Episode 16 The Housing Enforcers

-Hello, can you let me in?

-DOG BARKS

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

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

'But, for thousands of people across the UK,

'the reality can be more hovel than home.

The house is falling to bits, there's nothing I can do.

'In the battle for decent housing...'

We've got conditions that are just appalling.

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

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

If somebody had died here,

you'd have been standing in a coroner's court.

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

-15 people in this house?

-15 people in total living in here.

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

'and slum conditions...'

-It really does look shanty town.

-Yeah, it's not up to standard.

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

'and everything in between...'

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

You never know what you're going to find.

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

'Today, a family house converted into tiny flats

'shocks council officers.'

The rules should be followed, otherwise what you get

-is tiny, effectively, hell holes, for people to live in.

-Yeah.

'Fire rips through a council flat, spreading fear for neighbours.'

What can we do to help you?

At the moment, I just feel like I want moved.

-All I can smell is smoke, I can't sleep at night.

-Yeah.

If that had happened in the night...

'And a teenage mum and her baby push family overcrowding

'to breaking point.'

I get to the stage where...

I want to make her homeless,

which I don't want to throw her out and the baby.

We might not always know it, but there are people

from every local council

whose job it is to make sure we have a safe roof over our heads.

I'm working alongside the men and the women

who use the law to make sure we don't live in slums,

but in homes fit to raise a family, or enjoy our retirement.

They can make sure that you have the facilities you need

as you get older.

They also have the power to start the process

that can send a bad landlord to prison,

or help evict a bad tenant.

They are the Housing Enforcers.

There's a huge demand for accommodation in London.

From the highest paid City workers to the lowest paid manual workers,

businesses need staffing.

But, with so many people requiring housing,

those with the lowest incomes

are priced out of even the most average of properties.

They have very little choice

and there are plenty of unscrupulous landlords out there

trying to exploit them.

In the London Borough of Newham...

they're cracking down on houses

unlawfully converted into flats and bedsits.

I'm on the way to one,

with housing officers Christine Lyons and James Burton.

They've heard that a family home has been converted into studio flats,

and they know that no planning permission has been granted

for this address.

So we've got six flats with what?

Little kitchens, little toilets.

The challenge today could be getting in.

They could be resistant, because they could end up, you know,

with a change of use back,

and then they could end up losing their homes.

I mean, with all the work we do,

from a planning and a housing point of view,

there's always that endgame that somebody will lose

-the house they're living in.

-Yeah.

But I think that just allowing a constant underclass of housing

isn't a way to sort of resolve the housing problems that we've got.

The house we're visiting is a three-bedroomed terraced house

in a quiet suburban street.

It would make a great family home.

SHE KNOCKS REPEATEDLY

It does take Christine quite a few knocks on the front door

to get a response.

SHE KNOCKS

Oh, hi. Can I just come in? My name's Christine Lyons.

I'm here from Newham Council Planning and we're interested

in the conversion of the property into a number of flats.

Can we come and look in your flat, then?

'As soon as we get into the hallway,

'it's clear that a lot of conversion work has taken place.'

These properties shouldn't have been converted as this.

They should be family homes, really.

It's quite clear, as soon as we've come in,

that people are living in...

..a flat? Bedsit? I suppose.

Er, and the way it's been converted is, at best...

..shonky?

There, there's like a plastic lean-to,

which is joining the main house to the section

where this gentleman is living.

He's got a tiny little kitchen.

He's got a tiny little bathroom

and a bed.

It's a really, very cramped space for tenant Najam Aziz.

But he had little choice.

How difficult was it to find this place?

Yeah, at the moment, very difficult.

When you go in the housing office.

So I'm just...

-surviving.

-Yeah.

-You have a child that sometimes comes here?

-Yeah, my child.

-A boy and a girl.

-So you have two children?

-Two children.

-They come to see you here?

-Yeah.

And how does that work when they come here? Because you've...

Yeah, very small accommodation.

Yeah.

Very small.

'This is small.

'But we are in London and property is at a premium.'

Can I ask you how much you pay for...?

Asking council, they pay £200.

-A week?

-£200 a week.

