Episode 17 The Housing Enforcers

You could be down there for a while without anybody knowing.

'Everyone deserves a safe place to live.'

Someone nicked your wheelchair? It absolutely pen and inks.

'But with rents rising and demand increasing,

'it's getting harder and harder to find a secure place to call home.'

I'm a little bit concerned about what's happening here.

'I'm Matt Allwright and I'm back with the housing enforcers.'

-Prrr! It stinks.

-If I'm honest with you,

I'm not sure whether I would want Grace going into that house.

'I'm on the front line with those

'fighting for the right to decent housing...'

Oh, this place is a bit of a mess.

And he usually urinates in that corner.

'..as local councils and housing associations

'battle problem properties and slum conditions...'

It was smelling there. Everything just reeks.

'..as they deal with dodgy landlords...'

And probably here is about as far as it's safe to go.

'..nightmare neighbours...' She was then kicking you, or...?

-Yeah.

-Would you want either side evicted?

-No.

'..and everything in between...'

OK.

'..to help those in need of a happy and healthy home.'

Behind every door...

..is a little bit of a detective story.

Today, we come face-to-face with tenants demanding action.

If your home looks nice, you feel nice.

If your home is falling apart, you're going to fall apart.

We're tackling illegal fly-tippers, putting lives at risk.

You've got a gas bottle in there somewhere.

Like a sunburnt mattress there.

-You don't want it to go up.

-No. Just keep an eye out for dogs.

And housing officers battle to keep one family's dream move alive.

Can't obviously get any mechanical work in here,

so it's all going to have to be done by hand.

-Essentially, you need to be moved out.

-Yes.

Finding a suitable place to call home for you and your family

has never been harder, especially for those on a restricted budget.

But low rent shouldn't mean your house doesn't live up to

the same basic standards as everyone else's.

Fortunately, there is a group of men and women who are out

on the front line, battling on your behalf

against bad and dangerous living conditions.

They are the housing enforcers.

A family home in the countryside is a dream for many of us

struggling in the urban rat race.

Less traffic, a bigger garden and lower pollution levels

are just some of the things that make a move so inviting.

In fact, latest government figures suggest that half a million of us

will leave towns in favour of rural areas in the next decade.

Here in Somerset, I'm with housing association officer Matt Young.

He's helped many new tenants settle here and knows better than most

the pros and cons of life in the countryside.

It's a very beautiful part of the world.

Absolutely gorgeous, isn't it? Certainly at this time of year.

But then, on the other hand, in the winter it can get very,

-very bleak here...

-Right.

-..which can cause problems.

Does that mean a lot of your tenants can end up being

a little bit isolated, a bit stranded at times?

I think so, in some of the properties on there.

However, what you do tend to find is the community spirit here

-is very, very good.

-So, where are we off to today?

We're off to see a lady called Sarah,

and she did a mutual exchange on this property in May of this year.

A mutual exchange meant that Sarah and her young family

literally swapped their property with another tenant's.

It's an increasingly popular way for council and housing association

residents to move without going through a lengthy waiting list.

But Matt's been called out today as there's been a complaint

about the condition of the property.

Contractor Andy is joining us in case it turns out to be serious.

How are you, all right? This one right here?

-Right.

-Let's see if our Sarah is in, then.

'Let's hope not, as Sarah has only just moved in with her children.'

Hello, Sarah. Good morning to you.

All right? This is Matt and you've met Andy before.

How are you?

'Although the property looks to be in good nick,

'Sarah's complained it's one of her other senses that's been attacked.'

So, can I ask you, did you first spot the signs of damp in the house?

Yes, yes. After being here...

a couple of months, it's only been recently.

So I got onto the phone and spoke to Matt and it's gone from there,

-rather quickly.

-So, what was it initially?

Was it a smell, or was it...?

Yeah, the kitchen cupboards had an odour that progressed quite rapidly

and mould would start to grow on objects in the cupboards,

which is when I got onto the phone.

I thought it was fine in here to begin with.

But moving furniture, once the furniture was moved,

there was again the smell and there was the rust marks

from the nails that are actually on the feet of the couches.

-Right.

-So that is how this got noticed.

-So you end up with mouldy cupboards...

-Yeah.

-..mouldy food and things, whatever you stored in those cupboards.

-Yeah.

-A general pong, as you say.

-Yes.

GIRL LAUGHS

'It's this immaculate kitchen that's the scene

-'of the particularly pungent crime.'

-These are the cupboards.

-This is the one...

-So, if I opened this I'd get it full blast?

You're going to smell it quite a lot, yeah.

It's quite strong, if you get a big...

