Episode 15 The Housing Enforcers

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

HE GASPS

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 death-trap, at the end of the day.

'In the battle for decent housing...'

Leaving things - that's what happens.

This is totally unacceptable.

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

If somebody had died here, you'd be 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 issues, that's standard...

Faeces is an issue!

'..as they deal with dodgy landlords,

'nightmare neighbours and everything in between...'

Oh, no! That's incredible.

'..doing their best to help those in need of a happy

'and healthy home.'

-Ain't it fabulous?

-Oh, Margaret.

Oh, Margaret!

'Today we try and solve the mystery

'of how many people are living at a shared house in Oxford.'

So, in total then, there's you, the landlord,

one in there

and those two people in that room there. Nobody else?

-Another cousin?

-Yeah.

There's a lot of cousins.

'Housing officers help Sydney

'to remain in his home of the past 46 years.'

Last time I fell down here and I couldn't get up,

but perhaps these rails now will help me get up all right

and I shan't fall again.

'I have to deliver some bad news

'to a couple renting a room at a shared house in Newham.'

The reason that the council is here today

is because the landlord is not supposed

to use this house for lots of people.

This house should be for one family only.

'And in Suffolk, an overgrown garden

'is causing complaints from the neighbours.'

As you see... these haven't sprung up overnight.

These thistles,

all around the shed...

Doesn't tell me there's been a REGULAR gardener here.

When was the last time you heard the phrase "slum landlord"?

Not that recently, right?

Well, that's because we live in a country

with laws that make sure housing meets basic standards.

And it's not just landlords -

there are laws that mean that TENANTS need to behave, too.

I'm working alongside the men and women

from councils across the UK who enforce those laws.

They...are the housing enforcers.

'In Oxford in 2014,

'the average house price in Oxford was £315,000 -

'a rise of £30,000 on the previous year,

'pricing many local people out of the market.

'With affordable properties in short supply, there's been a boom

'in the number of family homes being converted into shared housing.

'It's Adrian Chowns' job

'to make sure that these conversions are safe,

'and that tenants aren't being exploited by landlords.

'Today I'm joining Adrian, who's on his way to a surprise inspection.'

What is it we're off to see?

We're going to look at a property where the...

one of the local councillors has had a report

-that there's somebody living in an outbuilding.

-Right.

And also that the main house is a HMO.

So this is double bubble, or double trouble.

That the main house is a house of multiple occupation possibly -

too many people in it, unlicensed, which it needs to be in Oxford -

and in addition to that

we've got somebody living in

-some kind of garden or outside building separately.

-Yeah.

-Do they have any idea that we're coming?

-No.

Needs a bit of work.

'Luckily for us, one of the tenants is home,

'so hopefully we can find out how many people are living here.

'But he's not being particularly forthcoming with the details.'

And how much rent do you pay?

You don't pay rent.

Are you related to the landlord then?

-Cousin. He lives here as well?

-Yeah.

'If the landlord wants to rent the house out to more than one family

'he needs a licence from the council,

'so Adrian and I need to investigate

'to find out who's living here and whether they're related or not.'

You might live here LIKE a family but you're NOT a family, are you?

Cos there's two Spanish people here.

They're not related to you, are they?

So, in total then, there's you, the landlord,

one in there and those two people in that room there. Nobody else?

-Another cousin?

-Yeah.

There's a lot of cousins.

'I make that six people in total -

'some of whom may be and some of whom who clearly AREN'T related to each other.

'Based on what we've seen so far,

'it would suggest the landlord may be committing a criminal offence

'by not having a licence to rent the property to more than one family.

'The tenant allows Adrian and me upstairs without the cameras,

'where we find another person,

'who tells us she's just visiting a friend.

'As Adrian was invited into the property,

'he's within his rights to carry out a full inspection

'without having to go to the court for a warrant.

'But as he goes into one of the upstairs bedrooms,

'things become less friendly.

'And before the situation gets too heated,

'Adrian and I decide to err on the side of caution

'and make a hasty retreat.'

If you see the landlord, you'll have to tell him we'll be back.

It's one of the fishiest presentations of a property

I think I've come across so far,

just in terms of the fact nobody seems to know anything,

the little bit of information we DID get out of the tenants there

was immediately contradicted

by what we saw and what other tenants said.

