Episode 2 The Housing Enforcers

Hello, can you just let me in?

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 just 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 would've been in Coroner's Court.

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

15 people in this house?

15 people 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. Straightaway there's the smell of dog muck.

You never know what you're going to find.

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

and healthy home.

Oh, my God, Ted!

Today, a tiny leak turns into an epic flood...

I've got them in my shoes! I had no idea it was this bad.

Yeah, I know, mate.

Ted, you should've told us about it as soon as you got the leak.

..a dispute over planning regulations puts lives in danger...

At the moment, there are offences under the Housing Act

in this property. The spiral staircase should never

have been put in the first place.

No, that's entirely untrue, I'm afraid. We had regular inspections

when I put all this in.

..and the death of a tenant leaves housing officers

grappling with grime.

The property is in a little bit of a state.

It's going to take a lot of work to get this back up to

a lettable standard.

I wouldn't ever envision anybody living like this.

When was the last time you heard anyone

use 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.

There are times in life when we all need a helping hand.

But one of the hardest things facing the UK's housing officers

is striking a balance between giving tenants help and getting them

to take responsibility for themselves

before things get out of hand.

It's a dilemma Babergh Council's Ian Watson deals with every day.

How do you do this, though?

Are you trying to just stick to the book and do your job,

or do you have to relate to people and try and understand

their situation?

You've got to be able to listen, you know,

and that's one of the most important things, listening.

It's just trying to get, you know, to the root cause of the problem

and it's sometimes just getting those people to realise that

you're actually there to help them rather than hinder them.

That's quite difficult in a way, then, because you want to be

the person that people are pleased to open the door to,

and they won't necessarily always be if you can also be asking for

rent arrears and that sort of thing.

You know, at the end of the day, it's actually gaining

the trust from somebody.

And you are possibly the only, you know, consistent,

reliable thing in what could be

a fairly chaotic world for some of these people.

Some people need more help than others.

Ian's had a call from Sudbury about water coming from

the ground-floor flat of a tenant he's known for a long time.

I'm a little bit concerned because the gentleman did leave

one of our other properties in rather a mess.

I did get the tenant ring me back

and say he was trying to sort it out himself, but obviously

we need to get in there. It's our responsibility to do repairs.

Tenant Ted Hurrell moved into the flat two years ago

after caring for his elderly mother and battling addiction.

I nursed her with Alzheimer's...

..and also trying to detox from...

..a 30-year heroin habit, which I finally...

It was a long story, but I had three nervous breakdowns after she died.

It's 11 years now since I last injected heroin.

God and music have kept me alive.

It isn't the first time he's come to the attention

of ex-copper Ian.

-I never nicked you.

-No, I don't think so.

I've never known anything that you done wrong, to be quite honest.

Well, I was a smackhead for...

Yeah, I know you were heavy into drugs,

but at least you sorted yourself, didn't you?

All right. Well, look, we've managed to get...

Let's go and have a look, shall we?

Ian's barely over the threshold and he can already see

that the situation is serious.

Oh, my God, Ted.

That's happened overnight.

That's happened over a couple of nights.

-Oh, my God, Ted.

-Yeah, I know.

I had no idea it was this bad, Ted.

With the whole flat under several inches of filthy water

and Ted's possessions ruined, Ian's shocked by the scale

of the deluge and can't understand how Ted's allowed it to get so bad.

Ah, I've got them in my shoes.

-Yeah, I know, mate.

-Ted, what on earth have you let...?

Yeah, I know.

Yeah, but, Ted, you should've told us about it

as soon as you got the leak.

Well, I've been backwards and forwards to Bury St Edmunds

because I have health problems...

..and, it's, er...

You know, it's just got worse and worse.

Right, I'm going to go and try and find out where

the mains water comes in.

Easier said than done.

With no idea where to find the stopcock,

Ian's forced to phone back to base for help.

Hi, it's only Ian from Housing.

Steve, where are the mains' stopcocks outside

these properties so we can get the water turned off?

