Episode 14 The Housing Enforcers

The law says everyone has the right to a safe place to live.

I worry about the fire risk here.

But for thousands of people across Britain right now,

the reality can be more hovel than home.

How many months ago was it we had this place?

-The whole of that but goes black with mould.

-Hello.

-In the battle between tenants and landlords...

-It's your fault not the door's fault...

-..it's local housing officers...

-What's causing that smell?

-..who are on the front line.

The son's come out with baseball bats and knives...

'I'm Matt Allwright.'

A lot of this problem is caused by the dogs.

That's your responsibility.

And I'm back on the job once again joining

the ranks of the housing enforcers.

It's got that mouse smell.

They're tackling problem properties.

It feels like an accident waiting to happen.

Dealing with the consequences of nightmare neighbours.

So, I need to tell you that you are committing an offence under the Housing Act.

And doing their best to help those in need.

Today I uncover a shocking case of overcrowding.

I think you've got at least two beds in here

and possibly this one as well. This is bed number eight.

A dispute between landlord

and tenant has left a flat in urgent need of upkeep.

It needs to be done properly. He has been cutting corners too long.

The biggest problem we have is access, and he doesn't actually allow us in.

And we meet someone living in a space the same size as a garage

because...it is a garage.

I've been using the bed, sitting while I'm eating, to watch telly,

this is the whole space I have.

All of this, I would say, took up the space of a car.

It is said that an Englishman's home is his castle but,

if that is a rented castle, then it is the job of housing officers

to make sure that it is a safe and decent place to live.

They keep an eye on landlords

to make sure the property's up to scratch

and on some tenants to make sure

they are keeping their half of the bargain.

In Sandwell, West Midlands, a dispute between a tenant

and a landlord has reached crisis point.

Housing officer Richard Hawkins is briefing me on the case.

We're going to be looking at a house, a guy called Claude.

He is living literally in a flat above a shop

and he has had a few problems with disrepairs

and there are some issues between him and his landlord

which we haven't quite got to the bottom of, yet.

We're talking about big stuff that needs doing.

We're talking about big stuff.

We're talking about fire exits, which is obviously serious.

It is a life or death situation. Fire kills, smoke kills.

-What kind of shop is it?

-It's a chip shop.

So he needs a little bit more protection and oversight than elsewhere.

I have already served a notice to the landlord,

to let him know of the problems that I've found.

I want to see that the landlord has done something today.

Fire safety in any property is a deadly serious issue.

But the landlord is claiming that part-time musician, Claude,

hasn't allowed him access to do the repairs and now he wants him evicted.

The landlord had more than enough time to help me out but he didn't.

And he didn't want to. If you don't maintain it it'll get worse.

If he did look after it before, it wouldn't have gotten to this stage.

-Do you know what I mean?

-Like any story, this one has got two sides.

First, let's see what Claude has to say.

Is this the bedroom, obviously? And this is your living area as well.

-Yes.

-OK. You've been in this flat now for eight years.

-Over eight years.

-Going on nine.

-Has it always been like this or has it changed over time?

It was all right before when, say, the first two or three years.

When things are supposed to get done properly he tries to do it himself.

Your impression then is that he will only do the work

-when something like this is about to happen?

-Yes, yes.

From the stuff that we know, Richard, that has got to be sorted out,

we ought to have a check round and see what has been done.

-Have you let them in to do any work at all?

-No, they are only just trying to do it now.

-They have not been trying to do it all the time.

-Right.

If Richard and I go to him and say, "You have got to do this work",

-would you let him in now?

-Yes.

-To sort these problems out.

-Yes.

-OK.

The first issue on the list, some very dodgy smoke alarms.

-Right.

-So we've got a smoke alarm, and the battery is going.

It's working, for now.

I mean, the issue we've got there is if that was beeping,

it shouldn't be doing that. It is a battery alarm.

I have seen no certification from the landlord so far

so at the moment, that's not good enough.

It's his bedroom as well, so...

Let's have a look at the one in the bedroom.

I don't know. How does that work? It is kind of hanging off.

I mean, it may be a hard-wired detector with a battery backup

and what's happened is the reason that was beeping in there is because the power is cut to it.

We're asking him to provide the certificates.

If he doesn't provide the certificates then how are we meant to know?

You are at least four times more likely to die in a fire

if there is no working smoke alarm.

So it's crucial that this gets sorted as soon as possible.

Right, kitchen door.