It's completely shambolic.

There doesn't appear to be a single bathroom or kitchen that,

you know, is in an acceptable state.

And then, once you get in, none of the tenants - suddenly NONE of them are tenants, they're all visitors.

They're all seeing friends.

They're cousins, but they can't remember their own cousins' names,

they can't remember the name of the landlord.

-You know, none of it adds up at all.

-No.

Well, this is just typical of, you know, the situation we come across.

Those tenants are going to think they're in trouble

cos I've knocked on the door, told them I'm from the council

and they're going to think, "The council are here, we're in trouble."

They obviously have in the back of their mind

that, if they tell me anything,

and it gets their landlord in trouble,

then they're going to be homeless.

I actually thought it could quite easily have got out of hand.

My antenna were twitching at that point because

she was getting more and more upset,

and the other guy had started to put his hands on you,

which is never a good sign.

If I'm honest, I'm quite glad I was here with you.

I wouldn't have wanted you... I'm sure you're big enough,

but it would have been worrying

if you'd have been by yourself, I think.

As soon as the guy starts to put hands on, you know,

we have to, sort of, be aware of that situation.

I don't think he was physically threatening,

but it was good to have you there just in case.

I'd want to come back here and go through those doors

to see exactly how people are living,

how many numbers of people are living in there,

and that's going to take...a bit of carpentry.

And a bit of court work, I think.

Yeah, I think we're going to have to get a warrant.

The people that are in there haven't been very helpful

and, as you say, there's some rooms that are locked,

so we need to go and get a warrant and come back.

'Later on, Adrian's back at the house

'and the situation goes from bad to worse.'

Can you get us in?

'Here in Swale,

'housing officer Susan Hughes is back on the road.

'Susan works for the council's Staying Put service,

'which aims to help elderly, vulnerable and disabled clients

'stay in their own homes.

'It's an important part of the council's work.

'It's best for everyone if people CAN stay in their homes

'wherever possible, but only if they remain safe.

'And it can be a difficult process

'because some people are uneasy about accepting help.'

We're going off to Dunkirk near Faversham to a gentlemen...

We've dealt with him quite a bit -

his mobility's quite poor.

He was top of the list to go and have a disabled grant,

but when we called he actually didn't want it.

He said he didn't want his bathroom adapted.

So we were a bit concerned about

he was using the outside toilet downstairs,

and how he was getting there and what state it was in,

so we were going to go back and see if we could upgrade this.

Lots of our clients do have outdoor toilets still,

as well as inside ones,

but, weirdly, I'm still seeing about three a year

that only have outside toilets.

They've lived like that all their lives,

quite often they've inherited the property from their parents,

so they've grown up in it,

and they've never had bathrooms put inside.

And so we have to go and look at the property,

and see how we can help them

to live better inside cos,

obviously, an outside toilet is not the way forward.

'Sydney Drury is 83 years old

'and wants nothing more than to remain in his own home.'

I've lived in this house for 46 years.

I love it here, yeah.

I'm not very good at getting about at the minute, no.

Got DVT, innit.

Deep vein thrombosis.

Well, it's painful when it swells up,

and the nurse has to come

twice a week to dress it.

'And it's this lack of mobility that has Susan worried for Sydney.'

When we started to try and phone him, to talk about it,

we couldn't get hold of him at all for about three weeks.

So we then eventually sent him a letter

and it came about that he had been in hospital,

so he'd been quite poorly.

I don't want to walk away from somebody because they don't want a grant

but leaving him vulnerable because he's using the downstairs outside toilet,

and then he might fall.

All right? It's Susan. You're looking well.

-Oh, thank you.

-Yeah.

Erm, you phoned us because you wanted some more rails

or something done. Can you remember?

'Sydney's clearly not as quick on his feet as he was,

'so he's using his outside toilet when he's downstairs.'

-So you've just come out of hospital?

-Yeah.

What was it that happened, then?

I fell over.

-You fell over?

-Yeah.

Where did you fall?

Out there.

-Out there?

-Yeah.

-What, going into the toilet?

Yeah.

So we do need to get some rails there then, don't we?

So what did you do when you fell? What did you hurt?

