Find out what your title deeds actually say — in plain English.

What's included

Everything your deeds say, explained clearly

Why this matters

Your deeds hold answers your factor won't give you

• Your factor profits from you not understanding your deeds.

  The less you know, the more you depend on them — and the more they can charge. Real residents put it plainly: "everything they say is just to try and keep you paying them." When you can read your own deeds, that power shifts back to you.

• They'll use your confusion against you.

  When one building moved to change factor, residents were told they couldn't proceed "without meeting with them." It wasn't true — it was, in one resident's words, "scare tactics." If you don't know what your deeds actually permit, you can't tell a real rule from a bluff. MyClose tells you exactly where you stand.

• Know your rights before your next dispute, repair, or vote.

  The worst time to learn how your building makes decisions is in the middle of a crisis. Residents spent weeks collecting signatures door-to-door, unsure whether they needed "26 or 27." Know your voting thresholds, your repair shares, and your meeting rules in advance — not when the pressure's already on.

• There's money hidden in the detail.

  One building discovered their factor was quietly adding a 25–33% commission to the buildings insurance alone. Others found themselves £700+ in credit and nearly lost it. Your deeds and your charges hold these answers — most owners never go looking, because they don't know where to look.

• Your deeds outlast every factor.

  You might change factor — this building did, after a 16-month campaign — and find the new one no better: "I'm honestly starting to regret changing." The factor changes; your deeds don't. Understanding them is the one thing that actually protects you, whoever's sending the invoices.

• One person shouldn't have to carry the whole building.

  If you're the one who deals with all of this, you know the toll. "We need a break 😰" — a real message from a real volunteer. MyClose gives you the answers you'd otherwise spend unpaid hours digging for, so it stops being yours alone to figure out.

• A solicitor charges £200/hour. This is £25, once.

  And often £25 of clarity is all you need — it tells you whether you even have a problem worth taking to a solicitor. You get the same plain-English answer without the meter running.

Guides

Plain-English answers for Scottish flat owners

Step-by-step guides on factor changes, voting rules, and what your deeds actually say — free to read, written for real buildings.

• 5 key sections

  What your title deeds actually tell you

  What you own, what you owe, how decisions get made, and what's buried in conveyancing language most owners never read.

  Read guide →

• 6 steps

  How to change your factor in Scotland

  The real order of operations — from reading your deeds to serving notice and recovering your float. Plus the warning most buildings learn too late.

  Read guide →

• Voting rules

  How many owners need to agree to switch factor

  Usually more than half the flats — one vote each. But your deeds may set a higher bar, and silence doesn't count as agreement.

  Read guide →

• 7 areas to check

  Factor charges: what to look for

  Insurance commission, float balances, contractor mark-ups, and the charges buried in the small print — not just the monthly management fee.

  Read guide →

• Modern vs traditional

  Deed of Conditions vs old tenement deeds

  Modern developments use one master deed; Victorian tenements scatter rules across split-off writs. Why it changes repairs, voting, and factor rules.

  Read guide →

This is information, not legal advice. Verify with a solicitor for your specific situation.

MyClose

Frequently Asked Questions

What do my title deeds actually tell me?

They define what you own, what you share with neighbours (the roof, the close, the back court), what you're responsible for paying toward and in what share, and crucially how decisions get made in your building — including whether you need a majority or a formal meeting to act. Most owners have never read theirs.

In one real Glasgow tenement, residents trying to act asked the group "does anyone have an extract of that section of the title deeds?" — and nobody did. MyClose reads your deeds and tells you, in plain English.

I live in a modern flat or new build, not an old tenement. Does this still apply to me?

Yes — arguably even more so. Modern developments usually come with their own detailed Deed of Conditions: a rulebook written by the developer that sets out how your building is run, who can be appointed as factor, how decisions and votes work, what you pay into a sinking or maintenance fund, and what you can and can't do with your flat.

These deeds are often longer and more complex than an old tenement's — and just as rarely read. One real Glasgow development we looked at runs to 29 pages: nine burdens, eighteen rules, and a tangle of servitudes. The owners there spent sixteen months arguing over how to change their factor — when the answer was in their own deed the whole time.

MyClose reads whatever governs your building — your Deed of Conditions, the Tenement Management Scheme where it applies, and the underlying Scottish property law — and tells you, in plain English, exactly where you stand. Whether your block is from 1890 or 2020, the rules that bind you are in your deeds. We find them.

Can my factor really be changed, or do I have to meet with them first?

