Episode 1 The Housing Enforcers


Episode 1

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Transcript


LineFromTo

Hello, will you just let me in?

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

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I wouldn't keep my dog there is the honest truth.

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'But for thousands of people across the UK, the reality can be more hovel than home.'

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Yeah, this is falling to bits. There's nothing I can do.

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'In the battle for decent housing...'

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We've just got conditions that are just appalling.

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I don't know how the people are coping, to be quite honest.

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

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If somebody had have died here,

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you would have been standing in Coroner's Court.

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'I'm Matt Allwright, and I'm back with the housing enforcers.'

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-15 people in this house?

-15 people in total living in here.

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'I'll be with them as they tackle problem properties and slum conditions.'

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It really does look shantytown.

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Yeah, it's not up to standard.

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'As they deal with dodgy landlords, nightmare neighbours

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'and everything in between.'

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Oh, my God, straightaway there's the smell of dog muck.

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You never know what you're going to find.

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'Doing their best to help those in need of a happy and healthy home.'

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-Give me a hug.

-THEY LAUGH

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That's the one...

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'Today we find what could be Britain's filthiest home.'

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The overwhelming smell here is disgusting.

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Here we are, standing on a house-high pile of faeces and cider cans.

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'And we provide a solution for the problems of this homeless family.

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-Give me a hug.

-THEY LAUGH

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Every year, more of us rent the homes that we live in,

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and every year, rents go up.

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For those of us choosing cheaper housing, that can mean

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enduring living conditions so bad that they break the law.

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I'm working alongside the men and women whose job it is

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to uphold those laws.

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They...are the housing enforcers.

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'In Kent, I'm spending the day with Swale Borough Council

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'housing officer Glyn Pritchard,

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'inspecting a private residence that's now empty

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'but has still being attracting complaints from the neighbours.

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'Glyn's got 25 years' experience under his belt,

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'so it's a pretty safe bet he's seen it all in his time...

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'Until today, that is.'

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That's the one.

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Erm...you can see from the outside

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that normally when it looks worse than the rest, there's usually reasons for it.

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So, what's the scenario here? Why are we here?

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The neighbours complained last year.

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The police entered the property to try and find if he was in there,

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cos the resident hadn't been seen for a while.

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So, there was concerns over him.

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They then contacted us to say there was a problem with the condition

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of the property, so we then started to try and contact the owner.

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He wasn't living at the property.

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We couldn't get in, but we could see through the window.

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Just so I'm clear again, it was in a state a year ago

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-and no-one's been in, we think, in that year?

-No.

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We have served legal notice twice to try and resolve the issue

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and ultimately he still didn't do the work,

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so we've had to get a warrant to get in and now we're actually

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executing the warrant to get into the property.

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'OK, now I'm really worried.

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'Glyn wants us to enter a property that hasn't been touched in over a year with no idea

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'of what's inside and he's clearly taking it very seriously.'

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Protective mask, gloves...

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And what I will do is...

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We tend to spray ourselves just in case of any insects,

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bugs, fleas or anything like that.

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Top to bottom with it.

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After doing it 25 years, I cover myself.

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THEY LAUGH

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-Insurance!

-I've never taken anything home yet.

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Right. These are nice, aren't they?

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-Here we go. Enter.

-You lead the way.

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I'll lead the way and see what we can find.

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'Despite the protective gear, I'm still feeling nervous,'

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'especially when I discover how Glyn's expecting us to get into the house.'

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They've got a window open at the moment, which is...

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-Is that the way in?

-That's one way in.

-Right.

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And the other way is the door, which is a very tight squeeze.

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That's not much of a choice, is it, really?

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Glyn, you know what I really like is amongst all this stuff,

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which is already humming, there are just...there are two air fresheners.

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'Glyn's decided that we're going to have to go through the window with this one.

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'I mean, what could possibly go wrong?'

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Oh, my God!

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Now you've seen it.

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That's just like...

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It's about four or five foot high.

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Oh, my God!

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That's incredible.

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All I can see is cider cans, videos and tissues.

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How can one person drink so much cider?

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'And just when I thought it couldn't get any worse...'

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Oh, no!

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We're not sure,

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but those could be full of other things

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other than food in Tupperware.

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That's not food in there. That's...

