CRITICS are to challenge a plan to bring back a controversial compulsory housing repairs scheme that hit Scotland's richest property market and left thousands of homeowners with inflated and inaccurate bills.
Under the proposals, homeowners and firms in Edinburgh are to be charged almost twice as much as they were previously for essential repairs to shared properties from next year.
Edinburgh City Council is to bring back the controversial scheme for homeowners who cannot agree on needed repairs and will charge people a quarter of the price of their repair extra.
The original scheme was earlier scrapped after a police corruption investigation.
The city's Conservative group said it has concerns over the plans and believes a new system should be considered to avoid making the same mistakes as before.
Although no criminality was found after the police probe into the property conservation department, it was disbanded, a number of staff were sacked and millions of pounds of debt have been left unrecovered.
Under the previous scheme that was mired in claims of cronyism and overbilling, the council paid contractors to carry out essential and emergency repairs and claimed back the cash from homeowners and firms. It then charged an extra 15 per cent of the bill in administration fees,
The planned charge is now 26 per cent, although that is discounted by five per cent if people pay early.
Cameron Rose, Conservative group leader, said the problem had hit the city's property market, with thousands of contested cases still outstanding.
He added: "I am concerned that this proposal will cost £1 million a year and that to provide this emergency service is going to be a risk and a cost to the public."
Alasdair Rankin, Edinburgh finance convener, said there is a cost risk in the re-introduction of the scheme. The previous system has left a painful legacy for the taxpayer and homeowners.
Of the £23m billed, £14.4m has been recovered so far, although up to £2.5m is being written off. The council said people have also still to be billed for £15m worth of work that has been contested..
Mr Rankin said: "We are acutely aware of the issues faced by the former Property Conservation Service and the wishes of Edinburgh residents to see the council play a role in protecting our historic capital city.
"The design set out in this blueprint pays particular attention to the lessons learned and to the need for a culture-change on the part of homeowners.
"Essentially, we are aiming to balance the council's commitment to protect the fabric of the city with the need to encourage owners to take responsibility for repairs to their own homes.
"In the longer term, we believe that national legislation may be required to ensure that owners of shared properties across the country are supported in taking a more proactive and planned approach to maintaining and managing their buildings and it is our intention to continue the dialogue we have already started with Scottish Ministers."
Subject to approval next week, and subsequently in February as part of the council's budget process, implementation of the new service would take around six months, becoming operational early next year.
Although the police fraud squad probe found no criminality, officers discovered a significant number of staff members from the now-disbanded property conservation department had accepted hospitality from contractors. This included tickets for football matches, horse-racing meetings and rounds of golf.
The council said it expects around 200 cases a year where it will have to move in to make repairs, and bill owners.
A detailed service blueprint, costed business plan and implementation plan will be presented to the councillors at the Finance and Resources Committee next Thursday.
The council said it will only undertake emergency and essential repairs as a last resort.
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