Episode 14 The Housing Enforcers

Oh, my God!

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

I wouldn't ever envision anybody living like this.

'..but for thousands of people across the UK,

'the reality can be more hovel than home.'

The house was a deathtrap, at the end of the day.

'In the battle for decent housing...'

Leaving things, that's what happens.

This is just totally unacceptable.

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

If somebody had have died here,

you would have been standing in coroner's court.

'I'm Matt Allwright and I'm back with The Housing Enforcers.'

BANG! Oh!

-You all right?

-Yeah, good(!)

'I'll be with them as they tackle problem properties

'and slum conditions...'

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

-Faeces is an issue, Glyn!

'..as they deal with dodgy landlords, nightmare neighbours

'and everything in between...'

Oh, no! That's incredible.

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

'of a happy and healthy home.'

-Ain't it fabulous?

-Oh, Margaret.

SHE SOBS Oh, Margaret.

'Today, a visit to a house converted into flats

'without planning permission uncovers a surprising secret...'

A shed with a bed! This should be used just for storage,

it shouldn't have any residential use at all.

'..council tenants have a narrow escape

'after a devastating house fire...'

I can't believe how much heat I'm feeling from the walls, still.

I would imagine the heat was quite intense.

'..a dispute between a landlord and a tenant reveals

'shocking living conditions in a privately rented home...'

So at the moment, you've got no heating and hot water

and you've got no electrics?

No, they've all blown.

'..and there's a new flat and a new start for homeless Brian.'

There's the kitchen. Have a look at the kitchen.

It's just nice to see someone so excited.

The bedroom. Never had a flat, myself.

Never. Never had a flat.

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

and every year, rents go up.

For those of us chasing cheaper housing, that can mean

enduring living conditions so bad that they break the law.

I'm working alongside the men and women

whose job it is to uphold those laws.

They...are The Housing Enforcers.

For some landlords, London brings easy pickings.

Property means profit, regulations can be ignored and houses are

converted to flats without planning permission.

In the borough of Newham, a two-bedroomed property can rent

for about £1,350 a month,

over 500 quid more than an equivalent property

in Birmingham or Manchester,

so it's no surprise some landlords bypass the planning rules.

'Housing officers Stephen Pavett and Holly Ripp

'are visiting a house where the owner has already

'been given notice to change his unlawfully converted property

'from two flats back into a single family home.

'Now they need to see if he's done the work

'required by the council's enforcement notice.'

So what we'd be looking for today is to make sure they've taken

out any internal partitioning, any internal doors that separate

it from, say, flat one to flat two.

You line up your arguments here.

There's, like, four different reasons why the change of use

from a family home to two flats is no good.

Er, the first one says cos you lose a family house.

The second one says cos they're not big enough,

the flats aren't big enough. Er...

The next one is because it's not available,

it's not accessible, you know, to all users, regardless of disability.

And then because there's an increased level of coming and going.

That's right. All the arguments are based on the council's policies

with regards to housing.

'The property is on a quiet residential street

'and from the outside, there's little evidence to suggest that it

'had ever been converted.

'Judging by the pile of furniture in the front garden,

'straightaway it looks like the building work to turn

'it from flats back into a single family home has already started.'

Hello. We're from the planning department from Newham Council.

We're here to see some works take place.

'We're being shown around by one of the tenants, Mr Hussain,

'who also acts as a manager on behalf of the landlord.'

..it's likely you'd get another enforcement notice...

'Things are looking even more promising.'

So we can see that it looks like some internal partitioning

might have been removed here.

Going straight up.

'Stephen and Holly are mostly interested in the first floor.

'On a previous visit, this was an entirely separate flat.'

This was a...this was a kitchen in here, and a bathroom.

And a bathroom in this area, that's right.

And the owner's done works now to take all those fixtures

and fittings away. They're now going to

probably put some carpet down and may turn it back to a bedroom.

We've just got a few items of whiteware, such as a washing machine

and a microwave, er, just left in one of the rooms.

That's to be removed.

So this now feels like...

more like it's becoming a family home again, doesn't it?

Yeah, it now looks as though it's back to habitable space.

'Before the work was done,

'the first floor was a flat with a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen.

'There's also an attic bedroom.

'A two-bedroomed property in Newham can rent for around £1,350 a month,

'so by converting your house into two smaller flats,

'you could almost double your income.

