City of Edinburgh Council has released an app to support the maintenance of housing properties under co-ownership.
Named Novoville Shared Repairs, it has been developed with public services software company Novoville and is being made available to local authorities throughout Scotland.
It enables users to created a ‘virtual tenement’ and report a repair or maintenance issue to fellow proprietors. They can then use it to hire contractors who are members of Edinburgh’s Trusted Trader scheme, receiving quotes and making it possible for the shared owners to vote on which one to choose.
It also makes it possible to create a dedicated e-money account for a property with business payments company Modulr, which is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. This renders it unnecessary to create a traditional treasurer account with a bank or building society.
The council said this will help users carry out repairs in compliance with the Tenement Management Scheme of the Tenements Act (Scotland) 2004. It can also reduce the complexity and friction in the process, increasing transparency between all the participants.
Before the official launch nearly 50 stairs in Edinburgh have created a virtual tenement on the app.
Urgent repair needs
Edinburgh’s convenor of the finance and resources committee, Councillor Rob Munn, said: “A tremendous amount of work has gone into producing this app and it’s fantastic news that it’s now available for people to use.
“There are around 170,000 tenement flats and other shared buildings with multiple owners in Edinburgh and a lot of these buildings are still in need of urgent repair. This app will make it much easier for owners to get together and take responsibility for their buildings.”
Development of the app was supported by the Scottish Government’s CivTech Accelerator programme.
