Episode 8 The Housing Enforcers

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

-Seen those flies?

-Yeah.

'But for thousands of people across Britain,

'the reality can be more hovel than home.'

Vermin, vermin, filth.

-Ooh!

-Oh!

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.

-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.

'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.

All of this stuff needed planning permission and you've never...

They won't give it.

'Today, I visit a landlord who knew the rules,

'but still broke them.' It seems like you've just gone ahead anyway.

-Is that right?

-That's right, yeah.

'A mum and her six kids are driven to despair by the state of their house.'

This mould here... I mean, this is only a couple of days' worth.

If I left it and didn't wipe it off, it would

literally come all the way up the walls and it goes like fur.

'And one council tenant hopes her dreams of a more practical

'property can come true.'

How important is it for you that you have your independence?

It is very important to me.

And I was given an illness that takes that independence away,

but I still try to be as independent as I can.

Britain is in the middle of a housing crisis.

The Government reckons, to meet demand,

we need to be building nearly a quarter of a million homes

every year, but the reality is we're only managing about half that.

It's just one of the reasons why the number of people

renting their homes right now is at its highest since the 1950s.

At the front line of this crisis are the country's housing enforcers

and in this programme, I'm training to become one.

'Planning permission.

'Whether you're a developer building a superstore or just wanting

'to extend your home,

'it's something you need to get before even laying the first brick.

'But what happens when you ignore the law and, well, you know,

'do it yourself?

'In Newham, East London,

'a landlord hasn't obtained planning permission for an extension on his

'property and has repeatedly ignored council notices to remove it.'

Look at that. That's the building work that he's doing.

He's constructing a vast castle on the back of his house,

with which he can fill renters, presumably.

People who are going to pay him money to live there. Look at it.

It's huge!

'Along with planning officer Tiffany Mallen and planning

'enforcement and policy manager Christine Lyons, we've got

'a warrant to enter the premises to see what's been going on.'

-Is that all right?

-You can have a look, mate.

I've got nothing to hide. They want to knock it down.

'The landlord, who likes to be known as Mr Fox,

'has converted the property into three flats.'

Can I just clarify how many people you've got living through

that front door at the moment? In these three dwellings. How many in total here?

You've got about four here and you've got two upstairs and I live on the top one.

-Right, OK.

-The gentleman just told me there's six people living in this flat.

The gentleman I spoke to in the corner there.

-He said to me there's six people living in this flat.

-Yes.

They pay £1,250 a month for being here.

And that includes all their bills and their council tax,

or their proportion of the property's council tax, because we haven't

got the property banded as flats.

-It's banded as a single dwelling house.

-That's right, yeah.

'So, there are two things going on here.

'Firstly, Mr Fox doesn't have the right planning permissions

'in place, and secondly, he's not in the right council tax band.'

They're trying to make me look bad, like I'm not paying the council tax, yeah? But I was willing to pay it.

But did you get the planning permission in the first place?

-No, they won't give me the planning permission.

-Right.

'And, yet, he still went ahead and built the extension anyway.

'It sounds like Mr Fox has been making up his own rules.'

I'm so confused about this place.

He's claiming that he applied for planning permission, but then didn't receive it and then...

Then he's not going to be able to pay council tax cos he's not paying council tax on the right thing

because it's not been given permission in the first place.

Yeah. He's obviously converted it into flats without permission.

I think he's trying to claim that this is lawful, but obviously there was an enforcement notice on it

and he's still not complied with the original enforcement notice.

'Enforcement notices are documents served by the council which require

'any buildings that don't have planning permission to be removed.

'Clearly, that hasn't happened here.'

We want these properties to be retained in their original

format, as much as possible.

Extended aesthetically and extended properly,

with the proper consents, building control and planning permission,

if required, to make sure they are retained as family homes.

-They shouldn't be making our properties into these mishmash of flats.

-It's a breeze block hotel.

What it appears to be from here is just a series of additions

that have gone on as and when he's found he wants another room.

He's a guy that seems to have avoided putting this

right at several stages and when enforcements have gone in,

he's just carried on building, building, building.

Everyone sees Planning as a bit of a soft touch.

We don't quite get the grasp of what's going on.

Actually, we do and our legislation is in place to protect the environment and protect land use.

Newham takes direct action. We will happily come in here and resolve this through

bringing in contractors to remove unauthorised development.

The enforcement you're talking about means men coming in with hammers...

-Yeah.

-..really.

'Without planning permission and proper building regulations,

'this extension isn't just unlawful - it could be dangerous for anybody living here.'