-So this is through housing benefit?

-Yes.

-I see.

And they've got like a living room, bedroom here.

This is a property that's being paid for through council,

-through housing benefit.

-Yeah.

And we're looking at something that's really, really unsuitable.

There's no way that we should be effectively funding

-substandard accommodation through council tax.

-No. Yeah, yeah.

And it is funded. I mean, it's no way to live.

The rent is being paid through housing benefit by another

London council who can't house Najam in their area.

There's simply not enough affordable housing to go round.

And, when a tenant moves into private housing,

it's usually up to them to decide on its suitability before they move in.

Later, we discover even more bedsits in this converted house.

But the places that they're actually living in, they can't function.

-Yeah.

-They're far too small to function as a place to live.

In the 12 months up to March 2015,

the fire and rescue services in Great Britain

attended over 150,000 fires.

More than 31,000 of these happened in people's homes.

In just a matter of minutes,

a fire can destroy households and treasured possessions,

but, for some, it's the long-term psychological effects

that can cause the most damage,

playing on victims' minds long after the bricks and mortar

have been repaired.

In Gloucestershire...

housing officer Joe Phillips

is on his way to visit a council-owned block of flats,

that just days ago was hit by a major fire.

The one flat where the fire originated was completely destroyed

and there's hardly anything left in there at all.

And it was... The heat was such that we're probably going to

have to look at replacing some of the roof on the flat block.

Inspecting the property with Joe is repairs officer Colin Scott.

He'll be assessing the damage before the team move in

to begin the clean-up and make repairs.

Even from the outside of the building,

it's clear just how serious the fire was.

Luckily, everyone in the block managed to escape unhurt.

You can see, just up there,

the blackened-out windows from the bathroom and kitchen.

Obviously, where the smoke's risen,

-that's going to need...

-COUGHING

..a proper load of cleaning and probably a repainting as well.

'The fire-damaged flat has been left in a dangerous condition,

'so Joe and Colin need to put on protective clothing

'before they go inside.'

-What a mess, eh?

-It sure is.

-OK.

'The fire has completely gutted the flat,

'destroying everything in its path.

'All that seems to be left are the charred ashes

'of the owner's possessions.'

So we're not 100% sure of where the fire started.

The best guess from the fire service at the time

was in the corner of the building over there, in the bedroom.

This was where the tenant who was in here said that they woke up

in their bedroom and saw the fire and ran out.

There's also a lot of heat damage to the plaster in that room,

which would indicate there was definitely

a good blaze going on in there.

Thankfully, the tenant escaped the blaze unhurt,

but, with a fire as serious as this,

it could easily have resulted in tragedy.

This is probably one of the more intense fire-damaged ones I've seen,

cos it's the whole front of the building has gone, really.

The kitchen, bathroom, ceilings, plastering, doors, door linings,

electrical rewire, heating system, it's all gone, I'm afraid.

'It's been a lucky escape for the flat's tenant,

'but a fire is not only distressing for the person whose home is lost.

'It also affects the people who live around them.

'Looking at the scale of the damage,

'it's understandable that the other residents are in a state of shock.

'Martin has lived in the flat across the hall

'for the past 17 years.

'The distress caused by having everything he owns just minutes

'from complete destruction has left him feeling frightened

'at the thought of spending another night in his home.'

I had a phone call saying the flat next door was on fire,

but mine was in a lot of danger.

And I panicked and I rang my friend to give me a lift down

and I got here as soon as possible.

When I got here, it was just like a battlefield.

I've never known nothing like this.

You never think it's going to happen.

Not that close to home.

What can we do to help you?

Well, I just... I just...

At the moment, I just feel like I want moved.

What I'd like to do, ideally, is keep you in your home,

-because this is your home.

-Yeah.

-It doesn't feel like it at the moment.

-No, and I know.

It's been a major disruption.

-And all I can smell is smoke, I can't sleep at night.

-Yeah.

And I'm just...

It's endangered life, to me, and I'm just...

on edge all the time, that something's going to happen again.

-Yeah, no, I understand that.

-And if that had happened in the night...

-Well, it could have been drastic.

