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THOUSANDS of home owners could be effected by one of the first pieces of legislation to be passed by the new Scottish Parliament.

Currently in draft form with the Scottish Office, the Reform of the Tenements Act is part of a review of the entire land ownership law, and, for the first time will ensure that owners of tenement properties will have a collective responsibility for the property and may require a review of insurance needs.

When passed, the act will mainly effect tenement properties. and the bulk of modern flats are usually subject to stringent deeds of condition which clearly set out the way to administer the property and most of the properties affected will be in the east of the country.

Ian Hart, managing director of Glasgow-based Property Management Services Company Hacking and Paterson said: ''The new legislation will have some effect, but mainly in the East of Scotland. In the West of Scotland we have deeds of conditions which lay down obligations on the title for owner/ occupier that moves in.

''The bill will be a revamp of the old Law of the Tenement. It included issues such as: the ground floor and solum is the responsibility of ground floor owners and the roof is the responsibility of top floor owners.

''The proposed report by the Law Commission is basically saying that in future, whilst the ownership will remain the same, the maintenance of these areas will be shared and owners will have a collective responsibility.''

He continued: ''Other points in the Law Commission's report include owners getting involved in management schemes, either on individual or company bases, setting out how the scheme operates.''

Another important point in the report is that successors will become responsible for the outstanding charges from the previous owner. And any potential purchaser will now ensure these charges have been paid before buying.

The news of the reform of the Tenement Act has been given a warm welcome by the Association of Property Managers - the professional body for property managers.

''The association and its members welcome the draft bill and we are confident that it will improve the management regimes, the standard of maintenance of properties in Scotland, and, we have high hopes that it will provide for a legal system for the 21st century,'' said the association secretary Jamie Miller of Bishop, Robertson and Chalmers. He added: ''One of the encouraging things about the Scottish Assembly is that issues like this would normally take years to happen. Because we have a Scottish Assembly particular Scottish issues which need to be dealt with can be dealt with quickly. From a legal perspective it will be great

to get these reforms

coming through, that

otherwise, through pressure of parliamentary time might not have made it.''

The review was welcomed by Ian Donald partner in Murray Property. He said: ''This reform is long awaited, and we have been hoping for it for some considerable time. The day to day existence of the property manager is severely handicapped by the inadequacies of the present law. The reforms which are being proposed by the commission, whilst perhaps not going quite as far as we would have liked, go a long way to making the management of tenement buildings a lot more effective.''

One change which the property management profession look forward to is the transferring of a debt which may have arisen through non-payment of an account from one owner to the new owner. At the moment that is not the case. And basically it means that there is a great deal of difficulty when someone is not willing to pay their way. That single person can frustrate work which the property management would have been able to carry out.

Ian Donald continued: ''If on sale it becomes clear to the purchaser that there is such a debt then the purchaser will not proceed until the debt is paid. You can see the influence the new law is likely to have on the willingness of neighbours to pay their way within the tenement.''

Fundamentally, each owner has a responsibility which is established by the titles and if one owner decides not to co-operate then neighbours are under no obligation to pick up the tab. But with this change it will be much more difficult for an owner to subvert the good will of the neighbours and Donald predicts this will result in an improvement in the management of tenement stock, where there is a manager. Invariably it's the case that new developments will have provision in the title for the appointment of a manager and there are a number of effective management advantages as Ian explains.

''When managing a property, you're always there. If an item requires attention then it's up to you to call upon tradesmen you can trust to do the job at a reasonable cost.''

Property managers make regular inspections of the building and bring to the attention matters requiring repair. They deal with neighbouring properties in cases such as cleaning and lighting, backwork grounding, pay accounts and act as an agent for the co-proprietors.

Donald concluded: ''The big problem is that the first time buyer buys a flat and moves in. All of a sudden a factor's bill arrives - and they have not been told by anyone that there is a factor.

''Client education is definitely the way forward and the lack of knowledge on the part of the housebuyer of the responsibilities and rights which owners have is something which is a serious problem and not enough time is sevoted to the education of the flat proprietor.

''I think this education process is the big challenge facing the profession in the next five to 10 years.''