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Why put it in Tupperware? Why keep it?!

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That's the opposite of what you have to do with that!

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You're supposed to flush it away, not preserve it!

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'Faced with a cocktail of cider cans and human waste,

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'I'm not looking forward to going inside.'

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-Are you going in that way?

-I'm going to go in...

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It is fairly high and we're looking at least five foot in here.

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Right.

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I'm going to have to... I'm going to have to go in.

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If Glyn... If Glyn can do this, I can do this.

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I'm going in.

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Get in from the outside. Hold on to the top.

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'It's not the most graceful way to get in,

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'but it's nothing compared to what I'm about to face.'

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There's like... The only safe place to step here is on videos.

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If you're stepping on videos, DVDs,

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then you just about get away with it.

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Everything else...

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Everything else is disgusting.

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The overwhelming smell here...

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is of fermenting apples and faeces.

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I've never been able to touch a ceiling standing on the rubbish before,

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so that's a new one on me.

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-It's difficult to avoid it.

-Well...

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I mean, at that point there, that's got to be five foot.

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It's probably the one I've seen the highest with alcohol cans.

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Faeces isn't an issue. I've, you know, that's...

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Faeces is an issue, Glyn!

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Where are you going to start with this? How can you begin to do this?

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'Glyn's experience is doing a good job of keeping him calm -

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'well, calmer than me anyway.

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'Personally I'm not sure I would ever be able to get used to

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'a scene like this, even after 25 years on the job.'

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You are kidding me!

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I mean, don't get me wrong,

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of a weekend, I enjoy watching a film, yeah?

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I even enjoy the odd can of cider from time to time.

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This is taking it too far!

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Do you know what I saw here down here mixed in amongst this?

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It's a set of those clippers for doing your nasal hair.

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Yeah, I wouldn't want to use them now, though.

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No, but I would say that's fine tuning. When you've got a pile...

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A five foot pile in your living room of cider cans,

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faeces in Tupperware, don't worry about the nasal hair thing.

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'And things don't improve as we pick our way upstairs.'

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Oh, my God! There's, like, a whole thing of clothes.

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-Now, we're into... This is the wardrobe area.

-Yeah.

-Oh, my God.

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I think this is probably going to be it,

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because every room's the same.

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That room you can't get into.

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That room is exactly the same as downstairs.

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'And it appears the toilet arrangements are the same up here too.'

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-All the excrement, everything, is in bags.

-Oh...

-There's an old quilt.

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There's definitely evidence of mice, rats...

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Even the rats wouldn't live in this.

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This is like a combat zone.

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It's like he's declared war on the house and himself.

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Here we are, standing on a, you know, a house-high pile of faeces

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and cider cans.

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What do we need to assess, realistically, looking at this job?

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Realistically now, this is a full house clearance.

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So, it's a contractor in and literally,

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they are going to have to strip the whole lot.

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There is probably nothing that is salvageable at all in here.

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'It might be because of the shock of the mess or

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'the smell of a year's worth of human waste,

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'but either way, it's really hard to get my head round what could have

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'happened to the owner that would make him treat his own home in this way.'

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You know, we've had hoarders before that we've seen, and we've seen,

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you know, people who clearly have, you know, illnesses that they're

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trying to get past which affect their behaviour and the rest of it.

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-What's going on with somebody that lives like this?

-We don't know.

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I mean, do you ever, I know this is not your job,

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your job is to come here, make it better,

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but you can't come in somewhere like this and not think to yourself,

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"What on earth is going on in this guy's head?"

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The thing is, without being able to talk to him,

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usually you can assess, you can find,

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but on this instance we just cannot even get that, you know,

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dialogue going with him, so we need to work from there.

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At what point does he lose the right to have this property?

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I mean, it's going to be affecting your next-door neighbours

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and if he comes back in and does the same thing again,

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at some point do you lose the right to own this property?

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If we can get a debt on the property under certain circumstances,

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we can go through an enforced sale-type procedure.

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We can work with him, being an empty property,

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to bring it up to standard and possibly get him to rent it out.

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And ultimately compulsory purchase is something that is there,

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but that is going to be a long, drawn-out process.

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Have we done everything we need to do in this property?

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I can't go any further and I can't take you any further!

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THEY LAUGH

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Can we please go? Can we...?

