Torus62 Limited (202531353)

Background

1. The resident reported sewage and drainage problems at the property between April 2023 and November 2025. The resident said she experienced repeated incidents of the toilet backing up, leading to sewage and waste accumulating outside her bathroom and bedroom window over an extended period.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of sewage and drainage issues.

Our decision (determination)

3. There was maladministration in the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of sewage and drainage issues.

We have made orders for the landlord to put things right.

Reasons

4. The resident informed us that she had been reporting the issue since 2020. While we do not dispute this, there was no independent evidence to corroborate events. Therefore, our assessment will focus on events from April 2023 onwards.
5. The landlord is responsible for repairing drains, external pipework, and for maintaining sanitary installations such as toilets, flushing systems, and waste pipes.
6. The landlord’s repairs policy states that emergency repairs will be made safe within 4 hours, with the aim of completing the repair within 24 hours. Routine repairs are expected to be completed within 20 calendar days.
7. In its stage 1 response of 12 September 2025, the landlord noted multiple emergency and routine repairs between April 2023 and September 2025. It arranged a CCTV drain survey but did not uphold the complaint becauseit said there wasno failure of service.The resident’s efforts to repeatedly raise the repair caused her distress and inconvenience.Its response did not acknowledge the recurring nature of the issue over a prolonged period. Furthermore, it did not identify that it only took steps to proactively investigate the issue after the resident complained. It therefore missed an opportunity to identify learning. Evidence also shows an operative had recommended a CCTV survey in October 2023 if the issue reoccurred.
8. At stage 2, the landlord said it had already looked at the earlier repairs and relied on the CCTV survey from 23 September 2025, which showed a small shift in the external pipe about 0.5 metres down. It concluded that the repairs had been completed within its policy timescales and that no service of failure had occurred. This response did not adequately address the resident’s concerns about recurring sewage exposure. This was inappropriate because it demonstrated a lack of regard for potential health and safety risks.
9. Repair records showed that the resident reported around 10 incidents of toilet blockages between April 2023 and November 2025. However, internal correspondence indicated that some appointments may have been cancelled in error due to no access. Furthermore, the resident was not always aware of scheduled visits. The landlord failed to follow its repairs policy, which states that where there is no access for repairs relating to health and safety matters the job will remain open to be actively rebooked rather than cancelled.
10. Although the landlord attended to individual repairs within its policy timescales, its approach was largely reactive. The CCTV survey was only arranged following the stage 1 complaint, despite being recommended in October 2023. This delay resulted in repeated distress and inconvenience for the resident.
11. While we acknowledge that the situation occurred over a significant period, it was not continuous but consisted of repeated reports of the same issue. In light of this, we have awarded compensation in line with our compensation guidance for cases where a failure has adversely affected the resident.

Putting things right

Where we find service failure, maladministration or severe maladministration we can make orders for the landlord to put things right. We have the discretion to make recommendations in all other cases within our jurisdiction.

Orders

Landlords must comply with our orders in the manner and timescales we specify. The landlord must provide documentary evidence of compliance with our orders by the due date set.