'Putting aside the cost of the conversion,

'a shrewd property developer could make an additional £7,000

'in as little as six months.

'Our visit's going surprisingly well.

'It looks like the landlord's done exactly what the council have

'asked him to do.'

So, so far it looks like it's fitting the bill.

I would say that it's the key on the first floor where they've

done the works and I'm pretty happy that the property's now

probably been reverted back to use as a single house.

Explain to me why it is that Newham would want this to be

a single family home rather than two flats.

Cos there's a shortage in the borough of single family houses,

so any works to convert properties require planning permission and

we simply won't grant that unless there's extreme circumstances.

'Upstairs, though, the converted attic is one area that Stephen

'thinks will still be a cause for concern

'when the house is back to being used as a single dwelling.'

To maximise the space we have in Newham,

people will convert their lofts,

so the works they had done to convert it were very minimal,

just so they could split it, but any property done correctly would

have to have, you know, proper building control regulations

and sound insulation. This didn't have any of that.

-It's got very interesting things, like this.

-Yeah.

And this.

Nonstandard, I'd say. Nonstandard wiring.

'The conversion of the house into flats

'and the loft into a bedroom is substandard.

'It didn't meet the rules designed to make sure our homes are safe

'and comfortable.

'But the council has limited powers - officers can only

'instruct that the bed be removed

'and the attic not be used as a bedroom.

'On the ground floor,

'one of the rooms is still being used for sleeping in.

'That might be because work is still going on upstairs.'

-Right, so this is a downstairs bedroom.

-Yeah.

It sort of gives you a flavour of the way it must have been

when there were two flats because presumably

these are the downstairs occupants who are still here.

You would think the first thing that would happen as well,

come out of this bedroom and use an upstairs bedroom.

-But that hasn't happened, has it?

-No, not yet.

-So why not?

-Why not?

We can't force them to have their bedrooms upstairs because,

you know, if there's any elderly people living at the property,

they find it difficult to get upstairs,

so we can't make them, as a rule.

But, yeah, why would you not now look to use

all of the space in the property? So...it's a bit confusing.

'So far, the inspection couldn't have gone more smoothly.

'The owner of the property seems to have completed all the work

'needed to turn it back into a single dwelling.

'But later, I make a bizarre discovery in the back garden

'that threatens to put the council right back to square one.'

I don't know about your shed, but mine doesn't tend to have curtains.

Here in Suffolk...

and housing officer Ian Watson is on an emergency call-out.

He's just been alerted that there's been

a fire at one of the council's houses.

It's obviously a disaster for the tenants

and he needs to get there as soon as he can to help.

One of the repair guys is already on scene

and the fire service are in attendance.

The kitchen's been gutted.

Fortunately, nobody was in the premises

so we're just going to have to see what we've got.

Now the emergency services have done their job,

it's Ian's task to assess the damage and see how soon

he can get the tenants back into their home.

But it doesn't look good...

Right, let's go indoors and...

So...

'It looks like the fire started here in the kitchen,

'leaving a real mess in its wake.'

Nobody was here at the time

and I think one of the neighbours called the fire service.

They've attended very, very quickly

and obviously managed to contain the fire to the kitchen here.

It seems to have something to do with the cooker.

The damage is devastating and it doesn't look like much can be saved.

Luckily, the tenants are uninjured and plans are already

in place to find them some temporary accommodation.

I can't believe how much heat I'm feeling from the walls, still.

I would imagine the heat was quite intense.

Very unfortunate for the tenants.

We've already got repair people coming out to obviously board up

the windows and the doors and everything.

Main thing is, no-one's hurt.

But for these tenants,

it's not just the damage to the property that's causing concern.

There were four dogs here.

They've been taken to the vet's. They're, um...

They're actually receiving some oxygen in oxygen tents,

but one of the dogs, I think, has been burnt on the shoulder,

but we're keeping our fingers crossed and say that, you know,

they're going to be OK.

And the damage continues upstairs.

Yeah, the carpet's fairly well ruined, but...

well, obviously, as you can see, the floor's burnt underneath.

Yeah, the heat and smoke damage...to the bath...

so that will probably be a replacement bath as well.

This level of devastation is terrible news for the tenants,

but Ian knows it could have been a lot worse.

You've got attached properties either side, you know,

if it had been left longer then we could have

been looking at houses either side being damaged.