-Didn't hurt myself.

-You didn't hurt yourself?

-Just couldn't get up.

'Sydney's clearly not ready to give up on his independence just yet,

'but Susan has to make sure there's not a repeat of his recent fall.'

And you've got your rails here. Oh, right,

you have to be careful of this step.

And that's your toilet.

I was thinking of putting some rails on the wall,

but I'm not sure quite where.

Erm... The floor's coming up a bit as well, which is a bit...

I think we're going to look at putting a new floor down

and a new toilet in there.

And then once we've done that,

-I think we need two rails on the wall to help you up as well.

-Yeah.

So we'll get Paul back again. I think you're going to win the award

for the most rails in your house. OK?

THEY LAUGH

So do you think two rails there would help?

-Yeah.

-Yeah? We'll do that. OK, thank you.

-I must get my dinner.

-OK, you go and sort your dinner out.

If he's using this every day, we've just got to make it safer.

He might even need some rails here to lift up this one.

I know it's a lot of rails, but... Yeah. I'll have a word with him.

But that might make it easier as well.

'With the help of her handyperson, Paul,

'Susan can at least make Sydney's trek to the bathroom

'a little bit safer.'

If you want to hold that in the middle for me...

Just hold that in your hand

so it comes out further away from the frame.

'But outside, she's found another problem.'

Yeah, we've just noticed that there's wasps going in and out,

so it looks like there's a wasp's nest above the toilet there.

So I'm just going to go and have a word for him,

and ask Mr Drury if we can get the pest control out.

That will have to be funded by him,

that's why I need to chat to him first.

I do think you ought to get pest control

cos, if it stung you, it's going to be worse for you, isn't it?

I'll get pest control out, but it will be down for you to pay for it.

They come and put some stuff in,

and then they come back and check it.

'Sydney's story demonstrates

'how Susan often walks a tightrope

'between keeping people independent and keeping them safe.'

So that's really good.

Paul's been there and he's put two grab rails at the front door,

which is what Mr Drury asked for.

Yeah. Lovely.

I shan't be afraid of falling over this step now.

We also identified the back into the outside toilet that needed two more,

and that's where he fell and ended up in hospital,

so it's good to put two there, and even he said himself

that will hopefully prevent him falling.

Last time, I fell down here and I couldn't get up,

but perhaps these rails now will help me get up all right

and I shan't fall again.

Next week, we're going to get the builder in to do a new toilet,

and a floor to make it safer for him,

and I happened to meet the neighbour,

who said that she will sort out the wasp's nest for him.

So it looks like we're getting him sorted, which is really good.

I was married, but my wife died about 15 years ago.

It's not too bad, but it's the evenings time,

when there's nothing on the television,

you just sit there looking at the four walls.

When my wife was here, you know,

we used to go out everywhere, all round the coast...

The council have been a big help to me, putting these rails in.

Oh, I want to stay in this house, for sure. Yeah.

I love it here.

'Back in Oxford,

'Adrian Chowns has been trying unsuccessfully

'to investigate a shared house on the outskirts of the city.'

If you see the landlord, you'll have to tell him that we'll be back.

It's one of the fishiest presentations

of a property I think I've come across so far.

It's completely shambolic.

'Adrian's about to make good on his promise.

'Armed with a warrant,

'he's on his way to the property with colleague Katherine.'

Well, we went here last week...

and I went in and did an inspection, or part of an inspection,

and one of the guys in there, who I spoke to,

had said that he was a tenant,

and that really he was uncomfortable us being in there doing an inspection without the landlord

being there, so we were kind of asked to leave,

and so, reluctantly, we did.

And when I came back to the office, I checked out some information

with the ASB team and there's a

police record on the system,

and there's a photograph of this guy,

who had told me he was the tenant and, actually,

it turns out that he's the landlord.

If he's living there as a resident landlord

then that's fine, it's acceptable, but...

you know, I've asked him questions as to who he was

and how many people were living there,

and he's obviously not told me the truth,

so it suggests that he's trying to hide something.

So what we've done is we've gone and got a warrant

and now we're going to execute that today.

'Remember, if the team can prove there's more than one family

'living in the property, and the landlord

'doesn't have a licence, then this is breaking the law.