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I can't see any more of this and I certainly can't smell any more.

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'It is a tragic situation, but the pressing problem now is how to

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'sort this place out so it's no longer affecting the neighbours.'

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Oh, God!

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MATT GASPS

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BOTH PANT

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I... I've never seen... I've never seen anything like that.

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Tissues, Tupperware...

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..and just terrible, terrible filth.

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You know, if it was...

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If it was standing by itself, freestanding, detached...

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My honest...

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My honest reaction would just be, "Knock the whole thing down!

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"Just put everything into a skip and just get rid of it."

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'But fortunately, Glyn's 25 years of experience means

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'he's able to offer a more practical solution,

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'one that involves making the owner take responsibility for this mess.'

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We'll get it cleared.

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It will be reasonably expensive,

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but we will be recovering it off the owner.

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He's had the opportunity to clear it.

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We've given him two notices in the past, hasn't done it,

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and we're left with no alternative.

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That's going to be the next step, to get this place back into use is...

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That's our main aim.

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To satisfy and keep things from the neighbours so they are happier.

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I really appreciate it. And you can have your gloves back.

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-We'll find some clean ones for you next time.

-Thank you very much!

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'That's the other important thing about this disgusting tale.

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'It's one thing to destroy your own standard of living.

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'It's quite another to start affecting your neighbours too.'

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So, you've lived next door to all of that. How has that been for you?

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-It's just awful and it turned into a tourist attraction.

-Really?

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-It really did.

-What, you've got people coming here to see that?

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They were coming up, strolling up the garden path, looking through

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the window, because people could not believe what was in there.

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It is quite extraordinary, but just to be clear,

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-you've had mice coming across?

-Yeah.

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-And...

-Rats in the garden as big as cats.

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You knew it was bad when the postman, he said,

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"That's it, I'm not delivering any more, cos I cannot get up this garden path."

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I mean, the smell coming from there.

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-I mean, I can smell it now.

-Yeah.

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-You've got that all day every day.

-Well, you get used to it.

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'Yeah, no-one should have to get used to it.

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'Catch up later to see how Glyn manages to get a grip on the grime.'

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It is something that we've got to do and we have got to...

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We've just found a dead rat.

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He's been dead a fair while by the looks of it.

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Childhood is supposed to be the happiest time of your life.

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But for many of the nearly 100,000 kids living

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with their families in temporary accommodation in England alone,

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the lack of a safe, settled place to live can make it anything but.

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I'm on the Isle of Sheppey with Housing Officer Zana Owen

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who's been working with a father from Sittingbourne in desperate

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need of a secure home for his sons.

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OK, tell me about the family we're about to meet.

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Ian and the two boys were living in a family home.

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There was a relationship breakdown.

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So Ian had to move out of the property

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-and the boys have come with him.

-Right.

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Ian didn't want to take the boys out of school

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and damage their education.

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The boys have been living with their father

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since the irreparable breakdown of his relationship with their mother.

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But with a shortage of temporary accommodation,

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the council's had to put them up in Sheerness,

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over ten miles from home.

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I mean, what's the pressure like on housing in this part of the world,

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in Sittingbourne, at the moment?

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The housing situation down here is dire.

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It's so hard to find somewhere.

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Luckily, all that's about to change.

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So what is it that we're there to do today?

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We're there to let them know today that the temporary

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accommodation they're in at the moment, they're going to be

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moving out of, and they'll be moving into a three-bed property

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in Sittingbourne that's going to be more suitable for their needs.

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So this is... It's going to be really good news.

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Yeah, the boys will have their own room, they won't all be cramped

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into a small space any more.

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Hello, Ian. How are you doing? I'm Matt.

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-Nice to meet you. Are you all right?

-Yeah.

-Are we all right to come in?

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-Yeah. Come in.

-Thank you very much.

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'First, I want to know how Ian, who's hard of hearing,

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'and his boys have been coping with having to move to a completely

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'different town on top of the stress of the family breakdown.'

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It sounds, Ian, like you've got quite a full plate here.

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You've got a disability you're dealing with,

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you're outside your comfort zone, your normal neighbourhood.

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How long have you been in this place?

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-We've been in this place for five days now.

-Five days?

-Yeah.

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And how's it working out?

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It's nice, it's a nice property but it's a different area for the boys.

