Episode 9 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 cleaned?

-The whole of that bit, though, is black with mould.

-Hello.

In the battle between tenants and landlords...

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

-I don't care.

-This is what you get.

-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.

'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...'

This feels like an accident waiting to happen.

Dealing with the consequences of nightmare neighbours...

So, I need to tell you that

you're committing an offence under the Housing Act.

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

What a good old boy.

MAN YELLS

Today, one council joins forces with the police...

Show me your hands, show me your hands, keep your hands out.

..to issue ultimatums to unruly tenants.

-Oh, no, what now?

-It's a notice seeking possession.

We catch up with one housing officer keeping a watchful eye on our landlords.

You've had a few months to get this done now.

I have been a bit busy. You've got to understand, I am running a business, as well, so...

'I check into a bed-and-breakfast that's low on creature comforts.'

This is rank. It doesn't feel right at all, this place.

They say that an Englishman's home is his castle

but if it's a rented castle,

then it's the job of housing officers

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

Neighbours... everybody needs good neighbours,

but what happens when a community is terrorised

by tenants bent on antisocial behaviour?

Cornwall is not what you might think.

It isn't all ice creams and rugged coastline.

Neighbourhood Enforcement Officer Karen Centini is investigating

several families on a council estate who've been

making their neighbours' lives a misery.

The issues around the tenants have been

ongoing drug and alcohol misuse around the property,

antisocial behaviour...

There's allegations of drug dealing, them being out with baseball bats

and knives in the street, intimidating the neighbours.

This depressing catalogue of crime

has left other residents on the estate at breaking point,

but many too scared to make official complaints to the council.

-Hello.

-Hiya.

-Hello.

At the local police station,

Karen and fellow housing officer Donna McEvoy

are keen to see footage of a recent police raid

on one of the properties.

MAN YELLS

DOG BARKS

-MAN:

-Show me your hands, show me your hands, keep your hands out!

-Just show me, keep your hands out.

-WOMAN:

-Yeah, that's fine.

I recognise the woman as one of our tenants.

Oh, yeah, there's some cannabis down there,

-what my partner just put there. My boyfriend did.

-OK, no problem.

'If I stop that there,'

I can show you a rough idea of what the house is like.

There's the door, which has been... looks like it's been reinforced.

It wasn't like that when you went in?

No, it certainly wasn't like that when I went in.

I think, looking at that, it's in probably worse condition now

than when I originally went in.

What, four weeks ago?

Yeah, I've written and asked for it to be put right within 28 days.

OK, so they've got 28 days to get all of that back to...

Yeah, and then I have to... I will be back for another inspection.

What do you reckon the chances are of that being put right in 28 days?

I don't know. I don't know,

-I shouldn't have thought so.

-Hmm, have to wait and see.

-Yeah.

These raids didn't just capture a shocking level of squalor.

PC Iain Madden and his colleagues

found hard evidence of drug dealing, too.

We recovered...

You know, there's...there's money, a pair of digital scales...

That was recovered at another address

but there is a larger quantity of drugs that was recovered.

-And they're all linked to our properties?

-Yes, they are.

-OK.

It's not the first time these council tenants have been

caught with drugs on the property, but this could be the final straw.

I feel more confident now, working with the police, Donna...

You know, it's a jigsaw.

If we can get all of those pieces together, the evidence that we

can present, ultimately, will give us possession of the property again.

That evidence needs to include written statements

from other council tenants nearby

who've suffered because of these antisocial families.

I've come to Cornwall to help Karen with her search for witnesses.

You would think that people would complain about antisocial behaviour

but actually, at the extremes of that behaviour,

they won't want to come forward. They'll be too scared.

-Right.

-Now, I would have thought that is one of those things

that was going to limit you or make it difficult to do the job.

That is a major issue with long-term, ongoing ASB

that's not been dealt with in the past, or...

You know, the police have been attending

lots and lots of times, then the community lose faith.

-SIREN WAILS

-One neighbour who has been at

the sharp end of all this antisocial behaviour has agreed to talk to us,

on condition of anonymity.

-Hello, there.

-Hello.

Erm, so tell me a little bit about

what's been happening around this house.

Well, they smashed my windows, they smashed my door,

all sorts I've had here. Gangs of boys outside.

