{"id":29792,"date":"2021-04-23T17:44:05","date_gmt":"2021-04-23T16:44:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsblogsnew.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=29792"},"modified":"2021-04-23T17:44:05","modified_gmt":"2021-04-23T16:44:05","slug":"edinburghs-new-app-will-make-repairing-shared-properties-easier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=29792","title":{"rendered":"Edinburgh\u2019s new app will make repairing shared properties easier"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"edinburgh<\/a>City of Edinburgh Council and Novoville have announced the launch of the shared repairs app dedicated to improving the condition of property in co-ownership in Scotland.<\/h3>\n
image: for illustration purposes only – Fiona Newton<\/em><\/h6>\n

<\/p>\n

\u2026lengthy and onerous common repairs process can be managed from the app\u2026<\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n

\u2026 nearly 50 stairs in Edinburgh have already created their \u2018virtual tenement\u2019 in-app\u2026<\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n

The City of Edinburgh Council writes:<\/p>\n

The City of Edinburgh Council and its partner\u00a0Novoville<\/a>\u00a0are proud to announce the release of Novoville Shared Repairs, a new app dedicated to improving the condition of property in co-ownership in Edinburgh, and all of Scotland.<\/p>\n

Born out of the Scottish Government\u2019s CivTech Accelerator programme, Novoville’s Shared Repairs helps private homeowners carry out the maintenance and repairs of shared (common) areas in their tenement, or housing block. The often lengthy and onerous common repairs process can be managed from the app from start to finish.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0free Novoville app<\/a>, which is available on\u00a0Google Play<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0App Store<\/a>, allows users to create their \u2018virtual tenement\u2019 and report a repair or maintenance issue to fellow proprietors. Then, app users can hire contractors that are members of Edinburgh\u2019s Trusted Trader scheme. Receiving quotes and recording of votes is also fully supported.<\/p>\n

Steve Richardson, Director of Scotland Trusted Trader, said:<\/p>\n

“This is going to be a massive benefit for those looking to organise shared repairs, backed up with the reassurance that Trading Standards vetted members are being used from Edinburgh Trusted Trader.”<\/p>\n

In order to further expedite the payment process and simplify the process, Novoville Shared Repairs allows app users to create a dedicated e-money account for their tenement with FCA-regulated partner, Modulr. It is no longer necessary to create a traditional treasurer account with a bank or building society in order to gather funds and pay them out to the chosen contractor.<\/p>\n

The app is designed to help users carry out repairs in compliance with the Tenement Management Scheme of the Tenements Act (Scotland) 2004. Furthermore, it speeds up decision-making, eliminates much of the complexity and friction associated with coming to an agreement amongst owners, and increases transparency between all participants. Before the official launch, nearly 50 stairs in Edinburgh have already created their \u2018virtual tenement\u2019 in-app through word-of-mouth alone.<\/p>\n

Commenting on the app\u2019s release, Fotis Talantzis, CEO of Novoville said:<\/p>\n

“We are proud to support one of the UK\u2019s greatest architectural assets, the built environment in Edinburgh, with our Shared Repairs app. The CivTech programme where it all started was a tremendous experience, and we are very happy that the City of Edinburgh Council decided to continue to support and fund the project afterwards. We have got tons of ideas to take it from there and we\u2019re looking forward to continuing to work with Edinburgh, for Edinburgh and Scotland at large.”<\/p>\n

Cllr Rob Munn, Convener of the Finance and Resources Committee at the City of Edinburgh Council, said:<\/p>\n

“A tremendous amount of work has gone into producing this app and it\u2019s fantastic news that it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019d like to thank our staff for recognising the need for this product and rising to the challenge using the Civtech Challenge to produce this innovative app with Novoville.”<\/p>\n

Joan Griffiths, Vice Convener of the Finance and Resources Committee at the City of Edinburgh Council, said:<\/p>\n

“As a city we\u2019re already leading the way in this area and our Shared Repairs Team is doing a fantastic job supporting people who live in shared buildings helping them through the steps they need to take to carry out repairs to their properties properly.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re a member of the Parliamentary Working Group looking at the issue nationally and I\u2019m sure there will be interest in the app outside Edinburg as well.”<\/p>\n

Read more….<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

City of Edinburgh Council and Novoville have announced the launch of the shared repairs app dedicated to improving the condition of property in co-ownership in Scotland. image: for illustration purposes only – Fiona Newton<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sector-newsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29792"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29793,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29792\/revisions\/29793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}