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It's alien to them.

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Ian and the boys have been sharing one bedroom

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and moving miles away from home

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has been especially hard for eldest son Chris, who's autistic.

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Chris, how are you finding it here?

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Well, it's not good, actually.

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All my mates and friends and family are in Sittingbourne.

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We don't have anyone around in Sheerness

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so we're just tired,

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fed up and bored, getting depressed

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and it's just getting on our nerves, basically.

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'Ian's also worried about the distance to the boys' schools

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'once the new term starts, particularly as it's much further

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'for Chris to get the assisted transport he relies on.'

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'And it's clear he's also worried about the effect that sharing their accommodation with strangers

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'could be having on them.'

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You've got boys who are going through a really critical period

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of their growing up and you're trying to do it by yourself

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and then you're in these constantly changing environments.

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You've got drug people in there, you've got alcoholics.

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So it's not an ideal environment to take two boys to.

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I mean, you must be desperate for somewhere where you can just shut

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the front door and just say, "Right, at least they can do that bit

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"of their adolescence with a bit of...

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-"They're coming home to me and I can control home."

-Yeah.

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-Cos you can't control home at the moment.

-I can't, no.

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Ian's struggled, Chris has struggled.

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They've had their moments where they've got angry at the situation.

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And me as well, I've despaired as well.

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But, like you say, we've got to get on with it.

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There's nothing that anyone can do, the situation is what it is.

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Later, learning that someone can do something is too much for Ian.

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And for the boys.

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He's been under a lot of stress.

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Too right, Chris.

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Defending our right to a safe place to live is

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the job of housing officers right across the UK.

0:17:460:17:50

This is not really an acceptable way of leaving the property behind.

0:17:500:17:53

Do you think?

0:17:530:17:55

'I'm working alongside the men and women that do exactly that.'

0:17:550:17:59

-Top marks.

-Yes.

0:17:590:18:00

I'm hitting the streets.

0:18:000:18:02

Hello, can you open up?

0:18:020:18:04

There's definitely somebody inside because we've seen movement.

0:18:040:18:07

'Finding out what's happening on the front line...'

0:18:070:18:09

The cistern's in the bath.

0:18:090:18:11

I don't know how they flush it.

0:18:110:18:13

And learning what it takes

0:18:130:18:15

to make sure a house is a fit place to call a home.

0:18:150:18:19

I'm very shocked. This is ridiculous.

0:18:190:18:21

You shouldn't have people living in here.

0:18:210:18:24

Earlier, I visited an abandoned house of filth,

0:18:300:18:33

so disgusting it even left experienced housing officer, Glyn Pritchard, shocked.

0:18:330:18:38

All the excrement, everything is in bags.

0:18:380:18:40

I can't go any further and I can't take you any further.

0:18:400:18:44

Can we please go?

0:18:440:18:45

Well, the good news is that Glyn is back and I'm not.

0:18:490:18:51

And he's managed to convince some very brave souls

0:18:510:18:54

to help him clear the house.

0:18:540:18:56

Today we've got the contractors in and they're busy doing all

0:18:560:18:59

the clear-up. The owner still hasn't responded to us

0:18:590:19:03

and, as you can see at the moment,

0:19:030:19:05

they can't even get into the property still.

0:19:050:19:08

We've been here about 45 minutes so far.

0:19:080:19:12

How long do we think it's going to take?

0:19:120:19:14

-A couple of days.

-Two or three days?

-Two or three days?

0:19:140:19:17

And we haven't even made a dent to get in through the front door yet.

0:19:170:19:20

But the task is proving a little easier said than done.

0:19:200:19:24

I'm actually hitting the floor.

0:19:240:19:26

One of the precautions they've got to take is we know there is mice

0:19:280:19:31

and rats been in the property,

0:19:310:19:32

so they will take that necessary precaution.

0:19:320:19:36

They're not going to be eating their sandwiches straight after

0:19:360:19:38

being in there without washing their hands, or anything,

0:19:380:19:41

but it's something we've got to do

0:19:410:19:44

and we have got a... We've just found a dead rat.

0:19:440:19:48

He's been dead a fair while by the looks of it.

0:19:500:19:54

Given the scale of the challenge,

0:19:540:19:56

the team aren't taking any chances.