They do not meet the space set out by the London Plan for requirements

for flats. They do not meet those standards.

-What do you mean? They build rabbit hutches, do they?

-No, they're built to a standard.

-This would not meet those standards.

-What's wrong with the standard?

-The floor area isn't the correct floor area and...

-Have you got a front room that's bigger than this?

-Are you having a laugh?

-And also, the fact the stacking isn't correct.

-What's that?

-The stacking of the properties isn't correct.

-There's no means of escape.

-There's windows. Fire regulations...

Those windows open so firemen can get in.

But you can't get round the back of the premises.

'So the flats don't have the legal minimum floor space

'of 39 square metres for a single person and 50 for a couple.

'And the living spaces and bedrooms aren't

'stacked above each other to reduce noise disturbance between the flats.

'It seems this place is unlawful on all sorts of levels.

'Mr Fox is convinced he's not to blame.'

Have you only recently become aware of planning permission?

All of this stuff needed planning permission and you've never...

-They wouldn't give it. I applied. I submitted drawings...

-Yeah.

I had the planners round. They had a look at it.

Then if they don't grant it, doesn't that mean you don't do it?

Why do they ask you to submit drawings after the fact?

Cos they need to look at what you're suggesting

and then they make a decision whether that's acceptable or not.

-Yeah.

-And if they say it's not acceptable...

-Yeah.

It seems like you've just gone ahead anyway. Is that right?

That's right, yeah.

Mr Fox is adamant that actually there's nothing going on here

that's not acceptable.

Crucially, what he's saying is that all we will end up doing

if we knock down the extensions that he's put up is put people

out on the streets, people that could be living here.

-Thank you very much.

-That's all right.

-See you again.

I'll apply for a certificate of law for this.

I will take down the side building and the rest of it,

I will not touch.

'Our inspection complete, Mr Fox remains defiant.'

-Nice to meet you, Mr Fox.

-To take it down, they've got to take half the building down.

-Right.

-That will never happen.

-Yeah.

'We'll be back later to see what happens to that extension.'

If someone comes in and takes your home away, how would you feel?

It's not just packed inner city streets that

suffer from overcrowding.

Down on the coast, tenants are as short of space as anywhere else.

Swale in Kent includes the Isle of Sheppey,

nestled at the mouth of the Thames Estuary.

At only nine miles from end to end, it has its own unique culture

and character.

Stay-at-home single mum Victoria has rented a house here with her

six kids, the eldest of whom is autistic.

They've been here for the past three years, but the house is damp

and massively overcrowded and things have now reached crisis point.

My landlord wants to sell the property cos he can't rectify

the issues in the house, like the damp and other problems.

So I'm being evicted anyway.

So, either way, I need somewhere bigger and stable to live.

I just want a bigger home, somewhere we can be settled.

Until then, Victoria and her kids,

who range in age from eight to 18,

have to live in a house riddled with rising damp, which occurs

when moisture is absorbed from the ground up into the walls.

Yeah. See? This mould here - this is only a couple of days' worth.

If I left it and didn't wipe it off, it would

literally come all the way up the walls and it goes like fur.

It's really not nice.

And it's ruining more and more of their belongings as we go.

Damp and mould is a particular risk to babies and children and can

lead to respiratory infections and affect the immune system.

Myself and my son and my daughter are all asthmatic and obviously,

being in the damp's not good for any of our chests.

So, that is causing health problems like that.

And apart from that,

it's not nice for the children to be around the mould.

So, it's just not good.

But it is rising damp

so there is nothing I personally can do to stop it.

It is down to the landlord.

Victoria's right.

It's her landlord's responsibility to treat the damp

and stop it from coming back.

But the work has yet to be done and in the meantime,

her kids are suffering the consequences.

-How's your cough been today?

-Bad.

-I coughed in assembly and it echoed everywhere.

-Yeah.

It's not good, is it?

The damp's making your bad coughs and bad chests again, isn't it?

And as if the damp isn't bad enough, the house is seriously overcrowded.

For Victoria's girls, Kia and Abi, the situation is less than ideal.

It's horrible because you go upstairs in the morning to

get in the bathroom, wash your hair, and they're always in there.

If you go in the front room, they're on the sofas,

-you've got to sit on the floor.

-I love living with my family,

but it's too squidgy because like there's three boys in one

bedroom, two girls in another and our brother's in the hallway upstairs.

It's really overcrowded. We love living with them,

but it would be nice to have a bigger house.

With space so tight,

eight-year-old Kieran doesn't have anywhere to call his own.

There's no room to play. I usually go in the hallway.