This is one of the most common points of confusion — and factors exploit it. In one building a resident asked, "Does the email mean it is illegal to have [the factor] changed without meeting with them?" Another replied bluntly: "It's scare tactics."

Whether you need a meeting, a simple majority, or something else is set out in your title deeds and the Tenement Management Scheme. MyClose tells you exactly what your building requires, so nobody can frighten you with a process that doesn't apply.

(Information, not legal advice — verify with a solicitor for your specific situation.)

How many owners need to agree to make a decision?

It depends on your deeds, often a simple majority, one vote per flat, but your building may differ. Real residents genuinely didn't know: "Do we need 26 or 27?" They collected signatures door-to-door for weeks, unsure of the target.

MyClose tells you the threshold for your building before you start, so you're not guessing.

Why is my factor so expensive — and where does the money go?

Often in places you can't see. In one building, residents discovered their factor was adding a 25–33% commission on the buildings insurance alone. As one put it: "if you ignore insurance [the factor] is considerably cheaper." Another asked why a discount only appeared once they threatened to leave — "is that not something they should have negotiated anyway?"

Understanding your deeds and your charges is the first step to knowing whether you're getting value.

Is switching factor really worth it?

A note from Paul Duddy, Director of MyClose:

"In my experience, yes, twice over. Two different buildings, roughly £1,000 per flat per year saved each time, around 50% off. Both times, the hardest part was finding out how to do it and what to do, what our deeds allowed, how many owners we needed, and what order to do things in. Your numbers will depend on your building and your current charges, but the pattern is common: factors rely on owners never checking. The £25 summary is the first step: it tells you exactly what your building requires before you commit to anything."

I think I'm in credit with my factor — can I get that money back?

Quite possibly, and many owners don't realise it. In one building, residents found they were £700 and £768 in credit — money they'd have lost if they hadn't asked. One warned the others: the factor "might just 'accidentally' not send it to you."

If you're changing factor or reviewing your account, knowing where you stand matters. (A dedicated credit-recovery guide is coming soon.)

Does my factor earn interest on the money they hold for my flat?

Your deeds say any money your factor holds is kept in trust for you — it's your money, not theirs — and you're entitled to a full, vouched statement of account once a year.

What the deeds don't say is what happens to any interest that money earns. Many factors hold all owners' floats together in a pooled account, and historically some have kept the interest themselves. Whether that's allowed depends on your factor's written statement of services and the terms you agreed — not on your title deeds.

So if your float is significant, it's worth asking your factor in writing: is our money held in an interest-bearing account, and who receives the interest? Your right to an annual statement of account is the lever to get a straight answer.

This is information, not legal advice. Verify with a solicitor for your specific situation.

My building has a cladding/EWS1 problem and I'm confused — can you help?

The cladding situation is, in residents' own words, "a bit of a minefield now since Grenfell." EWS1 forms are often charged "on a flat-by-flat basis, which is crazy," and surveys one owner pays for rarely reach the next. Worse, factors sometimes hold surveys owners never see.

MyClose is building a shared document vault so your building's reports are findable by everyone who needs them — not bought again and again. (Coming soon.)

I've just joined my building's group and have no idea what's happened — can I catch up?

This is a real problem. When one resident lost their phone, they messaged: "I can't see any previous messages." Buildings rely on WhatsApp groups that vanish when a phone is lost or a person leaves — the only record of years of decisions, gone.

MyClose is building a way to import and preserve your building's history so newcomers can get up to speed instantly. (Coming soon.)

I'm the only one in my building who deals with all this. Is this for me?

Yes — you're exactly who we built it for. Nearly every building has one or two people carrying everything. In one group the lead volunteer simply wrote: "We need a break 😰." Another reflected that even paying a factor, "I have taken too much time and energy to tell them what they should do."

MyClose gives you the answers and documents you'd otherwise spend hours chasing, so the burden stops being yours alone.

Is this legal advice?

No. MyClose gives you clear, plain-English information based on your title deeds and Scottish property law, so you can understand your position and make informed decisions. It is not a substitute for a solicitor.

Every summary carries the same note: this is information, not legal advice — verify with a solicitor for your specific situation. The difference is that £25 of information often tells you whether you even need the £200/hour solicitor.

How does it work and how much does it cost?

Send us your title deeds (or just your address), our AI reads them against Scottish property law, and you get a plain-English summary in minutes. £25 — once. Compare that to a solicitor at around £200 an hour for the same explanation.

Is my data safe?

Your deeds and contact details are used only to produce your summary. We don't sell your data to third parties. Full privacy and data-handling details will be published before launch.