Estate Plans for the various areas for which we act as factor are available at the bottom of this page. The areas in green are the Open Space Maintenance grass areas.

The titles to all dwellings in the estates that have been purchased and are now owned by an owner, together with the remaining housing stock owned by Abertay Housing Association Limited, are subject to what is known as a community burden (title condition) which obliges the owner of each dwelling to pay an equal share of the cost of maintaining the open space and other estate common parts. So, if there are 100 dwellings in an Estate, the burden on each dwelling is 1/100th of the total.

Prior to November 2004 this title condition was imposed in the title deed of Owners who purchased under the right to buy at time of purchase. Then in November 2004, to take account of a change in the law, Abertay Housing Association Limited recorded a Deed of Conditions to apply the same title condition to all housing stock owned by us. As a result, any purchase from Abertay under right to buy after November 2004 was subject to the title condition in the 2004 Deed of Conditions.

The title to all dwellings also includes provision for there to be a manager or factor to manage the maintenance of the open space areas. Abertay Housing Association has been the factor since acquiring the housing stock from Scottish Homes in 1997.

Following the introduction of the Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011, and the Property Factors’ Code of Conduct, Abertay issues a Statement of Factoring Services to Owners providing details of the services we provide, the charges made for providing the services and how information on the costs incurred will be made available to Owners by way of a breakdown of charges.

The title condition applies to all dwellings in the relevant community of dwellings (or housing scheme) responsible for open space maintenance. When the tenant’s right to buy legislation was introduced in 1980 and tenants started purchasing their dwellings the former landlord (mainly public sector bodies like the local authority and SSHA) was left owning areas of open space and other facilities within the housing scheme that were not adopted for maintenance by the local authority. To relieve the former landlord from responsibility for the cost of maintenance of these areas, which all residents benefited from, a share of the cost of maintenance was allocated to each dwelling at point of sale as a title condition. This practice has continued since then with all owners of dwellings in a community (or housing scheme) being responsible for an equal share of the maintenance costs.

Deeds of Conditions legally allow for consultancy and admin fees to be added to the invoices for the works issued by the Association.

The Open Space Maintenance Contract is tendered via Public Contracts Scotland every 5 or so years and we have had various contractors working on behalf of the Association since 1997. Therefore, the contractors do not have any connection to Abertay Housing Association.

Who looks after what?

Most estates have a combination of adopted and unadopted roads, footpaths and communal land. Adopted areas are the responsibility of your local authority and are paid for out of Council Tax. Unadopted areas are maintained by Abertay and you contribute to their maintenance through our system of shared charges.

Plans detailing the areas maintained by Abertay Housing Association in your community can be accessed by clicking on the area below.

Timing of works

Some types of maintenance work are seasonal, so unless they present a health and safety risk, we will plan to carry out the work at the most appropriate time of year. You may therefore find that work you have reported is not carried out for some time.

From 1 April 2023, T&N Gilmartin will carry out open space maintenance work in Fintry and Landscape Logistics will undertake work on estates outwith Fintry. Angus Council will continue to carry out work at New Road, Forfar.

Details of the Winter Tree Maintenance Works for 2025/26 are here. The Association gives consideration to tree works based on priority, whilst giving consideration to residents’ wishes to ensure that costs are generally in line with previous years. To report works for future programmes, please contact us.

List of plans: