It will take me 20 years to pay repair bill imposed by council

Agnieszka Barys was excited when City of Edinburgh Council announced plans to bring more than 1,200 flats like hers in Lochend up to modern, efficient standards.

Almost two years on, she is facing a £21,000 bill she says she will be repaying for the next two decades, and is still no clearer on when the work will start.

She is among dozens of private flat owners in one of the capital's most deprived areas who feel the local authority's retrofit programme has been imposed on them.

The council says the buildings are in desperate need of repair and could deteriorate further if nothing is done - which in turn could increase future repair costs.

Ms Barys bill, which has been discounted by a grant, includes a 15% "management fee" charged by the council for overseeing the project.

Owners were told the work would start last August. That was later pushed back until November, and then until January of this year - but work on most of the homes has still not begun.

"For almost two years, we've been on this weird standby situation," Ms Barys said.

"It is really overwhelming. You feel like your head can explode."

The work forms part of the local authority's Mixed Tenure Improvement Service (MTIS), sometimes called a retrofit.

It involves taking shared blocks – those which contain a combination of council tenants and private owners – and improving insulation so that the homes can be heated for less.

In some cases, it also involves making repairs to roofs, external walls and general improvements to communal areas such as stairwells and closes.

Homeowners are eligible for a grant of about £11,000 under a Scotland-wide scheme, but a report published in December showed estimates for the work on some properties were as high as £43,000 even after additional funding.

Ms Barys said the work was clearly needed due to the "neglect" of buildings in the area, some of which date from the 1920s.

Outside her front door, colourful plants decorate the stairwell and communal landing, but do little to mask the cracked mortar and chipped paint which point to decades of decay.

Her flat is one of four in the block of 18 that is privately owned.

Under the terms of the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004, the council has the right to proceed with work deemed essential if it owns the majority of properties in a building.

It is legally obliged to meet the EESSH2 housing standard for social tenants by December 2032, so the cost of their work is covered by the local authority.

But for private owners and landlords, it is not.

That meant Ms Barys had no say on whether the work took place, how it would be paid for or who carried it out.

"You don't just find £20,000 lying on the street," she said.

"I don't expect anything for free. I'm more than happy to pay, but the cost is so high, it's on top of my mortgage, on top of my council tax, on top of my bills."

In Kirsty Pattison's top floor flat, water damage from a leaking roof has stripped the light blue paint from the wall.

Ms Pattinson and her husband are facing a £25,000 bill for their share of the work, including a 20% council management fee.

Her building is one of the few to be made up of equal social tenants and private owners, but she said she voted in favour of the project in "good faith".

"We were told the work was starting in May, but we have no date. Meanwhile our property is just getting damper and damper," she said.

"If I'm paying a 20% management fee, I want e-mails telling me what is happening. If you were getting 20% worth of actual people speaking to you, then great, but every week you are having to chase somebody up."

All of the flat owners BBC Scotland News spoke to are members of the Living Rent union.

Melissa Esquerre, who moved in to her flat six years ago, could face further costs as her building is classed as "non-traditional construction," meaning it cannot be insulated in the same way.

Ms Esquerre is the single private owner in her block, is still waiting to be invoiced for her share of the work, adding she was concerned about the future cost of the repair.

She said: "I could get an estimate and agree to it in 2025, and then the works might not start until much later.

"The cost of materials could rise in that time, the cost of labour could go up.

"It's terrifying that you have to make a decision now about how you will manage an unknown amount of debt in the future."

A document sent to owners after the scheme was announced advised them to use "savings or other assets" to cover the additional cost.

Parts of Lochend are ranked in the bottom 5% in the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation.

Other options include setting up a payment plan with the local authority, which involves making monthly repayments to cover the cost charged at 4% interest.

Owners can also sell their flats back to the council, but one told BBC Scotland they had been offered just £60,000 for a flat they bought for nearly double that amount five years ago.

A previous pilot of the MTIS scheme ran in the city's Wester Hailes, during which more than 60 flats were sold back to the council, according to figures obtained by Living Rent through a freedom of information request.

The next phase will focus on 128 blocks in Bingham, the Christians and Magdalene, about three miles (4.8km) away.

Edinburgh Council said there had been an error in communication with residents over the start date for the work, and that two contractors were currently on site.

The council's housing convener, Lezley Marion Cameron, said: "These buildings are aging and in desperate need of repair.

"Without investment, there is real concern that the condition of homes could deteriorate further, which in turn could increase future repair costs.

"Private owners are responsible for paying for their share of repairs, and the council appreciates how challenging this is."

She added: "We want to support everyone involved as much as possible, and to that end we have secured significant funding from Scottish government which will help people with some of the financial strain."