-I've not got a very good sense of smell.

-OK.

You probably will, this one.

-Oh, yeah. No...

-You can see the mould growing...

-Oh, God.

-..on the sink, you can see it on the boxes.

So anything you put in there pretty much straight away...

Anything I did, yeah. Books and things were sort of ruined.

Yeah. That's no good, is it?

The drawers are also the same, you get the same smell.

You can't see anything in them, though.

I think it's more the top ones are the worst.

-Right, OK.

-You get the same smell...

-OK.

-..but you cannot see so much...

-HE SNIFFS

That's where knives and forks were.

That's the same and that one, that's the strongest smelling.

-Yeah, that's like...

-Yeah.

That's like sort of a really strong stout.

It is. You can't use... You can't use them, no, totally unusable.

'I appreciate smell isn't the easiest thing to translate

'onto your TV screens, but you'll have to take my word for it

'when I say it's pretty overpowering.

'And that's depressing to endure in the place that should be

'at the heart of any home.'

I mean, this is a lovely kitchen, really.

It's, you know, really, like, functional and clean.

-From the outside, it looks like that.

-Yeah.

-It looks the business.

-But then, that is...

-It's the horror kitchen at the bottom.

Every time you open that, it's going to, that's going to,

like, make you feel quite bad about the food that you're preparing

-for your kids.

-That's the thing. So at the moment

it's a half-functional kitchen,

which is quite hard, obviously, with the two children.

'Sarah's daughter already suffers from asthma,

'so this is definitely not a good environment for her.

'Fortunately, Matt and Andy have already discovered

'where the problem started.

'They've taken up the carpets to reveal...

'Well, take a look for yourselves.'

You can probably smell it, as well, as soon as you kind of walk into it.

This is the inspection hole at the back of it.

This is the inspection hole, if you want to lift that.

-It's a stinky little hole.

-It is indeed, isn't it?

'It seems changes made to the property in the past

'are now causing problems for these tenants today.'

-So, these would have been wooden floors originally.

-Yes.

That was the original construction, which all worked well,

because you've got air passing underneath it.

Well, that, I think, is one of the original problems again,

is that there isn't any air passing through it,

because there are no air bricks in it.

So the front of the building

has still got the original wooden flooring...

-Yeah.

-..but no air bricks.

So after we've completed this, or during the same works,

we're going to have to put air bricks at the front

-to stop those rotting out.

-This is quite a big job, isn't it?

-Very big job.

-'There's no avoiding it -

'Matt and Andy have some bad news for Sarah.'

We had a specialist damp contractor come out last week.

Has he said anything to you at all last week about the recommendations

-at all, which are in this report?

-No.

It's not good reading, in the fact that the scenario

that appears is that we cannot use any chemical substances

to treat the damp in here and the way forward is actually

to remove the concrete floors.

We're going to have to break up the concrete...

-Right.

-..remove the mud.

-Yeah.

-So all that's going to have to be taken out.

We can't obviously get any mechanical work in here,

so it's all going to have to be done by hand.

Essentially, you'll need to be moved out.

The whole floor from here to the back wall

is going to have to come up,

-taken out through the back and round and into a skip, disposed of.

-Right.

Also, in that, all the kitchen's going to have to come out.

-OK.

-All of the base units. The wall units are fine,

but all the base units and the worktops

-are all going to have to come out.

-OK.

'This is a blow for the family.

'After less than three months in their new property,

'their dream home,

'they'll now have to start looking for somewhere else to live

'while the repairs are made.'

I suppose one of the things we're going to need to talk about

is what we're going to do while the work is being carried out.

-Mm-hm.

-We need to think about the children, their schooling,

and of course, until we can find somewhere for you to go,

-we can't start the work.

-That's it, yeah.

-Right.

So I think, really, the next phase is then probably for us to arrange

-a meeting with Belinda...

-Yes.

..our housing manager, and we can discuss the finer details

of kind of, yes, decamping you, and hopefully we can get some dates

and talk and decide where we're going to put you.

-And go from there.

-Thank you so much. Let's go.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

'It's a tricky situation for Matt,

'but something clearly had to be done.

'The family are now facing possibly months of turmoil

'before they can move back to a house

'that they'd only just started calling home.'

Of course, damp in any property's a problem.

But then, how does it change things when there's a young child

-in that property, as well?

-It changes a lot,

because speed now is of the essence

and what we've got to do is act quickly now and get it done

-as soon as possible.

-Good stuff, Matt.

-Shall we go?

-Yeah.

'Later, we'll catch up with Matt and the team

'as Sarah is on the move again.'