-Yeah.

'The fire has clearly shaken Martin

'and, inside his flat, the physical damage reveals

'just how close he was to losing everything.'

OK, if we have a look down here, he was quite happy to show me this.

If you look on here, this looks like a normal carpet colour,

-but then you remove that...

-Yeah.

..and you see that it's just so set in, it looks like

-it's a completely different carpet.

-I'm finding it everywhere.

-I just feel so down.

-Yeah.

I know and, hopefully, that feeling will pass in time.

-It's been a big event in your life.

-Mm.

-And...

you know, fingers crossed, touch wood and everything

it's not going to happen again.

'As the block is owned by the council,

it's their responsibility to make the necessary repairs

'to the burnt-out flat.

'Fixing the property will be a simple enough job,

'but it's going to take a lot longer for Martin to get over the shock.'

You never think it's going to happen.

But if this place had gone up, pff!

I'd have been totally...

down and...

But you've just got to get on with it

and, hopefully, everything will turn out OK.

I think, mostly, people are quite satisfied

with what we've been doing so far.

Obviously some frustrations.

I think we're doing everything we feel we can,

and certainly people feel good about being communicated to,

which is really what we want.

These are our tenants, they rent our properties,

they want to get involved with the community and everything like that,

so we need to make sure that we're giving them a good home

and that's the thing - their homes and lives have been

so disrupted by this, it's the least we can do to just pop round

and say hello and see how things are going.

Later on, the clean-up team find more than they were bargaining for

in the burnt-out flat.

So far we've come up with 692 - I think it is - needles.

I'm with housing officers Christine Lyons and James Burton

in Newham, south London.

We're visiting a house that they suspect

has been unlawfully converted into flats.

A lot of flats.

On the ground floor, tenant Najam Aziz is paying £800 per month

for a poorly converted and tiny space.

-So you have two children?

-Two children.

-They come to see you here?

-Yeah.

-Thank you so much for talking to us.

-Thank you.

From the back garden, it's easy to see how the house has been carved up

to squeeze in as many flats as possible

and maximise the landlord's rental income.

The property's been extended and you can see there's an extension,

a flat-roof extension, over both properties.

And it would seem... Actually...

-No, this is the same property, yeah.

-This is the same property?

This is the same property, yeah. And they've split the garden in two.

So the extension's come out.

There's another...

That one's got evidence

-that there's a child living in there.

-Child, yeah.

There's obviously a baby in there, cos you've got a high chair and...

SHE SIGHS

And that will be living in the same

type of accommodations we've got here.

What we're looking at here is an example of where the rules

should be followed, otherwise you get individuals,

-like this gentleman, living in these circumstances.

-Yeah.

And what you get is tiny,

-effectively, hell holes, for people to live in.

-Yeah.

That's why Christine's here today -

to stamp out on poor conversions,

which means public money is being spent housing tenants

in totally unsuitable spaces.

You know, there's a lot of discussion about the way

public money is spent and rightly so. You know...

We shouldn't be throwing money out to anybody for any reason.

But it doesn't feel as though that question's being asked -

why are we paying £800 a month

to help somebody live in accommodation like that?

To fund that way of living?

Erm, I don't understand that.

It feels like a question we should be asking.

What's most worrying is that poorly converted houses

can be a death trap.

They weren't designed to cater for high numbers of occupants

and this building has no fire detectors.

-I don't think anyone would choose to live here.

-No.

I mean, you would choose it because you had no other choice.

You know, because anything less than this is going to be, you know,

-very temporary or homelessness, effectively.

-Yeah, yeah.

But the places that they're actually living in,

-they can't function.

-Yeah.

-They're far too small to function as a place to live.

-Yeah.

A fire in here can rip through very quickly, and, you know,

you've got lots of families that could lose their lives.

I'm still in that kind of planning mode, where you're thinking about

the use of this place.

And I hadn't even started to look at the way

it's just been thrown together.

If this staircase is on fire,

-then these signs aren't going to help you.

-No.

But the electrics are the things that are more likely to go up,

because, when you look at the overload on the systems,

the overload is massive, because you've got lots of...

