2 November 2026
If you live in a Scottish tenement, you already know the truth: the building doesn’t look after itself. The roof doesn’t magically stay watertight. The stonework doesn’t repair itself. And when something goes wrong with major parts of the building, it’s never just your problem. It’s everyone’s problem, all at once.
Yet for thousands of owners across Scotland, the repair bill is only part of the problem. It’s getting everyone to agree on what to do.
That’s the challenge our new toolkit, Governing Scottish Tenements: Democratic Skills for Sustainable Tenement Stewardship and available here, is designed to tackle.
And it couldn’t be arriving at a more important moment.
Why Tenement Governance Matters Now More Than Ever
Tenements are the beating heart of Scotland’s housing stock. They are the most common type of home in Scotland. Many are beautiful, historic and full of character. But many are in a sorry state.
71% of pre‑1919 tenements were already in critical disrepair as of 2019, meaning roofs, walls or structural timbers were deteriorating to the point where failure was inevitable if repairs weren’t made.
That’s not just a maintenance issue. It’s a safety issue. It’s a health issue. And it’s a climate issue.
Scotland cannot meet its net‑zero targets if its tenements continue to leak heat, leak water and leak money. But owners cannot fix these problems unless they can work together. And that’s where things often fall apart.
Owners disagree. Some don’t respond. Some don’t want to spend money. Some don’t have the money. Some don’t understand the rules. Some don’t understand their responsibilities. Some expect the factor to do it. Some don’t trust the factor to do anything!
The result? Buildings deteriorate. Repairs stall. And everyone suffers.
This toolkit steps in to help owners break that cycle.
A Toolkit Built for Real People Facing Real Problems
The approach taken in the toolkit is that it doesn’t pretend tenement governance is easy. It doesn’t assume owners are all equally motivated, equally informed or equally willing to cooperate. It recognises the messy reality of shared ownership. And offers practical ways to navigate it.
It was developed at the Strathclyde Institute for Sustainable Communities and created in partnership with Under One Roof, Scotland’s leading charity for tenement maintenance advice. It draws on research funded by UKERC and ESRC, as well as workshops and interviews with owners, factors, solicitors and local authority officers.
In other words: this toolkit wasn’t written in an office. It was built from lived experience.
The Big Idea: Democratic Skills Make Tenements Work
The toolkit introduces a simple but powerful idea: good tenement governance is a collective decision-making process and that process relies on democratic skills.
That’s everyday democratic skills, the kind that help people make decisions together fairly, calmly and constructively.
The toolkit focuses on four key democratic skills:
- Knowledge Skills
Understanding your rights, responsibilities and the rules that govern your building.
- Reasoning Skills
Thinking clearly, weighing evidence and making fair decisions.
- Communication Skills
Explaining your views, listening to others and keeping discussions constructive.
- Interpersonal Skills
Managing emotions, building trust and working respectfully with neighbours.
These skills aren’t abstract. The toolkit shows exactly how they apply to real situations: how to challenge assumptions about who pays for the roof; how to speak to an unresponsive neighbour; how to run a meeting without it descending into chaos; how to manage finances transparently; how to deal with conflict; how to collaborate across multiple tenements.
It’s practical, grounded and designed to be used.
A Manual You Can Actually Use
Sections 3, 4, and 5 form the core of the toolkit. They’re organised around the real problems owners face:
- Forming an owners’ association
- Running an owners’ association
- Collaborating across multiple buildings
Each challenge is addressed in a clear, repeatable format:
- A realistic quote showing how the problem might be expressed
- A short explanation of what’s going on
- A suggestion showing how a democratic skill can help
- A realistic quote showing what use of the skill looks like in practice
This makes the toolkit easy to dip into. You don’t need to read it cover to cover. You can simply find the issue you’re facing and get guidance immediately.
A Toolkit That Respects Reality
The toolkit is designed to be honest. It acknowledges that owners’ associations are imperfect. People are busy. People disagree. People get frustrated. Some owners do all the work. Some do none.
The toolkit doesn’t shame anyone for this. It simply says: do your best, keep the building safe and try to be more democratic next time.
The Toolkit’s Launch
The toolkit is formally launched at the Common Repairs Event, hosted by Edinburgh Council on the 19th of November. But it is available online from the Under One Roof website here.
Thanks for reading this blog, we hope you found it thought-provoking. Any comments or feedback? Please feel free to email us at sbs-sisc@strath.ac.uk and continue the conversation!