0:19:560:19:59

You just don't know what's in there.

0:19:590:20:01

It's all mould and things like that,

0:20:010:20:04

and that's what's going to affect your health,

0:20:040:20:06

so you do have to take precautions.

0:20:060:20:09

It doesn't really bother me but it's the smell.

0:20:110:20:13

The stink of it afterwards, you keep on smelling that smell.

0:20:130:20:17

The incredible thing is

0:20:170:20:20

that the telly is still on standby.

0:20:200:20:23

Where's the remote?

0:20:230:20:24

There we are, we've got a telly.

0:20:280:20:32

I've got no signal.

0:20:320:20:33

While Glyn takes a less hands-on approach,

0:20:370:20:40

the guys inside find an interesting clue that tells them

0:20:400:20:43

just how long it's been since the place enjoyed a spring clean.

0:20:430:20:47

January 2007, eight-and-a-half years ago.

0:20:470:20:50

With the contactors succeeding in clearing safe passage inside,

0:20:530:20:57

Glyn decides it's now time to brave going in.

0:20:570:21:01

I have to wipe my feet before I come in now, it's that clean so far.

0:21:010:21:05

You've made a bit of progress in here.

0:21:070:21:10

I was going to say, can we tell what colour the carpet is?

0:21:100:21:12

It's pink over here, green there and blue over there.

0:21:120:21:16

Nothing worth salvaging at all.

0:21:160:21:19

I don't think they'll get a refund for that.

0:21:210:21:23

It's clearly a thankless task for everyone involved

0:21:230:21:26

and the progress is slow, but sure.

0:21:260:21:28

That's the first skip gone, so hopefully, it gets easier.

0:21:290:21:35

Someone else who's clearly delighted to see the back of the rubbish

0:21:370:21:40

is neighbour, Terry.

0:21:400:21:42

Incredible.

0:21:420:21:44

I'm so glad the council have really got their act together

0:21:440:21:48

on our behalf and have made a good job of it.

0:21:480:21:51

One week later, and Glyn is back.

0:21:590:22:02

The contractors have gone, but what about the rubbish?

0:22:020:22:05

They've cleared up and they've done a pretty good job.

0:22:050:22:08

There's a path, I didn't even know there was a path here.

0:22:100:22:13

It's a good start, but let's see if Glyn can get into the house

0:22:130:22:16

using the front door.

0:22:160:22:18

He's got his nice jacket on.

0:22:180:22:20

And that's what the door actually looks like,

0:22:200:22:22

and I can actually open the door.

0:22:220:22:25

As they say in all the best makeover shows,

0:22:250:22:29

here comes the reveal.

0:22:290:22:31

The difference is amazing.

0:22:310:22:33

And the staircase, which I think had rubbish up to about here,

0:22:340:22:38

you can actually see.

0:22:380:22:41

You couldn't get to the kitchen the first time,

0:22:420:22:44

because we had to walk down a pile.

0:22:440:22:47

And we have a kitchen.

0:22:470:22:50

They earned their money doing this job, that was for certain.

0:22:520:22:55

No kidding!

0:22:550:22:57

Upstairs, where it was, well, horrible...

0:22:570:23:00

Just take a look.

0:23:000:23:02

The bathroom is a bathroom again.

0:23:050:23:08

It's amazing that a mess that took years to create

0:23:120:23:15

has been removed in just under a week.

0:23:150:23:18

If someone saw it now, they wouldn't realise what was in here or

0:23:180:23:21

what had actually happened in here.

0:23:210:23:22

Which just leaves the small matter of what happens next.

0:23:220:23:26

If the owner did turn up tomorrow, the first thing we'd be doing

0:23:260:23:30

is giving him the bill.

0:23:300:23:31

If he still chooses not to pay it or doesn't contact us

0:23:310:23:36

or discuss it with us,

0:23:360:23:37

we have the ability to put it as a charge on the property

0:23:370:23:41

and/or take him to court.

0:23:410:23:44

Well, even if the owner never bothers to return,

0:23:440:23:46

there are plenty of very happy neighbours who I'm sure

0:23:460:23:49

would give you a pat on the back, Glyn.

0:23:490:23:52

From our point of view, it's a good job well done.