We had to do quite a bit of work to get it habitable for Sarah

and to make it nice and comfortable for her.

It's quite a big thing, because we've only just moved into

the other property, really,

and then big upheaval, go again, pack things up,

like, you've just moved in.

In the Essex district of Tendring lies the coastal village of Jaywick.

Once a popular tourist destination,

its temporary cabins were built to accommodate holidaying families,

offering a welcome break from city life.

However, this seasonal location has since become a permanent home

for more than 4,500 residents.

Obviously this place wasn't designed for so many people all year round,

and that's led to some complex problems for the tenants.

One of the problems that keeps housing officer Rob Goswell busy

is fly-tipping.

It's not just an eyesore for residents,

it poses serious health risks,

and it's becoming increasingly common.

So, what we have here is a typical kind of empty property,

fly-tipping kind of complaint.

A numerous amount of rubbish has been deposited throughout the plot.

As you can see, this is a worst-case scenario for the tenant next door

and it can be disheartening -

if the person next door isn't trying, why should I, you know?

No matter how much I try to make my property look nice,

I have this eyesore next to me.

So it really is kind of very much a downward spiral for them, as well,

because they don't see the point and they can feel depressed about it.

Jaywick was recently revealed to be one of the most deprived areas

in England. And coupled with the village's geography,

there are some pretty good reasons why fly-tipping seems to be

on the increase.

Many people don't drive in Jaywick and the nearest recycling centre

is roughly about three miles away.

So that's a long way to go when you haven't got a car

and you've got a lot of bulky items.

So it makes it difficult for them to get rid of their rubbish.

So an empty plot that's not maintained,

long grass, can be an attractive alternative just to get rid of it.

Many of these people are some of the poorest.

They don't have the money to pay to have it removed -

many of the removal services will charge a considerable sum

to get rid of their waste.

So this is why we deal with this issue more so in Jaywick

than anywhere else across Tendring.

Today, Rob and his colleague Ian Kavanagh have come

to investigate a property that has been

attracting complaints from neighbours.

It's an empty house, but it's now become a magnet for fly-tippers.

-Right, this is the empty property?

-Yeah.

But we need to go around and check round the back,

cos that's where we've got issues, round there,

so I'm just going to have a quick look.

The problems don't seem obvious from the front,

but once the boys go down the side alley, it's a very different story.

They've trampled down the fence.

So we had a fence here, so they've trampled that down

and then they put all this rubbish...

Put all this here.

-So I'll get a picture of that.

-Yeah.

It's sad but true - once someone's dumped rubbish in one place,

other fly-tippers will follow and that makes the problem much worse.

So we get that and try and get the owner to get it cleared,

but we need to get this boundary reinstated here,

because otherwise you're never going to tackle this issue of fly-tipping.

Rubbish like this poses a huge fire risk, and in Jaywick,

where most of the houses are wood framed, that could be disastrous.

We've probably even got a gas bottle in there somewhere.

Yeah... Some burnt...

There's a burnt mattress there.

-You don't want it to go up.

-No, it's flammable.

In this weather it could go up. All it takes is a cigarette butt.

A lot of dry grass, you know,

that could cause a lot of issues round here.

The fly-tip is even threatening an empty plot

at the rear of the property.

We've got issues there, as well, haven't we?

We've got a lot of dry grass here, haven't we?

And then we've got all the bin bags over there.

-And this is definitely flammable, look.

-Yeah.

Don't want a fire here.

That could cause a lot of issues, when we get fires down here.

Look how close it is to a property there.

-Yeah, I know.

-There's one there.

With the grass, you know, wouldn't be the first time we've had

-a fire spread around.

-No.

-So...

-A lot of material to go up.

-Yeah.

If the rubbish were to go up in flames,

it would cause huge problems for the neighbours.

So Rob needs to take action,

tracking down the landlord of the empty house as soon as possible.

With a lot of accumulation of rubbish behind empty properties,

there's always a chance of fire and causing a lot of other issues

which will affect a lot of the residents,

so it's important that we try and get rid of the rubbish

and write to the owners to remind them of their obligation

to stop the rubbish there.

It's always difficult, chasing owners round here,

because a lot of the plots aren't registered.

So it's going to take a lot of work to try and get rid of this,

but we'll try our best to sort of write to the owner

and get rid of it.

It's the property owner's responsibility to make sure his land

is clear and steps are taken to ensure it's secure,

to prevent fly-tipping in the future.

If the owner does nothing,

the council has the power to step in themselves

to make the area safe for residents.

Since their visit, Rob and Ian did manage

to get the area clear of rubbish.

