Edinburgh council's tenement repairs app is coped by other Scottish councils

An app to help the owners of shared properties organise repairs to their buildings in the Capital has been so successful in its first year it is already being rolled out by two other councils in Scotland.

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Developed by the city council with tech company Novoville, the app launched in April last year has been helping with repairs worth £700,000 to 500 tenements.

And it has proved so popular that Perth and Kinross and East Ayrshire councils have announced they are launching it as well.

The app was designed to make it easier for residents living in shared properties to keep their buildings in good condition. It has attracted twice as many privately-owned tenements in a year as the council usually deals with in that period.

Finance convener Mandy Watt said: “Edinburgh is leading the way in this work in Scotland and it is great news that two other councils are now about to launch it in their area as well. The app helps people take greater control of the process. It's very accessible and easy to use.

“Edinburgh has around 170,000 tenement flats and other shared buildings with multiple owners. It’s great to see so many property owners already engaging with the app, as many of these buildings are in need of urgent repair.

“The feedback I’m getting is that without the app, some people say they wouldn't have had the confidence to approach neighbours and get the repairs done, or the process would have taken a lot longer due to communication breakdowns and uncertainties about the correct course of action.”

The app helps owners in tenements to organise repairs - even if some owners won't sign up to it.

App user Julia Morrison said she was able to persuade only a few of her neighbours to sign up to the app. “However, the app is designed so that you can use it with owners who don’t want to sign up directly. This means you can still use it to download a suite of template letters, organise your processes, and most importantly your payment collections. And for those that did sign up, it was a really smooth process and easy to use. Very few glitches/fixes for a new product.”