Episode 19 The Housing Enforcers

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

-See those flies?

-Yeah.

But for thousands of people across Britain,

the reality can be more hovel than home.

This is vermin, vermin filth.

Ohhhhh!

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.

-We're coming in.

-No, no.

-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 best to help those in need.'

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

Hello.

'Today, I'm caught in a dogfight

'between a warring tenant and her landlord.'

They've got to get rid of the dogs.

-Did you know about the dogs when they moved in?

-No.

-They had them after.

-BLEEP!

-This is what we get, you see.

One man's ambitions hang in the balance.

There's a lot of bad things in the world

and I thought I might be able to make a change.

I'm sure there's a lot of people who are watching this,

their attitude would be, "Listen, mate, you're 21 years old.

"Grow up, sort yourself out."

And one housing officer discovers blood isn't necessarily

thicker than water.

-Wherever you go, I get complaints.

-Really?

Complaints about car repairs, selling cars.

-Is it by any chance my gran, who lives at...?

-Um...

They say an Englishman's home is his castle,

but if that place is rented, it's the job of housing officers

to make sure it's a decent place to live.

They keep an eye on landlords to make sure

the property is up to scratch.

And on some tenants to make sure

they're keeping their half of the bargain.

Sandwell is a metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England.

Consisting of six large towns,

this diverse area has just over 121,000 households,

four out of ten of which are rented.

'As part of my ongoing training, I'm joining up with

'Sandwell Council's Housing Standards Officer, Richard Hawkins.

'Part of Richard's job is to look at

'how a building affects the health of its tenants.

'It's a tough job because it's not always straightforward

'working out where responsibilities lie.

'Today, we're returning to an estate

'that both Richard and I are familiar with.'

We've got a complaint at Trafalgar Court today.

Not 100% happy with what I've found there.

There's quite a few issues, but there's also

issues with the tenants and how they're handling the house.

-And with some animals they've got at the property.

-Right.

So this is one of those possibly classic examples where we have

to try and draw the line between the property and the way

it's being kept and the tenant and their behaviour

-and try and work out some middle ground between the two?

-Yeah.

I've already served a notice previously

on this property for other issues in the past.

And rather than keep serving notices and acting independently between

the two, I'd rather get everybody together and talk this out.

So we're going to be looking at a flat up here today which has

had some issues with disrepairs in it.

The damage in the property has been

-so extensive that the tenants have actually ripped the carpet out.

-OK.

When I came last time, the carpet was in the hallway.

-The carpet I can see now...

-It's just down there.

It's just down there.

Although there may not have necessarily been

a breach of the law in this case,

fly-tipping is a serious problem

and costs local authorities across England

around £45 million a year to clean up.

If found guilty of the offence, an individual can be fined

up to £50,000 and face up to

12 months imprisonment.

-Hello.

-Hello!

-Good morning. How are you?

-Are you all right?

'The tenant's happy to show us around the flat,

'but has asked that her face is not shown on camera.'

Can you explain what's happened here? What's happened in this room?

My landlord brought me this washing machine.

The water is coming all around the floor and then we took up the carpet.

So the washing machine leaked,

-and what's happening here with the cookers?

-That's the old one.

But we just bought this one cheaper. We use that one.

'Claiming the landlord has failed to replace an existing faulty

'cooker, the tenants have purchased and installed their own.

'But without having access to professional advice,

'have placed it in a potentially dangerous position.'

If water gets under that, you could make this whole unit live.

And you could be cooking away,

you go to get some water and you could electrocute yourself.

'Added to this, the flat also has a faulty window,

'suffers from damp, the front door needs repairing

'and the washing machine has caused a leak,

'resulting in the damage to the carpet.

'This is the responsibility of the landlord.

'But one look around and it seems it's not just him

'who's to blame for the state the flat's in.'

-Are these your sofas, or did the landlord provide them?

-Landlord.

-They are the landlord's?

-Yeah. Just...my dogs did this.

-Your dogs have done that?

-Your dogs carried out the damage to the sofas.

-Did you tell the landlord about that?

-He's coming.

-He's seen all of this?

-Yeah.

-How many dogs?

-You've got two, haven't you?

-Yeah.

It's very cramped for two dogs on a first-floor flat.

And obviously, I can see, the dogs have bitten the trunking.

If your dog bites into that, it's not going to be a very happy dog.

At the very worst, it'll kill it.

As both tenants work during the day,

their two dogs are left alone in the flat to their own devices.

