Episode 17 The Housing Enforcers

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

-See all these flies?

-Yeah.

But for thousands of people across Britain right now,

the reality can be more hovel than home.

Vermin, vermin, filth.

Oooh!

It's not me. Blame the landlord!

In the battle between tenants and landlords,

it's local housing officers who are on the front line.

-No, we're coming in.

-No, no.

-The police...

-Excuse me.

'I'm Matt Allwright.'

I'm trying to understand how the property could be

in this condition while rent is still coming in.

'And I'm back on the job once again,

'joining the ranks of the housing enforcers.'

It smells like pee. This is somebody's playground.

'They are tackling problem properties...'

It just feels like a time bomb.

'..dealing with the consequences of nightmare neighbours...'

-He called me a

-BLEEP.

'..and doing their very best to help those in need.'

We can stand here and look at the very rich people looking back down.

Today, I meet two families living in truly shocking conditions.

-And here.

-Ah-ha.

-Water.

So when it rains, you get water coming down the light bulb

-and all over the floor.

-Yes.

A derelict house has been menacing the neighbours for over 15 years.

We've got rats running about here at night

and they're coming up that scaffolding to my roof.

My wife is a nervous wreck with the rats running around.

And helping a hoarder who has been holding on to more

than just his belongings.

When you just said quite clearly to me that

in ear shot of me, that

you want to end it all, you've got to say that to a doctor.

Right now, Britain is in the middle of a housing crisis.

If you want to buy a property, typically,

you'll need to have saved almost three years' salary as a deposit.

And that'll get you a mortgage that'll make your eyes water.

No wonder we've now got more people renting than at any time

in the last 60 years.

Protecting those renters are the country's housing enforcers.

And in this programme, that's what I'll be training to become.

Newham, in East London -

famed as the borough that hosted the glory

of the 2012 Olympic Games...

..but also recognised as one of the most deprived areas in the country.

I'm working with housing officer Paul Oatt, investigating

two properties owned by a landlord who is suspected of operating

several unlicensed houses of multiple occupancy.

Morning, sorry to trouble you.

That means any property such as bedsits or shared houses

where there are more than five unrelated people living separately

under one roof.

How many people live here?

Hmm...

This is supposed to have a selective licence.

And that, in Newham, means that it is for a single family.

The occupant that we have met has already said there's

a number people here, maybe five or six people, all living separately.

And that makes it a house of multiple occupancy.

Completely different licence required.

It also means the landlord needs to ensure that things like

fire safety measures are in place.

There are a couple of concerns.

Your smoke alarm doesn't work.

The kitchen is the most likely place for a fire to start,

it's the most common place.

If that was to start here and you were asleep,

you would have no warning of the fire.

-Yes.

-And the people upstairs would have no warning.

So...that's a concern.

Because it is multi-occupied, ideally, this should be a fire door.

It is just an ordinary door, so smoke can get out,

fire can spread very easily.

Landlords are legally required to make sure smoke alarms are kept

in working order.

Let's see if the landlord is complying with regulations at

his other property.

Hi, good morning. London Borough of Newham Council.

-Your landlord has a licence, yeah?

-Yeah.

And as part of the conditions of the licence,

we need to come in

and inspect the property.

No, I know he doesn't live here.

How many people do live here?

-I, my partner, my neighbour's little girl.

-OK.

-And my partner and my daughter.

-OK.

-So there are two different families here?

-Yeah.

Do you have a tenancy agreement? Contract.

It's already looking like another breach of licence.

The ground floor is actually home to a Polish family of five -

a mother and father, their son and two daughters,

all squeezed into three rooms

and paying an incredible £1,000 a month for the privilege.

Whoa! This is really small.

-This is a room behind the kitchen.

-Yeah, I know.

And son Sebastian's makeshift bedroom represents

yet another fire hazard.

This wall is ridiculous.

The wall that we've got here doesn't act as a proper firebreak

between a room that is a risk

and somewhere where somebody is sleeping, you know, and living.

We do have a window at the back.

-And we have a door here.

-So the door there is...

It's hinged on both sides, so it is actually sealed off.

-It has been screwed in, shut, so you can't get out.

-It's OK.

-How long have you guys been here?

-Eight years now.

-Eight.

-Eight years.

Did you make this change yourself, to put this wall in?

-No, it was here before we came.

-Before you came in?

-Yeah.

