Your factoring fees went up. What to compare.
A larger account arrived with a sentence about rising costs. Finding the real explanation means reading a different document from the one asking you for money.
Compare the years, not the account to the note
Put last year's account beside this year's. Most apparent rises turn out to be one of three things: a category that split in two, two that merged into one, or a cost that moved between periods. Only what survives those is a real increase.
The lines worth a question
The factor's management fee, stated apart from contractor costs. Two different things, frequently shown as one.
Common repairs, and whether your share was calculated as your title deeds provide.
Insurance, if the factor arranges it — one line, easily compared.
The float. Money held is not money spent, and the two should not blur.
One thing worth knowing before you ask
In Scotland, your factor is on a public register, is bound by a statutory Code of Conduct, and must give you a Written Statement of Services.
Complaints go to the factor first. If that does not resolve matters, a homeowner may apply to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland, Housing and Property Chamber, which is designed to be used without a lawyer.
So writing to your factor is not only sound practice. It is the first step of that route.
What this means if you stop paying
Do not stop paying while you query a charge.
Questioning whether a charge is fair and withholding payment are two different things. A property factor can pursue unpaid charges as a debt, and can register that debt against your title — and the sums involved do not have to be large. Keep paying, and put your questions in writing.
Where Synclair comes in
Synclair sets the years side by side: what each line covers, what changed between them, and how your charges sit against published figures rather than against a feeling.
One document is enough to start. It is free for three months, and the three months begin when your first analysis is ready — not when you sign up.
Check your own statement →