Let's put it this way - the water's so deep and horrible,

I've got it inside my shoes and I'm not best pleased.

It seems they can't help, either.

I just can't believe that we don't know where our stopcocks are

for these properties, but there we go.

They were built some time ago.

Even more frustrating for Ian is his suspicion that

the leak's been going on for longer than Ted's letting on.

I came here last Tuesday

and there was a little bit of water out the front.

I spoke with Ted at the time and he said

he'd washed the concrete floor down inside with a couple of buckets.

What sounds like it could've been a small repair

has now left the council facing a full-scale clean-up operation.

The water is actually coming down below the dampcourse.

That's going to take some considerable time

to dry this property out.

And it's left Ted with nowhere to live.

I've spoken with the Homeless team and we haven't got any units

available for homeless at the moment.

But with neighbours stepping in to lend a hand,

at least music lover Ted's most valued possessions are safe.

-We can store some bits for you.

-Yeah, well...

At least that way it's not all over the place.

I'm just going to run this up there.

We'll sort him out a place somewhere.

Whether it be one of our properties that's coming up for rent

or something just to get him into or it may well be bed and breakfast.

Although he's been happy just to roll up his trousers and wade,

with the water still rising, even Ian's had to admit defeat

and accept he's not properly equipped to deal with the problem.

I've got everything in that I can. Need to go and get some wellies

because I need to have a look at exactly what's going on.

As far as he's concerned, the cluttered state of Ted's flat,

even before the flood, hasn't helped the situation.

If he'd only got the rubbish out the way,

that water would've come gushing out the front of the house, I'm sure.

It's sort of like dammed it in there.

Coming up, it looks like turning the tide is going take longer

than Ian thought.

I don't know what's in here, if you know what I mean.

Anglian Water have been contacted. They've given us an arrival time

of any time between now and 6pm tomorrow.

I don't get paid enough for this.

In rural Lincolnshire, North Kesteven District Council

housing officer Chris Gallimore is acting on a complaint

from a tenant about a privately rented property

that he claims was in such a dangerous state, he moved out.

I think the tenant... They weren't there very long.

They were there a few months and they moved out.

They weren't happy with the condition of the property.

Former tenant Jack and his girlfriend thought they'd found

their perfect home, when they rented a picture-postcard conversion

of an old village school.

When we first saw this property, me and my girlfriend...

We just fell in love with it.

When we first moved in, it looked like a nice house.

But before long they became concerned it was

putting their safety at risk.

Well, the house was a death trap, at the end of the day.

I mean, there was just exposed wires,

the spiral staircase wasn't safe up to the living room,

the gaps in the banisters were easy enough to fall down

and they were quite dangerous.

And we were told that we'd be having a new fire installed,

but again nothing come about it, so we was using the storage heaters

which were inefficient and expensive to run.

After three months, they decided to move out,

but not before contacting the council.

At the moment I don't think there's a tenant residing there,

but there's going to be another one imminently coming in.

So what we want to do is get some improvements made

before the next tenant comes in.

Chris has done some digging and thinks the safety concerns

are actually part of a problem dating back almost two decades.

One of the issues is that when the property was converted, it wasn't

authorised by Building Control and it hasn't been signed off by them.

The man responsible for the conversion is Richard Taylor.

-Hello.

-Hi, there.

-Chris Gallimore from the council.

-Hi.

-Pleased to meet you.

-Richard.

Richard's daughter now owns the property

and he's agreed to talk to Chris on her behalf.

But it's not good news.

One of the main issues with this property,

after I did some research at the council, is that it wasn't actually

-signed off - the conversion - at the time...

-Yes.

-..it was converted.

To comply with the Building Act 1984,

buildings must meet minimum standards for health and safety

set out in the Government's building regulations.

New buildings and most conversions must be signed off

by the local authority Building Control,

or by an approved independent inspector.

Crucially, it's the owner's responsibility

to ensure projects have a final certificate

to say work meets the legal standard required.

It's something Richard never did.

So what I've got is a copy of the notice from Building Control,

which is this one.