In a rented property,

decent fire doors could also make the difference between life and death.

It has got a brush on it. We still want to see the certification.

He should have certificates for it when it was fitted, and we've just asked him to provide that.

It is a perfectly reasonable thing to ask.

If you are managing a building like this, certainly

something that is above a chip shop, carries those extra risks...

I am really concerned about the fire risks in this property.

That's what we've gone round and looked at.

So I'm going to give a call to some of my colleagues

at West Midlands Fire Service and I'm going to ask them to send one of their officers.

It needs to be done properly. He has been cutting corners too long. Do you know what I mean?

And you're making me worried now thinking about my life.

Right now I've had enough of him and I just want to get out.

-Well, let's see what we can do to try and lower the risk for you, all right?

-Thank you.

Coming up, the landlord puts his side of the story.

-We try our best. He just does not allow us access.

-Right.

That is the biggest issue we have got at this present moment.

My next assignment is taking me south, to the city of Oxford,

where housing officer Matt Kidger is on the case of a private tenant

who is apparently living in severely cramped conditions.

So, we've tied our horses up. And just around the corner is the house that we're going to.

Only this isn't a house after all.

To my astonishment, it turns out that this tenant is living in a converted garage.

There is a really high demand for housing in Oxford.

And I think that has pushed people into wanting to use

quite small spaces, buildings in the back garden, and sometimes even sheds to live in,

because unfortunately, that is all they can afford at this time.

And Oxford Council's currently investigating

over 250 of these outbuildings in and around the city.

We're going to have a knock...

Although we were allowed access to the property,

the tenant didn't want to be filmed.

She did consent to an interview after our visit on the condition that she remains anonymous.

This is basically a garage converted...sort of studio.

This is my kitchen, as you can see. My little stove, this is where I do the cooking.

This is my bedroom/lounge/dining room...

Yeah, because then I'll be using my bed, sitting while I'm eating, to watch telly.

And this is the whole space I have.

To say there is no room to swing a cat is putting it mildly.

And the tenant is paying £480 a month for the privilege.

One-bed properties in the area average between £600-£800 a month.

It is not really that much of a saving when you think she is living in a garage.

This is the sliding door towards my toilet. It's pretty small.

It is extremely small.

Most of my clothes are in here. It's actually part of my wardrobe.

You know, it doesn't have any ceiling. At night, it is really freezing. It is...

Actually the whole house is very, very cold.

That is the only heating for the whole place.

It is not well built for any living human being to be here.

And you only realise those things when you are in here and living.

Because it is not built properly for anybody to live in.

It's hard to believe anyone's existing in such incredibly

confined conditions.

I'm trying to make sense of the permutations in that house.

We have a garage that's been turned into a tiny dwelling

with its own front door.

Yes, it's a very small space and also,

the bathing facilities are situated under a clear plastic roof,

which isn't going to be very warm particularly.

It's not going to have very good what we call insulative properties.

-All of this, I would say, took up the space of a car and a bit.

-Yeah.

-So, really tiny.

-Really small, yeah.

And one thing I may look at is, you've got a lot of soft

furnishings in there, bedding, clothing,

and it's all very close to the cooking facilities, where the

hob is, the oven, which is a potential source of ignition,

so you don't want it going up in flame.

But it's not just a case of turning up on the doorstep

and deeming this a home not fit to live in.

The difficulty is that this is somewhere for somebody to live.

-Yeah, of course.

-And, I mean, we've got

a job here where we have to make a decision about whether,

effectively, that person will have to find somewhere else.

Yeah, it's a really... Not a very nice circumstance at all.

Ideally, when we go to properties, what

I want to be doing is recommending or requiring improvements.

In tough circumstances like this, we've got a very small space.

It may not be able to be brought up to standard

and the tenant may have to move on, which is not a good thing.

So, it's on to our bikes and back to the office to try

and work out what's the best thing to do next.

That's the difficult bit about this job, is that yeah, of course, that

place is too small and dangerous and cold, but it's still her home.

It means that possibly there'll be a decision made in this

room that will make her homeless and that's not easy.

Coming up, we find out why this lady's prepared to put up

-with these living conditions.

-I've come from my...

All the comfort and the luxury that I could have given myself to

give my child the best education.

Back in Sandwell, a dispute with his landlord has left part-time

musician Claude on the brink of being evicted.

It needs to be done properly. He's been cutting corners too long.