The landlord is here.

It's difficult to see a way forward without him getting involved.

I think he's just at the door now.

-This is the landlord, Mr Hamid.

-Hi, there.

-How are you?

-Not bad. Yourself?

-Yeah, good, thank you very much.

When was the last time you were in this...?

A couple of days, I think last week, when I phoned Richard.

The state of the place had gone down.

There was dog poo everywhere, the carpets were torn.

We replaced it all, we done the best we could, Richard viewed it,

the council came along, had a look. The best we could do.

These people are not real.

They're just taking liberties after liberties.

I know my dogs are terrible, but I think...

The settee's here, you can see. They're saying this is water damage.

It's your fault, not the dogs' fault.

They've got to get rid of the dogs.

Did you know about the dogs when they moved in?

No. They had them after.

-You are a

-BLEEP! BLEEP!

-This is what you get.

-I don't care.

'It's a difficult case and tensions are rising.

'So Richard tries to mediate between the two

'and find a solution where both can be happy with the outcome.'

Are there things you can do? Do you have friends with a larger house

-that may be able to house your dogs in the day?

-Yeah.

So, can you start doing that so that they're not in the house in the day?

You only have the dogs here when you're here

-and you can look after them.

-Yeah.

-That's a good step forward.

Right, brilliant. OK.

Where do we want this room to be?

Because this should be carpeted.

-Which it was.

-Which it was. It was fully carpeted.

You can see the carpet outside which the dogs have torn.

Somebody needs to dispose of that. Is it something you can do?

-Can you get rid of that carpet away from there?

-Yeah.

-You can do that?

-Yeah.

-OK. The issues we've got, we've got the front door

and we've got that electric box there, OK?

So Mr Hamid has kindly offered to resolve all those issues.

-Are you happy with that?

-Yeah.

-Are you happy with that, Mr Hamid?

I said to them first, I tried to negotiate, I said, "Don't worry.

"What's happened has happened. Let's overlook it.

"We'll get all this cleaned up and repainted free of charge."

But they're not doing anything...

-Move past that one. OK.

-You are a

-BLEEP!

-Come on, guys.

-This is what we get, you see?

(I don't know how he's doing this.

(It's like two people who are at each other

(and he's gradually picking apart individual bits

(that can be resolved by one side or the other.)

'The discussion reaches a bit of a stall, so Richard takes

'the landlord outside and I have a go at mediating with the tenant.'

Now, OK, maybe he knew the dogs were coming in, maybe he didn't know.

-That's history.

-Yeah.

OK? But I can see that a lot of this problem is caused by the dogs.

-So that's your responsibility.

-Yeah.

If you can do your half, then we can ask him to do his half.

-I don't believe him.

-But Richard is now on the case.

Just let's give him the chance to sort these things out.

Yeah? And then YOU need to sort the dogs out.

'Both sides eventually agreed to do their bit to bring the flat

'back up to a decent living standard.'

We can start again today.

-Are you going to shake hands? Can we do that?

-I'm willing to.

I'm sure I can do this. SHE LAUGHS

-There we go.

-No problem. Fantastic.

-Excellent.

'Goes to show that being a good housing officer

'is not just about laying down the law.

'Diplomacy was the winner here.'

Richard, I thought that was masterly on your part.

Because it was all getting a bit heated, wasn't it?

Hopefully, we've managed to get control of the situation

and try and get some responsibility from both parts.

Because it is a 50/50 thing.

So if we can get them in a better relationship with each other,

everyone's a winner.

It's all to play for.

'But coming up, things go from bad...'

What's causing that smell?

'..to worse.'

Can we just stop a sec? Is that all right?

We're in Needham Market with Community Housing Officer

Andrew Weavers.

He's on his way to an address in the nearby town of Stowmarket,

after receiving a complaint about one of his tenants.

This is a gentleman that I've dealt with in the past at various

addresses and lo and behold, every single address that he's been

to, we've had complained that he's running a car repair business.

Because it happens throughout various times of the day

and in the evening, it causes a little bit of grief for neighbours.

I'm just going to go and talk to him and remind him

about his responsibilities as a council tenant.

The rules of the council's tenancy mean that residents aren't allowed

to run any kind of business from their home without prior consent.

I can see there is no cars there at the moment.

Before Andrew meets with the tenant, he wants to check

for signs that could show that the house is being used to repair cars.

Plenty of oil on the path.