'The only problem is they've got to get IN to find that proof.

'They've come prepared though

'as, today, Adrian and Katherine

'are accompanied by a locksmith and the police.'

Can you get us in?

'It only takes the locksmith a matter of minutes

'to break open the door and the team are in.'

Hello?

Hello, I'm from the council.

I've got a warrant to enter the premises and do an inspection.

'It's time for Adrian and Katherine

'to start checking names, looking for evidence

'and adding up just how many people are living here.'

Can we start with your room?

The landlord gave you a piece of paper?

-No.

-OK, thank you.

-OK, thank you.

-Thank you.

'Adrian and Katherine need to be sure

'they know exactly who and how many people are living in the house,

'so that they can decide what, if any,

'action should be taken against the landlord.'

Well, we've got a couple from Portugal living in that room there,

potentially another couple living in this room here as well,

but they've gone to work, so we're going to have to break in

and do an inspection of that room.

My guess would be...a lady.

Er... Well, yeah, unless it's a lady that wears Old Spice.

Oh, OK. Might be a couple.

So it's a man and a woman, I would expect.

'If you've lost count, that's two unrelated couples

'in the rooms downstairs

'and that means the landlord IS breaking the law

'by not having a licence to let the house

'to more than one family.

'Adrian and Katherine will obviously be interested

'to hear his side of the story - but so far there's no sign of him.'

I haven't seen the guy who claimed to be this tenant

when I came last week,

and I found out he was actually the landlord,

but this lady in this room has said that he does live here.

So whether he's just in one of the rooms

and he's waiting for us to go up there, I don't know.

-Hello?

-KNOCKING AT DOOR

Is it all right if I inspect your room? Yeah?

OK, thank you.

'There's no sign of the mystery landlord in the bedrooms,

'so it's time for the team to search the extension

'we didn't get into on the last visit.'

Yeah.

So there's just an extension on the back of the house,

which, again, has probably got people living in there, but,

you know, until we get in, we ain't gonna know.

'Once again, there seems to be nobody home,

'so it's up to the locksmith to break open the door.'

Hello? Hello?!

I can't even...

-Ah! It's a self-contained flat, this is.

-Yeah.

It's not a massive kitchen at all.

Well, it looks like what's happened,

the landlord has built an extension on the back

and he's turned it into a self-contained flat,

which means that it's got all its own facilities

contained within this building.

'Whoever's been living here

'obviously isn't the tidiest of people,

'but there's one thing in particular that they've left lying around

'and that's caught the eye of PC Morley.'

It looks like some traces of cannabis

that was just on display on the table,

and there's some scales there with some

traces of cannabis on.

What have we got?

Yeah, you can smell it.

'And it's not just the drugs

'that have caught the officer's attention.'

It's always difficult to say, but when you start to come across

sort of like...certain types of lingerie underwear,

linked with condoms and certain wipes as well,

it could be indicative of perhaps prostitution or something

along those lines, so...

And it's the quantity of it that's being found at the moment

that would suggest that. It's a possibility, again.

'Even without coming face-to-face with the landlord,

'it's been a good result for Adrian and Katherine,

'as they now have the evidence they need to take further action.'

We've inspected all the rooms,

we've found...

well, potentially six people,

possibly seven,

and there is a little self-contained flat at the back as well -

looks like there's something going on there.

There was some drugs in there.

It looked like there was potentially two or three people

living in there as well.

So, you know, there's a lot of...

good information that we just need to take forward with the landlord now.

Since we visited the house,

the landlord has still not licensed the property

and also failed to attend an interview

with housing officers.

If he fails to submit an application

to make the property into a shared house,

the council will step in to MANAGE the property.

The landlord will then be offered two further opportunities

to attend an interview.

If he fails to show on THOSE occasions, he may face prosecution.

'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 the property behind.

-D'you think(?)

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

-Top marks.

-Yes!

I'm hitting the streets...

That's ready to collapse.

'..seeing 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.

'We're in Newham,

'and I'm on the road with housing officers

'Holly Ripp and Christine Lyons.

'We're on the hunt for a house

'that they suspect might be overcrowded and unsafe

'for the people living inside.

'And it might not be too hard to find.