Having now seen the scale of the problem for himself,

Ian's priority is now the tenants,

but first he calls the council office to let

the rest of the team know the severity of the damage.

This is going to be a little long-term thing, I think.

'How long do you think? Any ideas?'

We're looking at minimum two weeks, I would say, because the windows

have gone and the doors gone, so the double glazing will be a problem,

but the kitchen will have to be redone.

Part of my job is dealing with tenants and any issues they've got.

First things first, we need to get surveyors out to have a look

at the actual structure of the building, but,

looking up through the ceiling,

it looks like the floorboards have been damaged,

probably beyond repair.

I really, really feel sorry for 'em

cos it's not nice to have a fire in your house,

but it is contained, they've got some bed and breakfast.

So with some temporary accommodation sorted,

the work can get started on turning this wreck back into a home.

And two weeks later, Ian's back to check on the progress.

It looks as though the fire might have caused more problems

than first thought.

Crikey.

I never expected...the smoke damage to come through...that far.

And inside, although things might look a little brighter,

the extent of the damage is also much clearer.

Obviously, all the carpet's been taken out and everything,

but, erm...I know they've had to stack everything up.

There's still quite an acrid smell of smoke

so I don't know how much of this will have to be destroyed.

Little has changed in the kitchen,

where it's thought the fire may have started.

Not a lot different, unfortunately.

And upstairs it's a similar story.

Well, they've cleared everything from upstairs.

Mainly no different to how it was.

Sadly for the occupants, the fire caused more damage to the house

than the council first thought.

Now it looks like moving them back in

is going to take longer than Ian had hoped.

A little disappointed.

I'd have liked to have seen things getting on a bit quicker,

windows and doors, double glazing, minimum four weeks, and I think it's

going to be a little bit longer than that so they're not going to

be back in for the next two or three weeks, I don't think.

But there is some good news -

the injured pets look to be on the mend.

I spoke to the tenant on the phone this morning.

The dogs are fine. The springer, which was the one

who took the main brunt of it, she's fine, she's doing OK

and they're getting better all the time,

so they're quite happy with that.

'Earlier, I visited a house in east London which had been

'converted into two flats, in breach of planning permission.

'Stephen Pavett and Holly Ripp from Newham Council were there to

'make sure the building had been converted back

'to a single dwelling.'

This was a...this was a kitchen in here, and a bathroom.

And a bathroom.

The owner's done works now to take all those fixtures

and fittings away. They're now going to

probably put some carpet down and may turn it back to a bedroom.

'So far Stephen and Holly are impressed with what's been done,

'but when I look out of the window in the kitchen,

'I spot something.

'Something that just doesn't look right.

'And considering the history of this house,

'with its unlawful conversion, I'm curious.

'What exactly...is that?'

Stephen, have you seen the property at the end of the garden?

What, the outbuilding at the back?

Hmm.

Interesting-looking outbuilding at the back of the garden.

Um, I don't know about your shed,

but mine doesn't tend to have curtains.

So that looks a bit like a dwelling to me.

Hopefully it's just being used as storage, but we'll just find out.

Yeah...

'And once again, it's down to tenant Mr Hussain,

'who also manages the building, to show us around.'

Ah... Not so.

A shed with a bed!

So what's this part of the property being used for?

Before it was, no space over there, so any guest who comes

-will be staying here.

-OK, but this can't be used.

So is anyone living here at the moment?

Not at the moment.

So the shoes that are down there, whose are those?

We use it ourselves, sometimes, as a storage and we rent out.

'Despite Mr Hussain's assertion that nobody's living in what can only be

'described as an outbuilding,

'there's plenty of evidence to suggest

'someone could be spending a lot of time in here.'

-So you've got a fridge here, with...

-Yeah.

-..loaded up with food.

-Washing machines and everything there.

-Yeah.

-So why is... And you've got a kitchen here as well.

-Yes.

So that's not good, really, is it?

This should be used just for storage.

It shouldn't have any residential use at all.

So you've got another kitchen out here with another fridge in here.

Presumably, that is for someone else to live here. Isn't that right?

No. There's nobody here at the moment.

About a couple of days before, a lady was here.

We just asked to give them notice. She moved.

When did she leave?

About roughly... More than a week ago.

(It's better stocked than my fridge.)

So I mean, if this isn't being subject to any council action at the

moment, it's likely that we're going to serve another notice on this...