-Washing machines, tumble dryers, kettles.

-Yeah, yeah.

These properties aren't... They are old properties.

They've got old Victorian sewers,

so you think of the sewage going through.

You think of the problems with that. You know, there's...

And also the quality of this conversion.

You're looking at the way it's been thrown together.

You can't imagine that the electrics

-are going to be that much better.

-No. No.

'Christine thinks that there are too many people living in this house

'and we haven't even ventured upstairs.

'On the first floor, we find a young mum,

'who was placed here by a different council.

'She's agreed to talk to us, as long as we don't show her face,

'but she has allowed us to show you her new baby son.'

How did you go about trying to find somewhere to live?

And that's what I do.

So you're here because the council has

put you here, but whereabouts were you living previously?

So you've been placed here by a council outside Newham?

They've put you here...?

-That means you're miles away...

-Yeah.

..from your aunt's, from your family.

Why didn't they put you closer to your aunt?

So how much does it cost the council?

-How much?

-256.

Right. So this is...over £1,000 a month?

'It's outrageous that anyone could charge £1,000 a month

'for what is little more than a box room. It's totally inadequate.'

Tell me about the practicalities of living up here.

Yeah.

That means you have to leave him, at some point,

-to be able to do this.

-Yeah.

What's your plan? What do you want to happen next?

Yeah.

'This woman's support network is miles away in a different borough

'and she's only just managing to make this space work

'for her and her child.

'To make matters worse, the flat's been converted

'without planning permission so it could be unsafe.'

That council are paying £1,000 a month for that room.

And it's taxpayers' money, it's council tax

that's going towards paying for that.

Downstairs, the guy said £800

-was coming out of the council for where he was.

-Yep.

If we then take all of the other rooms, we're looking at between,

-I think, £4,000 and £5,000, as a ball-park figure.

-I would...

I'd go more to 5,000, I think, yeah.

For that property to be getting close to £5,000 a month in rent,

there's no way you can justify that amount of money

for that property. It's just, it's crazy.

This is not appropriate, it's not a good place for anybody to be living.

Public money being spent on that accommodation really...

-infur...it annoys me.

-Yeah.

-It makes me angry.

-Never has the term "false economy" been more appropriate.

-Yeah.

'Sadly, the economic issue

'isn't something that can be solved quickly.

'And what's worse - the officers suspect the house may have been

'converted more than four years ago, which means that,

'under planning laws, it's considered to be lawful by default.

'But the house does pose a fire risk,

'so, on that count the landlord is facing further investigation

'and, possibly, legal action.'

Newham say there's very little they can do about the way the building's

been converted, as it happened more than four years ago.

But they have alerted the landlord licensing team

about the terrible conditions in the property.

Let's hope things improve there soon.

Back in Gloucestershire...

housing officers Joe Phillips and Colin Scott

have been helping residents deal with the damage

left behind by a major fire in a council-owned block of flats.

This is probably one of the...

the more intense fire-damaged ones I've seen, cos it's the whole fabric

of the building has gone, really.

It's been two weeks since the blaze and repairs officer Colin

has come to the flat to see how the clean-up operation is progressing.

The entrance hall is looking a lot better than it was.

And in here is where the fire...

erm, we think, started.

And, as you can see,

there is an extensive amount of roof damage.

It's all gone, I'm afraid,

so it's all got to be stripped off and renewed.

If we go through here, you can see the damage to the rest of the flat.

You can tell how intense the heat was in here to melt that...

..like that.

Again...

extensive smoke damage in here.

So all the plastering will again have to come off the walls,

ceilings down, new doors, new windows.

A massive amount of work.

But that's not the only thing to concern the council.

As the clean-up progresses, the team discover that not everything

in the flat has been destroyed.

So far, we've come up with 692 -

I think it is - needles.

The problem with a burnt-out property like this is

it does tend to melt a lot of the needles.

Or not the needles themselves, but the syringes,

so you have to be more careful ripping up carpets

and things like that.

The worry is that the needles could be contaminated,

putting the team's health in danger.

So extra care is needed.

This means it could take another week to clear the flat.

But there is some good news for neighbour Martin.