Cars are rocked up on the grass there,

I would imagine at some point.

It looks like nobody's home, but the neighbour directly opposite

has seen Andrew arrive and wants to talk to him about the noise.

-Do you want to have a quick chat with me?

-Come in.

-Is that all right?

Yeah, fine.

Obviously, had a complaint about car repairs and noise.

-It's been going terrible.

-How has it been affecting you?

-What was the worst incident?

-Banging and crushing and everything.

I go to bed at eight o'clock, you see, I'm in this bedroom here.

-I live right opposite.

-Is it causing you noise at night?

-Yep.

To be honest, my problem is, over time,

I have never really been able to, you know, get enough evidence

to prove that he's running a car business.

I have heard complaints of other people,

but because he's my grandson... I didn't...

Ah, it turns out there's no-one quite like Grandma

when it comes to complaining about neighbourhood nuisance.

I think they've had some kind of family row.

-It's a difficult situation, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Because you've had a fallout...

-Yeah.

Were you pleased, I guess, when he first moved over the road?

Oh, I said, "It won't be too bad, you'll be able to help

"Grandad out because he's getting older and I can't do

"my garden like I used to, I want some work done and I will pay you."

It started out all right.

This isn't your average neighbourly dispute.

While they've been talking,

Andrew has noticed that the grandson has returned home.

He's now even more curious to hear the other side of the story.

ANDREW COUGHS

-Hello, Ben?

-Yes.

-Do you remember me?

-Yes.

I think I've dealt with you at various addresses, haven't I,

about cars?

-Wherever you go, I get complaints. I'm getting some more now.

-Really?

Complaints about car repairs, selling cars.

Is it, by any chance, my gran, who lives at number 22?

I've had a word with your gran, but she's not the complainant,

but when I saw it was you, alarm bells rang

because I've dealt with you in the past.

I've got to ask you again,

are you running a business from your council property?

-Unfortunately not, no.

-You do repair cars?

-I do fix my own cars.

If there is a weekly turnover of cars

and there's a noise nuisance, I am going to have to keep an eye on it.

Anyone that has made a complaint, I will be asking them to fill out

what we call incident log sheets and I'm encouraging people to

tell me how many cars and registration numbers.

Then I've got to look to put an evidence pack together

and talk to you about it.

It is a weekly turnover of cars.

That car there is probably my third car since the beginning of January.

It's quite... Yeah.

I'm perfectly within my right to change my cars, you know what I mean?

But how many times do you change them?

-Quite a lot, because that's what I do.

-Weekly?

I would say weekly, yeah.

Some people might think that is a bit of a clever way...

That is my business and not their business.

You're almost disguising a business running from your council property.

Even though you say it's not a business, you keep registering cars.

-If it was a business, I'd be rich.

-It's not just your rights,

it's everyone else's rights to a quiet and peaceful life, you know?

If you are a nuisance to your neighbours,

it's my job to take action against your tenancy.

To be totally honest with you, I can let you know every car I've got

and when I get them, if it helps you.

It might help over the next few weeks, because that way,

you're working with me and any complaint I get,

I can marry them up and I can see how bad it really is

and it just shows that we're working together.

-So, yes, that would be really handy.

-I can do that.

It'll come out in the wash that you're not causing a problem

-if that's the case.

-OK.

Sorry we've had to meet again under these circumstances.

-Like you said, you're only doing your job.

-Indeed.

I'm only doing mine. BOTH LAUGH

All right, then, fella.

It seems that Andrew has clearly stumbled upon an ongoing

family disagreement, but that to one side,

there are complaints that will need further investigation.

Well, just the one car but it's his way of getting around it

is by changing his car every week.

Because they're his car for a period of time.

I don't want to classify it as a business, but I would say that

if people are making complaints, there's a reason for that.

If he's causing a genuine nuisance, then I have to evidence it

and that's not going to be easy because, like he says, it's a

hobby and I've got to try and work out,

when does a hobby become a nuisance and vice versa?

Andrew came to deal with a noisy neighbour,

but sometimes you end up with much more than you bargained for.

I didn't expect to be a go-between, between a family argument. Oh, dear.

'Back in Sandwell,

'Housing Standards Officer Richard Hawkins is returning to the

'scene of some masterly mediating between landlord and tenant.'

-You are a

-BLEEP!

This is what you get.

(I don't know how he's doing this.)

So we're heading back to Trafalgar Court today

to have a look at the flat we visited last week just to see

if any of the repairs have been carried out.