However, it wasn't long before they discovered more fly-tipping

had occurred on the same site.

But the boys aren't giving up and have been working with the council's

pollution team to find a long-term solution to the problem.

Earlier, we saw how housing officer Matt Young was faced with

a particularly pongy problem.

-Oh, yeah, no...

-You can see the mould growing...

Oh, God.

'Sarah and her young family only recently moved into this property

'and now they're faced with some shock news.'

The whole floor from here to the back wall

is going to have to come up.

Essentially, you'll need to be moved out.

Today, Matt's taking trainee Ashley along to see Sarah as she prepares

to uproot her family for the second time in as many months.

The issue we have with it is we have a family living

in the property, serious damp issues,

three of the concrete floors have to come on up

-and it's not going to be a quick job.

-How long will it take?

They reckon between four to five weeks to actually complete it.

It's been an anxious time for the family,

with housing officers scouring the local area to find a temporary home,

without success.

We tried several hotels, guesthouse B&Bs,

other housing associations,

to see whether they had any suitable properties that we could borrow

for five weeks, and that all drew up as a blank.

One of the children suffers from asthma,

so keeping the family in the damp property

was becoming a serious health issue.

And with all the usual avenues providing a dead end,

Matt and the team have come up with a fairly creative housing solution.

We did have another property of ours which was up for sale

and what we've done is actually withdrawn that from the sale

and we're now going to kind of decamp Sarah into that new property.

The house in question is just a few hundred yards from the family's

current home, but it's a rundown 200-year-old listed building

that's been empty for some time.

OK, so let's meet the contractors and see what they've got up to

and whether everything is now completed.

It's close to the kids' school and would minimise disruption

to the family, so Sarah's keen to check the property out.

Will this wild card solution prove suitable?

It's quite a big thing, because we've only just moved into

the other property, really, and then big upheaval, go again,

pack things up, like, you've just moved in.

Let's go through into the kitchen then, shall we, and...

-see what's happening.

-It looks great.

Ah, good. Right.

New kitchen light's gone up, which is excellent.

-Oh, yeah.

-I'm assuming just doing the final...

-Yeah.

-..phases of the testing here, are we?

Yeah. Yeah, just the final phases.

Good, excellent.

The 200-year-old building's electrics

have been brought up to date,

but there's something crucial missing from the kitchen.

I think Monday we will arrange to have the cooker

and washing machine plumbed on in.

Yeah, no, that's brilliant. We'd be lost without those.

-Yeah, definitely.

-Yeah, no, that's great.

So, let's pop upstairs, then, shall we,

and let's have a look round up there.

Sarah seems happy that the kitchen will have everything she needs,

without the additional damp smell.

And upstairs looks like it'll be fit for purpose

for the rest of the family.

I think, with the Velux window in there,

-that helps, as well, doesn't it?

-That's great.

I think that's great for the children, as well.

This is where the children are going to be, one of them?

Yeah, this is where my teenage son will be.

Right, the hot water cylinder is in here,

and we have the programmer in here, which will control it.

-OK?

-No, that's fantastic.

-That's good.

Ah, we have light.

-Brilliant.

-Mm.

-Right, so standard type sink and toilet.

-Yeah.

We've put a new shower hose and head on.

That's lovely, yeah.

The guided tour has done its job.

Sarah's happy the housing association's

hastily-arranged property will be a perfect temporary new home.

Everyone's been really helpful and informative.

So we've known what's happening every step of the way,

so nobody has had to worry about any situations, really.

Finally the lounge, then, Sarah.

And she's already looking forward to moving back home,

when the new floor at her previous property's been installed.

Four to six weeks' time we'll be out of here,

back into our property and all sort of safe and sound

in a nice clean home.

-Brilliant.

-Thanks.

-Thank you very much.

So excited, super excited. Everybody is.

For Matt and the team, it looks like a little

lateral thinking has paid off.

A lot of work ahead, but we will liaise with Sarah

and we will give her weekly updates.

It would've been a lot more difficult

if this one wasn't available and we had had to move her further afield.

We had to do quite a bit of work to get it habitable for Sarah

and to make it nice and comfortable for her.

But those things have now been done and they'll certainly be finished by

the end of today, and Sarah will be able to move in at the weekend.

I'm delighted to report that the housing association's contractors

wasted no time getting to grips with the problems

in Sarah's original property.

The damp issue has now been fully resolved, the smell has gone,

and the family has moved back in.

Defending our rights to a safe place to live is the job of

housing officers right across the UK.

This is how they live.

-It's almost like he's declared war on everybody...

-Everybody...

..that's living here, it's not just you guys.

