Fife Council has been asked to apologise over confusion surrounding a late sheltered housing tenant’s rent.
The local authority took seven months to reach a decision, by which time the elderly resident had died.
The resident’s son named in a report as Mr C complained to the Scottish Ombudsman that the council had failed to provide his father with a reduction in rent.
He said the authority had indicated it would do so in recognition of disturbance caused to him by building work in the sheltered housing complex.
He was of the opinion the council failed to take appropriate steps to address the disturbance and failed to deal appropriately, and within a reasonable timeframe, with the request for rent reduction.
The ombudsman discovered the local authority had offered Mr C’s father a move to another home for the period the renovation work was taking place but he had refused this offer.
The council paid a disturbance allowance to all residents and arranged for new residents’ facilities and alternative eating arrangements when the lounge was closed and in-house meals service terminated. Following Mr C’s complaint, the council agreed to make a further payment for the additional level of disruption.
The ombudsman found it had taken the inconvenience caused to Mr C’s father into account and made offers to recognise this.
But the ombudsman noted the council’s suggestion that a waiver or cut in rent for this period was being “seriously considered”.
“We felt that the council’s correspondence did not clearly highlight that this was a possibility and not a likelihood.
“In addition, it took the council almost seven months to reach a decision on this point, by which time Mr C’s father had died.
“As a result of the lack of clarity in their communication and the significant delay in reaching their decision on the rent reduction, we upheld this aspect of the complaint and recommended that the council write to Mr C to apologise for the failings identified.”
Service manager Louise Sutherland said: “During extensive renovations, tenants who chose to remain experienced some upheaval.
“The ombudsman has recognised that the council took this matter seriously and did its utmost to mitigate the disturbance.”
She added that compensation had now been given and the council agrees with the ombudsman the matter should have been dealt with quicker.
The head of housing had offered Mr C the local authority’s “sincerest apologies for the delay” and explained the steps taken to “enable local decisions in future”.