Quite a lot of the issues that's highlighted on there are things

that I'm kind of concerned about as well.

17 years ago, Building Control told Richard

the handrails weren't safe and needed to be changed.

They weren't changed and they're still dangerous.

The problem if you've got a gap that's less than 100 millimetres

is a child can actually get their head stuck in it.

And I think certainly a small child could probably fall through that gap

with the size of it.

It's not the only health hazard listed in Chris's copy

of the original inspection report.

Hazards that were never fixed.

Just going back to the list there, another thing

they're basically saying is that the staircase doesn't comply, either.

And from my understanding, it is that the spiral staircase

should never have been put in in the first place.

No, no, that's entirely untrue, I'm afraid.

No, we had regular inspections when I put all this in.

I wouldn't have put in a spiral staircase without any consideration.

If you look at this staircase, it's got very narrow tapered treads

on the inside. You've got no proper handrail on the inside.

You've got open risers where people can trip going up,

the lighting isn't very good. There's a lot of issues with it.

That's a duty of care that I've got, I understand, not you.

Well, it's not, because it's the Housing Act 2004,

which is a regulation.

Known as a duty of care, landlords are legally responsible

for preventing personal injury to tenants caused by defects

to a property.

But Richard doesn't seem to realise it's the council's job

to enforce this.

At the moment, there are offences under the Housing Act

in this property, OK? So we wouldn't be able to allow

a tenant come in this property at the moment.

Later, it seems Chris will have to tread carefully

if he wants to solve the stalemate over the staircase.

Can I stop you there? I paid quite a bit of money for

the building inspection on this place.

Can you tell me why there's no record of what they've seen?

-For Building Control?

-Yeah.

Unfortunately, you're going to need to speak to them.

-Maybe you should speak to them before you come to me next time.

-Yeah.

In Suffolk, community housing officer Ian Watson's come to the rescue

of a tenant with a flood of biblical proportions.

His flat's been left uninhabitable because he didn't alert

the council sooner.

-I had no idea it was this bad.

-Yeah, I know, mate.

Ted, what on earth?

The water's still pouring in and it doesn't look like it'll be

stopping any time soon.

I've just had a phone call while I've been out getting some boots.

Anglian Water have been contacted. They've given us

an arrival time of any time between now and 6pm tomorrow.

So, at this stage, I'm hoping it's going to be a lot quicker.

So, now properly kitted and potentially facing a 24-hour wait

for the water company, Ian decides to wade in again himself.

At least I don't have to have my trousers pulled up this time.

-You all right, Ted?

-Hello, there.

All right, I'm coming back in.

I've got some boots now, so I'll be able to see.

I'm dreadfully sorry, mate.

-That's all right. Look, these things happen, don't they?

-Yeah, I know.

But the shocking condition Ted had let the flat get into

even before the flood isn't making the situation any easier.

I don't know what's in here, if you know what I mean.

I don't get paid enough for this.

With piles of clothes and old newspapers everywhere,

the whole flat's under several inches of dirty water

and soaking wet rubbish.

There's a drain in here.

If I can get the water...

running into that drain, which it is.

Thank God for that.

With the blockage cleared, there's more good news.

-Ian?

-Yeah?

Anglian Water.

-Oh, they're here, are they?

-Yes.

It's going down the drain now - some of it.

Finding the stopcock finally means that water isn't pouring

into Ted's flat.

But it's also created a new problem for Ian

and the rest of the tenants.

Unfortunately, the only stopcock to the premises outside is

the one up there, which has turned all 12 flats off,

which I need to get someone back as soon as possible.

With the supply finally cut off, though,

reinforcements from the council mean the massive clean-up

can get under way.

Be prepared.

With Ted's clutter everywhere, it isn't going to be easy.

We're going to need to clear a lot of this before we can get

-a lot of this water out.

-Oh, Ted.

-Right, these guys are here to start clearing up.

-Yeah.

-Because of all the paper and everything in this...

-Yeah, yeah.

..they aren't going to be able to use their sucker.

