Episode 20 The Housing Enforcers

Oh, my God!

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

-MAN:

-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've died here,

you would've been standing in Coroner's Court.

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

-Oh!

-Are you all right?

-Yeah, good.

I'll be with them, as they tackle

problem properties and slum conditions.

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

-Faeces is an issue, Glynn!

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!

SHE SOBS Oh, Margaret!

Today, I visit a family home that's being plagued by flies.

-There's a lot of flies in the property.

-I know.

You've got a mixture, as well. You've got little fruit flies here

and then you've got great big bluebottles,

as well, on the walls and things.

A search reveals evidence that a shared house in Oxford

may be overcrowded.

There's definitely more than the numbers

that are permitted on the licence,

just on the two rooms that we've inspected.

Housing officers in Stevenage

are called in to help a homeless man found living in his car.

The car hasn't been able to start for the last two or three days.

-You've been here, sleeping in your car the whole time?

-Yeah.

And an unkempt garden in Norwich

is the cause of a neighbourhood dispute.

All I want now is somebody to come in and clean it up.

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.

I'm in Wolverhampton,

heading out on the road with housing officer Clare Clifft.

She's taking me to a rented property

that she's concerned might not be safe to live in,

especially worrying as it's full to the brim, with a family of eight.

What's going on here?

-It's got a fairly-lengthy report already on it.

-It has.

They're talking about things

-specifically that might affect under-fives?

-Yes.

I mean, it's quite a comprehensive report, when you look at its layout.

So, you know, they are picking up some electrical issues.

But it gives us the opportunity to go in and have a look,

-to see if there's other things they might have missed.

-Absolutely.

The report was triggered after the council's Children's Centre

raised concerns about the property

and potential dangers to the children living here.

-Hello.

-Come in.

-Hiya.

-Mr Renton?

-How do you do?

-How you doing?

Renting the property at the moment is Thomas and his extended family.

It definitely feels like he's got his hands full.

BARKING

-Shut up. He won't bite you.

-OK. If we just start upstairs.

Can we have a look at each of the rooms, Thomas?

And then we'll work our way downstairs

to have a look at some of the issues.

BARKING

We're here to check if the tenants, particularly the children,

are in danger and it doesn't take long to spot some problems,

with a lack of safety features and some potentially dodgy wiring.

I don't think, to be honest with you, this has probably been

converted to building regs and to planning approval, if I'm honest.

Right, I've got you. The thing that bothers me is no handrail.

Absolutely. And you've got no guarding, either.

Also, as well, your plug sockets are the wrong way round and smashed.

They're on sideways! Sideways plug sockets?!

What's the thinking on putting them on sideways?

There's massive gaps around the sides of this one, as well.

The landlord has clearly made some strange design choices.

And there's another buzzing that's beginning to worry me too.

-Thomas, I've noticed there's a lot of flies in the property.

-I know.

I don't know where they're coming from. There's flies everywhere.

I keep on trying to get rid of 'em, I put sticky tapes up to get them.

-I spray them, but...

-Yeah.

But you've got a mixture of them, you've got little fruit flies here

and then you've got great big bluebottles, as well,

-on the walls and things.

-I don't know where they're coming from.

While we leave and make our way downstairs...

..I notice a familiar theme developing.

-Again, you've got so many flies in here.

-I've put fly things up,

-you know?

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-OK.

-I don't know where they're all coming from, to be honest with you.

There's a lot of flies.

They've got to be coming from somewhere.

An unusually large amount of flies.

There also appear to be some serious safety issues.

Even more worrying, as it's a room where a small child sleeps.

-Have you got keys for the windows,

-Thomas?

-No.

-No keys at all?

-No.

-Are the children in this room here?

My youngest daughter sleeps in there and me and the wife sleeps

-in here.

-So how old is she?

-She is two.

-She's two?

-No, she's four.

-Four-years-old? Right.

No restrictors, no keys.

So, the problem we've got there, Thomas, is that four-years-old,

there's nothing to stop her opening that window.

It opens all the way up straight down on to the pavement below.

It's something that needs to be sorted, anyway.

And there's similar safety concerns in the next bedroom,

shared by Thomas' eldest and her two children.

-So the mum and two kids are in this bed?

-Yeah.