Martin's roof has some damage,

but it's quite minimal,

it's just on the edge here, where the flames managed to get through

underneath the tiles there, into the rafters, so it's quite minimal.

It's been two weeks

since the shock of almost losing his flat to the fire

left Martin wanting to move out.

Today, housing officer Joe is paying him a visit

to see if things have got any better

and whether he's now happy to stay in his home.

So how's it all going, Martin?

Well, it's not too bad, it's better than it was in the beginning.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-Good.

-I'm not so stressed now.

-There was a question I wanted to ask.

-Yeah, sure.

When are they doing the roof?

-When are they doing the roof?

-Yeah.

They're still doing the clearance from the flat at the moment.

Once everything's cleared from that flat,

that's when they're going to be able to start doing the roof.

There shouldn't be much damage to your roof.

Most of the fire was concentrated over the other gentleman's bedroom,

which was definitely over his side

and, of course, you've got the communal hallway in between.

So any timbers that need replacing should be on his side.

-There is another question.

-Yep.

-It's about the carpet.

-Yes.

I think... Am I having a new carpet?

-Yes.

-But when?

It will be when we've...

Probably be a minimum of when we've finished the cleaning

-of the property.

-That's what I thought.

-Cos when we're getting all

the soot out, it may cause some more

-to blow through.

-That's what I thought.

I'll decorate the hallway and, once I've decorated the hallway,

-we can go ahead with the carpet, whatever.

-Yeah, great.

The council have to make the repairs to the communal hallway,

and they've also agreed to replace Martin's smoke-damaged carpet

and help him and other residents with cleaning.

What's making me happy about you saying this, Martin,

is you're thinking of staying here, when you're saying it.

-What we've been through the last four or five weeks...

-Yep.

-..has totally changed now.

-Yeah.

It's the way you've been living and we've been living.

Things will get better, obviously.

But, just at the moment, I'm on edge all the time.

Give it a few more weeks, or maybe a month,

and it'll be brand-new

and you won't even recognise it, hopefully.

-I know it all takes time, I know.

-Yeah.

But, hopefully, in the end,

-it'll all be put right and back to normal.

-Great, good.

The fire has clearly affected Martin,

but, with the clean-up and repair work underway,

at least the physical reminders of the blaze

will soon be a thing of the past.

It's really easy to see the physical damage and, you know,

the blacked-out windows and everything,

but you don't really ever get to see what happens to people afterwards.

You think about the victim of the fire being the person

who had the fire in their property, not the people who live

around the area and are now panicking in their sleep thinking,

"Was that a fire alarm I just heard?"

It's not just about the bricks and mortar in this situation,

it's about the people who live in this area

and the homes that they've created.

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.

-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 someone inside, cos 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 a fit place to call a home.

I'm very shocked. This is ridiculous.

You shouldn't have people living in here.

There's no escaping the fact there's a housing shortage in the UK,

and nowhere is the pinch being felt more than here...

in London.

With a lack of suitable, affordable homes comes a rise in rents

and, sometimes, a drop in living conditions.

Here in Newham, I'm with housing officers

Holly Ripp and Stephen Pavett.

Their job is to protect tenants from landlords

who might be looking to unlawfully profit from the housing crisis.

In this area of east London, it's not uncommon for landlords

to carve up a family home into bedsits,

without applying for the correct permissions.

It's a dangerous practice, no matter how pleasant the postcode.

So we're going to a conservation area in Newham.

Ooh, that sounds nice.

It's got some really beautiful houses.

-Some are looked after better than others.

-Right.

So, what are the rules, within the conservation area?

Are they any different for people that might be buying there,

or wanting to change them around?

The conservation area, it controls more the look of the houses.

So the area itself just really is...

sort of a cosmetic thing, more than anything,

so they all look uniform and nice and pretty.

Actually, behind the front doors,

-the same rules as anywhere else in Newham?

-Exactly, yeah.

-Right.

The property in question is supposed to be a much-needed family home.

And it's undoubtedly a handsome house,

definitely fit for a conservation area,

but the last time the council visited,

it was full to the brim with individual rent-paying tenants.

