diff --git a/scripts/githooks/commit-msg.sh b/scripts/githooks/commit-msg.sh
index e5c36474..bb03f26c 100644
--- a/scripts/githooks/commit-msg.sh
+++ b/scripts/githooks/commit-msg.sh
@@ -68,7 +68,8 @@ $GITLINT_DIR \
     --body-regex=".*" \
     --max-parents=1
 
-if [ $? -ne 0 ]
+if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+    printError "Invalid configuration file. The configuration file .github/release-drafter.yml is not found. Please ensure that the configuration file resides in your default branch."
 then
     if ! command -v $GITLINT_DIR &>/dev/null; then
         printError "$GITLINT_DIR not found. Please run 'make tools' OR 'make tools.verify.go-gitlint' make verto install it."
diff --git a/scripts/githooks/pre-commit.sh b/scripts/githooks/pre-commit.sh
index b0b9261f..86f17079 100644
--- a/scripts/githooks/pre-commit.sh
+++ b/scripts/githooks/pre-commit.sh
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ IFS='
 shouldFail=false
 for file in $( git diff-index --cached --name-only $against ); do
 	file_size=$(([ ! -f $file ] && echo 0) || (ls -la "$file" | awk '{ print $5 }'))
-	if [ "$file_size" -gt  "$limit" ] && { grep -q ".github/release-drafter.yml" $file ;}; then
+	if [ "$file_size" -gt  "$limit" ] && { [ ! -f .github/release-drafter.yml ] ;}; then
     printError "File $file is $(( $file_size / 10**6 )) MB, which is larger than our configured limit of $limitInMB MB" 
 shouldFail=true 
 printError "File $file is $(( $file_size / 10**6 )) MB, which is larger than our configured limit of $limitInMB MB"