The First Minister is being asked to intervene to protect homeowners trapped in land management agreements with a company' said to be failing to provide a proper service.

The First Minister is being asked to intervene to protect homeowners trapped in land management agreements with a company' said to be failing to provide a proper service The Herald revealed yesterday how police forces across Scotland are to be asked to investigate Greenbelt which is alleged to be taking fees from homeowners for work it is not carrying out properly. Dossiers will be handed in to several forces. More homeowners came forward yesterday to outline their concerns.

Greenbelt, which has its headquarters in Glasgow and whose chairman is Tony Burton, a director of consumer association Which?, is paid millions every year by houseowners for everything from cutting grass to maintaining flood prevention systems.

More than 70 estates have formed an action group as they feel Greenbelt's work does not match the fees. Many are withholding their money but feel trapped as the payments are written into their title deeds and the company often owns the open spaces.

This makes it difficult to remove Greenbelt and when homeowners refuse to pay, they threatened legal action.

Barrie Haycock, who is campaigning against Greenbelt's "monopoly" and poor service on his estate at Milton of Leys near Inverness, is chairman of Planning Watch UK, formed to highlight concerns over planning issues.

He has written to the First Minister and said: "The Scottish Government continues to fail to grasp the basic issue of land being transferred into the ownership of the Greenbelt Group for which they charge third-party owners maintenance charges. This is the equivalent of Alex Salmond charging Fergus Ewing for maintaining his garden.

"Governments continue to fail to provide consumer protection to property purchasers. Local councils who have signed off these ridiculous property-management arrangements as part of the developer's planning applications show no interest in resolving the issues, so simply put, the property owner has no effective redress under UK and Scottish legislation."

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "We are aware of this matter and understand it is being dealt with by the appropriate authorities, including the police. The Minister for Community Safety has raised concerns with the company, and we would urge homeowners to speak to the relevant authorities who are involved."

An SNP councillor, so fed up with complaints about Greenbelt's failure to cut the grass in Newmachar in Aberdeenshire, spent seven hours doing it himself on Monday.

Fergie Hood, councillor for East Garioch, did so in a bid to "embarrass" Greenbelt. Mr Hood said: "I was disgusted by the lack of action. The company blame contractors."

Greenbelt eventually turned up yesterday.

Angry residents from several estates across Scotland contacted The Herald.

A resident from Bishopton, Renfrewshire where Greenbelt maintain the common ground said: "The work is very shoddy and when I phoned them to try to get an answer as to why it was not being properly done, it took numerous phone calls. Eventually I spoke to a very cheeky gentleman who informed me that as it was the property of the Greenbelt I had no say in the way the work for which I was paying was being done."