Again...no window restrictor,

catch broken.

-No keys again, Thomas?

-No keys again. No keys again.

A really small radiator for this size of room, as well.

And no sockets. No wall sockets.

-No? Nothing at all?

-Nothing at all.

-Are you serious?

-There's no sockets in this room?

-No sockets at all.

-That's why I've had to run this out.

-Yeah.

You can't have NO sockets in a room.

-Clearly, you can.

-Well, I mean, you can,

as has been proved. SHE LAUGHS

-But, you know...

-It's unusual.

-It's really very unusual.

It seems the report that alerted Clare

to child safety concerns was on the money.

-Now, this is a major leak.

-This is the big leak.

-This is the big leak?

-This leaks all the way down onto the carpet here.

-It's soaking wet.

-That's whenever it rains?

-That's whenever it rains.

With a large family and small children all crammed in together,

the growing list of problems is definitely a concern.

That's before I find another member of the family

-living in the bathroom.

-Oh! Your friend!

-It's me daughter's hamster.

-Your hamster lives in here?

-In here.

-Just in case he wants a shower.

LAUGHTER

-So the seals have gone have they?

-Yeah.

-Just falling apart.

-They've just degraded.

This floor is treacherous, isn't it?

Is it? I thought it was wet, but it's not, is it?

-What is that, then?

-The pipe is flexi.

That's like a tumble-dryer hose.

So, your poop has got to find its way across the corrugated nature

-of that.

-At least it's sloping down.

-I mean, yeah, gravity's on its side,

-but not much else. That is a very temporary situation.

-Yeah.

Even though it's there, it's not secure at all, is it?

You trip over that and you're going to get all sorts of...

-Let's move on.

-After you.

TOILET FLUSHES

Coming up, I discover just how risky living in this property has become.

The fact you've been without hot water,

without, you know, a hob, without heating.

Well, we've got the hob, we use the hob.

I know, but this is against the advice of the gasman who's come

around and said, "Don't do it."

The historic city of Oxford may be known for world-class education,

but with house prices in the area on the rise,

the number of family homes being converted has increased.

The area now has the 14th highest number of shared houses

in England and Wales.

This morning, housing officers Adrian Chowns and Matt Kidger

are leading the search at a property

that's been converted into a shared house.

We're here to execute a warrant.

We believe the property might be overcrowded.

We've been before, but couldn't get access to all of the bedrooms.

They had padlocks on the doors.

But there were an awful lot of shoes and belongings in the house.

The property's only licensed for four people,

and it's likely to have a few more in there.

Because the team have previously been unable to gain entry

to all of the property's bedrooms, they've come armed with a warrant -

a legal document that allows them to enter and search the house by force.

It's essential if they're going to get inside

and find out what's going on.

The landlord has a licence to have four people living in the house,

so any more than this is a criminal offence.

The team also suspect there may be illegal immigrants inside,

which is why the police and Border Agency have joined the search.

We have a warrant to enter the premises.

If you don't give us access, we'll have to force access.

Knowingly renting to illegal immigrants is a civil offence

and landlords can be fined up to £3,000.

If you don't give us access, we will knock the door down.

It seems like no-one's at home.

Hello?

But then, miraculously, it looks like getting inside

is going to be easier than everyone initially thought.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Can you open the door?

As the minutes roll by, it seems that whoever is inside

isn't going to be inviting them in for tea and biscuits,

so it's time to get the locksmith to break open the door.

DRILL WHIRS

It's off in seconds.

And the team move in to try and catch whoever's been hiding inside.

I have a warrant to enter the premises.

There was definitely someone in this room and then,

all of a sudden, nobody.

Hello?

There was somebody in this room when Matt knocked at the door,

cos he opened the curtain on the window.

And now he's not, so we think he's obviously done a bunk.

Mysteriously, it seems that whoever was inside just a few moments ago

has now vanished into thin air.

if you look out here, it looks as though the tenant's

made a swift exit using this chair.

Up like this... and then a bit of downforce,

over here through the back gardens and you're away.

Whoever was inside may have had something to hide,

so Matt and Adrian begin searching the house

to try and piece together what's been going on.

There appears to be male and female.

I would say there's probably a couple...in here.

Next door, there's yet more evidence

to suggest the house is dangerously overcrowded.