What we need to do is address the breakdown in relations

with his landlord, who insists that Claude hasn't been

letting him in to do the repairs,

and is threatening him with eviction.

Luckily, the landlord's son has agreed to speak to me

on camera, but he's asked for his face not to be shown.

You can carry on with the eviction

and Claude will have to find somewhere else to live.

You've got to find a tenant as well.

But there's a chance today to maybe kind of reset this whole thing

and start again. Is that something that you'd be happy to do?

I am more than happy to do that.

I am happy to get the work done first, if need be,

and then we can look into...

As long as the housing benefit starts paying,

or whatever needs to be done. My duty is to make sure that he's safe in there and we try our best.

-He just does not allow us access.

-Right.

-You know...

That is the biggest issue we've got at this present moment.

-Ideally, Claude could move out somewhere...

-Yeah.

-Just do all the work that needs to be done...

-That's the best scenario.

Have you got other properties he could go into temporarily?

I can possibly get something arranged, yes.

-Can I take that message to him and see what happens?

-Yes, of course you can.

-Thank you for talking to me.

So that is potentially good news.

Just goes to show that clear communication between a tenant

and a landlord is absolutely crucial.

-We might have a bit of a solution.

-Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, the landlord's said that he wants to let you stay,

if you want to, on the understanding that you let him

in to get the work done, so he can improve it for you,

the things that I've asked him to do.

And the benefits are sorted out, so that he's being paid again.

We can get the problems sorted out in this flat for you.

You're going to have somewhere safe to live, you're going

to have a roof over your head and the landlord's obviously then going to get everything sorted for you.

Claude, I came here on day one, told you I was going to look after you...

-Yes, you did.

-And I've looked after you.

-Yes.

-And we'll make sure that everything's sorted for you.

-All you've got to do is do what we've asked.

-Not a problem.

-All right?

-I will do.

-Thank you very much.

-It's all right.

-Thank you.

Coming up, things take a turn for the worse for Claude.

In two weeks' time, he is going to have bailiffs here.

I ain't bothered.

-What can they do?

-They'll throw you out on the street.

Back in Oxford, we're investigating the case of a tenant who

has been living in a tiny converted garage for over four years.

Not built properly for anybody to live in.

It's the turn of housing officer Paul Fitzgerald to visit this

miniature property and make an assessment as to

whether it's deemed suitable for someone to call home.

As you can see, the living accommodation is not really,

I think, to standard for a normal living person.

Because of the desperation and lack of choice,

you find yourself living in this condition.

This tenant works as a care assistant and incredibly,

her tiny garage is also home to her 13-year-old son.

My son sleeps here and I sleep on the other side.

It turns out that she's prepared to sacrifice her own

comfort in order to fund her son's private education.

With the money that I earn, me and his dad,

we contribute to take him to a prep school.

The fees are close to £5,000 per term.

It's one of the best schools around. Very expensive.

It was pretty hard for him because almost every parent there was

driving the most expensive car you can think of.

He was not even aware that we were living in a garage until his

friends said to him, so it was pretty obvious that we're not rich.

I used to feel bad at first, but I said to myself - you know what?

I'm not here for them, I'm here for him. He is the most important person.

I compromised all the comfort

and the luxury that I could have given myself getting a two-bedroom

flat or a one-bedroom flat to give my child the best education.

After his assessment, housing officer Paul is far from happy

with the state of this cramped accommodation.

And his concerns about the lack of heating

and potential fire risk lead him to only one conclusion.

Most likely outcome on this will be a planning enforcement notice

because of the addition that's been built on to the back

of the garage, which now houses the shower room.

And I will be serving a prohibition order prohibiting

the residential use of the garage.

The prohibition order won't come in to effect immediately.

So, the tenant will have time to find alternative accommodation.

Our tenant's unaware that she may be forced out of this inadequate

property, but she's still pleased that the authorities are looking into her case.

I'm happy that the council got involved and I think they are doing a good job and them

coming here just to evaluate and check

and do checks is more important for people like us

and in that way, it gives us the dignity in ourselves to

live like human beings, rather than living like, you know, animals.

We blurred the face of the lady we met in Oxford

because she didn't want anyone to know that she

lived in a converted garage, even though she made that

decision for the very best of reasons - her son's education.

The council's now placed a prohibition order on that

property, which means that neither she nor anybody else will be

living in that converted garage.

Meanwhile, they're doing their very best to find her somewhere

else to live.

I'm back in Oxford, with housing officer Clive Salisbury.