-OK. That's fine.

-..to have everything removed.

Yes. That's fine.

This isn't something we'd usually allow, the kitchen and the bathroom.

-They're quite big problems.

-OK.

-Obviously for storage, that's fine,

but we're quite concerned that the fridge and the washing machine

are turned on. It indicates to us that there's somebody living here

so it will be a concern that we'll be looking into.

-I can remove it. That's no problem.

-OK.

'So before the council became involved

'and ordered the landlord to turn the property back into a

'single dwelling, it looks as if it may have actually been divided up

'into two flats in the house and a third in the garden.

'With rent on the increase,

'this could have been generating as much as £875 a month in income.'

It looks as though we've seen a shed with a bed there.

-What do you think of that?

-Well, that's absolutely right.

So all the hard work that's been done in here, turning this back into

a single family dwelling, is totally undercut by the fact that we've got

a separate dwelling at the back of the house, just sitting there, with

fresh fruit on the table, a fridge that's on, its own kitchen,

its own bathroom and all the evidence

-that someone's still living there.

-Yeah.

'Having looked around, this place clearly has much more to

'offer than your average garden shed, but it's still

'totally unacceptable if the landlord has been allowing someone

'to live in what is still just an outbuilding

'at the bottom of the garden.'

It's not bad-looking, from all accounts. We've been in there

and from the outside it looks quite a decent level of accommodation,

-but clearly...

-That's not the point. So here we go again,

after all that, we now have to look at notices for that.

We may have to look at notices if it hasn't already got one,

yeah, that's right.

So we close one door and we have to open up another one.

'It's understandable some landlords want to maximise

'the number of rooms they can rent out to increase their income,

'but it can't happen at the expense of the planning rules.'

So just when we thought we were getting somewhere with that place -

all compliant, changed from two flats into a single dwelling -

then we discovered the bed in the shed in the back garden.

More notices, more knocking on doors...

A housing officer's job in Newham is never done.

'Later, it looks like I may have spoken too soon.'

-The toilet!

-The toilet's been taken out.

-Wow!

Very big changes!

Defending our right to a safe place to live

is the job of housing officers right across the UK.

This is not really an acceptable way of leaving

-a property behind.

-Do you think?

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

-Top marks.

-Yes!

-I'm hitting the streets...

-Hello, can you open up?

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

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

The cistern's in the bath, I don't know how they flush it.

..and learning what it takes to make sure a house is fit to be called a home.

I'm very shocked, this is ridiculous.

You shouldn't have people living in here.

As the UK economy emerges from a recession,

house prices are on the increase.

In the West Midlands the outlook for potential buyers looks challenging.

Recent statistics show that the average worker in the area

would need a staggering £19,000 pay rise to be able to get

a mortgage for a normal-sized home in the region.

In Wolverhampton, the average house price is more than six times

the typical salary, meaning that more and more people in the area

are having to stay in rented properties for longer periods of time.

This is great news for local landlords,

but not for local councils, who are now spending more time and resources

dealing with disputes between private tenants and landlords.

Today, housing officers Sam Hoskins, Lesley Williams

and Maria Harley are on their way to investigate a dispute

at a privately owned maisonette attached to a corner shop.

We've come today because a complaint's been made about a lack

of heating and hot water and faulty electrics and also damp.

The landlord is saying that it's the tenant's responsibility

and the tenant is saying it's the landlord's responsibility

so we've come today to have an inspection of the property

and find out what is going on.

The landlord was given the opportunity to be in attendance,

but he served a Section 21 notice on the tenant yesterday.

A Section 21 notice is a legal document that allows

the landlord to take back possession of their property.

In this case, that gives the tenant two months to leave,

something he's not happy about.

Surely not...?

It's the right address,

but this can't be the only access into the house.

There must be another entrance into here.

Is there a gentleman there...

Hello?

INAUDIBLE

-Um, if you want to come... Are you Mr Caddick?

-Yeah.

Mr Caddick, is this your way into the property?

-No, there's a gate.

-A gate? I'll come round there and tell you.

Luckily there's another entrance to the property,

the only problem is it's only accessible by walking past

a decidedly dodgy bit of masonry.

-You've got a definite lean to the one side, haven't you?

-Yeah.

If you look down there, you can see it coming away.

That's quite a big, hefty piece of wall to come down on you,

especially if you were a small child walking along here.