I don't know. Are we going to need to get a skip here?

I personally would think so.

-At least if we can make a start...

-We'll make a start.

The flat isn't going to be habitable any time soon,

but at least there's some good news about where Ted's going to stay.

Basically, I've just had a call from the Homeless Team.

We've managed to get bed and breakfast for Ted tonight.

Be careful, Ted.

Something coming.

It's only a couple of hundred yards away,

so we'll get over there with his bags and take him over there now.

Oh, dear!

It might just be a temporary solution, but at least

he'll be close to home.

-Quite smart, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-You've even got coffee making facility, look.

-Yeah.

Right.

-OK.

-OK, you're sorted out for today.

-OK, mate.

-All right. And good luck,

and I'll contact you at the end of the week.

Bye!

It's a great result for Ian...

so far. The hard work is only just beginning.

The rest of the team will take over in terms of what

we need to do with that property tomorrow.

Successful day, really!

Three weeks later and Ian's back to check on progress.

Morning, gentleman.

-Blimey, you got on a move on, ain't you?

-Yes.

This is a lot, lot better than what it was.

I'm really pleased with it and hopefully we'll get him

-back in in a couple of weeks.

-Yes, that's right.

As long as he looks after it this time.

That's right, yeah. Hope he does.

After a mammoth effort from the council,

Ted's flat is unrecognisable.

Yeah, there was a quite a depth of water in here

when I was here before, but... A lot, lot better.

As for the toilet there, they've ripped the whole lot out

and obviously there's going to be a brand-new flush floor shower

and everything in here.

Once it's finished, Ian's determined that it's going to stay that way.

I shall be checking to make sure that

he's keeping it in good condition.

So I've already told him I'm going to be visiting once a month.

I'm pleased with the way that things are coming on.

Obviously, I'd like to get it done quicker but, as we saw when

we first went in, it was an incredible job to sort that out.

You know, with the amount of water that's been in there.

We've had the dehumidifiers in there

for a couple of weeks, drying things out.

Hopefully, we'll be able to get Ted back in

and then everything will be hunky-dory again.

Later, I'll be lending a helping hand to bring Ted home.

I've been trusted with the guitar, though, which is...

-Well, you're honoured, then, aren't you?

-I'm very lucky.

It seems he's moved in more ways than one.

-Is it a bit of a shock? Are you all right?

-Yeah.

In Lincolnshire, Chris Gallimore's been investigating claims

from former tenants that a converted schoolhouse

could be putting lives in danger.

It's a problem that dates back nearly two decades.

One of the main issues with this property...

It wasn't actually signed off, the conversion.

But having converted the property himself,

it's a frustrating situation for the owner's father, Richard.

No longer able to live there herself

but still liable for council tax on the empty house, he says

the council advised his daughter to rent it out to cover the cost.

They suggested that we should take in tenants,

which why we're standing here today.

I've never rented this place off.

I think the only issue with that is

that that'll be a suggestion for them

but they wouldn't necessarily know whether the property is going to...

I did point out that there were exceptional circumstances

-that they could investigate if they wanted to.

-Yeah.

They didn't.

So she's left high and dry here

with this property that she pays rates on, water rates and a mortgage

and she can't rent it, either.

For Chris, any suggestion from the council to let the house

would have been subject to it meeting the minimum safety standards

for a rental property, which leaves them both with a problem.

In its current condition,

we wouldn't want it rented out to a tenant.

However, there are things that you can do to improve the property,

where you could rent it out to a tenant.

And with the argument about the spiral staircase going round and round in circles,

he decides to move on to complaints from the previous tenants

about inadequate heating.

Because you've got electric heating in here,

if at any point the electricity wasn't working,

so your secondary form of heating was the multi-fuel burner

in the corner there, unfortunately that's been condemned

and it's got a sticker on it saying that it's been condemned.

The actual fire is not condemned. It's the chimney that actually got...

Either way, it can't be used, can it, so...

Well, it can if we mend the chimney.

It's not a great start and it doesn't get any better.

