Platform Housing Group Limited (202402211)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202402211

Platform Housing Group Limited

21 October 2025

Our approach

The Housing Ombudsman’s approach to investigating and determining complaints is to decide what is fair in all the circumstances of the case. This is set out in the Housing Act 1996 and the Housing Ombudsman Scheme (the Scheme). The Ombudsman considers the evidence and looks to see if there has been any ‘maladministration’, for example whether the landlord has failed to keep to the law, followed proper procedure, followed good practice or behaved in a reasonable and competent manner.

Both the resident and the landlord have submitted information to the Ombudsman and this has been carefully considered. Their accounts of what has happened are summarised below. This report is not an exhaustive description of all the events that have occurred in relation to this case, but an outline of the key issues as a background to the investigation’s findings.

The complaint

1. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of:
   1. Sewage blockages.
   2. An uneven driveway.
2. The Ombudsman has also considered the landlord’s complaint handling.

Background

3. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord and has lived in a three-bedroom house with her husband since June 2020. Both are disabled. The neighbouring property is privately owned, and the resident’s home has only one toilet.
4. After the resident reported issues with drains causing her toilet to block, the landlord’s contractor cleared them on 30 December 2022 and recommended a CCTV survey. In January 2023, the CCTV survey found several deformities in the drain serving the resident’s home. Excavation and replacement of the main drain between the resident’s property and the neighbours were completed in late March 2023.
5. On 24 July 2023, the resident reported her driveway was uneven. The landlord attended the next day, carried out temporary repairs, and logged a referral for concrete works. In September 2023, the landlord responded to another drainage issue.
6. On 15 September 2023, the resident complained that drainage problems had caused the toilet to overflow for years and remained unresolved. She also noted the driveway was still uneven, felt the house was unfit for purpose, and requested repairs and compensation.
7. The landlord issued its stage 1 response on 5 October 2023. It said the toilet issue was caused by the neighbour flushing wipes, with the last report of a toilet blockage on 9 September 2022 and resolved by 13 September 2022. No further reports of toilet overflow had been received. Regarding the driveway, temporary repairs were completed on 25 July 2023, and the matter was referred to the assets team for monitoring, but no completion date was available. The landlord acknowledged poor communication and offered £25 compensation, partially upholding the complaint.
8. On 12 October 2023, the resident escalated the complaint. She disagreed that the driveway was being monitored, noting no date had been set for permanent repairs. She said the toilet issue persisted, the collapsed pipe to the septic tank had not been replaced, and the neighbour continued to flush wipes. She felt the landlord had taken no meaningful action, which caused her distress and anxiety.
9. The landlord issued its final stage 2 response on 16 November 2023. It reiterated that the last toilet overflow report was in September 2022 and that the resident had confirmed the issue had abated. Following a surveyor visit on 14 November 2023, a full drainage survey was ordered, with any necessary works to follow. Regarding the driveway, a further inspection was scheduled, and the landlord agreed to remove the concrete paths and create a safe access route from the driveway to the path.
10. In April 2024, the resident referred her complaint to the Ombudsman. She stated that drainage problems had persisted, often leaving the household without a working toilet. She felt the landlord had not done enough, especially given the household’s disabilities and the sewage-related issues. She said she was told a collapsed pipe would be replaced, but the problem remained unresolved after 4 years. As a resolution, she requested either full repairs or a move to a suitable property.

Assessment and findings

Investigation scope

11. The resident stated in her complaint to both the landlord and us that the overflowing toilet, at times, had been an issue over 4 years. While this may be the case, it would have been reasonable for the resident to have pursued the matter earlier by way of formal complaint. The significant time that has passed without action affects the Ombudsman’s ability to reliably assess the circumstances surrounding the earlier events.
12. In this case, the resident complained to the landlord in September 2023. Therefore, this investigation will focus on the relevant events in the months leading up to her complaint and through to the landlord’s final response in November 2023, including any commitments made during that period.
13. By October 2025, the resident reported that sewage blockages had returned, with pipes continuing to block regularly and making the toilet unusable. However, we have not seen evidence that these new blockages were raised as a formal complaint or having exhausted the landlord’s complaints process. As a result, we are unable to investigate these new blockages. Any further dissatisfaction should be submitted as a new complaint.