I'd like to live in a big house. I don't know where though.

He should have a space in his room to be able to play.

None of them have got no personal space.

Coming up, Victoria's bedroom leaves a lot to be desired.

That's an actual hole, which leads direct to the tiles.

-Is the landlord aware of that?

-The landlord done it.

Back in Newham, and landlord Mr Fox has built a huge extension onto his

house without planning permission

and without meeting council building regulations.

The floor area isn't the correct floor area and also...

Have you got a front room that's bigger than this? Are you having a laugh?

'Back at the office, it's time for a debrief with Christine and Tiffany.'

We got in there, which was a result. I didn't know if that was going to happen.

We got the information we needed, enough for our position to take things forward.

I mean, the thing is, we're dealing with broad brushstrokes.

We're not talking about fire prevention, or anything like that.

We're talking about extra rooms being built.

It seems to me fairly cut and dry that having been told not to

build things, he's gone ahead and built things.

Was it me or was there a few flaws in his logic?

As we were going through there, he was saying,

"You can't enforce this because you told me to stop.

"I didn't, but you didn't do anything about it afterwards."

I was really struggling to understand, you know,

his reasoning, his logic.

The notice, once issued, stays on the land

and it can stay on the land forever. But this case is clear.

He's built something that doesn't comply with planning,

or building regulations,

hasn't been through the building regulations approach either.

We don't know if it's even a safe structure.

From our point of view, it shouldn't be there. It's an ugly structure.

It's just breeze block. It's not very nice to look at.

We'll be writing to him, telling him basically that he is to remove the unauthorised extensions,

he's to remove the loft conversion as well,

and setting him a timescale to do those works.

If he doesn't, then the options are, either remove them or prosecution.

Well, it seems Mr Fox has decided to avoid prosecution.

Despite having to dismantle his unlawful extension,

brick by brick, he is unrepentant.

It's what you call a gamble.

You take a chance with your money

and you either get away with it or you get caught.

As I say, they caught me for this up here,

so I'm prepared to take it down.

We've taken away the extension, coming round to the left.

And the rest of it, which is continuing straight down,

we'll be taking that down as well.

That's more or less what it is.

If you're an Englishman, your house is castle.

You know, it's known for it.

I mean, mine did look like a castle at one stage.

Yeah, in other words, it's their prized possession.

I mean, if someone comes in and takes your home away,

how would you feel?

Luckily, this part of the extension wasn't being used,

so his tenants still have somewhere to live, for now.

And despite everything, Mr Fox is feeling philosophical.

Not to worry.

There's a lot worse things in life to be concerned about.

Maybe next time, he'll wait for planning

permission before embarking on any more building work.

Back on the Isle of Sheppey, in Swale, single mum Victoria

and her six kids have spent the last three years

living in a cramped rented house,

where she's also found herself fighting a serious

case of rising damp.

If I left it and didn't wipe it off, it would

literally come all the way up the walls and it goes like fur.

In order to carry out the extensive repairs that are quite

clearly necessary here, the landlord claims the property has to be empty.

So, he's issued Victoria with an eviction notice.

But finding affordable accommodation with enough

space for the whole family on the island is proving tough, so

Victoria's called in housing officer Sue Davis to see if she can help.

-Hiya.

-Hello, is it all right if I come in?

-Yeah.

-Thank you.

The last time we spoke about the situation was, if I'm right,

I know you're privately renting and the landlord's selling,

-and you've been looking for private rent?

-Yeah,

but there's just nothing about, is there?

If it's OK with you, we'll have a look round,

-so I can see who's sleeping where, and the make-up of the house.

-Yeah.

Victoria's kids have really been struggling with

the lack of space, but the damp is making matters even worse.

Right, so, whose room is this?

It's Ciaran, the eight-year-old, Kyle, the 15-year-old,

-and Jamie, who's nearly 17 this month.

-OK.

-But you can obviously... You can smell the damp in here.

-Yeah.

And all that wall, I mean, that goes black quite regular,

-but as I said...

-We've had Environmental Health out, though,

-haven't we?

-Yeah, he said it's rising damp.

That's something I need to take to the Environmental Health again,

-see if they can have another look.

-Right.

-Cos that is an issue...

-Yeah.

-You've got three lads in here.

Well, Kyle was asthmatic as a baby,

the doctor has recently said his asthma's back, his wheeze is bad.

I said to him about the damp. He said he can't say that

-that's obviously, the problem, is it?

-No.

But it ain't going to help his asthma in any way.

It's clear this is no place for kids to spend time in,

never mind having to sleep here,

and things are no better in the next room.