0:23:520:23:54

On the Isle of Sheppey, single dad Ian Foster

0:24:040:24:06

and his two sons have been in temporary accommodation since

0:24:060:24:09

the breakdown of his relationship with their mother left them homeless.

0:24:090:24:13

It is a struggle. I've despaired. But we've got to get on with it.

0:24:150:24:19

There's nothing that anyone can do. The situation is what it is.

0:24:190:24:22

Well, you say that, but today I've come along with

0:24:240:24:26

Swale Borough Council Housing Officer Zana Owen to give

0:24:260:24:30

Ian and the boys some brilliant news that's going to change everything.

0:24:300:24:34

So we've come with a little bit of an update

0:24:340:24:37

for where we are, going forwards today.

0:24:370:24:40

The council, Swale, has found you a property in Sittingbourne.

0:24:400:24:45

We're hopeful that next week, as soon as next week,

0:24:470:24:52

you can be moving into a property with three bedrooms.

0:24:520:24:56

So a bedroom for each of you,

0:24:560:24:59

where you can start again in Sittingbourne, where you know,

0:24:590:25:04

and it's in time for term to start as well.

0:25:040:25:07

So you've got a week to get yourself sorted before school and college.

0:25:070:25:11

'After months of worry,

0:25:140:25:16

'finally being able to give his sons a safe, secure place to live

0:25:160:25:19

'back in their home town of Sittingbourne

0:25:190:25:22

'is all too much for Ian.'

0:25:220:25:24

-OK?

-(Yeah.)

0:25:240:25:25

Give me a hug. You all right?

0:25:280:25:31

-Lovely.

-OK.

0:25:310:25:33

'Clearly, Ian isn't the only member of the family

0:25:350:25:37

'who's relieved to hear the good news.'

0:25:370:25:39

What does this mean now, going forwards?

0:25:400:25:43

It's going to be a lot better.

0:25:430:25:45

-I'm happier.

-Yeah.

0:25:450:25:46

'Worrying about his dad has also clearly taken its toll

0:25:480:25:50

'on eldest son Chris, who suffers with autism.'

0:25:500:25:53

He's been under a lot of stress.

0:25:550:25:58

You all right, Chris?

0:25:590:26:01

Just surprised.

0:26:080:26:10

I didn't think you'd be able to do it.

0:26:120:26:14

'I'll be honest, I was expecting the family to be pleased

0:26:170:26:20

'but realising just how relieved they are is heart-breaking to watch.'

0:26:200:26:24

This is supposed to be a happy thing, you know.

0:26:260:26:28

Everyone's in tears - I don't know what I've done!

0:26:280:26:30

LAUGHTER

0:26:300:26:32

-Well, that was emotional.

-Yeah.

0:26:350:26:36

I really didn't expect to have

0:26:360:26:38

a room full of sobbing blokes on my hands there.

0:26:380:26:41

But I suppose when you hear what Ian's been through with those boys...

0:26:410:26:45

-Yeah.

-..actually you can understand the relief...

0:26:450:26:47

-Yeah.

-..must be more than anything.

0:26:470:26:49

Yeah, and hopefully we can get things rolling quite quickly,

0:26:490:26:52

get them in, get them settled

0:26:520:26:53

and then the boys can concentrate on school.

0:26:530:26:55

Is it too early for a little knuckle bump, like that?

0:26:550:26:59

I think that's fair enough, given the circumstances.

0:27:010:27:04

Three weeks later,

0:27:080:27:09

Ian and the boys have moved back home to Sittingbourne

0:27:090:27:12

and are already settled into their new flat.

0:27:120:27:15

This is the kitchen.

0:27:160:27:18

You've got the basics - cooker, washing machine,

0:27:180:27:20

we've got a fridge and a freezer.

0:27:200:27:22

It makes a big difference being able to cook different things, you know,

0:27:220:27:25

and it's been a pleasure for me,

0:27:250:27:26

like, to actually sit down and have a meal with them

0:27:260:27:29

and spend time with them.

0:27:290:27:31

Struggling to learn how to cook but we'll get there eventually.

0:27:310:27:34

With any luck, this place will be

0:27:350:27:37

just the fresh start they've been looking for.

0:27:370:27:40

That's it for today.

0:27:450:27:47

Join me next time back on the road with the housing enforcers.

0:27:470:27:50

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