame said: "We believe there is still room for significant improvement in terms of achieving a better deal for homeowners who are seeking to switch or challenge the costs of property factor services." The Government is also urged to work to raise awareness among homeowners of their responsibility to maintain communal buildings or areas. Ms Grahame said the "lack of a communal repair culture in Scotland" needs to be addressed by all homeowners. "People on the ground floor need to realise they may be just as responsible for roof repairs as those on the top floor," she said. Local authorities have a role to play in overseeing the long-term maintenance of green spaces around new housing developments, she said. Homeowners should be aware when they purchase on a new development that they may also be liable for maintenance of green space, otherwise they might walk out their door and be knee-deep in overgrown grass. A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "The Code of Conduct prepared by the Scottish Government under the Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 makes it clear that factors must provide transparent information to homeowners. We note the suggestion of a new mediation service in relation to billing and will consider this when we respond to the report generally. If a homeowner now has concerns about a factor's bill, we would encourage the homeowner to ask how the level of the fee was decided.