So the storage heaters that are in here,

how old would you say the storage heaters are?

-About 15 years old.

-15 years.

And how do you know they're working correctly?

Do you ever get anybody to test them, or...?

Well, I left here when they were working

-and as far as I know, they haven't been used since.

-Right.

One of the problems with the storage heaters is they're not

generally that good in poorly insulated buildings.

I actually found them very good.

Modern storage heaters have a fan in them

that actually blows the heat out.

-You're talking a lot of money.

-It could be.

The cost of making this place suitable for tenants is mounting.

Richard's adamant he was never told the conversion didn't

comply with building regulations, despite an inspection at the time.

Can I stop you there?

I paid quite a bit of money for the building inspection on this place.

Can you tell me why there's no record of what they've seen?

-For Building Control?

-Yeah. Dry lining...

-Unfortunately, you need to speak to them.

-Well, maybe you should speak to them before you come to me next time.

-Yeah.

Well, Chris has already spoken to them.

The next thing on his list is ex-tenant Jack's claims about potentially dangerous wiring.

There's some issues with the electrics as well.

-I'm having the building tested next week, actually.

-Ah, right.

Including the appliances.

OK. Is it possible I can get a copy of that?

Sure, that's what I'm doing it for. That's fine.

After what's been a difficult meeting for both parties,

getting the electrics tested is at least one thing they can agree on.

Thanks a lot for your time, anyway, and I'll be in contact

-and hopefully be in contact with me as well.

-Yeah.

-With any...

I hope you appreciate my position.

-I didn't want to give you too much of a hard time but...

-Yeah, sure.

Just pressing you so I know what I'm doing.

Knowing what needs to be done

and being happy about it are two different things, though.

I think they're making unreasonable suggestions today,

to be quite frank.

It's a modern problem today that Health and Safety tends to

take the extreme rather than the moderate level of thinking.

My experience has always been that they wish to spend your money

a lot and if you co-operate too much, they will spend more money beyond that.

It just bugs me a little bit to think that my duty of care extends to...

and is stretched beyond reasonable expectations, to be honest with you.

But the council has a very different view.

To put tenants in a building that you know hasn't been

approved as being appropriate

under the regulations at the time is a bit irresponsible.

The building wasn't ever signed off in the first place

by Building Control and he needs to appreciate that

if the stairs weren't safe then, they're still not safe now.

As the owner, Richard was legally responsible

for rectifying any safety hazards and getting the property signed off

when the house was converted.

But, determined to keep the staircase,

he's come up with a more radical solution.

I'm going to consult with my daughter

and then I'm going to move back into this.

The thing about building regulations

are that you can still live in the building,

providing you yourself stay there

and are prepared to take the risks

that you've put into the building, which, of course, I am.

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?

Definitely somebody inside, because we've seen movement.

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

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.

In every part of the country, council houses are in short supply

and the Gloucestershire town of Stroud is no exception.

When properties become available,

it's up to housing officers to assess them

so they can be put back in a fit state to rent out again.

Sadly, some properties become vacant due to the death of the tenant.

And housing officer Shane Reece

is on his way to one such property to assess what needs to happen next.

The gentleman's unfortunately passed away,

so I'm going in a little bit apprehensive about the condition of the property.

We've been in discussions with the housing officer

and, er, it wasn't in the best of conditions when he visited.

The elderly gentleman who lived here died alone

and the flat is still full of his possessions.

The property is in a little bit of a state.

Immediately it hits you, the smell,

and you know that it's going to be probably quite untidy.

When a property gets into that kind of condition,

you feel sorry, really, you know, for the people that would be living like it.

Towards the end of his life, the gentleman who lived in the flat

was clearly struggling to care for himself as his health declined.

With some of the things left behind carrying the risk of infection,

preparing the property for a new tenant will need to be done very carefully.

The bedroom is not in that great a state at all.

There seems to be a lot of tissues

and everything left around in the property.

It's going to take a lot of work to get this back up to a lettable standard.

Before the tenant passed away, the bedroom was his last refuge.

