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Your property factor: what are the register, the Code and the Written Statement?

By Synclair · Updated 8 October 2026

If you own a flat or a house on a managed development in Scotland, the company billing you is a property factor — and your position is different from an owner's in England. In Scotland, your factor must be on a public register, is bound by a statutory Code of Conduct, and must give you a Written Statement of Services; if a complaint to the factor does not resolve matters, a homeowner may apply to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland, Housing and Property Chamber. Start with the Written Statement: it is the document that says what your factor has agreed to do.

What are the register, the Code and the Written Statement?

In Scotland, property factors must be entered on a public register, and operating unregistered is a criminal offence.

In Scotland, factors are bound by a statutory Code of Conduct. It is mandatory, not voluntary.

In Scotland, a factor must give you a Written Statement of Services setting out what it does, what it charges and how it handles complaints.

Many owners never hear about any of the three.

Why start with the Written Statement?

It is the document that says what your factor has agreed to do. Most disputes about a factor are really disputes about whether it did what this document says, and most owners have never read theirs.

Ask for it if you do not have it. Then read the billing against it rather than against a feeling.

What should you look at on the account?

The factor's own fee, separately from what contractors were paid.

The float or sinking fund — money held rather than spent, and it should be accounted for as such.

Common repairs, and how your share of them was worked out. That share comes from your title deeds.

Anything called sundries, administration or other. Not categories: the place costs go when nobody has classified them.

If the account has grown and the covering note only said costs have risen, what to compare sets out which figures actually show why.

What figures are published for Scotland?

We know of no published figures for what private property factors charge in Scotland alone; The Property Institute's Service Charge Index 2026 covers professionally managed developments in England, Wales and Scotland together. The Scottish Housing Regulator reports only on social landlords that factor owners' homes. In 2025/26, 57% of the owners they factor were satisfied with the service — the fourth fall in a row and, for the third year running, the lowest level since the Scottish Social Housing Charter was introduced — and their average annual management fee rose 2.7% to £122.13, a management fee alone, not a whole account.

What happens if a complaint is not resolved?

In Scotland, 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.

The tribunal is designed to be used without a lawyer, and it can make an enforcement order.

Writing to your factor is the first step of that route. In most places putting a question in writing is sound practice. Here it is also how the process begins.

What the tribunal would decide, and what your own position is, depend on your development and your deeds — and on what your factor's own Written Statement commits it to.

Should you stop paying while you query a charge?

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.

What does Synclair do?

Synclair explains each line of your factoring account that your documents show, and compares it with published figures where they exist, such as The Property Institute's index, which covers England, Wales and Scotland. The Scottish Housing Regulator's figures cover social landlords only, and Synclair does not use them. Add earlier years and Synclair shows what changed between them. Anything you report about the development stays on record with its date, so next year you have a history rather than a memory. When you report something about the development, Synclair can draft a letter about it for you to check and send in your own name. In Scotland, a letter is the first step of the tribunal route only if it tells your factor why you consider it has failed to carry out its duties or to comply with the Code (Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011, section 17). If that route is what you have in mind, check that yours does before you send it.

Only owners pay for Synclair: never managers, insurers or suppliers.

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. There is one free period for each email address.

Analyse my statement

One document is enough to start: a budget, a charge demand, a statement or year-end accounts.

Sources

Figures checked 8 October 2026.