He's been tipped off about

something that sounds pretty suspicious.

We've had a report of a property in the Cowley Road area that

-maybe has too many people living in it.

-Right.

And doesn't have a licence. So we're going to go and have a look at that.

Oxford has more than 7,000 homes that must be

licensed as houses of multiple occupation, or HMOs,

in order to accommodate more than three people.

But it sounds like this unlicensed property could be bursting at the seams.

Knock on the door and see what we see.

KNOCKS ON DOOR

From the very first room we enter,

it's clear there's more than one person sleeping here.

There is no smoke detection in this room.

Landlords are legally required to make sure smoke

alarms are kept in working order,

but on the ground floor at least, this doesn't seem to be happening.

-Do you want to check the smoke alarm?

-Yeah.

Since that might not... OK. That's not very good.

Into the next room and the evidence continues to stack up.

OK, so first impressions in here, Matt?

First impressions are that we've got three beds...

All the beds are used, it's got a warm fuggy smell. Not ventilated.

Clothes hanging around.

There's a window, but the window's only to another room.

So you're never going to get any fresh air in here. You've got three people sleeping in here.

We've been to two rooms so far in this terrace and already, we've found five people.

And I have come across situations like this before, where restaurant staff...

They work at lunchtime and they work in the evening and they have a

day room, as they would call it, just to rest in between shifts.

Houses of multiple occupation must

be licensed by the council to make sure they're safe and suitable

for the number of people living there.

Landlords of unlicensed HMOs face fines of up to £20,000.

If this is the landlord and his family living here

then he has a family predominantly of young to middle-aged men, that's it.

It's not shaping up at the moment to be a family.

It's not looking like a family house. Anyway, maybe we'll find out.

Let's move on.

Things don't improve when we head towards the kitchen.

So good shots of the work surfaces

and particularly the cooker, which could do with a bit of a clean.

This is a high-risk room

and I can't see any kind of fire detection or smoke detection at all.

Everywhere we look in this property there are clear

indications of a large number of tenants.

So far, we've got five beds in here

and another mattress actually says two beds in there.

So we're up to seven, no, hold on,

yeah, seven and we're still on the ground floor.

Coming up, the bed count continues.

This is bed number eight, so far.

In Sandwell, when tenant Claude finally agreed to allow his landlord

access to make repairs in his flat, things were looking up.

-All you've got to do is do what we've asked, all right?

-I will do.

Thank you very much.

But, a few days later, housing officer Richard

has had some bad news.

This morning I spoke with the landlord of Claude's flat and

we discussed the works that he's been doing and unfortunately he slipped in that

he's going to potentially be evicting Claude in the next two weeks.

Unfortunately, Claude hasn't been allowing access to the flat to get

the works done which is, from what I can tell from the landlord,

frustrated him somewhat.

If a possession order is served, Claude could find himself

out on the street, so Richard now needs to lay it on the line.

-Claude, is it OK to come in?

-Yes.

Right, the repairs.

-He's been trying to do some.

-Have you let him in the flat?

No, because he doesn't want to do my flat.

So Claude still isn't letting the landlord in.

And to make matters worse, his rent payments have now stopped completely.

It seems the landlord has tried his best

and he is well within his rights to take action.

-In two weeks' time he's going to have bailiffs here.

-I ain't bothered.

He can come round with the bailiffs, what can they do?

They'll throw you out on the street.

All Richard can do now is help Claude to prepare for the worst.

I need to know that if you're going to be moving out that you have

been given opportunity to get yourself somewhere else to live

if you're moving out from here.

What I'm going to do, Claude, I'm going to pass your details on to

Housing Options, they're our team that manage homeless cases.

I'm going to ask them to speak with you to help you find another property.

If you can, I would be glad.

I hope he's listened to what I said to him today,

I don't think I could be clearer.

I will try and get him the help he needs.

If he doesn't take it, he may be in trouble, he may be OK.

We'll have to see.

With the possession order in place, Claude's eviction is imminent.

Luckily, he's taken Richard's advice because within days,

he's got a meeting with housing officer, Raj.

OK, take a seat, Claude.

It's Raj's job to find Claude somewhere to live

and keep him off the streets.

Because you're housing options and your homelessness,

we've done the homelessness application already.

OK, we've got some here in the Smethwick area.

They're on the fifth floor, this one is.

That one's on eighth and that one's on the 11th.

Anywhere, really, just a good house, really, to tell you the truth.