'Christine's seen loads of similar properties

'in this neck of the woods.'

They tend to be larger type housing - three or four bedrooms...

..two living rooms downstairs and a kitchen -

and this one actually has got an outbuilding as well.

'The last time the team visited,

'they found people living in the outbuilding.

'They've since served an enforcement notice,

'forcing the landlord to remove the bathroom and kitchen

'with the aim of stopping this from happening.

'Hopefully, he's complied.'

So what we should be walking into

is a house which is back in family occupation.

One family living in the place,

-that's what we should be looking at.

-That's correct, yeah.

Or it's undergoing renovation.

I think this house was in quite a poor state.

We hope it's been renovated and it's back in good order,

and it's been now re-let to a family.

'If the landlord's failed to sort this property,

'it could mean there are still more people living here

'than there should be,

'so, understandably, Christine's keen to make sure we get inside.'

BRISK TAPPING ON DOOR

We're using the Newham knock, but it's not effective at the moment.

MORE INSISTENT KNOCKING

If Christine takes it up to the next level from this,

that's when we get people from houses on either side

starting to answer THEIR doors as well.

Ooh, someone's coming.

Oh, hi, sorry to disturb you. I'm Christine Lyons from Planning.

I looked through the letterbox and saw a pair of chequered

boxer shorts coming towards me,

so I figure, at that point, it's best to step away.

Can we have a quick look round, please?

'It looks like Christine's persistence has paid off.'

Clearly people are living here...

What we want to see

is whether the outbuilding is still out there and occupied.

'On the way, there may be a clue

'the landlord HAS listened to the council's demands.'

Clearly a lot of work has taken place here.

We've got laminate flooring that's been ripped out

and floorboards have gone as well.

'And it does look like the dodgy outbuilding

'has been cleared of tenants.'

-This WAS occupied. It's set up as a little house.

-Yeah.

But obviously he's now using it

to store all of his bits and pieces in here.

'Then again, perhaps not.'

Hold on. Look.

KNOCKING AT DOOR

-Someone in there.

-Oh.

Can we ask you some questions?

I'm from the council.

I need to ask you about who's living in the property.

Nobody. I'm just...

You're quite obviously living here if you're sleeping here.

Have you been living here long?

OK.

Obviously doesn't talk.

What's this for, then? Because you've got...

The outbuilding here is complete

and yet, down the side of the house, there's a load of flooring

that's been ripped up, and floorboards,

and in here there's clearly...

-Well, he's obviously looking to...

-He's doing something.

-Yeah.

-Whether it's down here or in the main house.

-Let's have a look.

Right.

'So, the unlawful outbuilding IS still here

'and, by the looks of things, still occupied.

'It's clearly not an ideal - or even safe - sleeping arrangement.

'But INSIDE the house,

'there are even more signs of hazardous conditions.'

Now, always what you want to be watching for in a kitchen

is a bit of smoke detection of some sort, or ideally heat detection.

There's nothing in here.

You can see some...

some really shonky-looking electrics going on there.

'This is disappointing.

'There doesn't seem to be any evidence

'that the landlord is complying with the enforcement notice

'to turn this back into a family home.'

So it seems like little or nothing is taking place to change its use.

There's lots of fridges,

that sort of activity, which you wouldn't normally expect

if it had been put converted back to just one family living here.

-Yeah.

-You know, you'd expect to just see one fridge,

a different layout in the kitchen...

And also not quite so much of independent living as well,

it would be more everyone living together.

Last time we visited, the two reception rooms

towards the front - they were not occupied and now they're locked.

-So they've actually got more people in, rent coming in.

-I assume so.

'If Holly is right,

'then this landlord is definitely adding insult to potential injury.

'The enforcement notice is supposed to make this house safer,

'by limiting the number of unrelated people inside.'

Shall we try upstairs?

Erm... So we've got...

The far room, there's a young lady that lives there,

she's been there for two and a half years,

and, even worse, this couple who've moved in here,

they've been here a month.

-So he's actually got in new tenants...

-Since...

..since the enforcement notice was telling him,

-"You can't have any more people living individually."

-Yeah.

-So that's kind of brazen and in-your-face, isn't it?

-Yeah.