Abuse, everything.

And you think that's because of those properties,

-what's going on in there?

-Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, well, they get away with it, don't they?

They just get away with it and I'm fed up with it.

It sounds like they...

They're giving you a fair deal of abuse,

-from what you're saying.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Does it make you feel afraid to be in your home?

-Yeah, it does.

It does, yeah. It's going to get worse and worse, isn't it?

You know, why should I take it?

Would you leave this place if you could?

I don't like to, but I would, yeah.

I'm shaking, I am.

-Are you all right, there?

-I'm shaking cos nothing gets done.

I'm just boiled up inside, you know?

I'm getting too old now.

I can't take it, I just can't take it, you know?

Yeah.

Talking to this tenant has made me realise

the devastating effect aggressive and intimidating behaviour can have

on members of a community.

But there's still work to do if the estate is going to be

free of its antisocial element once and for all.

We'll find out what happens a bit later on.

-WOMAN:

-Oh, no, what now?

-OK, so it's a notice seeking possession.

-Oh, for what?

-Antisocial behaviour.

-I haven't done anything!

In Allerdale in Cumbria,

the town of Maryport was known for its mining and shipyard.

It even boasts a view of the Scottish hills from its harbour.

Housing officer Dean Hodgson is on his way to meet a landlord

who is well known in the area.

Today I am going to visit a flat that I inspected a few months ago.

The property is owned by Bobby,

who is one of our larger landlords in Allerdale.

All that block is mine.

That block there, that's all mine as well.

This house here is one of mine.

'Ex-market trader Bobby has been dabbling in property investment for more than 30 years.

'He now owns over 40 different addresses in the area.'

He's a colourful character.

In January, I've had two doors kicked in... Three doors kicked in.

They're £400 a door.

He likes to complain a little bit.

We need to make the means of escape a little bit better, OK?

-At my expense again.

-Well, naturally.

We have quite a good working relationship together.

He's just doing his job, which is fine.

The most important thing for us is tenant safety.

Landlords don't always think of that.

Sometimes they think of their wallet.

'Dean has previously issued Bobby with an improvement notice on one of his flats in the town.

'He discovered a number of safety issues that meant it didn't comply.'

-Hi, Bobby, how are you doing?

-All right, yeah.

-Good, good.

-So the first item on here is to make sure the fire alarm system is working.

-Right.

So when I was here before, it wasn't actually working properly.

-That has been done by the electrician.

-You had it...

Well, as you can see, we've got new stuff there

-so that's been done.

-'Next on the list is the fire door.'

-We've had that done.

-You had that sorted, lovely.

So it's got a self-closer on there

and your smoke strips and seals on there as well so that's good.

Bobby's hoping today goes well as he's got someone waiting to take on this one-bedroom flat.

I've got a new tenant coming in here next week

-who's come from some other housing association, a charity for homeless people.

-Right.

They've come and inspected the property, they're happy with it and

I said, "I am putting heating in." He said he loves the flat.

Well, hopefully today's visit will confirm that the property is fine to let to someone.

'In the living room,

'Dean had a major concern surrounding the safety of the window.'

Because the sill height was so low,

the risk of someone falling out was quite high.

-I've put the cage on as you can see now.

-Fantastic.

OK, so do you want to go through the heating system?

The storage heaters are going to cost me about £1,000 plus fitting.

So when's that going to be fitted?

Because you've had a few months to get this done now.

I have been a little bit busy, Dean.

I am running a business as well so this isn't my priority,

I've got some other properties that I'm getting done or getting built or whatever.

But technically you haven't complied with an improvement notice

so the council does have the opportunity to prosecute you

and there could be a fine of up to £5,000.

Obviously we'd prefer not to go down that route

-if you can get these fitted.

-I think I'd rather do a prison sentence!

If you can get these fitted as soon as possible,

then I'm sure there's no need for us to go down that route.

It's getting done next week anyway, that's no problem.

I feel as if it's your property, not mine, do you know that?

I'd certainly say it's been a bit more of a stick rather than the carrot on this particular job,

but we have a good working relationship with Bobby

and we usually manage to resolve things in the end.

It's just one of those things.

You've just got to bear with it and do what you've got to do

and keep them quiet, just get on with it.