Yeah, we'll report that to building control.

Look at that massive crack there, too.

The team aren't even inside the house

and the list of problems is already quite extensive.

Ooh, hello. Hello, Mr Caddick?

The team have already offered to provide Jonathan Caddick with some

temporary accommodation so he can move out sooner,

but because he wouldn't be able to bring his dogs,

for now he's stuck in the house.

-Have you and the dogs got somewhere good to go?

-No.

-So, if you're leaving today, where are you going to be going?

-Homeless.

-Have you got any friends or family local?

-I've got friends, but because of the dogs...

It's difficult with the dogs? Yeah, I appreciate that.

-I'm not going to give up them. They're the two things that have stuck by me.

-Of course not.

On first impressions, things don't look good. The garden area is

full of rubbish and inside the trail of destruction continues.

I'm looking at... If you see that rotten piece of wood there,

signs of dampness in here, cracked cistern to the toilet,

lack of toilet seat, just the general condition of the boiler...

-This is your main boiler here, is it, Mr Caddick?

-Yes.

Yeah, condition of the boiler.

There's lots to take in, really.

And the problems aren't just confined to the bathroom fixtures and fittings.

So this water building up here, this is what you say happens?

Yeah, it seems to run up the whole of the wall.

The moisture meter allows Maria to build up a picture of how

much damp is in the property's walls by taking various readings

throughout the house. It also helps her to

track down where the moisture might be coming from.

So at the moment, you've got no heating and hot water

and you've got no electrics?

I've got no lighting.

I've only got one plug socket that works in the kitchen.

-And is that from you turning the power off, is it, to the lighting?

-No, they've all blown.

It's the landlord's legal responsibility

to ensure that the house is safe for tenants to live in,

and at the moment, it's far from a habitable state.

-So is this your living room/kitchen, yeah?

-I live, sleep, everything in here.

The damp and other problems have become so bad in the rooms upstairs

that Jonathan has resorted to living and sleeping in the kitchen.

This is the room I've got the one plug I'm on, yeah.

OK, does that...? That's no good.

-Is this the only double socket that works?

-Yeah.

The issues with the damp and the electrics are bad enough

but getting into, and more importantly,

out of the property could actually be dangerous.

If this is his main access in, clearly it's not suitable

because we've got an LPG canister outside.

I know he has another entrance in, but obviously from a fire

point of view, it would be good if this was not blocked.

Having a clear escape route can be a matter of life or death.

The fire and rescue services in England attended

over 154,000 fires in 2014 and 2015.

In the same period,

258 people lost their lives as a result of a fire-related incident.

The fire people came last week, they're sending me

a letter from the fire station. He said if you

had to get out, you can't get onto a flat roof that's on fire.

-I have to keep that there to keep it...

-To keep it closed?

-Yeah.

I'll take a picture of that, too.

The poor fire safety and security measures are just another item

on a very long list of problems.

Upstairs, Jonathan claims the damp has become so bad that it's

affecting his health, forcing him to live and sleep in the kitchen.

Did you take the door off or did it fall off?

-No, no, it just came off by itself!

-OK.

When was the last time you put the heating on?

-Have you had the heating on since you've been in?

-Never. Even though the boiler worked for a month,

it was just hot water, the radiators never chugged on.

In the bedroom, the walls are so damp that the moisture meter has sunk into the plaster.

But Maria's uncovered a bigger problem.

On top of the issues with electrics, Jonathan's revealed his fuse box

is actually located in a shop next door.

What I'm going to do is try and gain access to the shop if I can,

to take a picture of that consumer unit that feeds both the shop

and your flat also.

And there's something else strange going on.

The flat and shop share one electricity supply,

despite being rented independently of each other.

He said he wanted £400 a month for the guy in the shop,

because that's how much electric costs. I said, "How am I using that with a telly?"

I said, "I haven't even got anything electrical, there's nothing on."

His tenancy agreement with the landlord says Jonathan's

responsible for splitting the cost of electricity to both

properties with the shopkeeper next door.

And £400 a month seems extortionate for a flat

with only one working socket.

This here, does that fit into the shop also?

Yeah, that's where they fitted their heater fan,

so all the heat blows into here...

from the back of their fridges.

So, again, from a fire safety point of view as well,

-we have no adequate protection between the shop and your flat, do we?

-No.