I'm working alongside the men and women that do exactly that.

It looks like whoever was here had their last couple of parties

and then decided to give it up.

Hitting the streets,

finding out what's happening on the front line...

This is a good example of a good old waste of council time.

..as we make sure a house is a fit place to call a home.

There's a strong smell of damp and you can notice it as soon as

you come in the property.

We're going to have no choice but to take them to court.

Job well done.

The average cost of renting a property outside of London

rose by just over 5% last year, standing at around £750 a month.

However, for those looking to rent a place inside the capital,

they're faced with now paying more than double that

for a roof over their heads, so it's no wonder the pressure on

affordable social housing has increased.

There are currently 1.2 million families

on the waiting list for a home,

so councils need to make sure that those most in need

can get a roof over their heads as soon as possible.

'In Havering, where London meets Essex, a team of council officers,

'led by Rob Kleinberg...'

Boss's coffee.

'..is gradually visiting all 9,500 social homes in the borough

'to check the right tenants are in the right properties.'

Tell me about the area that we're going to.

Right, so, I mean, the whole of the Havering area is very

mixed demographic, with regard to income.

-Yeah.

-So...

Overall, generally, it's a really sought-after area

because we're only 25 minutes from the city.

It's very leafy here, isn't it? It's quite green.

Yeah, it's gorgeous.

It's almost like the first borough of London where you start

to see fields.

Also, we're a five-minute drive from The Only Way Is Essex.

-So it's got glamour.

-There's glamour, as well.

Havering's got glamour.

Yeah, we're on the doorstep of glamour.

'I knew I should've packed that fake tan.

'Rob's team do an important job,

'as nationally there's been a sharp increase in the number of tenants

'secretly subletting their homes,

'possibly as a result of those increased rents.

'But if a council tenant moves out of their property,

'they have to let the council know

'so it becomes available to the next family on the waiting list.'

So, this particular area that we're going to now is a mixed area

with regards to the private build properties that are under social...

..stock and also mass-built social properties.

-So, this is our road that we're targeting today.

-OK.

'The council has a list of who they think should be living in each

'of their properties.

'Warning letters have been sent out to tenants that the team

'are coming, but they don't know when.

'You can understand why the team would want to make this

'a surprise inspection.'

Right, that's that one, so...

'But that does mean, this morning, at least,

'we're having trouble finding people at home.

'We decide to split up to cover more ground.

'Zed and I are off to check out a block of flats.'

So, we have the name of the tenants here.

-Yes.

-And their ages?

Their age, so that's all we know as of yet.

We're just trying to identify them as the correct tenant

-when we go to the property.

-Yeah, exactly.

So with this, you know, we're going to the address to check

that the person who we've got marked as living at the property

is living at the property.

'There are more than 2,000 families on the social home waiting list

'here in Havering, so if there are any houses being unlawfully sublet,

'Zed and the team are here to see they're brought back

'into the council fold.

'Yet again, there doesn't seem to be anyone home.

'I'm beginning to wonder if the word's gone round.'

Hold on.

"No junk mail, no free newspapers,

"takeaway menus, charity bags, leaflets,

"flyers..." All right.

"No TV filming crew..."

"No TV filming crews, council, council employees."

I mean, we are ticking off a lot of boxes.

-Yeah.

-Not necessarily getting much done.

-No.

-I'm going to try my knock.

'Even my special knock is not working.'

In my expert opinion, we're not going to get an answer.

It's not that big a flat.

-It's not like they have to come from the West Wing.

-No.

'But just as we're about to call it a day we get a stroke of luck.

'There's a tenant Zed's been keen to talk to

'and a neighbour has let us in the building.'

We sent out some correspondence end of last year to everyone,

all of our tenants, in relation to coming round

to all the properties, all 9,500. Today is your day.

-Have you got time to do that with us today?

-Yeah.

'The tenant is happy for us to come inside, but without the cameras.

'And although we find no evidence of fraud,

'Zed's found plenty to report back on.'

OK, so... I mean, there we have a house that is...

What it is on the paper,

you know, which is the chap living there by himself,

the tenant and nobody else with him, no secrets, nothing being hidden,

but clearly he's in a right old state.

I mean, as you walk through the door, it's clear that the house

is basically a time capsule.

-Yeah.

-It seems like it's frozen. For one reason or another, you know,

there's a lot of tobacco staining...

-Yeah.

-..the place is pretty filthy generally.

-Of course.

But, you know, is that something that you need to take action,

to let people know about?

We do highlight these factors to the relevant people that we can

and make sure they're followed up.

We're trying to help, we're trying to do our job,

but also, we are trying to help as much as we can.