OK, so you've got the two girls in here.

A lot of their furniture is actually in my bedroom, because it's...

-We're losing so much through mould.

-Everything's doubled up, isn't it?

-OK.

-You can feel the walls in here, I mean, if it rains, that's it.

-They're soaking, absolutely, so...

-Yeah, right.

Obviously, that's the only reason we keep that there,

is so there's somewhere for it to be in the way.

-Who's up here?

-Lee, the eldest, yeah.

-He's your eldest.

-OK, this is like a landing.

-Yeah, yeah.

Victoria's 18-year-old son Lee has autism, which affects how

he communicates and relates to other people.

He should have his own bedroom but the chronic shortage of space

means he has to sleep at the top of the stairs.

-Obviously, where he is, 18.

-Yeah.

-Even though he's mentally not 18.

-No.

-It still is...big boy.

He's not in a position to really share with

-any of his siblings at all, no?

-He can't, no.

It's like this... To me, that's an absolute mess, but to him,

-that is how it's got to be.

-Yeah.

-If I literally moved a boot or something...

-He'd know.

-..when he'd come in, he'd be, "Who touched my stuff?"

-So,

if he comes in and something's been moved,

-he won't be able to cope with that?

-He'll... No, he will have a tantrum.

And what does that entail, what does he do?

Well, the same as a, like, three-year-old.

When they have a tantrum, he can kick out,

-scream, jump about on the floor...

-Does he get physical?

Hit things...yeah, yeah.

You've been here for about three years,

-has he always been here, then?

-Yeah, because he...

It's just not even worth trying to get him to share.

-Doesn't want to, doesn't want to share.

-No.

As Lee's full-time carer, alongside running the home,

Victoria really does have her hands full.

Her room is crammed with clutter.

That's all the kids' bits, that are not against...

This was the only place in the house that wasn't actually mouldy.

And there's no escape from the damp, either.

The whole of that bit goes black with mould.

That's an actual hole, which leads direct to the tiles.

And is the landlord aware of that?

The landlord done it,

-because he was trying to have a look...

-Oh.

..into the ceiling to see what was going on,

-he cut the hole, said he'd be back, ain't been back since.

-OK.

He's took all these out, because they're all on separate fuses, but if

you can see round the edges, they've all gone damp

-and they kept blowing the whole of the electrics.

-OK.

Right, I'm going to have to get Environmental Health out anyway,

-just to do safety things, check everything over.

-Right.

-Because you're still living here, at the end of the day.

-Yeah, yeah.

It's a situation which needs to be sorted as soon as possible,

but finding a new place in the same area for Victoria

and the kids won't be easy.

So, all your kids are at school on the island.

-Apart from Lee...

-Apart from Lee.

..and Jamie's in college on the island, yeah.

-So, and you've got support here, haven't you?

-Yeah.

So, that kind of restricts their area, as well, to a certain extent.

Yeah, well, that's the thing, I mean, obviously,

Jamie, at the minute, is feeling like he should move out

to give us more space, but I don't want him to move out.

-No, we don't.

-He's still a baby, I'd rather have him at home

-and be able to guide him better in life.

-Absolutely.

Yeah, and we want you as a family to stay together,

-and help you as a family.

-Yeah, we don't want to split us all up, no.

That's what we're here to do. We're here to help you move on

to somewhere that is adequate for you.

-Yeah, and somewhere we can stay.

-That is... Somewhere you can stay.

-A bit permanent, yeah.

-Yeah, long-term housing for you.

-Lovely, thanks for that, Victoria.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-See you later.

-See you later.

'I'm going back to the office. I'll speak to Environmental Health.'

There are issues there and we need to get them sorted out.

What we don't want, with this family,

is for, like Victoria said, she's got one of her sons

who's saying, "I don't want to do this any more.

"I want to leave." Well,

we don't want that, we want to keep the family together,

so we've got to do everything we can to keep them together,

to get them moved on into housing that's sustainable for them.

And that's what we're aiming to do.

It's not easy finding a property to suit such a large family,

but, happily, the landlord has agreed to

hold off repossession proceedings, while Sue and the team continue

their search to find the right home for Victoria and her kids.

'Councils around the country have different ideas and policies about

'how their properties can be altered and changed to suit the tenant.

'But you can't draw up a policy that covers everyone.

'If a tenant, for example, suffers with health problems,

'the council has to deal with that on a case by case basis.

'Today, I'm in Stevenage.

'And I'm travelling with architect Andy Hills.