And they're paying 500 in the end one

and 550 in this one, so that's...

-No mention to them of the enforcement order or anything else, they had no idea about that.

-No.

So probably, up here, you're looking at 1,500 a month,

downstairs probably the same,

-so you're probably looking at £3,000, £4,000 a month in rent?

-Wow.

'Later on, we find some tenants

'who are shocked to learn the truth about their new home.'

You must look after yourselves.

OK? And this house is not completely safe.

'We're heading to Suffolk...

'..a county of beautiful rural landscapes

'and many spectacular public and private gardens...

'..but housing officer Andrew Weavers

'isn't visiting one of those today.

'He's had a complaint about a tenant's gardening habits

'that are threatening the border between two neighbours.'

Now going to an address in Stowmarket

with a report of an overgrown garden that only came in the other day.

I dealt with it a couple of years ago,

got it all clear or got the tenant to clear it,

but they haven't maintained it.

And now we've got a complainant that's put up a brand-new fence,

says nothing's been done for the last 24 months

and he doesn't want his fence to break.

And if it does break, he's gonna hold us responsible.

Sometimes, you know...

some tenants will breach their tenancy conditions and

we have to try and help them improve.

Rather than start serving notices,

we have to try and help them keep that roof above their head.

'It's part of Andrew's job to play the peacemaker,

'and it's his diplomatic skills that will be put to the test today,

'to ensure that a small problem doesn't grow out of all proportion.

'It's a condition of tenancy

'that residents keep their gardens neat and tidy,

'and don't let shrubs or weeds cause a nuisance to their neighbours.

'Andrew's going to have a chat with pensioner Jean,

'who rents her bungalow from the council.

'The neighbour who's complained OWNS his own home -

'a situation which, in itself, can cause friction.'

-Hello, there. How are you? Remember me?

-Yeah. Come in.

-Thank you.

-I haven't seen you for a long while, have I?

-No.

-Two years, I think.

-Two years.

-How are you doing?

-I'm OK.

Andrew will have to use the softly-softly approach

to find out why Jean's allowed her garden to become neglected again.

Have you spoken to your neighbour...lately?

About my garden? Yes.

-ANDREW LAUGHS

-Yes.

And she's only too happy to tell him.

I had a gardener and he's been coming every fortnight, and he died.

-He was a friend of a friend...

-OK.

-..and he kept my garden lovely, OK?

-Yeah.

-Then...so I phoned up.

This must've been about a couple of months ago.

OK. Oh, you've got a quote, yeah?

He was supposed to start on the Monday

-and I had a phone call to say he was in hospital.

-Oh.

-So I phoned him...

-What are you doing to these gardeners?

-That's what I mean...

-You're killing them off.

Am I making 'em ill? Whatever. Anyway...

Cos what's happened is, obviously,

the neighbour is sort of maintaining

that the garden hasn't really been...

-not much has happened in the last two years

-Two years!

What are they on about?

The lady next door but one asked me where my gardener had got to.

Perhaps there's more to this case than meets the eye.

Do you mind if I go and have a look, just at your garden...

-Yes, yes.

-..to see what we've got...? Yeah.

-And to say my garden has not been done when it has!

-OK.

It soon becomes obvious why the neighbour is concerned.

As you can see, these haven't sprung up overnight.

These thistles, all around the shed,

this doesn't tell me there's been a regular gardener here.

There's a lot of bramble

and stuff in there and that does get a bit wild, doesn't it?

Andrew sympathises with Jean, who can't look after her garden herself,

but the neglect can't be allowed to continue.

The neighbour's obviously put a quite expensive new fence up

and he doesn't want it ruined.

Some of these weeds and things

that must have been against the old fence,

I think, caused a bit of damage.

So I think...see if we keep the borders clear, really,

and the rest of the garden.

Jean insists that her new gardener is due to start work

the following week.

Obviously, if you've got a regular gardener now, which is brilliant...

Yeah. Well, the man couldn't help dying, could he?

No, no-one can do that, can they?

No, he'd turn in his grave if he saw how it was now.

Andrew knows that, in this case,

it's gentle persuasion that will win the day.

OK, I'm going to come back in a couple of weeks and have a look

-at your lovely garden, how's that? All right?

-Yeah.