She's a lovely lady who's bringing him round food,

-making sure, checking on him...

-And, you know, even halfway through,

the other guy that came along, as well, sort of just...

-The community of help there.

-Exactly.

'So, no fraud, but definitely plenty of community spirit.

'And it's good to know Zed's going to feed back on his concerns

'for the tenant. But our journey continues,

'and I'm joining Debbie to see if we have any more luck on her beat.'

DOORBELL RINGS

Who is it?

My name is Debbie Robertson, I'm calling from Havering Council.

-Yeah?

-We're currently doing tenancy audits

to all our properties in the borough.

Oh, all right. Come in, then.

'This looks promising.

'I mean, at least we're through the door.'

What we're doing is we're going to each property and giving an update

-on who's actually living in the property...

-Yeah.

..and making sure the right person's actually living in that property.

-Yeah.

-If possible, could I have a form of ID,

either passport or driver's licence?

'The IDs soon check out.

'Terry and Pat have lived at this property for more than 40 years,

'and now they've got a representative of the council

'standing in their kitchen,

'they're only too happy to share their complaints about

'how they were turned down for a new bathroom.'

-All right...

-They don't take more concern on...

..the tenants, rather than the private tenants.

Was it a walk-in shower you were looking for?

Yes, yes.

-Anything that would help you with the bath?

-Yeah, yeah.

You've got a seat there, you've got a shower,

it helps you to maintain your cleanliness on your own.

You know? And even the girl said, "If you own the place,

"you'd get it installed.

"If you're council, you've got no chance whatsoever,"

and I think that's all wrong.

Can I ask you, what's your difficulty getting in and out?

Getting in and out of the bath. I've got arthritis in both my feet,

my knee and my hands. I've got...

Which I should be using... using these straps.

My husband's got a pacemaker, he's had two heart attacks.

He has trouble getting in and out of the bath.

Now, if we could afford it, we wouldn't bother.

I mean, we put... Not being funny,

but we've put enough money in this house.

We put our own windows in, our own central heating ages ago

because we was going to buy,

but my husband was made redundant and we couldn't.

'There is no question of fraud here,

'but it does sound like the couple could do with a helping hand.

'And although it's not part of her job description,

'Debbie's only too happy to get involved.'

How long ago was this that you went to the council and applied for this?

-Er...a month ago, is it?

-Yeah, yeah.

Have you got the person's details? Maybe I could try and contact her

and try and sort something out for you.

'With both Pat and her husband suffering health issues,

'today's visit has clearly come at the right time.'

Oh, I'm glad you're here, could have another...bit more moan.

THEY LAUGH

-Sometimes it is nice to have a moan.

-Yes, and we heard.

Can I ask, how long have you lived in this property?

We moved in in...

September 4th...

-'74.

-'74.

-Mm.

So you've been here for 42 years.

Not being funny, but it is pristine.

-Your house is spotless.

-Yeah.

-Isn't it?

Hard to keep up on it, because everything's wearing out now!

Yeah, but you... But you go to great efforts to keep this house...

-Oh, yeah, yeah.

-..the way that you want it to be.

Yeah. Well, we've got to live in it, you know?

-Yeah.

-And while I can do it,

and if I can have something to help make life a little bit easier for us

so we can continue on our own, to be independent,

which a lot of people would like to do.

'The average cost for a room in a residential home

'is around £30,000 a year, so it makes sense for councils

'to help tenants remain in their own homes for as long as possible.'

There's loads like me,

that with a little bit of help it wouldn't...

they wouldn't have to have someone come in to care for us.

We could do something for ourselves or have something there to help us.

'This couple clearly love their home and have kept it immaculate

'for more than four decades.

'Looking round this well-kept neighbourhood,

'I bet they're not alone.'

-Thanks for your time.

-Thank you.

-Thank you very much for your time.

-You've made my day now.

LAUGHTER

The message I'm getting from this street is that, in Havering,

you've got a lot of people whose council houses

-have been homes for decades...

-Yeah. Long time.

..and the effort that they've put into that

and the attachment they have to those properties

-is really quite profound.

-Yeah.

Every door we knock on conceals a story of one sort or another.

-It's fascinating, isn't it?

-Yeah, definitely, definitely.

'So, after logging Terry and Pat's concerns,

'we're back hitting the streets.

'And later on, we'll see another tenant

'who's also not too happy with the council.'

They knew this house was dodgy when they offered it to us,

because it had been empty 18 months before we'd moved in.

But we had to make it safe, we had children.

Solving the shortage in social housing doesn't just mean

building more homes.