Three beds. There might even be a child in this room.

Yeah, it looks that way.

We think maybe...three.

A family of three - mum, dad and a young...girl by the look of it.

But possibly four, we ain't quite sure,

but there's definitely more than the numbers that are permitted

on the licence, just on the two rooms that we've inspected.

If a landlord knowingly leaves tenants in an unsafe property,

they can be fined up to £5,000.

You can...tell by the way it sounds,

it's just a partition that's just been built.

This would probably have been the original dining room,

or part of the dining/kitchen area,

and they've turned it into a bedroom.

If a fire breaks out in an overcrowded property,

it increases the risk to life.

If there are no decent escape routes,

then things start to look really bad.

We've got two beds in here

and the room's situated directly off the kitchen,

where there's most likely to be a fire.

So these guys are going to have to go through the kitchen to get out.

I mean, I suppose they could hop out the window,

but we want this to be a fire door.

Between April 2014 and March 2015,

almost three-quarters of fire-related deaths

occurred in dwellings, so for Matt and Adrian,

ensuring that the building is up to standard is a serious business.

That window's defective.

Upstairs, there's more to suggest

that the house is home to more people than it should be.

This room shouldn't be occupied. It's too small,

but we've got a single bed, we've got some belongings.

It's the landlord's responsibility to ensure

that he keeps to the number of tenants specified on the licence,

but it is possible he had no idea

extra people had been sleeping in his house.

Because of the numbers that we suspect are actually living here

there's not enough bathrooms and not enough toilets.

With the inspection complete, the house is secured

and the locks changed. The evidence found inside points to

some serious overcrowding issues within the property,

putting whoever's living here in real danger.

Yeah, it was worth going in,

making sure we could get into all the rooms,

making sure there wasn't any vulnerable children in there.

And we've left the property secure and we've got the keys,

so the tenants can come and pick them up and get back

into their...their homes.

Later on, Matt and Adrian

prepare to come face to face with the landlord.

I'm hoping he's going to be honest.

I'm hoping to hear his side of the story

and to understand, from his perspective, why the property

was the way we found it.

I'm in Wolverhampton, with Assisting Housing Officer Clare Clifft

in a property that's home to eight people, one hamster, and, seemingly,

a large influx of flying pests.

There's a lot of flies in the property.

I don't know where they're all coming from.

You've got a mixture as well. You've got little fruit flies here and then

you've got great big bluebottles on the walls.

I don't know where they're coming from.

But for Thomas and his family, the state of his rented house

is no laughing matter.

-That's like a tumble-dryer hose.

-Yeah.

So your poop has got to find its way across the corrugated...

-That is a very temporary situation.

-Yeah.

Clare's here after being alerted by a report from the Children's Centre,

who were worried about the safety of the young people living here.

And so far, we've found plenty to back up their findings.

-And what else are we missing here?

-We're missing a handrail on this.

We're missing smoke detection, of any shape or form. Yeah.

I mean, I'd like to see some other form of lighting in here.

And while we explore the rest of downstairs,

we notice our old friends are back again.

-You don't know where the flies are coming from?

-No.

-I just don't get it.

-No.

They've got to be coming from somewhere.

Whether it's sanitation somewhere,

but it doesn't smell like that, does it?

There are more problems in the kitchen.

From this raised platform here,

the kids can get straight to the hob.

And that's a clear danger to the children.

I don't even want to imagine what could happen if the kids found

their way up to the hob.

On top of all that, there's even an issue with the heating.

-You've got no hot water at the minute, have you?

-No hot water.

-No.

A quick investigation of the boiler reveals why.

-So this is the boiler that...?

-This is the boiler.

-The pipework's been condemned?

-It's the pipework they've condemned,

-not the boiler.

-Right.

-This was condemned, this was shut off in May?

-Yeah, turned off.

And the hob, as well, was supposed to be shut off,

so that would have been no hot water, no heating,

no cooking on the hob since May of this...of this year?

The pipes were condemned six months ago.

It's a serious problem, especially with so many children in the house.

It's the landlord's responsibility to get this fixed.

You've got a lot of flies again, Thomas.

Look at the flies in here.

-Let's see if we can get them out.

-Look at that.

-I know.