-At least I get to see you again and give you a bit of a nag.

-Yeah.

If Jean can prove that her gardener's on the case,

Andrew will be satisfied.

Oh, well, lovely to see you again. I'll see you in a couple of weeks.

-Thank you very much.

-All right, sweetheart. See you.

'I've had the complaint,'

I've done the visit and she's got an answer.

She's got a gardener coming round,

but I don't know how much of that garden's been done lately,

I've got to say.

I sort of deal with a lot of characters in my line of work

and she's certainly one of them...bless her heart.

I think she probably knew exactly why I was knocking on her door,

to be honest, cos I think she mentioned the garden straightaway.

But in a couple of weeks' time, that will be a lot clearer than it is.

It's just me nagging her a little bit to keep up with it, really.

Every problem gets sorted out.

Later, we'll come back to see

if Jean's next gardener has made an appearance.

He's working away there.

I don't want to give him a heart attack.

'In Newham...and I'm with housing officers Christine Lyons

'and Holly Ripp.

'The team are back at a property that was supposed

'to be in the process of being returned to a family home.

'They've served an enforcement notice on the landlord demanding

'he stop letting the outbuilding to tenants -

'doesn't seem to have done much good.'

I'm from the council. I just need to ask you a few questions

about who's living in the property.

-Nobody. I'm...

-You're quite obviously living here

-if you're sleeping here.

-Have you been living here long?

OK. Obviously doesn't talk.

And to make matters worse,

ignoring the enforcement notice again, the landlord seems to have

taken in even more tenants, making the property more dangerous.

'I'm not sure Kiko and Druni, who've moved here from Spain,

'are aware of the situation.'

When you moved in here,

did the landlord mention that there was a problem with the council?

-No.

-This information, no.

-Yeah, so this is new.

-Yeah.

-You had no idea at all.

How long do you think you will stay in this house?

In this house, four months or six months.

This room is very small for money.

So you're both working. Maybe, in three or four months,

you're hoping later to bring your daughter here to the UK

and then move into a house?

'It's devastating for this young couple

'that, having moved in, they might now be facing eviction.'

The reason that the council is here today is because the landlord

is not supposed to use this house for lots of people.

This house should be for one family only,

but obviously you have a person there, a person here,

-in the garden, downstairs...

-Six or seven families.

-Yeah.

In this house, families more.

So, around two months ago, he was told he cannot do that.

-Did you know that?

-No, no, no.

-You had no idea at all? He didn't tell you?

-No.

'These guys will now be facing an uncertain future

'and, even though it's unlikely they'll be able to see out

'their desired six-month stay, I can't leave without at least

'trying to help them feel more secure.'

You must look after yourselves. OK?

-This house is not completely safe, OK?

-No?

No, the thing you need to do -

you must get smoke and heat detectors in this house, OK?

Because downstairs you have a kitchen,

-which has no fire detection in this house.

-No.

And so everybody lives by themselves

and that means that they only care for themselves,

and you need a smoke and fire detector downstairs.

Can you do that today?

-You need to do that, please.

-OK.

-Take care. Thank you. Bye-bye.

-Thanks.

-OK, bye.

'I feel bad about the circumstances

'that we're leaving Kiko and Druni in.

'But almost right on cue, Christine gets a call from the landlord,

'which I'm pleased to say she approaches in her usual style.'

Whilst your tenants are in there,

there is no fire safety for those tenants,

so what I would want you to do today

is you take some fire and smoke detectors round

and you put them back in that premises.

Because, if there's a fire...

They're not there, they're not there,

and if anything happened to those tenants,

you will be liable for anything happens to those tenants.

'Hopefully, this visit now means the tenants will at least

'get a chance to sleep a little bit sounder and safer.'

What I like with you, Christine, it's not a case of, "May I come in?"

It's a case of, "I'm coming in

"because there's something in here that needs dealing with."

From our point of view,

we need to get in, we need to sort these problems out.

He wasn't aware of anyone living in the outbuilding

-and we obviously saw a gentlemen living in the outbuilding.

-Yeah.

And his aims are now, because we've affected his business,

he's going to... He's putting the property on the market for sale.

Did he explain how he's introduced more tenants

since the enforcement notice and how is that helping the situation?

