A change of factor is usually driven by a loss of confidence in how the building is being managed: invoices that cannot be explained, repairs that drift, emails that vanish. If that is where your development is, the good news is that owners in Scotland have a clear legal right to change factor, and the process is more structured than most people fear. This guide walks through it step by step.
One honest note first: switching takes coordination. It is not effortless, and anyone who tells you it is has something to sell. But a well-managed transition is usually far less disruptive than remaining in an arrangement that is not serving owners, and much of the work belongs to the incoming factor, not to you.
Switch, change, remove: three different questions
People search for this in different words, and the words matter, because they describe three different decisions.
Switching or changing factor means replacing one factor with another. This is what most owners mean, and it is what this guide covers step by step.
Removing a factor, or getting rid of one, can mean the same thing, or it can mean ending factoring altogether and running the building yourselves. That is a bigger decision with its own section further down.
Complaining is not switching. If the problem is one failing, a formal complaint under the factor’s own procedure, and if needed an application to the Housing and Property Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland, may fix it without the disruption of a change. Switching is for when confidence has gone, not when one repair has gone wrong.
Step 1: Be clear about why you are switching
Before organising neighbours, write down what is actually wrong: unexplained charges, slow repairs, poor communication, no maintenance planning. This list does three jobs. It tests whether the problems are fixable with your current factor (sometimes a formal complaint resolves matters faster than a switch). It becomes your specification for choosing a replacement. And it gives hesitant neighbours something concrete to react to, rather than a vague sense of grievance.
The question for the stair is not whether change is inconvenient. It is whether the status quo is serving owners properly.
Step 2: Read your title deeds
Your deeds are the rulebook for how a factor is appointed and removed. Look for (or ask a solicitor or your prospective new factor to look for):
- any clause naming a factor or giving someone the right to appoint one
- the voting threshold for owner decisions
- any notice period or procedure for ending the appointment
Where the deeds are silent on decision-making, the Tenement Management Scheme under the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004 applies, and appointing or dismissing a factor is a scheme decision that owners can make by simple majority: more than half of the flats.
Newer developments often have a factor written into the deeds by the developer, historically with high thresholds to remove them. The law has moved here: the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 lowered the threshold for owners in new-build developments with such arrangements to a simple majority. Developer-appointed no longer means locked in.
Your current factor's Written Statement of Services must also state the arrangements for ending the appointment, including any notice period. Read it alongside the deeds.
Step 3: Gauge and gather support
You need a majority, so count. Speak to neighbours individually before any group meeting; people say things one-to-one that they will not say in a stairwell. Useful materials at this stage: your written list of issues, a summary of what the deeds require, and, once you have them, proposals from prospective factors. Absent owners and landlords count too, so track down contact details early; they often hold the deciding votes and they respond to clear financial reasoning.
Step 4: Choose the replacement before you serve notice
Do not create a gap. The sequence that protects the building is: select the new factor, then terminate the old one, with a handover period between. When comparing factors, ask each prospective factor:
- What exactly does the management fee include, and what is charged separately? (Our guide to understanding factor fees gives you the checklist.)
- Do you take commission on insurance?
- What does your handover process look like, and what do you need from the outgoing factor?
- What happens to our float and any sinking fund? (See sinking funds and floats.)
- How will you communicate with owners, and how fast do you respond?
- Are you registered on the Scottish Property Factor Register? (Every legitimate factor is; operating unregistered is a criminal offence.)
Be wary of any factor that promises specific savings before reviewing your development properly. Credible savings come after review, not before.
Step 5: Make the decision properly and document it
However informal your stair's habits, make this decision formally. Give every owner notice of the vote (the deeds or the Tenement Management Scheme set the mechanics), record who voted and how, and minute the outcome. A properly documented scheme decision binds all owners, including those who voted against or did not respond, and it is your answer if the outgoing factor questions the instruction. Then notify the outgoing factor in writing, in line with the notice requirements in the deeds and the Written Statement of Services.
Step 6: The handover
Between notice and the start date, the two factors exchange the development's records and money. A competent incoming factor drives this, chasing:
- title and apportionment information, plans, and any WSS history
- financial records: owner balances, arrears, the float, any sinking fund balance
- contracts and warranties: cleaning, gardening, lifts, door entry, insurance
- compliance records: fire risk assessments, lift examinations, service histories
- live issues: open repairs, insurance claims, disputes
The Property Factor Code of Conduct sets expectations on factors around termination and the return of funds and documents. In practice, handovers vary with the professionalism of the outgoing factor. Expect some friction: missing records, slow responses, legacy issues surfacing late. A good incoming factor logs what is missing, chases it formally, and keeps owners informed rather than pretending all is smooth.