'We've come to see Heather Dunlop, who has MS,

'in the hope that we can find a way to make her house more

'suitable for her complex health needs.

'Multiple sclerosis attacks nerves in the brain and spinal cord,

'causing symptoms that affect muscle movement,

'balance and vision.'

There you go. Do you want to take it from there?

'Heather's lived in this house for the last 18 years

'and has asked the council to extend the ground-floor living

'accommodation to better suit her needs.'

-Where do you want us, Heather?

-By the table.

-OK.

'While Andy takes some quick measurements outside,

'I want to find out more about Heather's current situation.'

So, Heather, even coming through the door, we could see

some of the problems that you've got with the property right now.

Can you talk me through what it is that is wrong with this house

right now, for you?

It's wrong in the fact that I still live...

I still sleep upstairs, so I need to be able to sleep downstairs,

and also wash downstairs,

so hence why I'm having...or would like to have the extension.

-I know you've lived in this property for some time.

-18 years.

How have things changed since you've been in this home?

I've got a rare form of MS, primary progressive,

that every day I get worse.

There's never any getting better.

When was it clear that you needed this place to be changed?

About five years ago.

Was it when you realised you were going to be

dependent on a wheelchair?

Yeah, in 2010, I became... into a wheelchair.

And I physically can't stand to get on a stairlift to get up

the stairs on my own, without somebody helping me.

What are you doing at the moment, then? How are you dealing with it?

My son, at the moment, or my daughter if she's here,

they physically lift me on the stairlift,

I go up the stairs on the stairlift, and then my son or my daughter

will lift me off the stairlift to get into my bed.

And in the mornings, my 24-year-old son has to see his mother naked,

to get in that shower.

How important is it for you that you have your independence?

It's very important to me.

I was given an illness that takes that independence away,

but I still try to be as independent as I can.

'Andy's still finalising the architectural drawings for

'the planned extension, to make sure

'they satisfy Heather's requirements.'

Then, hopefully, you know, at the end of this, we'll have something

that you, as far as this scheme's concerned, you're content with.

OK.

The first thing that we need to improve is the front access.

And, then, this door, which we came through in front of the stairs,

into the living area, we've got to widen as much as we can,

so you've got lounge, dining, kitchen.

I need to have a ceiling hoist,

-preferably that goes right from my bed to my washing facilities.

-Yes.

And that's all I want to do, is sleep and wash.

Everybody has a right to wash, don't they?

Yup.

Once the architectural plans are finalised,

it's up to the council to decide

whether to fund the improvements or possibly search for an existing

property that's already designed with wheelchair living in mind.

For now, Heather will continue to rely on her son

and daughter to enable her to stay in the family home,

until a final decision is made on the proposed extension.

That looks like a big bit of work for you, Andy.

-It's a big job, isn't it?

-There are some real practical issues.

It's not just simply putting an extension on the back a house.

There are some major issues with drainage, to get the drainage out to the front.

And, yeah, taking her out of her situation with the kitchen

-going et cetera is very disruptive to Heather.

-Presumably,

there comes a point where the cost of work like that,

you have to weigh it up against the possible benefits

and it might not actually be, you know, a cost efficient thing to do.

Yeah.

The housing folk who obviously have responsibility will take

that on board.

My job as the architect is to provide the design, get the costs

and report back to them, so they can make an informed decision.

For the Dunlop family, finding a solution can't come soon enough.

While the council consider the extension to Heather's

existing home, a few weeks later,

a nearby three-bedroom bungalow has become available.

Housing officer Greta Gardiner hopes this could solve Heather's

housing problems.

Sometimes, it's very difficult

when a tenant's in a property that is no longer suitable for them.

So, every single case is treated individually

and we assess their needs

and what we have available at the time, to the best of our ability.

The council hope that this property, when it's refurbished,

will provide more accessible accommodation,

without the need to build on additional rooms.

This afternoon, we showed Miss Dunlop

and her daughter this property.

We were able to show her what we could do to the property to

make it suitable for her, so she'd be able to live here comfortably.

With some small alterations,

this new home will allow Heather to live much more independently.

I think Miss Dunlop has had a really difficult time in deciding

what is best for her cos it's not just about Miss Dunlop,

it's about her and her family and how it all works for them.

It's not about bricks and mortar, it's about people being comfortable.

We are doing our best and hopefully,

this will be one of those success stories.

Since filming, we've been told that the high cost of building

an extension to Heather's current home means that it's looking

more likely she'll be moved into the bungalow

which will be specially adapted to suit all her needs.

That's it for today.

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

Subtitles by Ericsson