Local authorities face an ongoing battle to maintain

their older existing stock, too.

But in Stroud, a 60-year-old social housing block has become

so dilapidated the council have little choice but to demolish it.

Whilst the money from the sale of the land will be ploughed

back into housing, the tenants still living in the block

will need help to find new homes.

And that's where housing officer Chris Eadie comes in.

Queens Court has housed 24 properties within it.

A couple of them were owned but the rest...and one was empty.

But I've moved out now about 12 of the remaining 21.

We're down to about ten people.

Along the bottom here we've got single-bedroom flats

and on the top we've got three- and four-bed maisonettes.

And we've got people with different vulnerabilities.

Some people, life is fine and they go to work and everything,

it's all straightforward.

Other people have had difficulties with mental health

or addiction problems.

And part of being a social landlord is, you know,

you need to support people in all different situations.

But when it comes to moving people,

for people who've got background difficulties,

it can be a harder issue.

But the deteriorating condition of the block

has attracted some unwelcome elements,

making life even more difficult for those still here.

We have had quite a lot of antisocial behaviour issues

in this block in the past, so some people were very keen to move.

Empty properties can act like a magnet for antisocial behaviour

and Chris is keen to keep disruption to a minimum

for the final remaining tenants.

But he's discovered that one of the recently vacated properties

isn't exactly helping the cause.

This is a particularly complicated situation.

We had a tenant in here who did get burgled -

that's why we've got the broken windows at the back there.

As a result of that and other issues, he moved out.

In line with support for somebody who appeared to be a victim

in this situation, we've covered his housing benefit

going forward while he was away

and we found him somewhere, a new property to live in.

The council acted quickly to rehouse this tenant after the break-in,

but he wasn't supposed to leave it like this.

We do put onto these areas responsibility for them

to leave the place in a decent condition,

so we'd organised the removals, which we did.

However, a number of things were left,

which you can see scattered around the flat,

and he did promise that he would clear it

and unfortunately he hasn't.

The property is in a pretty poor state and is only going to attract

more antisocial behaviour, and probably rats, too.

Not a pleasant prospect for the remaining tenants.

It will probably mean the council will have to pick up the tab

-for clearing it out.

-It's a balance, really.

You want to get a balance between supporting tenants,

but also them taking responsibility for their part in the move.

And as it hasn't been cleared,

we will probably have to look at charging him for that.

When dealing with different tenants, you look at each

individual situation as it is.

And people do have difficulties in their lives and I seek to be,

you know, considerate towards them in those situations.

But also, I do feel, when people say they're going to do something

and they don't do it and then we can't get back hold of them

and various things, I do find that a bit disappointing.

But that's part of life.

I mean, that can happen in different areas of life, as well.

We have also, on the other side of it,

found him a brand-new flat to live in

and given him new carpets and curtains.

So that's good for him. So it's a balance between us and the tenant.

The whole process is about working together.

Chris will now look to sort out this mess before it causes more problems

for the remaining tenants who, like this former resident,

will soon be rehoused.

Ultimately, that's what Chris and the council want most.

When I see a tenant who's happy that they've moved

and they've found somewhere that they like, that makes me feel good

because I feel like I'm doing the job that I believe in,

which is finding people somewhere good to live

and making that as easy as possible for them.

'Meanwhile, back in Havering,

'the council's audit team were hitting the streets,

'checking the right tenants are in the right properties.

'We haven't found any evidence of fraud yet,

'but we did discover one couple who were keen to be heard.'

There's loads like me that, with a little bit of help, it wouldn't...

they wouldn't have to have someone come in to care for us.

Every door we knock on conceals a story of one sort or another.

-It's fascinating, isn't it?

-Yeah.

'I'm back on the beat with Debbie, as the door knocks continue.'

Some of the most beautifully-kept houses, Debs,

-what's going on?

-Lovely.

I mean, if these are being sort of let out on the sly to people,

then they're being let out to relatives of Alan Titchmarsh,

-I would suggest.

-Yeah.

Look at this. I mean, it's another gorgeous-looking house.

Good afternoon, hi.

-My name is Debbie Robertson from Havering Council.

-Yeah?

We're currently doing audits around all our properties in Havering.

Would it be possible to come and have a chat

with you about the property?

'Although the tenant is at home,

'he'd prefer to talk to the council when his wife is there,

'so Debbie's happy to arrange a revisit.'

-Thank you for your time, sir.

-Take care, cheers.

You take care. Thank you, bye.

'But Rob is having more luck at his address.'

Well, somebody's in.

Hello, there. Sorry to trouble you. Is it...?

'It looks like he's managed to pick up some very useful information.'