Complying with the council's request,

soon after, a new heating system was properly installed.

In Cornwall, a council housing estate has been

plagued by antisocial behaviour for years.

-MAN YELLS

-Now, after a series of police raids

exposed drug activity on the part of several families...

..the council want to take decisive action.

In a bid to strengthen their case against the families,

Housing officers Karen and Donna have been appealing to

residents for help, but it hasn't been easy.

Nobody will come forward,

they...they certainly will not go to the police.

This'll be the third time we've done this letter drop,

and the police have done their own individual ones but they've had

no response whatsoever, but we have had responses, haven't we?

We have had responses.

But in the letter this time, I've put, basically,

"Without your help, we can't do anything."

You know, just to stress that we need them.

The 150 letters that Karen and Donna are delivering are calling on people

to come forward if they've suffered from antisocial behaviour.

OK, you've probably received

one of these letters before.

It's about antisocial behaviour on the estate.

-MAN:

-You got five minutes, or no?

-Yes, yeah.

Eventually, someone does agree to talk, although not on camera.

What we're trying to do at the moment is we're trying to crack down

-on the antisocial behaviour that's going on on this estate.

-Yes.

What we want to know really is the impact, at the moment,

that the families are having on you.

There's one family here, they fight amongst themselves,

and then everyone gets involved in it,

and because you go out and say anything, you're the bad one.

This tenant hasn't just experienced verbal abuse,

his property has also come under attack.

I think overall, there's about £2,500 worth of damage.

-Did you report that to the police?

-Yeah.

Do you know why they did that? Why did that happen?

Did this family think, maybe, you'd said something to the police?

Oh, naturally, of course, yeah, yeah.

The retaliation is why people are afraid to come forward, isn't it?

Yeah.

I feel that management in the Housing Department

are not strong enough in their convictions.

No good saying this, that and the other

and not doing anything about it.

-Hmm.

-Believe me, we are trying our best to stamp down

on the antisocial behaviour on this estate but, as it says in my letter,

I need some help from the tenants.

We can't just do it on our own.

The job of finding tenants willing to speak out

against their antisocial neighbours isn't an easy task.

For now, though, the drugs raids have given the council

enough evidence to start the ball rolling, and a few days later,

Karen has some news.

Because there was a positive drugs warrant at more than one

property, we're looking to serve a notice of seeking possession

to all of those involved.

Hopefully, we'll let the community know that we are taking action

against people's tenancies, and we're not going to tolerate

behaviour such as intimidation, drug dealing,

and violence on the estate.

Because of all of the previous antisocial behaviour,

the drug use, and what we know about the occupants of the property,

we're taking the police with us.

Dozens of incidents of antisocial behaviour have been traced back

to the first council property.

It's thought that the mother, the partner,

and her adult children are involved.

I'm serving you with a notice seeking possession...

-Yup, OK.

-..property on grounds on grounds of antisocial behaviour.

-There's one for you, and one for

-BLEEP.

-Yup, right, yup, I'll get my solicitor onto it.

-OK.

-OK.

That went quite well, at the minute, so we're going to...

The second property's... Let's hope that goes just as well.

This next house was also subject to a drugs raid,

and members of the family have a long list of offences

to their names, including violence and intimidation.

-Is your wife in?

-BLEEP.

Shall I knock, or...?

-Hello.

-Hello.

Oh, no, what now?

OK, so it's a notice seeking possession.

-Oh, for what?

-Antisocial behaviour.

I haven't done anything!

-It's all in there.

-You've got to be kidding, Donna.

DOG BARKS OK? You need to read the notice,

as it is... It's ongoing antisocial behaviour.

-It details it all in there.

-That's every year with him.

Go in and read it, OK?

It's a notice that we may take you to court to seek possession.

The tenants' adult son has been responsible for many

of the incidents, with his parents claiming he's out of control.

-MAN:

-He wants to get his own place.

-WOMAN:

-He's been trying for a year,

but we've only just managed to sort his money out,

been in appeal for a year.

-DONNA:

-To be totally honest, can he sustain a tenancy?

-MAN:

-I don't know. Only one way to find out, isn't there?

The thing is, that if he stays there, and this behaviour continues,

and there's more after today, we will be taking him to court.

-WOMAN:

-He's not going to change.