The drugs left behind paint a harrowing picture of his last days,

with only a few signs of comfort.

And in the bathroom, there's evidence

of how difficult his final days must have been.

Obviously, the property's not in a very good state at all.

This is definitely the type of property that we would pass

to an environmental company,

a specialist company to come in and do an environmental clean and clear, prior to any of

the contractors coming in, just for cleanliness purposes.

The council had offered the gentleman that lived here

some help in looking after himself, but he refused all offers of assistance.

I wouldn't ever envision anybody living like this.

When you do this job, you've got to have a certain amount of empathy.

We come across a lot of people that have, you know,

either got mental health issues, um...

There's a lack of support in place, a property gets into bad condition

and instead of it being picked up and somebody

being able to help or deal with it, it is a case that it just gets worse and worse and worse.

The council's usually informed of a death in one of its properties

by next of kin, who are then given 28 days to clear the property

so it can be prepared for a new tenant.

We have a responsibility to make sure that anybody associated

with the person would have the opportunity to take this stuff,

and take it away, or take what they want, certainly.

The 28 days is a notice period, effectively,

for the family members or, you know,

said persons in the will or whatever,

to be able to come and clear it.

Once we've given them that period of notice,

if we haven't had any contact, we can go ahead and get the property cleared anyway.

In this case, the deceased tenant left all his worldly goods to

a cancer charity, who will benefit if there's anything of value,

and it will be the job of the council

to clear the flat of everything else.

Having looked down through the inventory, um,

a lot of the major stuff is picked up on there, but there are some

bits and bobs, like the glass and some of the china in the cabinets.

Erm, the plates in particular.

For all we know, they could be of some value.

So I'm just going to add the relevant bits and bobs

on to the inventory to make sure everything's picked up.

Shane has spent an hour in the property,

but it's so full of the previous occupant's possessions

that he can't properly plan what additional work will need to be done

to make it suitable for new tenants.

What I'm going to do is wait until the void is actually cleared

by what will be an environmental, er, company.

Um, once it's clear I can come back

and then I can look at what works need doing and see how quickly

we can turn around the void.

There are 4,200 households

on the waiting list for a council property in Stroud.

So when one becomes vacant,

Shane and his team want to get a family living there quickly.

As we've seen, that isn't always possible.

You see a property in that sort of state.

You know that probably the person living there

hasn't really had the support in place

to actually sort of be able to sort of manage their lifestyle very well, those types of things.

When the property gets into that kind of condition, you feel

sorry, really, you know for the people that would be living like it.

From my point of view, that property would normally cost us the best part

of £500 to actually get back to a lettable state.

That's probably going to cost us about £5,000, probably.

We want a property to come back in the best possible state it can,

so we can turn it around very quickly

and we can get somebody else, who's probably in need,

moved into the property as quickly as possible.

Later, the cleaners arrive.

For some, it's an emotional experience.

Somewhere along the way, this is someone's child

and if anything happened to any of my children and I wasn't there,

I would like someone to come in

and do it as respectfully as possible.

In Suffolk, tenant Ted Hurrell's failure to report a leaky pipe

left housing officer Ian Watson facing a full-scale flood

and a mammoth clean-up operation.

This is a lot, lot better than what it was.

Hopefully we'll get him back in in a couple of weeks.

True to Ian's word, the flat's finished

and I've come back to help Ted move back in.

Are we all right to come in?

You should be all right back there - it's dry now.

-I've been almost afraid to look in.

-You should be quite pleased, I hope.

Right, do you want me to grab a couple of those?

You could grab a couple of those.

It looks like I get the job of moving music lover Ted's most prized possession.

I've been trusted with the guitar, though, which is...

-You're honoured, then, aren't you?

-I'm very lucky.

-All right.

-Good stuff.

-OK.

-In the back, Ted.

-Are you all right, Ted?

-Yeah.

'It's the first time Ted's seen the flat.'

Go on, Ted. I'll let you go first.

You can see what it's like then.

'The place is completely unrecognisable.'

So what's happened here, Ted...