It is not the occupant,

it was someone we don't know anything about,

apart from what he told us, which is a relationship

to one of the tenancy-holder's daughters.

You have to take that at face value.

Absolutely. I mean, we can only complete the tenancy audits

with the tenants. But because I saw the van arrive,

I saw that chap coming out of the van, I've got his name and address,

these are all points of verification that I'll make a note of.

I mean, we're here at midday.

I would then schedule this in,

we'd do a return visit for early in the morning.

So we'd come maybe 7am, something like that,

and we'll get a snapshot of who's there and go through the audit.

There are no shortcuts to this process, are there?

-No, there's not, unfortunately.

-It's not even a single visit.

-No, exactly.

-It's like, you can't make an appointment

-to have an ad hoc visit.

-No.

You've got to be there and face... In person, face to face.

Yeah, exactly that.

'It's fascinating to learn the lengths Rob's team will go to

'to make sure the council's housing stock is being used correctly.

'There are definitely no shortcuts here,

'and the team will return to check up

'on the information they've found today.

'At the next house we try, council records show

'we're expecting to find a middle-aged couple.'

Hello, there. Sorry to trouble you.

Rob Klein from London Borough of Havering.

I don't know if you received a letter telling that last year

we were carrying out unannounced visits

to all of the 9,500 property stock?

So, we're at yours today. Is it all right if we just come in,

just go through a couple of questions with you?

Is that all right? Thanks very much.

The occupants here don't want the cameras inside the house,

but they are happy for me to go in and listen to what takes place,

the kind of questions that are being asked and the information

that Rob and Zed are trying to find out.

So, be back with you in a minute.

Have you got...? One of you got a form of positive ID, a passport,

driving licence, just something...?

Yeah, that'll be ideal, just something...

'The IDs check out -

'the right people are in the right home.

'But again, now there's a representative from the council

'in their house, they're keen to talk about the problems

'they've had with the property with the cameras present.'

I just wanted to understand a little bit about your situation.

I mean, clearly your health is an issue at the moment.

Heidi, what are you going through at the moment?

I'm...getting over...

Well, in the process of getting prepared for dialysis.

I've had a fistula put in my arm.

-So you've got one kidney that's in the process of failure...

-Yeah.

-..and you need help with that, possibly long-term dialysis.

-Yes.

Your home needs to work, doesn't it?

If your home is falling apart, you're going to fall apart.

If your home looks nice, you feel nice.

This house, unfortunately, it does suffer badly with mould.

And last thing you need is mould

when you've got other health problems, as well,

because it can affect your breathing, any number of things.

'Although dealing with the condition of the property is not strictly

'in Rob's team's job description,

'they're keen to learn more about why Heidi's problems

'haven't been sorted.'

-This is a council home, a council house.

-Yes, yes.

So for me... I've never lived in a council house,

but I would imagine that you can call, pick the phone up and say,

"This needs sorting out, you're my landlord,

"please come and make it happen." Why hasn't that happened here?

Because it's too long-winded.

I mean, they knew this house was dodgy when they offered it to us,

because it had been empty 18 months before we'd moved in.

But we had to make it safe, we had children.

I mean, my youngest at the time was only about four years old.

He had to have a safe environment.

In the end, they did it, but they didn't want to.

'I can sympathise with Heidi's situation,

'especially as she's suffering ill health,

'but it's hard to see what the council could've done

'if they weren't aware of the situation.

'That means this visit could've come at exactly the right time.'

Today, Rob and Zed have come through

to find out what's going on in the house.

Rob seems really confident that he'll be able to sort

-these problems out for you.

-Seeing is believing.

The main thing I would like help with is the mould.

I'm going to leave you in peace now.

Thank you so much for talking to us and sharing what's going on.

'The team haven't discovered any fraud at this address,

'but they have found a family who claim to be suffering and haven't,

'for whatever reason, reached out to those who could've helped.

'You have to wonder what would've happened

'if Rob hadn't knocked on their door.'

So that's what happens when relationships and communication

breaks down between occupants and the council.

There's a lot of mistrust,

certainly, on the side of the occupants there.

But then, without that communication, nothing gets done.

And that's the real challenge now, is to take that situation

and try and make some changes

which will make what feels like

a really difficult situation for them...

..for that family, a little bit easier, if at all possible.

So, we'll wait and see.

'I'm pleased to say that, since that visit,

'the council did get back in touch with Terry and Pat

'and offered a shower and bath board,

'which hopefully will make life that little bit easier for them both.'

That's it for today, but join me again next time

when I'll be back on the front line with the housing enforcers.