Do you know what I'm really keen to find out, is where those flies

are coming from?

Cos there are flies right the way through the house.

And whether it's, you know, it's food that's being stored somewhere,

or some sort of fault with the sanitation.

I don't know, it's difficult to tell,

but they'd get on your nerves.

It can't be good having flies in every room.

With so many issues in this house,

it seems Thomas is caught in a downward spiral.

How much would you say

the house has changed in the time that you've had it?

And how much of that would you say is down to you, how much is down to

the landlord neglecting it?

I would say 50% is down to me.

The state of the carpets is down to me.

And the walls at the minute, which need decorating, that's down to me.

You've got to respect Thomas' honesty in sharing part of the blame

for the state of the property, but it doesn't excuse the landlord's

behaviour, in allowing this dangerous situation to exist.

The fact you've been without hot water,

without a hob, without heating.

Well, we've got the hob, we use the hob.

-And we use the boiler.

-This is against the advice

of the gasman, who's come round and said, "Don't do it."

-But we use it, we've got no option. We've got no option.

-You've got

-to cook, I understand that.

-We've got no option.

Thomas' position is a desperate one.

There are clear breaches of safety in this property.

And with the family continuing to use heating that's been condemned,

they're putting their safety further at risk.

Clare needs to take direct action with the landlord - and fast.

I'm going to tell him to get your heat and hot water on ASAP.

If he doesn't, then I have the right to come and do it myself.

Not me personally, but a contractor, and then he will also get a letter

giving him 28 days to get the rest of the works done -

things like the window restrictors, doors on handles, sort the leak out,

re-route that soil pipe, get the roof fixed and all those

-things, all right?

-Yeah.

-He's got to do, this regardless who's in the house.

-Right.

So it doesn't matter whether it's you or someone else

he's renting it out to,

these jobs have got to be done, cos it's not safe the way it is.

-Lovely. Thanks, Thomas. I'll see you again soon.

-Thank you.

-Take care.

-Bye.

-Take care.

Well, I might not have got to the bottom of where the flies

were coming from, but I think that with young children

living in such dangerous conditions, that may not be the first priority.

If you were to put them in order,

what would you must worried about right there?

Most worried about heat and hot water, first of all.

Then, secondly, probably worried about how they're living.

Need to make sure we get some services wrapped around those guys,

especially the children. I mean, they are not adequately housed.

The fact you've got mum,

a three-year-old and a one-year-old sleeping all in one bed.

Yeah, so that's second. And then, third, is the rest of the repairs.

And it's not a flat full of young guys who can go a couple of weeks

without a shower. You've got kids there that need to be washed,

you've got clothes, you've got bedding that needs to be washed.

All that stuff is absolutely basic bottom line.

And it's October, you know, it's cold at night time.

-It's cold.

-So, yeah, of course

After we finished filming, the landlord repaired what needed

to be done in the property and has put the house on to the market.

Thomas and his family are still living there,

and Clare's currently working to get him and the rest of them

rehoused into two properties, so that they have more space.

Now ,we're back in Oxford,

where housing officers Adrian Chowns and Matt Kidger

have been investigating suspected overcrowding at a shared house.

There's definitely more than the numbers that are permitted

on the licence, just on the two rooms that we've inspected.

Back at the council offices,

they're now preparing for a face-to-face interview

with the landlord, to hear his side of the story.

The property was in a bad state, there were overcrowded conditions,

too many people in there,

the landlord's obviously not taken that on board,

he's not dealing with the situation, so we've had to step in

and do something about it.

Matt and Adrian spend two hours in the interview room

hearing the landlord's side of the story,

before Matt emerges with an update.

He expressed his point of view and responded to what were,

-you know, allegations.

-It's now up to Adrian and the rest

of the team to decide what to do next.

We've assessed the situation. We've put together a file.

Our recommendation will be for Legal to look at it,

to see whether it's suitable to take a 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.

Do you think(?)

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

-Top marks.

-Yes!

I'm hitting the streets... TAPPING

That's ready to collapse.

...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 to 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.

Stevenage in Hertfordshire...

was one of Britain's new towns,

built up just after the Second World War.

It was designed with plenty of council accommodation in mind

to house its new residents.

But even here, it can be a struggle to find a home for everyone,

leading to some desperate people taking some desperate measures.