The landlord was served an enforcement notice in 2013,

telling him he has to turn it back.

The housing team are here to find out whether he's complied.

-Hello?

-KNOCKING ON DOOR

Well, there's a load of guys in the front room,

who clearly saw us coming in, but, erm...

even though we're knocking, aren't coming to the door.

Hello? The door's open so we're going to come in.

We're from the Planning Department from the council.

We need to have a look around the property today.

'It doesn't look too promising.

'There are several men at the property,

'all of a similar age, which would suggest

'they're not part of the same family.'

So who's sleeping down here?

'They're not too keen to appear on camera.

'And I might know why.'

After initially not wanting to let us in, drawing the curtains,

the front door's wide open. and pulling the door,

-they've left us here...

-Yeah.

..in what's clearly being occupied by...

-At least three people.

-At least three guys.

We've got three wardrobes.

There should be a living area, a living room.

It's clearly used as a large bedroom for people, at this stage.

-It's a really lovely house.

-Yeah.

Isn't it? I mean, you look at the size of the room here,

-this is a huge living room that we've got.

-Yeah.

And it's got... You've got room, actually, for sofas, chairs, a table

-and they've put three single beds in here, as well.

-Yeah, yeah.

What we were hoping to see in this property

is the fact that this is used as a single living area for a family.

Here, they're trying to use every room, every bit of space

as a bedroom to cram as many people.

It's not the sort of accommodation we want to see in the borough.

'I can understand Stephen's frustration.

'Family homes are in great demand in Newham.

'But landlords can receive more rent by filling rooms like this

'with individuals desperate for a home.'

This is a really big property

and you could look at it and think,

well, maybe this would be better as two flats?

You might even get four.

But that's not what we've got,

because that would require quite a lot of work, expensive work,

to put it into that stage, so what we've got instead

is we've just got a lot of people,

spread through these very large rooms

which then become dormitories, in effect.

I mean, dormitories, really. Everything is taking place here.

Food, sleep, recreation.

'Further evidence the landlord has ignored the enforcement notice

'turns up in the kitchen.'

Not one, not two, not three...

..but four fridge/freezers,

which I think is, even for Newham, a record.

We think there's about ten guys living here.

But they're young guys, 21.

After school, came straight here to work as builders from Bulgaria,

because there's no work, or the work that's there

doesn't pay well enough.

So here they are.

Half of them are doing day shifts, half of them working at night.

I think the weekends must get pretty hectic.

'And worse, the landlord's lack of care and attention

'has left these guys in real danger.'

There's no fire detection at all.

There's no way of getting advanced warning

if something goes wrong in this kitchen, if a fire starts.

That's why you need the paperwork.

That's why you need planning permission for a house of this size.

In the back garden, the result of cramming too many people into

too small a space is clear.

Outside, you can see that not a great deal of care has been taken

with regards to outdoor space.

There are beer cans everywhere.

You've got bags of rubbish everywhere. Old bed bases.

Also looking at this extension that has gone on here

and, you know, in a conservation area, you would usually be looking

for some kind of sympathetic development.

But here's a nice old brick house

and then on it is this kind of butter coloured abomination.

Look at the way it has not been finished at all.

It has almost been stapled together on the top there.

Our building control department would delight in seeing

work of this substandard on the property, especially here.

Ideally, this should be a sloping, a pitch roof and we can see

evidence of a previous pitch roof going up by the windows there.

It should be tiled, it should be nice, the brick should be matching.

Let's not forget, this is also supposed to be a conservation area.

If, as the housing team suspect,

this extension doesn't have the correct planning permission,

the council have a window of four years in which to take action.

After that, the extension becomes lawful by default.

But if, like this one, the building is tucked away from sight,

it can get missed.

This is not a good example of what we would like to see

as an extension on a conservation property.

It's probably been here longer than we've been able to take action for.

Later, we discover we may have underestimated

just how crowded this house is.

10, 12, 13, 14.

Which is complete overcrowding.

In Faversham in Kent, housing officer Sue Davies

is off to visit a house that is seriously overcrowded,

where a young mum desperately wants to move out.

