Stair Lighting Guide
This is a blog to aid residents who live in Edinburgh’s communal tenement properties to organise and understand the process of maintaining their stair lighting system.
History of communal stair lighting
The City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) managed and maintained the stair lighting in both council and private properties. The costs were included in the council tax and the system worked fine until time caught up with the equipment. CEC made the decision to stop maintaining the lights in private properties in June 2016. They also converted via a government grant their properties to LED greatly cutting their maintenance and energy costs.
So, What happens now
The residents of the communal stair now have a legal responsibility to maintain the stair lighting for the safety of both residents and visitors. This means they have be proactive with regards to repair and maintenance.
How do you organise stair lighting repairs in Edinburgh
In an ideal world they have to get together and form a residents committee to organise plan and pay for the work required. In reality I have found that it is a lone resident who takes on this task of the organiser. This is because stairs have a mix of residents and rentals and in this digital world you can create a virtual residents committee.
So, How do you go about it
First of all read my AEW advise for organisers. Click here
Once your ready you need to contact the other residents to get their contact details. This may be the individual or the landlord or the letting agent. Download the AEW notification here. Then fill it in requsting contact details then make copies and post them through the resdidents doors or mail boxes.
Tips on communications.
- Put the property address in the email title ie (23 Main Road Stair lighting work) This will aid landlords and letting agents for their filing systems.
- Repeat this when communicating with contractors.
- Always check your spam or junk folders as some Gmail and Hotmail accounts can reject some contractors emails.
- Once you get costs you will need to get a concensus of the preferred options .
Quotes not Estimates
The difference between a quote and estimate is a quote is a fixed price cost. An estimate is a rough cost and there may be an extra charge. So, get quotes for the work required and make sure they are comparable.