We've just, funnily enough, come out of one of those buildings here

and one of the guys who does maintenance for Stevenage

has said that, apparently, the storage cupboards here

are being used as accommodation.

Someone's living in one of the cupboards at the moment.

So, we just... I don't think they're in there now.

Come and have a look.

-How did we find this?

-We're caretakers and we come round

and we check all the buildings for health and safety.

That's been broken in and looks like they're sleeping in there.

-So they've got a mattress down in there?

-Yeah.

And all their clothes and everything.

-That's life.

-It's just where they've ended up. Yeah

After more investigation from the council,

the man living in the cupboard was evicted,

but now it seems he's turned up again,

living in a car park in a council block of flats.

Housing Officer Ashley Mansfield

is responsible for looking after the tenants' homes here

and he's going to investigate.

So we've had a report that somebody's sleeping rough

inside a car in our car park.

It's not usually a tenancy issue,

but I'm already out here visiting the block,

so, hopefully, I can jump on it and try and get them moved along.

The tenants in the flats

have complained that the car has been here for more than a few days,

and there are concerns that there's someone living inside it.

From the reports that I've been given, it is that red car there.

And there is somebody in there.

So I am going to, erm, engage with them

and see if they are a tenant here

and see what we can do to go forward.

-Bit scared.

-HE LAUGHS

A recent survey revealed there were more than 3,000

physical and verbal assaults

on housing staff across the country in 2014,

so Ashley's right to be cautious.

-Hiya.

-Hello.

-I'm the tenancy advisor for the building

-and we're advised that you've been sleeping in the car?

-Uh-huh.

-Are you doing all right?

-Yeah.

-Do you live in the block?

-No.

-No. Do you have a home at all anywhere?

-No.

-OK. Erm, cos it's private land, you can't park here.

-Oh.

So we need to get you moved on a little bit.

-I'm sorry, I didn't get your name?

-Abu Abduli.

-Hi. I'm Ashley.

-Well, Abu seems friendly enough.

And after a few enquires,

it also turns out he's been homeless for some time,

but living in a car clearly isn't the solution,

especially the state it's in.

The car hasn't been able to start for the last two or three days.

-OK, so you've been here sleeping in your car the whole time?

-Yeah.

So, is it out of petrol or is it just not turning on?

-No, the battery's run out.

-The battery's run out? OK.

-And is it MOT'd and taxed, do you know?

-It's MOT'd, yeah.

Hmm. Uh-huh.

So he's been living in the car for at least three days.

He's saying the car doesn't start. That's why he can't move it along.

Cases like Abu's provide a real challenge for Ashley

and the council.

Even if Abu's not-very-mobile home

with all his worldly possessions does because roadworthy,

driving it away only moves on the problem, rather than solving it.

If we can get you to come down to the town,

and then you can get a form, fill out a form,

and we can get you back on the housing list to go forward with you.

You can always go into the council and talk to the homeless team,

see if there's anything else they can give you,

even for the weekend, if there's anywhere else they can suggest.

I'm waiting to hear back, to see what we can do with the car,

that's not going to be too troublesome for you going forward.

-OK.

-All right, so I won't be a minute.

-OK.

So...all my stuff's in the car.

So, I'm not sure what the best course of action is to move him on.

Having first lost a roof over his head,

Abu is understandably worried about losing everything else he owns.

God!

So, I can't allow it to be parked there any longer,

because it is someone's parking space and it's private property.

So I will need to speak to the traffic department

to get that towed away somewhere.

-Erm...

-What about my stuff on the inside?

That can stay. They'll let you know where it's going to.

If you stay with the car, anyway, they'll come out to you here

to take it from you.

They're going to take the car, definitely

That's what they're going to do.

Abu is clearly distressed about his situation.

But Ashley can only help him if he agrees to be helped.

So the best course of action for you

is to go to the Customer Service Centre,

present yourself as homeless and see if there's anything they can do

for you in the short-term.

It's not easy to see anyone in this position,

living in a car because they've got nowhere else to go.

Sadly, the housing situation in many areas is short at the moment.

It's very hard to find somewhere for people to stay at short notice.

Cases are always very difficult,

because even though we want to help the gentleman as much as we can,

our hands are tied by regulations and places for them to stay.