But with social housing in short supply,

she's feeling increasingly trapped.

I'm off to see Elise, a young girl I am working with,

who is just 17 with a newborn baby. She lives at home with Mum.

There is major overcrowding in this accommodation.

It's only a two bedroom and there is Mum and Dad

and two little brothers and Elise and baby.

Six people living in two bedrooms is a very tight squeeze.

Together with her newborn daughter, Evelyn, Elise Watts

shares her home with her mum, stepdad and two younger brothers.

Three generations finding life together

a little too close for comfort.

This is where I sleep.

Evelyn should be sleeping in here.

At the moment, her Moses basket has got too big for her

and we have no room to put her cot up. She sleeps just like this.

In her little corner.

She's all right but it's not ideal.

The health visitor has told me, "No, you can't do that."

I said, "I've got no other choice."

My nine-year-old brother, Freddie, sleeps in his bed

and my other little brother should be sleeping underneath

but as there's no room, he sleeps in the room with my mum still.

He sleeps in there but he's too big for his bed.

My mum sleeps in here.

My stepdad sleeps downstairs.

But it's not just the sleeping arrangements that are driving

this family crazy.

Elise's mum, Colleen, has had enough of the tight squeeze, too.

It can get very stressful. There's only one toilet, one bathroom.

Kids need their own space in their own bedroom.

I feel like I'm in my mum's way.

I'm not wanted, that I can't give her what she needs.

I can't even give her a bed at the moment.

I get to the stage where I want to make her homeless,

which I don't want to throw her out and the baby.

I love my daughter to pieces.

I just wish I had the room,

we all had our own rooms that we can go to and shut the door.

Colleen thinks by getting her daughter to move out with her baby,

it will force the hand of Swale Council

because Elise will be classified as homeless

and they will be under pressure to find her emergency accommodation.

-Hello.

-Hello, come in.

But Sue has to explain that won't help secure

the social housing they so desperately want.

There simply aren't enough homes to go round so, like many others,

Elise would find herself in emergency temporary accommodation,

probably a B&B.

The worst-case scenario

and it comes to the point where you cannot stay here any more

and you know that obviously as you have a baby, you're classed

as priority, therefore we would have to provide emergency accommodation.

If there's absolutely nowhere in the world for you to stay,

friends, families.

Where would I be?

It could be anywhere. It literally changes day to day.

We try to keep people as local as we can within our borough.

But this is temporary accommodation on a daily basis.

That's a problem.

Elise really wants to stay close to family and friends for support.

There is a bigger issue here too.

The days when young mums could automatically get a council house

are gone.

There is a massive shortage of social housing.

The alternative is a private let but Elise is nervous of that route

because of the financial commitment involved.

Private rents can be expensive and housing benefit doesn't

always cover the full cost, leaving the tenant to top it up.

Social housing, the kind Elise wants,

offers a more secure tenancy and you have to break rules or not pay rent

to be evicted.

With private lets, you are at the whim of the landlord.

Elise could struggle even getting a privately rented property

because of her age.

She's still only 17.

Most landlords only want to let to over-18s.

But for Elise, the biggest concern is money.

She thinks the private rent option

would be too expensive for her boyfriend.

He wouldn't be able to afford it.

Physically, he wouldn't be able to,

he wouldn't have the money to put down a deposit or anything like that

and he wouldn't have the money to pay the rent,

water, gas, electric every month.

Part of that as well is because you want this particular area,

this area is higher in rental charge as well.

But it's still a route you need to be looking at.

Sue is encouraging the privately rented route

because she knows just how long it can take to get a council house.

Elise has to bid on individual properties that she might be

eligible for but she is competing against lots of others

so while the council are taking the overcrowding at her current

home seriously, they've not classed her situation as critical.

As such, she keeps losing her bids to others whose need is more urgent.

The constant rejection is taking its toll.

In an ideal world, a property would come up through the bidding

so you've got a secure tenancy in the right area

close to Mum, so you've got support.

At the end of the day, Elise, you've just turned 17 with a newborn baby.

It's hard being 16 or 17 anyway,

-without the responsibility of being a mum as well.

-Yeah.

