£80k bill for empty shop is a lot of rot

Brian Taylor outside the shop which he and his neighbours are having to pay for

Residents of the Dalkeith Road block were left stunned to receive the bill of around 7000 each to pay for the shop in their building, which has lain empty for over a decade and is infected with dry rot.

Council chiefs say they have no option but to move in and carry out the repairs themselves and that the bill must be split between the dozen residents.

Peter Ritchie, owner of nearby second-hand bookstore Bookworm who lives above the shop, said the situation was ridiculous.

"The council was warned about this shop more than five years ago.

"The owner is a Mr Andrew Wilson but nobody can find him.

"The council have put a statutory notice on the shop because it is riddled with dry rot and they expect us to pay for the work to be carried out by them.

"The price could be as high as 80,000 leaving us with a bill of 7000 each for a property that we don't own."

Mr Ritchie said the property was last used as a campaign station for the Liberal Democrats for the 1997 elections. Prior to that it was a motorbike accessories store and costume shop.

Neighbour Brian Taylor, 31, a civil servant, added: "It's particularly unfair as this unit has been left for such a long period of time. If the council had stepped in earlier it could have fixed the problems at a much lower cost."

A council spokesman said they had the legal right to move in and repair deteriorating properties if the owners would not take responsibility.

It will then be up to the residents to pursue Mr Wilson through the courts to recoup the money – if they can find him.

Edinburgh is the only local authority with the legal right to charge residents for statutory work. The rest of Scotland's 31 local authorities have to pay for statutory notices through the public purse.

Edinburgh's system is the subject of an internal council probe following hundreds of complaints about spiralling costs.

The city council spokesman said: "We can confirm that we have identified an issue with the property at 216 Dalkeith Road. The landlord is absent and we have been unable to contact him. We've made extensive inquiries with a view to trying to trace him, and explored many other options including the possibility of taking it over under compulsory purchase laws.

"However, unless we can get a hold of the owner we won't be able to buy it from him.

"The deterioration of the unit is at such an advanced stage that it is now threatening the structural integrity of the whole building.

"The only powers available are contained with the Order Confirmation Act 1991 – which contains the statutory notice legislation. This means we are legally obliged to step in to fix this property.

"However, because this act also stipulates that residents of the whole property must share the bill, we have no choice but to charge them for it.

"It will then be up to the other residents to pursue the owner of the property through the courts."

Mr Wilson could not be contacted for comment.

BUILDING SENSE OF RESENTMENT

Edinburgh city council ordered an internal audit of its statutory notice system in June after claims it was over-using its powers to force repairs, with almost 30m worth of work under way.

Earlier this year, The News told how Queen's Park Avenue residents were contesting a repair bill totalling 250,000 amid claims the price was artificially inflated by contractors.

In 2007, tenement residents in Bruntsfield were forced to share a 500,000 bill for repairs to the roof, chimney and stonework.