Decision report 201102085

Summary
Mrs C was awarded a grant through the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 for repairs to her house roof. As the initial contractors could not carry out the works quickly enough, Mrs C obtained a further contractor directly who proceeded to carry out the works.
Once the contractor completed the works, they applied for payment of the grant. The works were inspected by a council officer and the grant monies paid. Mrs C was not happy with the quality of the works and complained that the council should not have paid the monies. The council had inspected the works and had requested further works be carried out before payment of the grant.

As it was Mrs C who instructed the contractor, she had a legal relationship with them and would normally be able to pursue them for any problems with the work. The contractor appeared, however, to be no longer trading. We found that the council did not have a responsibility to monitor or guarantee the works. We established they had inspected the works which were completed to their satisfaction for the purposes of making the grant payment. For this reason we were satisfied that the council had acted appropriately and we did not uphold this complaint.