I'm going like I can choose but anything is better than there.

Last night was cold and I still opened a window.

OK, that's Lancaster House, there. The view is good.

Yeah, I'll look up that one.

And that one as well.

Two is enough for a day, innit?

I'll arrange a viewing for that.

OK, thank you. I'll see you soon then. Thank you.

The meeting went well.

He's got a couple of properties that he's going to be viewing.

It seemed that he wants to go into one of the properties that

he's seeing so I'm very hopeful.

With Raj's help, a few days later,

Claude's getting ready to move out to a new place.

It's all right moving out. I've got to look at it on the bright side.

I'm very happy to move out of here. Very, very, very, very happy.

Claude may be leaving his home of eight years

but at least he's not facing life on the street.

Hopefully I should be in by Wednesday,

moving into a brand-new house.

Richard has been really good.

He's listened to my story.

If I get £1 million tomorrow I'm surely going to buy him

a drink, you know what I mean? Definitely.

Claude's now moved into his new flat.

Great news for him

and his landlord, who can at last get on with repairing his property.

Back in Oxford, I'm visiting an overcrowded house, whose owner

is trying to evade the council rules designed to keep tenants safe.

If this is the landlord and his family living here,

then he has a family predominantly of young to middle-aged men, that's it.

It's not shaping up at the moment to be a family room, is it?

It's not looking like a family house.

We're still on the ground floor

but already we've seen signs that five people are living here

and every available space seems like it's being used as a bedroom.

It's got beds in it, but it's also got a plastic roof.

It'll be a bit chilly in the winter in here then.

Despite these appalling conditions,

it's clear people are using this makeshift space to sleep in.

Time to move upstairs, to see how many more tenants are squeezed into this house.

It's damp in here and it's cold as well.

It's really damp.

You can see the paper's all peeling from down here,

so at some point this roof is failing.

This is bed number eight, so far, in here.

But this over-populated

and dilapidated property has one more surprise in store.

Where's my assistant gone? Oh, there he is, he's popped out the hobbit hole!

You're going to like/not like this, Clive.

I've made a startling discovery of my own down in the cellar.

-Oh, that's good.

-That's what you call...

-Ropey electrics.

That is what you call a shonky job.

But the electrics aren't the only worrying thing down here.

So a load of junk, basically.

Three or four mattresses, half a dozen bikes, abandoned furniture.

It's quite a state, isn't it?

Lots of junk here. Not the only basement in the country that's full of junk,

but then the property action's not very good, the electrics are flaky and

we've got all the guys in the house who won't be able to get out safely.

This is definitely the upper end of the risk.

The number of people, the poor state of repair and all this

down here. This doesn't add up to a happy picture.

Back in daylight,

Clive makes an assessment of everything we've seen this morning.

So, Clive, what do we make of that? That's quite some property there.

Yeah, it's pretty poor condition, isn't it? If we just summarise what we've got.

We had 11 mattresses.

And there was one room we didn't get into.

-So that's 11 before we open that room.

-There's more yet, probably.

About two per room, very shoddy conversion around the back.

Cold and damp for people to live in.

The bathroom's a disgrace

and the kitchen's in a pretty poor state of cleanliness.

But, yeah, this is definitely in the poorest 10% of properties I would normally see.

So what's the action we can take now? Because there is a licensing

scheme for houses of multiple occupancy in Oxford,

this isn't part of it. So does that give you teeth to do something proper?

Ironically, it used to have a licence but it was surrendered by

the owner six months ago, but it certainly looks like it needs one now.

The next stop is to speak to the owner of the property,

find out who he's renting it to and take it from there.

Later, in the office,

Clive's contacted by the son of the property owner.

OK, thanks for your call. Bye.

He's said that as far as he is aware, the house is

rented out by his dad to a guy who runs a restaurant in Oxford and his family.

We'll be taking it further with the owner

and the restaurateur, to find out who gets the rent, who makes the repairs

and who gets the tenants in there, to find out who's in charge.

We asked the owner of the property to speak to us - he declined.

But, shortly after filming we spoke to his brother-in-law,

who says he sub-lets the property.

He told us that the 11 beds we'd seen at the property were

only being stored there.

He also told us just a handful of relatives were actually

living in the house, including himself.

He said that nobody was paying any rent

because the house was in such a state of repair.

That's it for today's show.

Join me next time when I'll be finding out more about what

it takes to become a front-line housing officer.