Abu now knows where he needs to go for help,

but will he take Ashley's advice?

Hopefully, the gentleman has gone to Customer Service Centre, as advised,

to speak to the homeless team.

And, hopefully, we can get this obstruction cleared,

so the tenants can be happy to have their spaces back

and they feel a bit more secure.

Later, Ashley brings backup,

as it looks like it's back to square one for Abu.

-Abu, we meet again. Right, you know you can't stay.

-Yes, I know.

In Norwich, Housing Officer Mark Siddall

is on his way to a property where the boundary between a nature lover

and an absentee home owner is the scene for a war of the wildlife.

The property we're going to has been empty for about three years.

It's been neglected and has got a somewhat overgrown garden.

The worries of the neighbour

are perhaps slightly different to the worries of the council.

The neighbour's worried that the garden's a little overgrown

and he thinks this might be causing pests and vermin.

The council would like to see it looking tidy,

but what they really want to see is that the property is occupied

and not just wasted by, sort of, standing there empty.

There are 300 empty homes in this area for Mark to deal with,

but after complaints from a neighbour about this one,

he's had to step in to try and resolve the issue.

You could potentially drive past it on the street,

but if you're looking at all, the property does stand out.

The front wall's a little untidy. In isolation, it's not...

You know, this happens to properties.

The garden is overgrown, the hedges are...are unkempt.

We walk down and it's, sort of, like a story of two halves here,

a clean, sort of, square cut tidy hedge

and on the other side of it,

we've got the overgrown element in this property.

And it's quite clear no-one's really caring for this house

in the way that it deserves.

They have got a responsibility to their neighbours

and to the wider community to do something with the property,

rather than just leave it to run wild and...deteriorate.

Every day that passes means it's going to require more work to get

this place back into shape.

And it means the neighbours get more and more upset.

What happens to gardens after two or three years,

they return to their natural state of, you know, wild scrub.

Which, you know, one man's sort of wilderness

is another man's wildlife garden, at the end of the day,

but it does start to impact on the neighbours.

It's hard to hold back that tide of brambles and nettles and weeds

which are going to go encroaching on neighbours' gardens.

Yeah, it's a little unfair.

It's outside the remit of the council, perhaps,

but it does have an impact on neighbours

and so we do have some sympathy for that.

And it is, you know, symptomatic of the problems when properties

are left empty like this.

And the neighbour living next to that garden,

be it wilderness or wildlife haven, is John Prentice.

-Hello, Mark. Nice to see you.

-Hello. Pleased to see you again.

-Thanks for coming along to see us.

-You're welcome.

-It's a nice day to be out of the office.

-Yeah.

-Thank you.

It's still a mess, isn't it? No change here, is there?

They haven't done a thing since I was last here have they,

-I don't think, by the looks of it?

-No.

John is a keen gardener. His passion for plants was once mirrored

by the woman who used to live next door.

She was 99 when she died,

but she always had a gardener coming in.

That's one thing about her, she was so keen on getting

the garden looking nice.

And if she could come back now and see this, well, you know.

But, other than that,

all I want now is somebody to come in and clean it up.

Because when you try and keep your own garden and your hedge

and everywhere nice and clean and tidy,

you know, it is...it is sad.

You probably used to chat with the lady here over the fence

-at one time, didn't you?

-Always.

I used to look after the old lady, cos she was on her own.

I used to look after her and, you know, do bits and pieces,

like gardening, for her.

And, you know what, a chat over the garden fence

is one of life's great pleasures,

but John's not just lost his friendly neighbour,

he's also lost part of the fence they used to talk over.

It is hard work, but it just keeps going through.

In fact, only yesterday, I started chopping some of this down

from the other side, you see.

-Let's hope.

-Yeah.

-Let's hope.

-I'm sort of on to them,

and I think they're hoping that, if they tidy up the garden

and sort it out a little bit, that will keep me off their back.

Well, that's right, you know.

I mean, if they just put the fence in and tidy up around,

everything's going through to my place, you see.

You would have thought they could have let it out for the time being

-and it could have been done with.

-This is it.

In my world, I can't think of many people who would turn down

-a little extra income.

-That's right.

You might as well, sort of, tidy it up.