Venting the heat from the shop's fridges into the house

is filling it with an uncontrollable stream of warm air,

making for uncomfortable living conditions.

Coming up, Maria heads next door to shop for some answers.

I'm from the council, environmental health.

I don't suppose you know anything about the flat above, do you?

In east London, two weeks have passed since the discovery

of the surprise "bed in the shed" in the garden of a house in Newham.

And I'm back with housing officers Stephen Pavett

and Holly Ripp to find out if the bed's gone.

We've had contact from the lead tenant that they've removed

whoever was living there, and all their belongings

should've been removed as well.

Should be just now in use as storage for the main house.

So what's the deal then?

Can we then get rid of the facilities that are there,

because you know, it's ready to go, isn't it?

It's got a little kitchenette, it's got a little bathroom...

Unfortunately, on this one, the council has evidence

that those facilities have been there for some time.

In this particular case, we can't actually ask for them to be removed.

-Can't force the issue?

-We can't force the issue on this one, no.

Although the council does have the power to stop the shed being

used for accommodation, they can't force the removal of facilities,

because they've been in place for more than four years.

Planning law says that's long enough for them to be considered lawful.

On our previous visit, work to convert the property

from flats back into a house was well advanced.

-Hello.

-Good morning, how are you?

But can the same be said for the shed?

-So is that the loo?

-A toilet!

The toilet's been taken out.

Looks... It has been taken out. Wow.

Very big changes.

It's a real surprise. A lot of major work has been done.

You were saying we wouldn't be able to necessarily insist

that they take out the facilities that make this a little flat.

-That's right.

-They're ahead of the game, they've done it.

They've done it, so that means now, if they put it back after this,

then we'll definitely have more control over what happens to this outbuilding.

So this is a better result for us, actually.

-The kitchen's now over there on the floor...

-Yeah. The fridge is gone.

The fridge has gone, the bed has gone.

Bed has gone.

And then we had a bathroom through here?

That's gone as well.

And no loo.

And the shower's been... Well, the shower's still there, but it's a lot harder...

It's a lot harder now to make this into habitable accommodation.

So we can't ask them to do anything more.

-We can inform them that if...

-If it goes back, that's right...

-Then that's a problem.

-Then we will take further action by doing a new notice, but, er, this is good.

If they leave it just like this, this is perfect for us.

It's obviously not in use as any form of accommodation,

no-one's living here and can't live here. Very good result.

So, it's good news for the council, but it's also a great result

for tenant Mr Hussain, who's also the manager.

I'm happy now. So everything back to normal at the house.

That's all ready.

It's just your main concern is not to be going to court, not going

through that process and...

-Because it's stress, apart from anything else.

-Yeah.

By complying with the notice,

Mr Hussain's landlord has avoided legal action.

But sometimes, going to court IS the only option.

According to London Property Licensing,

between April 2011 and March 2014,

prosecutions against London's landlords averaged 190 a year.

And a staggering 62% of them were in the borough of Newham.

It's probably easier for them in this instance just to do what was

necessary to remove the facilities and stop all the hassle

from the council, too, and further visits to get them to do that.

Well, last time I said, you know, a housing officer's job is never done,

-but it seems in this case, it is!

-It is done.

-For now.

-For now.

In Wolverhampton, housing officers Sam Hoskins, Lesley Williams

and Maria Harley are investigating a dispute between a tenant

and a landlord at a privately rented maisonette

attached to a corner shop.

So at the moment, you've got no heating and hot water

and you've got no electrics?

I've got no lighting. I've only got one plug socket that works, in the kitchen.

And is that from you turning the power off, is it? To the lighting?

No, they've all blown.

After finding a number of problems inside, it's time for Maria

and the team to have a look around outside.

It's just trying to get to the grips, to the actual base of what's what with it.

It's not what you expect to see when you first go into a property.

This is meant to be his main entrance into his flat.

The fire service have said that this does need to be opened up,

because his only other means of escape is across the flat roof.

And they've said that because the flat goes under that,

if there was a fire in the shop, that would compromise his means of escape

in the event of a fire. But he's also got this as well,

this giant LPG canister and partial boarding-up of his main entrance door.

Blocking one of the main escape routes out of the house

is obviously extremely dangerous, should there be a fire.

But the LPG canister makes things even worse.

Although the sturdy metal tanks are resilient,

they're still susceptible to fire

and could explode if heated to a high enough temperature.