The landlord's given me some indication that a plumber's

been around to deal with the toilet, so hopefully, that's been resolved.

The visit will also give him the chance to see if the tenants have

upheld THEIR end of the bargain by cleaning up, disposing of

the ruined carpet and making sure

their dogs aren't left alone in the flat.

I'm pretty confident that this should be

resolved in an amicable way.

But almost immediately, Richard's optimism fades.

Right. The carpet's still here.

It's one of the things we did ask the tenants to do.

BARKING

The dogs are in, so I'm hoping the tenants are in, as well.

Otherwise, they've left the dogs again.

On this visit, Richard can't access the property,

so it's not clear if the dogs are in distress.

Switched off.

It's not great. Not great at all.

A week later, and Richard has had complaints from the landlord

that the workmen aren't able to access the flat

to carry out the repairs he'd promised.

Determined to resolve this case,

Richard's again heading back to the flat.

The landlord's been quite good, he sent me e-mails

copied in from the plumber he's had out.

So I know the landlord has made an effort to carry out repairs.

So hopefully, we'll get in to have a look at what's been done.

Here we are again with the same carpet out the front.

It's been two weeks now

since the tenants promised to remove the old carpet.

The sight of it dumped outside the flat isn't getting any prettier.

RICHARD KNOCKS ON DOOR

BARKING

-Hello.

-Hello.

-I'm here to just have a look at some of the repairs,

see what your landlord's been up to.

Finally, Richard's in, but almost immediately,

there's a problem he can't ignore.

So, that's no longer leaking?

INDISTINCT

OK.

What's causing that smell?

The smell is so bad that only two minutes after entering the flat,

the film crew's forced to leave.

Richard joins them outside to explain the problem.

Wow! That was very potent.

I think I'm just going to go and get a bit of fresh air.

Can we just stop a sec? Is that all right?

Whenever it's a smell from animals, animal faeces and things like that,

it's something that really chokes the back of your throat.

It's difficult to really operate and kind of conceal that.

You just have to come out.

And unfortunately, that's what we had to do today.

When the landlord arrives,

they try again to arrange a date for workmen to carry out repairs.

So we can get in to get the repairs done, we've got...

-What are the two dates?

-Sunday. Oh!

A-huh!

Sunday, or Monday 23rd.

Which one would you prefer?

-Sunday?

-Sunday, yeah.

-The Sunday. Can you make sure you let them in?

Because if you don't, I can't help you.

-All right.

-OK?

And now, I must say, I'm standing here now,

I can smell a really strong smell from the dogs.

You'll get complaints from neighbours.

And if that happens, the council will have to do something about it.

-Thank you for your time.

-All right.

-Bye-bye.

-Thank you.

RICHARD COUGHS

Right, well, thanks for that, Mr Hamid.

No problem at all. Thank you once again.

-So you're going to get the repairmen out for those bits.

-Yeah.

I understand the problems you've got with that property,

I've seen and smelt it for myself today.

I'm going to do what we can to help you with that and hopefully,

we'll try and get things sorted.

I'm happy the council can see what's going on and what the real

issues are and they're going to do something about it.

Because it's a health environment issue, the way they're living.

So it's nothing to do with the landlord, we can only do so much.

It's the way these people are living.

It's about time the council see it's the tenants and not the landlords.

For Richard, enough is enough.

It's in my mind, filthy and verminous,

which basically means it's going to be a risk to human health.

It could be encouraging vermin, it's unhygienic.

That's unacceptable in my mind,

so it's something that's going to push towards a notice

and perhaps enforcement against the tenants, unfortunately.

Sometimes, the conditions that tenants find themselves living in

make you really feel sorry for them.

But in other cases, like this one,

it's easier to see the landlord's point of view.

He's shown real patience dealing with this property's

disgusting condition.

The latest report suggests the tenant has cleaned up,

so that's good news, but they're still behind with the rent.

So, for Mr Hamid, the situation still isn't sorted.

For many people, the job of a housing officer is to help them

find a home and keep it for as long as possible.

But sometimes they find themselves going beyond the call of duty

for those tenants who might need a bit of extra support.

In Swale, in Kent, I'm working with Housing Options Officer

Hannah Holdstock.

She's been keeping an eye on

21-year-old social housing tenant Albert for the last three years.

'He was in care

'until he turned 18.'

His placement in foster care ended,

so he had to come into us as homeless.