There's little more Mark can do here on this visit.

How are you tomatoes this year, then?

Yeah.

Got a little bit of curly-leaf kale there.

But Mark has got a plan. He's going to suggest that the council look

to compulsory purchase the property.

Because it's been empty for a long time, it's been drawing complaints

and it's in an area of high housing demand.

This won't happen overnight,

so it will either give the current owner time to tidy up,

or, in the long-term,

John Prentice will have a new companion over the fence to talk to.

What we don't want to do is compulsory purchase it,

-but if we have to, we have to.

-It takes a long time.

It takes a long time, but if these actions...

I'll keep the owner informed of what we're doing

and, hopefully, that'll put pressure on 'em to make a decision.

Cos I think that's what's always missing in these things.

Someone needs to make a decision what they're going to do with it.

Coming up...

Mark's back at the house,

to check if any progress has been made on the garden.

Well, on the whole, I would say it's a distinct improvement,

from the street anyway.

Earlier in Stevenage,

Housing Officer Ashley Mansfield

was called to deal with an unusual homeless problem in a car park.

Residents of a block of council flats had complained of a man, Abu,

living in his car.

The car hasn't been able to start for the last two or three days.

-OK, so you've been here sleeping in your car the whole time?

-Yeah.

-Right, OK.

-They're going to take the car definitely.

Worried about Abu's lack of accommodation,

Ashley pointed him in the direction of the council's homeless team,

while he organised to get the car removed.

But it looks like Abu hasn't taken the advice.

He, the car, and all his possessions are still in the car park.

To try and find a solution, Ashley's returned with reinforcements,

Tony Silverio from the council's Antisocial Behaviour team.

The reason I'm here is because my understanding is he's come back

to the car.

Ashley's powers at this point cease, because he's not a council tenant.

So I've got to look at, erm, what I can do.

If he doesn't go of his own volition, after I've asked him,

then I'll be looking to start legal proceedings

by way of getting either a community-protection order

against him or a court order, through an injunction,

to remove him from this area,

probably banning him from the whole of this particular site.

Tony knows Abu well, as he was the one responsible for evicting him

from his previous abode, the storage shed.

-Hi.

-Ah.

-Abu, we meet again.

-Right, you know you can't stay.

-Yes, I know.

-I know.

-Are you able to move it tonight?

-I should be able to, yeah.

-OK.

So if you can remove it from the car park, OK,

then that will stop us having to worry about getting a removal van in

-to remove it, OK?

-OK.

-Erm, the other thing is, clearly you're still...

-Are you still sleeping in it?

-Yeah.

-Right. Have you contacted the homeless section?

-No.

That's the number. Give them a ring. If you go to

the customer service centre, they're open till 5.30

-and they have a free phone.

-Across the road.

If you go across the park, you can go to the homeless section,

all right? And I'm going to come back and check that the car's gone.

Otherwise, I'll have to get a removal van and that's going

to cost you money.

Tony and Ashley can only cross their fingers that Abu will get help

from the council this time. But history suggests that he's not

too good at that, so Tony's not optimistic.

Well, from past experience, I don't think he's going to go.

He really doesn't want the help.

Erm, I removed him from a cupboard about a week and a half ago,

erm, gave him exactly the same information.

Erm, he just doesn't want to do anything.

He seems to be quite happy doing what he's doing, which is sad.

It's never nice seeing anyone in this position,

but I'm glad that I have a team that I can work with,

I can depend on, to help us try and find a solution.

It's not always the best solution for everybody,

but, hopefully, at the end of the day,

we'll find him somewhere he can stay,

even for a couple of nights, while he gets back on his feet.

But that's IF he'll let us help him.

I'm constantly amazed how persistent housing officers

around the country are, when they find someone who needs help.

And Tony and Ashley are no exception.

Despite Abu being so backward at coming forward,

they're going to give it one more go.

-Oh, the car's still there.

-LAUGHTER

So, we've just been out on a visit to another property.

On the way back, we're going to check out to see

if he's back at the car.

And, if not, we're going to go to the Customer Service Centre

and just see if he's still there, hopefully getting some help.

Well, we've just had a peek, he's not in the car,

so I'm hoping that he's definitely gone to the CSC.