And I don't know what this other...

whether or not they were looking to convert

this into part of the shop or what.

I don't know what's going on here.

What I'd expect to see is this whole structure taken down.

I don't think there's any need for this.

Maria's seen enough, this property's in a bad state, but she still

needs to get to the bottom of what's going on with the electricity.

Hello there. I'm from the council, environmental health.

I'll get my ID out to show you.

I don't suppose you know anything about the flat above, do you?

-The man in the shop shares the electrics...

-With the guy upstairs?

Yes. So I was wondering whether we could see the consumer unit, please,

or your electric box, just to have a look and take a picture of it?

-I can ring my boss?

-How long will it take him to...

-He lives across the road.

Oh, yes, please. If you could.

This is the separating wall between him and his flat

and I'm assuming that is the other side of the kitchen

and that's that vent that goes into the flat next door.

It might make it easy for Jonathan to pop round for a pint of milk,

but venting this heat from the refrigerators into his flat

isn't acceptable and it needs to be fixed.

-He's coming.

-Oh, he is, is he? Brilliant.

Even though Jonathan's moving out, it's important for Maria

and the team to establish what's going on with

the electrics before the flat goes back on the rental market.

Hello there. Sorry, I'm from the council, environmental health.

How long have you had the shop, sir?

Since 2008.

-Since 2008?

-Yeah.

-So you know about the gentleman living above?

No, I just own the shop.

Nothing about the flat upstairs?

And what agreement do you have with the gentleman above? In the flat? In respect to electric?

He's not paying the electric at all.

And what I wanted to see was your actual electric box,

-your consumer unit, in the shop.

-Yeah.

-Can I have access to that, please?

-Yeah, yeah.

-Thank you.

According to the shopkeeper, Jonathan hasn't been paying

anything towards the cost of the electricity, but Maria still

needs to look at the fuse box to confirm where his supply comes from.

So this one serves the lights throughout the shop and upstairs?

-Yeah, that's the circuit breakers, yeah.

-Yep, OK.

As expected, there's only one electricity supply for the shop

and the flat, so there's no way to calculate how much Jonathan

or the shopkeeper are using and who should be paying what.

Having questioned the shop owner, we need to get to the

bottom of who's responsible.

-OK. More investigations.

-Yes, more investigations. Thank you.

Armed with a long list of questions for the landlord,

the team heads back to the office to work out the council's next move.

Shortly after the team visited,

Jonathan moved out of the house and the council placed

an order on the property, stopping the landlord letting it

to new tenants before it's brought up to an acceptable standard.

The landlord is now working on doing this

and once the works are complete, it will be

re-inspected by the council before being let to new tenants.

One of the biggest challenges facing councils

is providing housing for a growing population.

Sadly, it's often the people most in need of support who fall through the net.

In Wellingborough, housing officer Johnathan Hodgson's on his way

to meet a vulnerable client who's currently living in temporary

accommodation and is in desperate need of a permanent home.

I first met Brian about a month ago, when he had a few problems with

a property that he was living in and some people who lived near him.

Erm, so we're trying to move him to somewhere a bit more

suitable for him, trying to move him into some sheltered accommodation.

He's just been accepted for a property,

so we're going over to view his sign-up.

He's a bit confused about what we're doing, where we're going and when he's moving in.

So I'm just going to make sure that he's OK with his move in,

he's OK with his sign-up and he's happy with his accommodation.

We've had him around for quite a while now, so I'm trying to

make sure that he's definitely going to move in, because we're a bit worried

he might end up missing his appointment and being refused the property.

Brian Beaumart has a history of issues with alcohol.

Johnathan's hoping a stable place to live with support on hand

could give him a fresh start.

Brian has some problems.

He has been a street drinker for quite a long time,

so putting him in some sheltered accommodation

might be the better thing for him.

Karen from the housing association has his new tenancy agreement.

Once he's signed, she'll be able to hand over the keys to his new flat.

-Hello, Brian.

-Hiya.

-Good to see you.

-So we're here to do your tenancy sign-up.

-Mm-hm.

-Yeah?

So where do you want me moniker?

Just down the bottom there, that's lovely.

Paperwork done, Brian has a secure, permanent home.

As long as he sticks to the rules.

-If things don't work out at all within the first year, we can take action...

-Hmm.

..to ask you to leave.

But obviously, that won't happen... Hopefully.