OK.

You've got to imagine this family hoped for something a little

better when they arrived from Poland eight years ago.

Instead, they have got ropey partition walls creating even

smaller rooms

and a back door that doesn't even open.

Not only is this place incredibly cramped, it is unsafe.

And mum Agnieszka looks at the end of her tether.

-So, this is your living room?

-The living room.

(But we have also got someone sleeping there. Who is that?)

-Our little sister.

-Your little sister?

-Yeah.

-OK.

-So this is her bedroom as well?

-Yeah.

-Agnieszka, where do you sleep?

-On that bed.

-This is your bed here?

-It opens up.

-Open.

-Oh.

-So there are five of you between these rooms?

-Yeah.

So my mum, my dad and my sister in the living room.

I've got my own room and my brother has got the small back room.

Got the room in the back.

There are things in this place you would change? Or...?

THEY SPEAK IN POLISH

THEY SPEAKS IN POLISH

My mum would change the full house, but she can't afford it right now.

Yeah.

It seems even £1,000 a month isn't enough for decent

and safe accommodation.

Incredibly, there is more than one family living in this house.

-So there's five of you guys here.

-Yeah. And two.

-Two people upstairs?

-Yes.

-So you have two kitchens here?

A downstairs kitchen and an upstairs kitchen.

And also a downstairs bathroom...

-No, we have one bathroom.

-One bathroom.

-And the one bathroom is upstairs?

-Right next to the kitchen.

-Upstairs.

-So seven of you all share the same bathroom.

And it's not even a big bathroom.

It's a bit smaller than my brother's room.

I'll be having a look at what life is like for the family

upstairs a little bit later on.

It is so small!

-This is such a small room.

-I know, I know.

-For seven people!

-What happen?

-I don't know.

-What doing?

It is becoming clear to me that

the job of a housing officer isn't only about the properties.

In fact, it is much more about the people who live in them.

In Stowmarket, in Suffolk, that is

something community housing officer Andrew Weavers knows very well.

You take it home with you.

You know, you do worry about people and you do...

They are always on your mind.

Today, he is off to check on a council tenant who has had

a hard time of it over the last few years.

Charlie Robinson and his wife Florence

lived together in this house for almost three decades.

During that time, they built up quite a hoard.

She used to buy everything.

Didn't matter what it was, she'd buy it.

Toasters and all things like that.

I kept trying to tidy up when she was here, but...

she wouldn't have it.

Sadly, Charlie's wife Florence died two and a half years ago.

Got cancer all over the place.

Cancer of the breast and everything.

Weren't no way they could save her.

She is in there at the moment.

HE SNIFFLES

Managed to get one in the end,

otherwise she was in the little...little sweet jar.

I don't feel as if I want to do anything.

I feel as if I want to end it.

But I have just got to keep going.

Following Florence's death...

..the council were able to intervene and brought in a local company

to help with the mammoth challenge of sorting out

almost 30 years of hoarding.

Him and his wife were hoarders.

Their whole house was top to toe full of various different things

they'd got from car-boot sales, jumble sales...

Now it is a lot tidier, yeah. It is a lot easier for me.

But I still can't get up and down the stairs very well.

This is Andrew's first visit since the decluttering.

He is hopeful some progress has been made.

What I want to do is go and have a look

and also maybe approach the subject of is that property really

suitable for him, because he has got mobility problems,

he has got major health problems.

And sometimes, you know, you have

got to approach a sticky subject of maybe moving out into a bungalow.

So, at some point, I would like to have a little chat with him

about the possibilities of getting himself a nice little bungalow

and having a fresh start.

The question is, two and a half years on from the declutter,

is Charlie keeping things under control?

How are you?

Good, good.

I tell you what, even just walking in here, wow!

Wow, look at this.

You've got your telly in here and everything. Look, you got...

Look at that, you've got a fire here. Look. I didn't know that was here.

HE LAUGHS

There was so much stuff in here, literally, we couldn't open the door.

It was literally out to here.

-Yeah.

-And we've gradually gone through everything else.

Near enough everything in there has got to be saved.

It is still a work in progress, but it is also a huge improvement

since Andrew's last visit.

This is the main bedroom, yeah, this one?

Are they all new, the wardrobes, or were they here before?

-No, they were here before.

-Were they?

-You just couldn't see them.