He headed the right way, so we're going to go and check now

that he is there and see what help he can be given.

And it's great news.

Against the odds, Abu has this time taken Ashley and Tony's advice.

Here's here asking for help.

Right. OK. Well, take a seat.

-Fingers crossed.

-Yeah.

So, happily to say, he has taken our advice on and he's in

the Customer Service Centre.

And, hopefully, we'll just wait to see what happens now.

-They'll sort you out.

-That's the plan.

We're getting you in the right direction now and work together

to go forward.

Considering it was very late in the day already, I think

-we've done very well.

-Yeah.

Yeah, so, hopefully, we'll go back after the weekend,

car will be gone and we'll be getting some feedback

from the homeless team, to find out where he's going next.

There's an important lesson for aspiring housing officers,

if you keep chipping away, sometimes against the odds you get a win.

It's nice when you get a pleasant surprise like this.

You can have a tenant you see ten, 20 times and each outcome

could be the same. But then, every now and again,

you get one time they actually listen to ourselves

and, hopefully, get a new step forward.

The news is even better for Abu.

He has a roof over his head for tonight, at least,

until a longer-term solution can be found.

Yeah, they found me somewhere.

It's temporary accommodation. It's fantastic. Thank you very much.

Back in Norwich,

Housing Officer Mark Siddall has to make a decision

about the future of a home that's been abandoned for three years.

The next door neighbour has been complaining

because the fence between the two back gardens fell down

and now the weeds are making their way onto his property.

All I want now is somebody to come in and clean it up.

You know, when you're trying to keep your own garden

and your hedge and everywhere nice and clean and tidy, you know,

it is sad.

We're going back to this property.

We've formerly seen it when it was rather overgrown at the time

and the neighbour was not happy with the situation there, understandably.

I gather that the situation has changed a bit at the property

and I'd like to go to catch up and see where we are now.

If nothing has changed, one option available is for the council

to compulsory purchase the property. Mark's told the owner of the plans,

but has that spurred them on to take any action?

Well, on the whole,

I would say it's a distinct improvement, from the street anyway.

The front garden, they've definitely had a good cut back,

we can see a few remnants of what they've been up to.

The hedge is a bit of a cleaner line than it was.

With the overgrown front garden trimmed back to Mark's satisfaction,

it's time to check on the neighbour's reaction.

John Prentice maybe a keen gardener, but was growing tired of fighting

back the weeds from two gardens - his and his neighbour's.

-They've made a start.

-They've made a start.

OK, well, that's really pleasing.

The impression I've been left with is that possibly the same people

are responsible for clearing the property.

The chap is possibly going to be moving into the property

maybe as soon as this weekend.

We will see. We will see anyway, but, you know, fingers crossed.

-But if you don't mind, if we can have a look?

-By all means.

That's very kind of you.

-Thanks very much and we'll keep in touch.

-Yeah, that's fine. Thank you.

It's an improvement, you know, that's the main thing.

That's all I'm concerned about, as long as something gets done, yeah.

And Mark's delighted to see things are getting done.

The back garden is looking a lot less jungly.

If you can remember how we saw it last time,

quite obviously someone's been having a pretty good go.

They've made a very good start. We'll have a little look further

down the garden and see what's going on down there.

This is where gardener John had become fed up with the lack

of a fence. He'd tried to hold back the growth

from next door's garden, but he was losing the battle.

It's a bit disappointing down here,

cos one of the big gripes of the neighbour

is the state of the fence. A whole section is completely absent

and it's all pretty wobbly. So, yeah, I'll be keeping the pressure

on the owners of the house to deal with that.

But looking over the fence, we can see they have been making

a significant effort to clearing some of the undergrowth.

Hopefully, they can maintain that momentum and deal with the rest

of it over the course of time. What I've seen here is really good.

With the amount of undergrowth which has been cut back,

it's give me a deal of confidence.

It doesn't mean I'm walking away at this stage.

Until it's, kind of, complete and finished and I can definitely

sign it off, I'll still be maintaining pressure on the owner.

So, a job well done for Mark.

His diplomatic approach has paid off

and the garden is finally getting some much-needed attention.

Hopefully, a new fence will follow shortly.

That's it for today. Join me next time,

when I'll be learning more about what it takes

to be a frontline housing officer.