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Research
Ann Flint has considerable experiences of the privately owned housing sector combined with extensive research and analysis experience. She completed a study of the effectiveness of title conditions of modern blocks of flats for the Scottish Executive. This document was quoted by the HITF and involved considerable analysis of documentation and is particularly relevant here as it demonstrates experience in methodological analysis of complex written documents in order to identify trends across a number of categories.
She was also author of a policy paper for the Chartered Institute of Housing on common repair issues.
Advice to owners
Ann also has considerable experience of working with owners, many of whom are on a low income, who are dealing with problems arising from poor market conditions, poor property condition or poor communal management. This experience has been honed over the years since the early 1990s when she wrote, with John Gilbert Architect, the Tenement Handbook - a book designed for owners with problems in managing and repairing common properties.
Ann has undertaken much private housing advice on a voluntary basis. As Vice Convenor of Friends of Glasgow West she helped design and run a professional survey of tenement owners in the West End that sought information on what help was required by owners to encourage them to take better care of their properties. She also prepared leaflets on the Tenements Act 2004 for FGW and this was circulated to some 13,000 owners in the West End of Glasgow. She helped set up the Scottish Tenement Group to represent the views of owners of common property in the legislative changes which were then going through the Scottish Parliament. She prepared briefings on green papers, Housing and Land Reform legislation and the HITF for these groups.
Subsequent consultancy work involved her in writing leaflets for Edinburgh City Council on the Tenements Act and a series of leaflets on home maintenance especially designed for owners of tenement properties.
Advice to local authorities
Ann also advised Edinburgh City Council on the implications of the Tenements Act for their own work in improving council properties where there were Right to Buy owners present. This involved staff training, advice to policy making groups and assistance with preparation of procedures.
Areas suffering market failure
Ann has also worked with owners groups on run down areas where regeneration involving owners was required. She carried out a feasibility study of owner occupied blocks in Cumbernauld (Ainslie Maclehose) where owners were facing complex problems arising from structural deficiencies in their blocks which will result in 97 owner occupied flats being demolished.
A second project was undertaken with owners in Lochend, Easterhouse where properties had been purchased under a “homesteading scheme” in the 1980s. House prices here had fallen considerably and many owners were in negative equity. In addition, private landlords were buying in the area in the hopes of being able to make a profit from compulsory purchase. In the meantime, flats were being rented and anti-social behaviour was considerable.