He didn't sort of acknowledge that at all. That was wiped over.

What he was more concerned about

was that I said he could earn between £4,000-£5,000 and he said

that basically it's only got seven rooms,

so that wouldn't be that much. It would only be £3,500.

So he's admitted that he's renting out seven rooms individually

and he's making £3,500, roughly, we think.

So that's quite an interesting figure.

My concern is for those tenants that are there at the moment.

The fact that they've got no protection from fire in there,

-all of that would have gone unseen...

-Yeah.

-..if you hadn't just forced the issue just that little bit.

-Yeah.

It's not just about the landlord -

it's about actually the people who live there.

It's not just to tick a box in terms of a planning enforcement notice -

it's actually about making a difference.

Do you think he got the message on the phone?

Probably not, but you hope he did.

We're back in Suffolk,

where housing officer Andrew Weavers has been investigating

a complaint about an overgrown garden.

As you see, these haven't sprung up overnight.

It doesn't tell me that there's been a regular gardener here.

The neighbour is sort of maintaining

that not much has happened in the last two years.

Two years! What are they on about?!

The lady next door but one asked me where my gardener had got to.

Today, Andrew's on his way to see whether Jean has cleared her garden

so it doesn't cause any damage to her neighbour's smart new fence.

She's got in contact with me to let her know...

well, let ME know that she's now got her gardener starting today.

He should have been there at about ten o'clock this morning,

so I thought this would be a good opportunity to go there now

and have a look, try and have a chat with the gardener,

and just give him an idea of what the complaint is and what we'd like

to achieve, and see if he's going to be a sort of regular visitor there.

If he is, then that's a... That's a job done.

I'm hoping that he's well, for the time being,

the first gardener had died and this chap had been poorly,

so let's hope... Let's hope he's OK.

Before he has a chat with Jean,

Andrew decides to have a peep over the garden wall.

Ooh, I can see him. He's working away there.

I don't want to give him a heart attack!

He seems to be working hard.

It's looking good so far.

Right, I'll go and see her.

Hello again. How are you? Oh, you're cleaning up, look!

But Andrew needs to know how long

this gardener is going to stick around.

Do you think you're going to be a regular sort of visitor here?

I think so, yeah.

-That's certainly down to be cleared anyway as part of this work.

-Yeah.

-So...

-I can see you've been working really hard.

I'm getting there, yeah.

-To be honest, she's been quite quick on getting this sorted...

-Yeah.

Normally, I have to push and push and push people,

-so this is quite nice to see somebody actually doing it.

-Yeah.

To stop any further complaints, what I wouldn't mind is

if we sort of concentrated on that area,

-so that all that bramble and that stuff goes...

-OK.

..so it doesn't cause any future problems

because they're basically saying that,

if anything happens to that fence,

-they're going to hold us responsible.

-Crikey! OK.

Jean hasn't wasted any time getting Paul in to help her with her garden,

so Andrew hopes the neighbour now

won't have any further cause for complaint.

Is that going to be regularly maintained, your garden, now?

Yes, he said he'd come once a week for an hour.

So I can confidently now go away, can't I,

and be confident this is going to be a regularly maintained garden?

Yes, Andrew, as long as you're not in charge of it - not an expert.

What's this, a thistle of some description?

-No, that's a dandelion.

-Is it?

I know what I'm talking about(!)

See, you can tell I'm a keen gardener, can't you?

It's green, you know. Is this a tree?

-That's a hawthorn. Hawthorn.

-Oh, OK.

I was just asked to identify it and I was using my gardening skills.

Andrew doesn't want to hear any more from Stowmarket about wild weeds,

brambles or disappearing gardeners in the undergrowth.

He can let the neighbour know that the case is solved.

This sounds good. I'll be able to write this one off.

I wish they were all like this.

I normally have to go round about three or four times

and start threatening tenancies,

but she's a sweetheart, really, and she sort of knows she's probably

left it and has done something about it under her own steam.

So it's good because that's how I'd like to see everyone do it, you know.

I think the ball has got to be put in the tenant's court.

I don't think we ought to, as a landlord,

go and provide a garden service to everybody,

but she's taken responsibility and that's what should happen.

Bye.

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.