You have to be on your best behaviour.

For you have obligations as well in looking after your flat,

and the usual no loud noise late at night...

That's not me. You won't hear me.

..no pets.

When do I get the key?

Any minute now.

There's your tenancy agreement and there are your keys.

Two front-door keys and two keys to your flat.

To your new flat!

How's it feel to finally have your keys?

It's OK.

I need to get cleaned up.

It must be more than OK, Brian.

Take a look.

I'm more like a jailbird.

Thank you very much, Brian.

Thank you very much.

It's a big moment for Brian and Johnathan's very aware

what having a place of his own really means to him.

So we've just signed Brian up for his new tenancy.

We've signed all the documents that he needs to.

We're just going to go and take a look at his new flat.

I've just seen him run off, all excited.

It's open. It's open. Are you coming in?

Now he's in, he can't wait to start making himself at home.

Well, this is the sitting room, as you know, the sitting room.

You haven't seen the kitchen. Have a look at the kitchen.

The bedroom. Which there's nothing in.

Never had a flat myself. Never. Never had a flat.

Do you want to see the bathroom?

Let's go and see the bathroom, Brian.

I think it's here. Yeah, there you are.

This is my home.

I want to get myself set and I want to get cleaned up.

It's just nice to see someone so excited.

It's been a long road with Brian and we're finally getting him into a place of his own

and getting him into somewhere where he's safe and he's secure

and he's not at risk of harm.

The flat's unfurnished.

Although he has few belongings of his own to fill it,

luckily for Brian, the sheltered accommodation

has a store of furniture he can use to make it home.

So we've got some tables, we've got some chairs, we've got a microwave

and a sofa, by the looks of things, so Brian can

move in some of those things so it's a bit less bare

and then we'll move in some of his own stuff as well.

Let's go and have a look at what we've got.

After you. You're a young man.

Mattress to start with.

So can you sort it out?

-Can I sort it out? Yeah.

-Can you get it out? I'll give you a hand.

I'm the removals man now, am I?

It's a start. We're getting there. Bit by bit, we're getting there.

I hope this is on camera.

We're getting there.

That's one.

Now we want other bedding, don't we?

It really helps people moving in without anything to have

something to get a bit of a start.

It doesn't take long for Brian to pick out some essential items,

and seeing him so keen to get settled means Johnathan's more

than happy to roll up his sleeves to help.

I think we've got it. Push it! I think you've cracked it.

Very concerned with how Brian was living a few weeks ago.

It's been a bit of a long road trying to get to this point, but we finally got there

and we finally got him somewhere where he's going to be happy and I think he's going to be safe.

Just having some of the basic everyday things most of us

take for granted is going to make a huge difference to Brian.

Now I've got a fridge. I've got a cooker.

I'm quite good now I've got my own home,

thanks to you people who helped me.

I'm very, very happy. Very happy.

And it's made all the hard work worthwhile for Johnathan, too.

I've never, never moved anyone in before.

It's usually just signing the paperwork and going on my way.

But, yeah, you have to help Brian out.

If all goes to plan, we hopefully won't hear from Brian again.

Hopefully he'll be quiet, and he's got his tenancy support officer with him,

so if he's got any problems, he can go to them.

Most days when I'm working, it's really difficult, I'm plugging away,

then it's days like today that make the job worthwhile.

Six weeks have gone by and Brian is now settled into his new flat

in the sheltered accommodation.

In fact, he's so settled in, he can't wait to show it off.

Freezer.

You want me to open it up, have a look?

See what I've got in? It's jam-packed.

Literally jam-packed.

I was homeless. Now I've got this place.

Six weeks, two days I've been here, so I'm comfortable and happy.

Thanks to the council.

It's nice having your own swamp, like Shrek.

It's nice having your own swamp. Very nice.

Brian's wasted no time making the flat his own.

Well, there's my Big Ben clock.

Er, there's my lovely lamp.

And I need a pillow case, but I'm working on that.

I've just got to go to town now and get a pillow case.

I've got a lot of clocks, but the main thing is, I want a wardrobe to put all my clothes in.

He finally has a safe, secure place to live.

With so many people in desperate need of a home,

he's all too aware he's one of the lucky ones.

It's easier than it was when I was on the streets.

I'm a happy man. You've got one man off the streets.

But I wish a lot more could get off the streets.

I'm happy.

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.