THOUSANDS of homeowners may have been overcharged by one of Scotland's largest councils for emergency repairs over the past 15 years, it has emerged.

Edinburgh City Council admitted some residents will have been handed inflated bills because of a system introduced in 1996 whereby homeowners were charged a minimum flat fee for a job, no matter the actual cost of the work.

The admission is the latest blow to the council's Property Conservation Department, which is already facing allegations it has overcharged hundreds of residents and businesses for unnecessary work totalling many millions of pounds.

Aware of the "negative public perceptions of the service" the city council has now slashed the flat fee in half. Previously residents in tenements with more than 20 individual properties had to pay £29.50 each, no matter the cost of the repairs.

Last year there were 2000 minimum charging cases in blocks of at least 20 flats, meaning that, since the policy was introduced in 1996, as many as 600,000 properties may have been subject to the charge.

Although the council claims only a relatively small proportion have been overcharged, one councillor said last night that no-one should have had to pay more than the true cost of repairs. The minimum charge, which was introduced to help fund the running of the 24-hour emergency, or statutory, repairs department and to offset bad debt, will now be reduced to £15 although 15% will still be added to every bill for administrative costs.

It is estimated that reducing the fee will cost the council £30,000 a year.

The minimum charge policy means that if the work to fix any repair totalled, for example £500, home owners in a block of 30 would each still have to pay £29.50. This would leave a final bill of £885, almost double the actual cost of the work. The 15% would be added to that as well.

The council said most of the cases involved drainage problems, and one source said often dozens of flats would be billed for a minor blockage elsewhere in the building that may not even have affected their property.

When it was first introduced in 1996 the charge was £20, but it has risen steadily since.

The news comes after The Herald revealed the council has a "working estimate" of how much people have been overcharged for repairs that were not needed or were overpriced. It stands at £13.5 million over the past five years alone, calculated at 10% of the value of work done. More than 700 people have lodged complaints about inflated bills.

Police and accountants are currently investigating alleged fraud in the department where 18 staff have been suspended and four dismissed.

Labour councillor Ewan Aitken said: "We should be charging people for what the job costs, no more no less. It is the only way to restore faith in the service."

Mark Turley, director of community service, said: "This [the charge] can have the effect of recovering more than the actual cost of the work when a large number of owners are involved. This is obviously a particularly sensitive issue in the current climate, and given current concerns about the service.

"In many cases the minimum charge represents a fair and equitable means of recovering costs for emergency work. However, in a smaller number of cases, usually relating to drainage work, costs can fall to be shared between a significant number of owners.

"This can result in the council appearing to be charging significantly in excess of the cost of the job."