Two money points to watch. Your float with the outgoing factor should be accounted for and returned or transferred, net of legitimate final charges. And any sinking fund is the owners' money; it should transfer to the new arrangement intact, with a closing statement.
Step 7: The first months with a new factor
Expect a sequence, not instant transformation: stabilise, review, improve. First the basics move across without interruption: insurance, essential services, live repairs. Then the new factor reviews contracts, condition, and finances properly. Only then do the improvements land: benchmarked contracts, a maintenance plan, clearer invoicing. Owners who expect this sequence are consistently happier than owners promised magic by a certain date.
A good incoming factor will also document the building's condition at the start, so there is a clear baseline of what was inherited versus what arises later. Ask whether that is part of the onboarding.
Can you remove a factor without appointing another?
Sometimes. Whether your building can run without a factor depends on two things: what the deeds allow, and what the building needs.
On the deeds: some modern deeds of conditions say the appointment can only be ended by appointing a replacement, or give no procedure for dismissal at all, or require a meeting called in a particular way with a quorum counted in absolute numbers rather than a share of owners. Read the clause closely before assuming a majority vote is enough. Where the deeds are silent, the Tenement Management Scheme lets owners dismiss a factor by majority, and nothing in the Scheme obliges you to appoint another.
On the building: self factoring works for a small, simple block where one or two owners are willing to hold the insurance, collect shares, instruct repairs and keep the records, and where the neighbours pay on time. It rarely works where there is a lift, a heat network, cladding, a gated car park, or more than a dozen or so flats, because somebody has to carry the duty holder role for fire safety, the statutory inspections, the client money and the chasing. Those are jobs, and the owner doing them unpaid usually stops after the second year. Our guide to missing shares explains what happens when one neighbour stops paying and there is no factor to pursue it.
If the real complaint is the current factor rather than factoring itself, switching is the lower risk route. If you do go without a factor, buildings insurance, a bank account in the owners’ names and a written record of decisions are the three things to have in place before the old factor’s notice period ends.
Frequently asked questions
Do all owners have to agree to change factor?
No. This is the most common misconception in the whole process. Where the deeds are silent, a simple majority of owners can make the decision under the Tenement Management Scheme, and it binds everyone. Even developer-appointed factors in new builds can now be replaced by simple majority under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025.
Will the factor charge us when the agreement is terminated?
Only what the Written Statement of Services provided for in advance. The usual legitimate charges are the management fee to the end of the notice period, any works already instructed, and a reasonable administration charge for the handover if the WSS sets one out. A charge that appears for the first time on the final invoice is the one to question.
Exit penalties beyond that are questionable, and any charge must survive the Code of Conduct's transparency requirements. If a termination charge looks punitive, challenge it in writing, and remember the First-tier Tribunal route exists.
How long does switching take?
Allow three to six months from decision to start date, driven by the notice period in your deeds or WSS and the practicalities of handover. The organising phase before the vote is usually the longest part, and it is entirely in the owners' control.
What happens to ongoing repairs and our insurance during the switch?
Continuity is the incoming factor's first job: insurance cover is arranged so there is no gap, essential services continue, and live repairs are tracked across the handover. Ask any prospective factor to explain exactly how they manage this. Their answer tells you a lot about their competence generally.
Is the process different in Edinburgh or Glasgow?
No. The Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004, the Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 and the Code of Conduct apply across Scotland, and the First-tier Tribunal hears cases from everywhere. What differs is your deeds, and those differ between neighbouring buildings on the same street, never mind between cities. Read yours.
Can one unhappy owner force a switch alone?
No; changing factor is a collective decision. But one owner alone can pursue a complaint to the First-tier Tribunal about a factor's failures, and one organised owner is how most successful switches start.
General information only. Individual title deeds and circumstances differ.
AboveBoard Homes is an Edinburgh property factor that supports owners through the switching process at no cost before appointment: reading the deeds, explaining the vote, and managing the handover with the outgoing factor. If your development is weighing a change, get in touch for a conversation with no obligation attached.