THEY LAUGH

Florence may have been the biggest hoarder of the family,

but judging by the fleet of mobility scooters in the back yard,

it seems Charlie has picked up the hoarding habit himself.

One, two, three, four... Five of them.

-Six.

-Six, is there?

-Here, look.

THEY LAUGH

I missed one.

Despite the six - that's right, six - mobility scooters,

Charlie has made real progress.

I'm really pleased, really impressed.

-You have got friends to help you?

-I have got a friend to help me out.

What does she do? She comes along, takes stuff away?

She has... All that I'm chucking out, she has - all my walking sticks

and everything else. I'm nearly...

Well, I'm nearly out of walking sticks.

-I was thinking about buying some more.

-No, don't!

Don't do that.

La-la-la!

I mustn't hear that.

With the house in such an improved state

and Charlie in a positive frame of mind,

Andrew has decided now is not the time to discuss moving.

To be honest, he looks quite chipper, really.

He's got a bit of a smile on his face and... Good on him.

But on Andrew's next visit, it is

clear the situation is worse than he thought.

When you just said quite clearly to me that you want it all -

you know, within earshot of me - that you want to end it all,

you've got to say that to a doctor.

I'm investigating two properties owned by a landlord who's suspected

of operating several unlicensed houses of multiple occupancy.

Housing officer Paul and I have seen how one Polish family has spent the

last eight years crammed into the ground floor of this terraced house.

-How much are you paying for this?

-1,000.

-OK.

-Right.

But that's not enough for this landlord who is renting

the upstairs to another Polish family.

So, this is your room?

Mum Dorota works as a cleaner.

She lives here with her teenage student daughter.

Do you have any problems here?

-Problem with landlord only.

-The problem is the landlord?

-Yes.

Landlord only wipe around, only.

Only money, money. Nothing.

He might want the money,

but the landlord doesn't seem able to keep up with the maintenance.

-So whenever it rains...

-Yes.

-..you get water coming through the roof

-here.

-Yes.

-And here also, onto your kitchen surface.

-Yes.

Dorota is having problems with the cramped bathroom, too,

which, by the way, is the only bathroom in the entire house.

-Rain.

-Yep.

-Water.

-Yeah.

This electricky.

-Yes.

-Glop, glop, glop, glop...

So when it rains, you get water coming down...

-Yes. Open this...

-So it comes down the light bulb,

into the toilet

-and all over the floor.

-Yes.

-Right.

-And here.

-Uh-huh.

-Water.

You get water in through the window as well...

-Yes.

-..of this bathroom.

And as we can see, there's black mould all here.

-It's so small, Dorota. This is such a small room.

-I know, I know.

-For seven people.

-What happen?

-I don't know.

-What doing?

How much do you pay for rent?

850 per month.

-£850 a month?

-Yes.

-And that's for you and your daughter here.

-Yes.

So, despite earning almost two grand a month from the two families

living in this house, the landlord hasn't fixed a simple leak.

-(This is a very busy house.)

-Yes.

This is a house full of people.

-And they are doing their very, very best to make the best of it.

-Yeah.

But...

It's a classic example here of where, you know,

a landlord has put down information, and we have come here

-and we have found the information doesn't match up.

-We have got...

We have got seven people in this house.

We have got three people sleeping in the front room - Mum and Dad

-and the daughter.

-Yeah.

And then we have got our friend, the young man, wedged into that

room at the back.

It's a completely different picture to what's been written down there.

-It absolutely is.

-Let's face facts, it's pretty miserable...

-It is.

..in terms of the way people are being organised and trying to live

and doing their very, very best with the space they've got.

-Yeah.

-But it is not on.

-Not at all.

Despite the cramped conditions

and damp problems, the two families in this house have managed to create

somewhere homely, clean and tidy to live.

I think the landlord still has questions to answer.

-You're going to have to take some action?

-Yes. Yeah.

And that action is going to start really with the landlord,

bringing him into account.

He has a licence for those properties.

He knew what those conditions were and he hasn't kept to it.

So that's the first step.

It is just one thing to pull him up on the licence.

The other thing is to sort out the actual conditions.

So it'll mean inspecting the properties, serving notices...

And possibly this landlord will, at the very least,

-be reduced from a five-year licence to a one-year licence...

-Right.

..and be flagged as a person of concern.

All three of this landlord's properties were found to have

breached their licences in one way or another.