As you can see, all of your stuff, it's all clear and clean,

all the walls have been done

and the floor is clean, ready for something to go down.

Yeah. I mean, oh, golly.

Your records are here.

Gracious me, yeah.

'Clearly, it's all a bit overwhelming.'

So you can see all your bathroom is completely clean now.

Is it a bit of a shock? Are you all right?

Yeah.

It's...

It just means you can start completely from scratch.

-Something to be proud of now, ain't there?

-It is, and...

I swear to God that I shall endeavour to keep it this way.

Well, I want to keep you to that cos I want to come

and have a cup of coffee with you in your nice flat now.

Yeah, well, I will be pleased to receive you.

Good.

You've done a wonderful job.

'After all of Ian's hard work,

'we're both determined to make sure Ted never lets things

'get so out of hand again.'

So this is a wet room now, OK?

So you've got a floor that all slopes down to the drain here.

All brand spanking new.

Brand new floor as well, there, Ted.

-I can see that.

-So everything was lifted up.

I can see that you've gone to quite some lengths

to make this a nice home for me.

Any leaks, anything like that - what are you going to do?

Mr Watson will be informed or...

Of course they will informed immediately.

All right, good stuff.

Ted, would it be all right if you and I sit down and have a little chat?

'If there's one thing I've learnt from Ian,

'it's the importance of being able to relate to the people you're helping.

'And something I definitely have in common with Ted is a love of music -

'a love that he says helped him battle his addiction.'

It's a really nice guitar, that. It's beautiful.

TED SINGS

# On a dark, stormy night... #

What does your music give you, then?

What does that provide you with?

Comfort. I need to do it to survive.

God and music have been my salvation.

Now I've got the chance to start again.

'It seems that the flood hasn't just given Ted the chance to start again.

More importantly, it's inspired him to want to.

What were your thoughts when you walked in the door?

Because it seemed to me you were quite emotional.

-I was.

-Why was that? What were you thinking?

Because I think they've done all this for you,

and I try to think back to what I was living in before,

you cannot... You cannot let this happen again.

I don't want to go down on record as an unreliable tenant.

-Yeah.

-Period.

I want to have a nice place that I can bring people round.

I want to come back and hear you sing happy songs.

It's so lovely meeting you, honestly.

And I really wish you the best. I hope it works out here, Ted.

Yeah, I want it to work out.

And, you know, keep playing.

Really nice to meet you, Ted. Take care.

'Seeing Ted so determined to take more responsibility for himself

'means of all Ian's hard work has paid off.'

I know you wanted to go in there and sort of remind Ted

that, you know, for all this effort that you've put in

and the money that's been spent, there is a responsibility.

-I think he gets it.

-I think so.

-Do you? I mean...

Yeah, I really do think we had a connection there with him

and certainly you did, you know, so he's going to remember this time.

And I won't forget it in a hurry, either.

Well, Ian said to me that one of the key strengths

you need as a community housing officer

is the ability to understand somebody,

put yourself in their shoes.

It's never been easier for me than with someone like Ted.

His love of music and my love of music are in exactly the same place

but at the point where he was up to his ankles in water,

that was almost all he had left.

Now, that problem has been resolved

and he's got a space that's clean and bright and warm

and that's all thanks to Ian.

Earlier, in Gloucestershire, housing officer Shane Reece

had the difficult job of assessing an empty council flat in Stroud

which was left in a poor state

following the death of its elderly tenant.

It's going to take a lot of work

to get this back up to a lettable standard.

Five weeks have passed and today,

housing officers Joe Phillips and Maxine Pride

are supervising the clearance of the property.

We're now going to be clearing it to make it completely empty

so we can start work. Um, and while we're clearing it,

we may well come across other valuables and documentation

that wasn't previously found in a previous search.

I've asked Maxine to join me today just so that if we do come across anything,

she's able to look at it from her side of things and then deal with it properly.

I do a search looking for a particular type of documentation

that will assist in the funeral process,

and also help looking for any financial documents.

Hiya.