Can't kick him out on the street, can I?

You have got choices.

-Yeah, all right, OK...

-Bye.

The tenant is putting most of the blame on their son,

so they're saying, if their son leaves, things will improve,

but it's really difficult to get them to understand

that they do have a choice.

He's a man and they need to choose whether to decide to kick him out

and keep their...keep her tenancy or whether she wants to support him

and having them risk losing their tenancy.

Which they will end up losing their tenancy over.

The notices are finally served, and for Karen and Donna,

it's the culmination of months of hard work.

We sit in the office for weeks and weeks, collating all of this,

it takes a lot of man-hours getting all this together,

and then that piece of paper is in the door within two minutes.

But you know, it's quite significant,

cos it is the first legal step, so it's quite a significant thing,

serving notice on the property.

It's depressing, isn't it, when you book a room online

and then find out you've got a view of the bins.

What if it's dirty, unsafe, overcrowded and not even a B&B?

In 2012-2013, there were over 27 million overseas and domestic overnight visitors to London.

And with the growth of the online B&B trade,

homeowners are increasingly tapping into what is a lucrative market.

It's especially true in the London Borough of Newham.

Home to the Olympics

and an easy ride to the tourist sites of central London,

Newham is Greater London's second-fastest-growing borough

and the growth of unlicensed and frankly pretty dodgy B&Bs and hostels

in residential neighbourhoods is becoming a real problem.

This is...

She might look like she's booking a room for a trip away.

Actually she's investigating some of those unregulated businesses

in what are supposed to be ordinary private homes.

We're looking to protect our family housing stock here

and by renting it out and the churn of people within properties like this isn't what we want.

We have very few of these terraced properties available for family housing, they're all being split up

and so it's houses like this that we need to protect.

'It's 7am and I'm on a dawn raid with Megan and her team

'to investigate a possible B&B or short-term let.'

It has been reported as a B&B or short-term lettings.

We've had a couple in this area and we can see them all online.

It's just a matter of getting into them.

They normally have a telephone number on the door and it says, "When you arrive, call this number."

So they don't have necessarily a receptionist or anything like that so is not really like a B&B or a hotel.

No services provided, occasionally there is a kettle in a room.

This is again another level of licence

that they should be playing by to be able to provide this.

Yeah, and you'll have no tenancy agreements, no contract necessarily,

very little security for anyone that will come and stay there.

-So we need to get in and have a look.

-And the turnover is pretty great.

-What about booking? We shouldn't book.

-No, we won't be making a booking today!

SHE KNOCKS ON DOOR

Good morning. Sorry to disturb you.

I'm from the council. My name is Megan.

I'm from the planning department. Is it all right if we come in and have a look, please?

'None of the guests here were prepared to be on camera.'

Sorry to disturb you, sorry. How did you book this? Was it online?

OK, fantastic. And how long are you staying for?

Until Sunday? And when did you arrive?

OK, so it's almost a week. OK.

'These kind of rooms are easily bookable online by anybody.

'Click the wrong link while looking for a cheap stay in this part of London

'and this is where you will end up.

'It's a case of bed, but no breakfast.'

-So this is a really weird setup.

-Very weird.

-What's going on here?

This is quite a usual setup at the moment.

-Really?

-And...

They book online and the landlord will change the property

or it could possibly be sublet as well and they'll advertise online

and all they'll provide is a telephone number for guests to call

and they may ring them at night and come down and let them in

and that will be the last they hear of it.

They'll stay their week and then leave.

This is, what, people coming in and doing bits of work or holidays?

A mixture of both, to be honest. I've been to the reviews online.

Some of them have come for business,

some of them have come for a week trip,

-for a weekend trip, and various reviews, most of them bad.

-But then...

This is one of the worst properties I've seen for a hotel booking.

-But this is a business we've got here.

-This is a business.

This is not a home, this is a hotel/B&B/hostel sort of arrangement.

-There doesn't seem to be anybody in charge here.

-No, there isn't, no.

For hotels and other booking places like that,

they have to get their own planning permission and this is not run like that.

(This is rank. It's really...)

(It doesn't feel right at all, this place.)

SHE KNOCKS ON DOOR

Good morning, sorry to disturb you.

How long have you been staying in your room for?