One property in particular had the most serious kinds of problems -

cold, damp and fire safety issues.

So the landlord will have to answer a number of cases against him.

If he can't do that to the council's satisfaction, he could be

banned from holding a licence to run HMOs or bedsits in Newham again.

With property values being what they are,

sometimes it seems like every other programme on TV is about

home improvement or DIY property development.

Wherever you look, someone is extending, improving or converting.

But what is it like to live nearby

when those development wheels come off

and that grand design dream turns into a neighbourhood nightmare?

That is just what has happened here,

in Broadland District Council...

..where I have been following

housing officer Mark Siddall.

I want you to take a look at this, Matt.

It's a property I'm dealing with at the moment.

It's a converted barn in a rural location -

Freethorpe, small village.

It looks beautiful.

Stunning, stunning building. Really nice.

It is an old barn which was converted back in the '80s to residential,

but fell into disuse about 15 years ago, really.

The current owner of the property split up with his then

partner during renovation work on the building about 15 years ago.

It has stood empty and idle ever since,

with the unfinished work causing it to deteriorate badly.

I mean, the first thing that catches my eye is that it is completely

overgrown with... What is that, ivy or something?

It is ivy in the bulk, yep.

It's covering the windows, there might be a door under there.

This looks like a property that has been left alone for some time.

It is, yeah.

And the neighbours are a bit sick of the sight of it.

Freethorpe is a pretty

and popular village about halfway between Norwich

and the Norfolk coast.

Round here, barn conversions can sell for over half a million

pounds, so it is no wonder the neighbours are getting a little

bit fed up with this abandoned building site on their doorsteps.

I don't know what more to say about it.

It is just vermin, vermin, filth.

Well, next-door neighbour Kevin Lindley has a much more blunt

way of putting it.

We've got rats running about here at night,

and they're coming up that scaffolding to my roof.

And we've had the rat people out from the council

and they keep killing them, one thing or another,

but this is building up again.

My neighbour, he's had it up to the eyeballs.

My father-in-law from next door, he's had it up to the eyeballs.

We've all had it.

I'm the man that will say what I think, you know.

And when it affects my family and my wife,

-who's a nervous wreck with these

-BLEEP

-rats running around.

Sorry about my language.

I'm getting angry again. But she is a nervous wreck.

That gentleman there in the van, he's the man that owns the place.

I don't know what more to say.

I've spoken to him till I'm blue in the face.

He has assured me that it'll all be done, and nothing gets done.

It gets done, and then it is back to this again.

I've been promised for years

and years that that will be done.

15, 20 years.

Nothing happens.

Now, I mean, this is a private property, isn't it?

So, at the end of the day, if it's privately owned,

it's up to them what they do with it.

That is a very good start.

We will look at all of those items

and a lot of that information will form a sort of file, an evidence base

for us, if we want to carry out sort of wider actions on the property.

We do have considerable powers when it comes to privately-owned property.

We are very slow to use them. We are reluctant to use them.

We much prefer to try and resolve things by agreement and cooperation.

But where we get a problem property which is definitely a real issue

in the district, and there are lots of complaints,

we will use enforcement powers under various acts.

Do you know, I am looking at these pictures,

and I still can't work it out.

I can't work out how such a beautiful property,

what appears to be anyway, in such a lovely area -

it is a really popular place to come - why it has been

standing empty for so long.

-I feel we need to go and see it.

-Let's do that.

-OK.

Later, I have the chance to put my housing officer building

assessment skills to the test.

The first things that appears to me

is that the roof has quite a substantial dip in it.

We agreed a timetable of works, he failed to keep to the timetable

of works, hence my moving the enforcement forward again now.

Back in Suffolk,

community housing officer Andrew Weavers has been dealing with

the hoarding problems of widower and council tenant Charlie Robinson.

I don't feel as if I want to do anything.

But I have just got to keep going.

On his last visit,

Andrew saw a marked improvement in Charlie's circumstances.

There was so much stuff in here, literally, we couldn't open the door.

-It was literally out to here.

-Yeah.

Now he is returning with some good news.

Charlie could be in line for a new kitchen and bathroom.

I was a little bit concerned we might have missed the boat,

but they seem to be able to add him to the contract and hopefully,

fingers crossed, around about May,

he'll have a nice new kitchen and bathroom.

Charlie qualifies for the work under the council's

housing stock renewal policy.