So he got housed, and then that should be the end of our

kind of involvement with him.

But a year or so later, we found out he wasn't coping,

he'd got into rent arrears.

He'd...his electric had been cut off,

he had no gas or electric.

He wasn't paying his water bill...

You know, he wasn't coping, and there was no support there for him,

so we've had to sort of go back in and help him

sort out his rent arrears, which we have now done, thankfully.

We've managed to sort those out, which is

the main priority for us, because it keeps the roof over his head.

Albert's dream is to join the Army.

He's applied once but failed the medical.

Until it is time to reapply,

Hannah wants to make sure he maintains his tenancy

and can cope with all the stuff that comes with running a home.

It is about getting him to take responsibility and remembering when he has to sign on,

remembering when he has to pay his bills.

You know, we can't do that for him, we have to

help him do that for himself.

Although he is currently on benefits,

Albert is desperate to find a job to tide him over for the next few months.

I'm keen to find out how his search is going.

It is hard.

I think I've handed my CV into every shop in Sittingbourne.

There's only so many shops you can hand your CV into.

HE SIGHS

But everything is coming up dry at the minute, so...

Yeah.

-I just need to keep trying.

-It does feel like you are very stressed out

and you're very negative about...

All I've wanted to do since I was...

..since I was a boy, was to join the Army.

I came to realise it was a lot of... there was

a lot of bad things in the world.

I thought I might be able to make a change, I might be able to stop it.

Just from joining the Army. I know I'm only one person but...

that's why I want to join the Army.

Everything at the moment just seems to be based around stress.

How to relieve the stress.

I don't even know why Hannah is helping me, to be honest.

-Why do you think she's helping you?

-I don't know, she doesn't have to.

And neither do any of the other girls at the council.

None of them have to help me, they just do.

It's a good job because judging by his chaotic pile of post,

Albert is still having trouble organising himself.

-Should we have a look through that?

-Yeah.

-Has this been dealt with, all this?

-Yes, that's stuff Hannah has actually...

-Have I gone through all that already?

-Sorted it, piled it.

-I just need to throw it away, I'll move it.

-OK.

'It looks like paying bills hasn't been at the top of Albert's

'to-do list.'

-OK, your TV licence has been cancelled.

-Yeah.

-OK, we need to sort that out, then, don't we?

-OK.

Have you got any of your money left?

No, not at all.

How is your electric?

-What's...

-I've got about £2 on there.

-What about your gas?

-There is no gas.

-You still haven't got any gas?

-No.

-OK.

Is that because... Is that a meter as well, have you got a gas meter?

I just can't afford it.

There's no doubt a lack of money is an issue.

That's why Albert is so keen to find some work.

This is all just stuff to earn a little bit of money,

-just until I get into the Army.

-Yeah.

I've failed a medical.

I was 2st overweight or something.

But I'm going to try and get another selection out of the way,

this time next year.

'Until then, Albert needs to keep his head above water,

'so Hannah's help is clearly invaluable.'

However you look at it, the job of a housing officer

is as much about people as it is about property.

And thanks to Hannah and the team at the council,

I think Albert's going in the right direction.

I'm sure there is a lot of people who are watching this.

Their attitude would be just to say, sort yourself out.

You know, does that approach work, ever, with somebody like Albert,

where you just go, "Listen, mate,

"you're 21 years old, grow up, sort yourself out."

I don't think that works, because in a lot of cases,

especially someone like Albert, he will just sink lower and lower.

He's never had that opportunity to learn how to live on his own.

He's never had, you know, he's never been able to grow to that point,

so, how can I then just say, "You're 21, deal with it yourself"?

Realistically, what's going to happen to Albert?

Is he going to get on top of his bills?

Is he going to be in a place where he can look at letters

-falling on the mat and not fear them any more?

-I hope so.

That's my aim, that's what I want to achieve.

Well, a few weeks after our visit,

it seems Albert has gone off the radar.

I haven't actually heard from Albert since we went round there.

I've tried to call him just to see how things are going.

Haven't been able to get through to him.

My role is housing, I know his rent's being paid,

I know he's keeping a roof over his head. That's the main thing, for me.

Unfortunately, this is sometimes what happens if people get the help

that they need from us and then they make their way themselves after that.

I'm sure he'll pop in.

When something happens, when something goes wrong,

not necessarily with rent or housing, he'll be in here

and he'll ask for my help again and I'll do what I can.

That's it for today.

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