I know you want to stay near Mum and I know Mum wants you close by.

So, that's what we're aiming for, OK?

I just don't want to be here.

I know, but we're going to get there.

Getting a council house is far tougher these days,

demand often outstripping supply.

That's hard for those who are patiently waiting for one.

See you later!

I had high expectations but that's just

because I wanted to give her the best I possibly could.

If we were to get ourselves a private rent and then not

be able to pay the rent that month and then get ourselves

in debt and owe loads of money out, that's not the way we want to live.

That's not the way I want to start in life.

It's not an example I want to set to her.

Elise feels her situation is more critical than anyone's,

which I understand, everyone does. It's their personal situation.

Some people have set their sights on,

they only want social housing, which I understand, but it isn't reality.

It isn't the answer and it sometimes is quicker and you get the area

you want if you go down the private rental sector but I appreciate it's

more expensive with less security

but these are choices you have to make.

Because we don't have social housing for everybody. It is not possible.

Sue is doing her best for Elise, but for now,

she'll continue to live with her mum and brothers.

Hopefully, it won't be for much longer

that three generations have to share a two-bedroom house.

I'm back in the London Borough of Newham.

With housing officers Holly Ripp and Stephen Pavett,

we're uncovering evidence that this family home is being used unlawfully

to house more people than is allowed.

Not one, not two, not three but four fridge/freezers,

which I think, even for Newham, is a record.

Upstairs, we find more clues of overcrowding.

Another bedroom housing three more people.

Just like downstairs, there's a worrying lack of safety measures.

So, there's no real working fire detection in this house at all.

Within that, we've got guys who are smoking shisha pipes and smoking.

That's something we would like to alert our housing department to,

so they can come and make some checks as well.

Because you're right, not having any working smoke alarms

on this floor or heat detectors, is a bit of an issue.

The lack of fire detection, both upstairs and downstairs,

is even more worrying when we discover

even more bedrooms in the property.

It looks like there's at least one bed in there.

-Is it two rooms?

-No, it's just the one room that way.

If we're adding these ones up, they're all sizeable rooms,

-aren't they?

-Yes.

We know this is double fronted so that the front door is there

so you've got a big space on this side and big space there.

If they're putting three beds in there,

say just an average of two in the others.

We're up to eight when we were in there.

-Nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.

-Yeah.

There's no getting away from the fact, that's too many people

in a property with just one kitchen and limited washing facilities.

It's important to remember, the tenants forced to live like this

aren't the ones to blame.

They're clearly doing their best in a bad set of circumstances.

As it goes, these guys are doing a pretty good job.

Within reason, this is a fairly clean place,

considering there are up to 10 or 12 guys in their 20s all working hard.

They're keeping the place clean and tidy.

But that's not the point.

We're talking about planning

and this house shouldn't be used in this way...

..even though it's providing a home for these guys to go out

and do their work.

In fact, it's not what it should be used for at all.

The real tragedy of this situation

is that, even though it's the landlord who has acted unlawfully,

while enjoying extra rental income, it's the tenants

who will, more than likely, end up having to look for new homes.

We'll have to look now at taking further action against the owner,

unfortunately, to get this property back into being

used as it should be.

Actually, if things went wrong in that house,

they could go wrong very quickly and it could end up hurting those guys.

Regardless of how young they are and able and all the rest of it,

we're looking at smoke detection particularly,

it's just not there at all.

No, definitely not.

With regards to it, although they may be OK in the property,

we have to think about the neighbouring properties as well

and the impact that all those young people living in that one house

as individuals is having on the neighbouring property

and the area as well.

So the next action for that one is what? Because the enforcement

order has already gone in and hasn't really achieved what it needed to.

No, their compliant state has long since passed for this

to go back to a house, as a single family house.

It hasn't occurred so we will have to look carefully now

at progressing it through to the courts.

The owner of the house later contacted the council and

blamed his agent for not complying with the enforcement notice.

Shortly after that, the agent invited the council to come

and check the property again but at that time, the house was vacant.

Council officers are planning another inspection

within the next few months.

That's it for today.

Join me next time back on the road with The Housing Enforcers.