This is one of the perks of the housing officer's job -

bringing good news to tenants in need.

But they will put you on their current programme,

so they will put you on the list this time round

to get your bathroom and your kitchen done.

But it soon becomes clear Charlie has been thinking about making

a completely new start.

Had you thought...

-Have you had any more thoughts about maybe a move or...?

-Yeah.

-You have?

I'd like to if I can find the right place.

Good. OK. Well, that's good.

Charlie and his wife, Florence, were together in his house for 28 years

until she died of cancer.

As the conversation continued,

it seems he has been hoarding more than just stuff.

This house is filled with memories, and not all of them positive.

-Just...

-Just give up and...

I always think... On the telly, when they show them little kids

and everything else, they've gone down to nothing...

And that's just how she was, down to nothing.

It's clear that Charlie is suffering,

as he admits to Andrew to having suicidal thoughts.

When you just said quite clearly to me that you want it all to -

you know, within earshot of me - that you want to end it all,

you've got to say that to a doctor because otherwise...

It's your mental health, isn't it?

And we don't want you to go down that road and feel the way you do.

Why don't you go and see the doctor and just say, tell them

what you've said to us?

How you are feeling at the moment.

Because we all... You know, people suffer from depression.

You might be feeling a bit depressed at the moment.

-I'm on the depression tablets.

-Are you?

But you have got happy memories, haven't you, of her?

You've got loads of photographs. I see her up the stairs.

I see her looking at me when you're talking to me about...about things.

-Yeah.

-There's all good memories.

-Let's get you a fresh start, eh?

-Yeah.

Let's not worry about the kitchen too much,

because that'll have a kitchen one way or another anyway.

If we get you a nice bungalow

that will be ready for you to move into. Yeah?

We want you to be a happy little bunny in a bungalow.

I want to come and see you.

-HE LAUGHS

-A happy little bunny!

But we do. I want to come round to see you in your new bungalow,

sit and have a cup of tea with you.

I want to see a happy Charlie Robinson, I really do.

Cool. That's what we will do, then. I'm going to go there now, right?

Make myself a nuisance.

They'll swear at me when I get there and tell them what I do.

Oh, well, never mind. All right, look after yourself. All right?

See you, fella. Ciao, mate. Good ol' boy.

It's a surprising outcome, but it looks like it is the right

result for the council as well as the tenant.

Charlie is now registered for a move to a new place and the council

will be bidding on his behalf when the right bungalow comes up.

In Norfolk, I've been following housing officer Mark Siddall

who's been investigating a long-unfinished barn conversion.

The neighbours have now had enough.

My neighbour, he's had it up to the eyeballs.

The old man who just went there, that's my father-in-law

from next door, he's had it up to the eyeballs.

We've all had it.

Freethorpe is a small and well-kept community,

so a building like this really sticks out.

A visit to the site give me a chance to see it for myself.

Do you see anything there which you would consider would be

sort of a risk or something that ought to be dealt with?

Well, looks like there is quite a pronounced dip in the roof

there. And it's hard to tell if that is design,

but certainly this first row of tiles looks like that could be...

that could be coming off.

The top tiles, Matt, definitely, we can see there are no ridge tiles.

At this end of the roof, you can see some ridge tiles.

-The ridge has gone completely, hasn't it?

-It has been removed

as part of the start of a repair,

but the repair's going nowhere fast.

The chappie who owns it, by my request, started the works.

We agreed a timetable of works.

He failed to keep to the timetable of works,

hence my moving the enforcement forward again now.

Round the back, the problems are really obvious.

Anyone walking or driving through the village is greeted by this site.

I mean, this is a total tip, isn't it?

But you might walk past it and think,

well, they're just having a bit of work done.

I can probably hazard a guess where some of the stuff has come from

which is in the garden.

It's, yeah, it's been emptied out of the house.

Instead of disposing of it completely,

he's just loaded it into the garden and left it there to decay

and present a further eyesore.

It is such a waste, it is unbelievable. You know.

And you have just got to balance, haven't you,

that thing between private liberty to do what you want

with your property and the effect it has on the rest of the community?

We've since heard that the owner of the barn has finally

secured finances to complete the conversion

and work is already taking place. But rest assured,

housing officer Mark will be keeping a close eye on developments

to make sure this building project doesn't hit the buffers again.

That is it for today.

Join me next time on the front line with Britain's housing officers.