Statutory Repairs, Edinburgh
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2014}}
The statutory notice system{{cite web|url=http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/info/1028/improvements_and_repairs/746/private_property_repairs/1|title=Testing for genetically modified food – GM food testing – The City of Edinburgh Council|author=The City of Edinburgh Council|publisher=Edinburgh.gov.uk|accessdate=15 November 2014}} in Edinburgh, Scotland, was instituted after a series of incidents in the 1990s culminating in a serious accident in 1999 in which a person was killed.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-14965150|title=Corruption claims against Edinburgh council officials|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=15 November 2014}} Statutory notices require homeowners to carry out repairs using council-approved builders to protect the architecture of a World Heritage city. This system is unique to Edinburgh.
The value of statutory notices issued by Edinburgh Council surveyors had increased from £9.2m in 2005 to more than £30m in 2010. The statutory notice means the council can commission repair work to be carried out on buildings in the city in order to stop them deteriorating, and then charges the owners for the work. The council keeps 15% of the costs.{{cite web|url=http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/legal/council-hit-by-corruption-claims/6517907.article|title=Council hit by corruption claims|publisher=Insidehousing.co.uk|accessdate=15 November 2014}}
A BBC Scotland Investigates programme, Scotland's Property Scandal,{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0154z83|title=BBC One - BBC Scotland Investigates, 2011, Scotland's Property Scandal|publisher=BBC|accessdate=15 November 2014}} commissioned a quantity surveyor, Gordon Murdie, and a structural engineer, John Addison, to examine repairs carried out under the statutory notice system. Their view was that residents had been overcharged. The BBC alleged the work had been given to contractors who had not been approved.
Edinburgh Council suspended several employees from the property conservation department following the BBC programme's broadcast on 20 September 2011, and instituted an independent investigation. Lothian and Borders Police are also carrying out a fraud enquiry.{{cite web|url=http://www.supplymanagement.com/news/2011/police-investigate-maintenance-contracts-in-edinburgh/|title=Police investigate maintenance contracts in Edinburgh|publisher=Supplymanagement.com|accessdate=15 November 2014}}
By January 2012 at least 650 complaints had been received by the council.{{citation needed|date=July 2014}} A working estimate suggests that the total amount of overcharging (based on a figure of ten per cent of the value of building repairs contracts since 2005) may exceed £13.5M.{{cite web|url=http://www.scotsman.com/edinburgh-evening-news/statutory-repair-firms-overcharge-by-13-5m-1-2044963|title=Statutory repair firms 'overcharge by £13.5m'|work=The Scotsman|accessdate=15 November 2014}}
In April 2013{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-21512803|title=Edinburgh Statutory Notice scheme 'scrapped'|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=15 November 2014}} the Statutory Notice system was scrapped for all but emergency work.