The first task is to brief the specialist contractors.

The chap was quite unwell before he sadly passed.

The gentleman who lived here was a diabetic.

With needles, medication and used tissues left behind,

the clean-up team can't take any risks with their own health.

Councils want to get their vacant properties lived in again as quickly as possible.

The figures for council waiting lists make for grim reading.

In 2014, the total number of households

on local authority waiting lists

in England and Scotland was just over 1.5 million.

Getting a new family into the flat is a priority for the council.

And everything is definitely going. There's no family to come in, and...

-No.

-Nothing like that. That's all been done?

-No.

We've had clearance from the benefactor of the will

that we can completely clear the property.

Probably be extra careful round this area.

That's obviously where he's been keeping all his medication.

-Obviously, with needles, we've got to through everything first.

-Yes.

Preferably one room. Clear everything out. Move on to the next.

Looking after what's left behind

of the life of a person that has passed away is never an easy task,

even for an experienced hand like Maxine.

You can't really get completely used to it because you're dealing

with personal possessions and it's ultimately very sad,

because it means if I'm here,

it means that there's no-one else that can do that.

In fact, before I started this job, I didn't realise that

I would be involved in so many diverse different roles.

At first I was a bit shocked with this type of role,

but I get satisfaction doing this

because I do it to the best of my ability

and it's the last thing I can do for this person.

The contractors, Stewart and Liam, aren't hanging about.

The entire contents of the flat have to be removed today.

Meanwhile, Joe has made a poignant discovery.

Just saw an old book.

It turned out to be a photo album.

As we were flicking through, we recognised someone.

There's a teddy bear in that little boy's hands,

very, very similar to the one that Maxine's holding.

-It would be nice if it could live on, wouldn't it?

-Absolutely.

Maxine is able to see through all the grime and mess,

and bring a personal touch to the clean-up that's very much required.

Somewhere along the way, this is someone's child.

And if anything happened to any of my children and I wasn't there,

I would like someone to come in

and do it as respectfully as possible.

With the flat nearly empty, Joe can now properly assess the work

that needs to be done

to bring it back up to a lettable standard for the next tenant.

The condition of the flat overall wasn't actually that bad.

There was a lot of dirt, a lot of staining, things like that

but it's not anything that we can't get rid of.

I think the kitchen will need updating.

If it was one of our newer kitchens, we'd probably try and clean it up

as best as we can, and only replace things that we couldn't clean up.

So this will probably be getting a new kitchen in it

before we let it out to another tenant.

The bathroom, actually, the facilities in the bathroom

are quite good as well.

The bath looks to be in a pretty good condition and the sink as well.

Probably have a new toilet, I would have thought.

Yeah, this will be someone else's home soon enough.

The gentleman who lived in the flat

left all his possessions to a cancer charity

but, for the time being,

Maxine will hold on to some of his most personal effects

in the hope that she can pass them on to his relatives.

Whilst we've had the benefactors gone through the premises

and taken what they want, wanted, we have found this little guy

and some... a very, very nice photo album.

So I'm going to speak to them

and see if I can get a new home for this guy.

This is exactly why writing a will is so important,

because, you know, people like us will come in and we can,

we can clear a place and you make your best judgment.

But it might not be what the person wanted

and this person might have passed thinking that, you know,

various items would be going to friends and family.

In this case we did find a benefactor and it was a charity.

So hopefully some bits have at least gone to someone

who will make use of it.

With only a few items left to remove,

the flat will soon be given a new lease of life.

Once the final items are out,

we're going to be able to get our regular maintenance contractor out

to start kitting out the flat properly

and stripping out everything that needs to go.

Doing some cleaning, decoration, that sort of thing,

and before you know it,

we'll have this flat back in someone else's hands

so that a new family or a new tenant can make some new memories there.

And once Joe, Maxine and the rest of the team from the council have finished their work,

there will be nothing to remind the flat's new occupants

of the last, tragic months of the gentleman who lived here before them.

That's it for today.

Join me next time on the front line with Britain's housing officers.