Three days? And are you here on holiday?

As a tourist in London?

How long are you planning on staying here?

Moscow, OK.

'This place seems to be in breach of so many regulations.

'In this case, B&B must mean bad and badder.'

This is not something we want.

-This is someone trying to turn a fairly shonky house...

-Into a profit.

..into a business with five rooms and nobody with overall control day and night.

-No, no.

-Right, OK. That's an eye-opener.

-Yes.

-Next time I book online, I will remember this place.

-Good, bear it in mind.

-Thank you.

-No worries.

It's not clear whether the landlord or the tenant was responsible for this bed-and-breakfast setup.

But this place won't be making it into any tourist guides any time soon.

I've been on dawn raids and house visits.

Now I'm going to get a slice of life

behind the public counter here in Stevenage.

Of course, before anything happens,

before any housing officers can go off in their cars to sort anything else out,

there has to be some kind of contact,

either a complaint or a notification

and that all takes place in there. So today, that's where we are going.

'This is the borough council's customer services centre,

'operated by 23 full-time staff.

'People come here with a range of issues

'from rubbish collections to council tax payments and benefits.

'A big slice of these visits are people seeking housing help and advice.

'Right on the front line of client support is...'

And you don't know when they come through the door

-exactly what it is you're going to be faced with.

-That's right.

There must be occasions when people come in and they're genuinely,

you know, this is the first port of call when they're desperately in need.

That's right. We only deal with the first part of it

and then we would ring through to the relevant departments

to somebody more trained in that area to carry it further.

And you literally get people rocking up here with suitcases?

Yeah, it's happened, yeah.

'This is Catherine Heywood, here with her baby daughter, Ruby.

'Her first problem is a bit of missing correspondence.'

We received a letter last month.

My partner brought it in on roughly 15th of November

and handed it to the gentleman at the front.

This is saying that it wasn't received. It's not the first time it's happened to me.

No, we've had a few of these and they've gone out in error to people that have.

'But the real issue is simple - overcrowding.'

It was quite distressing this morning because we are stuck in a two-bedroom house

and my boys just bounce off each other every night,

they have different sensory needs at bedtime.

One needs a little quiet DVD or a radio

and the other one needs nothing but a book and I'm catering for that in one room.

It's not easy.

Do you have any letters proving that,

from social workers or anything like that, just saying...

No, it's just what we've read on the website that stated that anybody who is disabled

is entitled to their own bedroom, and as far as I'm aware, that's for most councils.

'Catherine and her family currently live here in a two-bedroom property.

'The problem is they're a family of five.'

Right, well, we've got two boys in here.

The one that sleeps here is nine and a half,

the one that sleeps there is seven.

Both the boys have special needs.

We have one with core autism and one with autism.

They've got completely opposite sensory needs.

In turn, them being in the room together,

they bounce off each other other's attitudes

and hyperness all night and they're awake very late every night.

And it's quite difficult.

We can't separate them, we can't make life easier for one than the other.

They're stuck in here, there's nothing we can do.

'It's clear Catherine is keen to have her sons' medical conditions reclassified

'in the hope it will improve her housing priority.'

Where do you feel you are now?

We feel we should have been further along the housing chain than we are now.

'However, it's not all hopeless for Catherine and her family,

'as lettings manager Richard Mitchell explains.'

They've been moved from band E to band C so they've got higher priority.

Previously, they would have been further down the list.

Now they are higher up the list.

The new problem we're going to have with them

is they now need a property that we have very few stock of.

Four-bedroom homes,

we only have maybe four or five that become available a year.

Her wait could be months or maybe years.

'So Catherine's case is moving forward, albeit very slowly.

'For some tenants, coming in to the customer service centre might be an unnecessary hassle,

'but not for Catherine.'

A lot of stuff can be done online now,

but you choose to come in personally and do this face-to-face.

I prefer face-to-face because then I'm speaking to a person.

I don't like having a chat with a computer.

-You'd always prefer to do it this way, face-to-face with human beings.

-Yes, definitely.

'Catherine has now been successful in her appeal

'and is on the waiting list for a four-bedroomed house.

'Fingers crossed it won't be too long before her family get the space they need.'

That's it for today.

Join me next time, when I'll be learning more about what it takes to be a front-line housing officer.