Sewages blockages

14. The resident complained about repeated blockages causing her only toilet to overflow. She believed her neighbour flushing wipes contributed to the issue. The landlord formal responses said no further overflows were reported after a job in September 2022. It offered £600 for broader service failings but not specifically for the toilet issue.
15. The tenancy agreement requires the landlord to repair and maintain drains and external pipes. Its repair policy states that a blocked sole toilet or major drainage issue must be treated as an emergency and resolved within 24 hours.
16. The resident reported sewage blockages in September and December 2022, and again in January and September 2023. The evidence shows the landlord attended these reports in line with its policies. On 29 September 2023, the resident confirmed the toilet was working.
17. Following the reports the landlord responded within its policy timescales. Its stage 1 complaint response stated that the neighbour’s actions may have been the potential cause for these blockages. It explained its neighbourhood officer gave advice to the neighbours about flushing wipes.
18. While the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports was reasonable, nothing in the evidence supports its explanation that it discussed the blockages with the neighbours. The neighbours were not the landlord’s tenants or leaseholders, and so its available actions were very limited. Nonetheless, raising the issue officially with the neighbours was one potentially useful step it could have taken. In the absence of evidence, this report cannot conclude it did so, which was a failing.
19. In her escalation request, the resident said that the pipe leading to the septic tank had collapsed and needed replacement. It is unclear whether this issue related to the drainage work carried out in March 2023 where pipe “deformities” were fixed. However, the landlord did not address this concern in the final response. In line with the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code it should have, either to acknowledge it as a repair report, or to treat it as an issue of complaint.
20. As promised in its final complaint response, the landlord undertook a full drain survey. While the landlord responded promptly to reports, it failed to share survey findings and did not appear to approach the neighbour to let them know flushing wipes could affect its residents. This amounts to service failure and an order has been made below.

Reports of an uneven driveway

21. The resident complained that although the landlord said it would monitor the driveway and paths, no monitoring appeared to be taking place. There was also no confirmed start date for the work, leaving her uncertain if it would happen. She said the temporary repairs had already failed and felt the landlord’s approach was simply to “wait and see.”
22. In its formal responses, the landlord said temporary repairs were completed on 25 July 2023. It explained the matter had been passed to its assets team to monitor and assess whether the repairs would hold and if the driveway remained safe. It also confirmed that it had agreed to remove the concrete paths and create a new path to ensure safe access from the driveway.
23. The tenancy agreement requires the landlord to maintain pathways and other means of access. Its repair policy confirms it is responsible for addressing health and safety hazards related to paving and tarmac, including repairs and replacements. In this case, the driveway was not shared and appeared to deteriorate due to wear and tear.
24. After receiving reports, the landlord acted promptly by carrying out temporary repairs on 25 July 2023. This was a reasonable initial step, given the resident’s concerns about the uneven surface posing a trip hazard, particularly for a disabled household.
25. The landlord’s records show a referral was made for concrete works. However, the resident received no updates until she complained again about the uneven surface. The landlord said the area was being monitored, but the resident queried what this meant in practice.
26. Although the landlord’s final response committed to works on the concrete paths and ensuring safe access, it did not provide any updates until the resident requested a joint landlord surveyor inspection in November 2024 as she had been told the driveway appointment had been moved to December 2024. Given that the final response was issued in November 2023, this delay was significant. The landlord should have provided updates in the interim, especially considering the household’s disabilities and the potential safety risks.
27. The landlord acknowledged poor communication in its stage 1 response and offered £25 compensation. However, it failed to maintain regular communication afterward, showing a lack of learning. This caused further inconvenience for the resident, who had to chase for updates.
28. On 20 January 2025, the landlord removed a section of path, infilled it with topsoil, replaced part of the driveway, and installed a new concrete path. While planned repairs can take time, the lack of updates necessitated unnecessary time and trouble for the resident, who contacted the Ombudsman in April 2024.
29. The evidence shows the resident later raised another complaint about the handling of the driveway repairs and the rescheduled appointment in December 2024. Although this indicates some communication occurred, the works promised in the final response were not completed until over a year later.
30. It was reasonable for the landlord to treat the repairs as planned maintenance, which may fall outside typical responsive repair timescales. However, its poor communication and failure to act on the work promised in its final complaint  were unreasonable, causing further inconvenience to the resident and leaving the complaint unresolved.

Complaint handling

31. The landlord operates a two-stage complaints process. A stage 1 response will be provided within 10 working days of the complaint being received, and a stage 2 response within 20 working days of an escalation.
32. The resident submitted a complaint on 15 September 2023. The landlord acknowledged it promptly and issued its stage 1 response within the required timeframe. After the resident escalated the complaint on 12 October 2023, the landlord again responded on time, issuing its stage 2 response within 20 working days.
33. Overall, the landlord managed the complaint in accordance with its policy and the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code.

Determination

34. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of sewage blockages.
35. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of an uneven driveway.
36. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the complaint.

Orders

37. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord must:
    1. Pay the resident £200 made up of:
       1. £100 for the failings identified in addressing the sewage blockages.
       2. £100 for the failing identified in its communication about the driveway
38. The landlord must provide evidence to the Ombudsman within the timescales above to confirm that it has complied with these orders.