Source · SPSO (Scottish Public Services Ombudsman)

The City of Edinburgh Council

SPSO (Scottish Public Services Ombudsman) Not Upheld Reference 201301617 Sector Local Government Category statutory notices Decided 01 January 2014

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Full decision

Summary

Mr C complained that the council had carried out works to remove loose render (a covering of plaster or cement) from the outside of his property without first discussing this with other property owners. He complained that this caused additional damage to the render, cost more than was reasonable and that the council failed to carry out repairs.

The council had explained to Mr C that they received a report from an occupier (who happened to be a council tenant) of render falling from the top flat onto the gardens below. They inspected the site and determined, for safety reasons, that they needed to use their statutory powers to issue an emergency statutory notice and instruct a contractor to make the site safe. The contractor did so by removing patches of loose render. Whilst they acknowledged Mr C's concerns about the amount of render removed, they explained that their contractor had only removed the render he considered unsafe. Our investigation reviewed the council's actions and found that they had acted appropriately, and in line with their statutory duties when addressing this issue.

Related reading

View Decision Report 201301617 as a PDF (11.12 KB) Updated: March 13, 2018

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