Episode 7 The Housing Enforcers

Oh, my God!

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

I wouldn't ever vision anybody living like this.

But for thousands of people across the UK

the reality can be more hovel than home.

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

In the battle for decent housing...

Leaving things - that's what happens.

This is totally unacceptable.

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

If somebody had died here you would be standing in a coroner's court.

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

BANG! Oh!

-You all right?

-Yeah, good.

I'll be with them as they tackle problem properties

and slum conditions...

-Faeces is an issue of...

-"Faeces is an issue."

..as they deal with dodgy landlords, nightmare neighbours

and everything in between...

No!

That's incredible.

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

-It's so good to see...

-Oh, Margaret. Oh, Margaret!

In today's programme I visit a flat where evicted tenants

have left the place unfit to live in.

Oh, my God, straightaway there's the smell of dog muck in little bags.

Housing officers discover the worst bed in a shed we've ever seen.

I think there might be somebody sleeping in there.

There's nothing here that would accommodate a person.

We meet the landlord whose tenant complained to the council about damp

and then vanished.

I don't like being lambasted as a bad landlord, to be honest.

-Yeah.

-Don't help you at all.

And a chance encounter leads to good news in East London.

We haven't set you up here.

This is not a set-up and it appears we have a happy customer.

Believe me, I can't tell you how much I am happy to see you!

LAUGHTER

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 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.

For most of us our home is our pride and joy

but for the nearly two million households across the country

on waiting lists for social housing,

a home of their own is something they can only wish for.

In Stevenage the council's empty homes team are on hand to make sure

unoccupied properties don't lie vacant

when they could be providing a home for someone in need.

But they're often in need of substantial work

and today team coordinator Lisa Ashdown

is briefing housing officer Mukesh Ladwa.

What I need you to do is go and inspect a property today.

It was an eviction, OK?

Carry out a full survey, decide what works are required and then

obviously we can crack on with the works.

Get it up to our lettable standard, then we'll be able to get it viewed

and get it re-let.

'Sounds straightforward enough but the tenant was evicted,

'so it could be anything but.'

What's the situation with this property?

We don't quite know what state it's going to be in.

I know it's not going to be pretty. Be prepared.

What we find on the other side of the door could be nice

-or could be nasty.

-It's probably going to be nasty rather than nice.

'There's only one way to find out exactly what we're dealing with,

'so we'd better get on with it.'

-Mukesh, you've got all the details?

-Yes, I've got the serving details with me here.

I'll go through the list and check all the repairs required

-to be done.

-And, crucially, have you got a car?

-Yes.

-Brilliant.

-Shall we do that? Thank you.

-OK, good luck.

-Let me know what it's like when you get back.

-Will do.

Last year alone, local authorities in the UK carried out

nearly 7,000 evictions.

Even though it's only ever a last resort I still feel a bit

uncomfortable with the job the council has to do today.

So walking through the door today is pretty much just like...

walking straight into that person's life as they left it

at the moment they were evicted.

Yes. Eviction is always like that.

There's no pretty face on that side at all. There's always, you know,

a scenario where there's a reason why they've been evicted,

those people, there must be a reason behind it.

Do you find that the reason people leave

can determine the kind of condition that the flat is in?

You know, so, let's say someone's deceased, then the flat will be

in a different condition than if they leave willingly, like through

an exchange or something, compared to if they're evicted.

Correct. You go around and look for the defects in the building

which requires to be carried out,

within the lettable standard we have.

Given what the empty homes team already know,

I have the feeling we could have our work cut out for us.

I think it's over there in that corner.

-So these are all little studio flats?

-No, not all of them.

Some of them are studio, some are one-bedroom.

Here we are.

-So, almost nobody has been in here since they were...

-Evicted.

-..evicted and the locks changed.

-That's right.

This lock is on the master, we can open it straightaway.

'Even before we're over the threshold, it looks like Lisa

'was right about this place - it really isn't pretty.'

Oh, man.

-Shall I go in?

-Yeah, you go in first.

-Be careful.

-Yeah. I will do.

'The previous tenant has left it in an absolutely terrible state.'

Two internal doors have just been...

-They've been smashed, probably, and damaged.

-..smashed and left here.

You can see they're all split. They're useless completely so they need to be dumped as well.

'But I wish the way it looked was the only problem.'

Oh, my God, straightaway there's the smell of...

-dog muck in little bags there.

-Mm.

So they clearly had a dog here.

And if you were in any doubt about that, you can see the bottom step...

Yeah, you can see they've chewed off that bit.

It's been gnawed away. God.

'Making repairs to its properties,

'to ensure they meet a lettable standard,

'cost Stevenage Council more than £750,000 last year alone.

'Whatever the circumstances of the eviction,

'I'm really shocked anyone could treat their home this badly,

'and expect someone else to pick up the bill.'

We try to get familiar with what's inside before we start

touching anything in this condition because...

I'm not touching anything.

-Yeah, so we'll just walk up - are you OK with that?

-Yeah, I'm fine.

I'm with it but I'm just aware that wherever you step here

you could be landing yourself in trouble.

'Later, the trouble I'm having is accepting how much damage

'the previous tenants have caused.'

It's disappointing when you know the pressure that is on social housing,

to give people somewhere to live.

This is an opportunity for a great home for somebody.

Oxford.

The city of dreaming spires,

famous for its historic architecture and academic pedigree.

It attracts visitors and students from the four corners of the globe

but away from the historic city centre and the university,

Oxford has a huge housing problem.

It's the least affordable city to buy in outside London,

with house prices about 11 times the average worker's salary.

It's also the most expensive area to rent in outside London.

And with a shortage of accommodation,

landlords have converted many family homes into flats and bedsits.

Housing officer Will Christian is going to see one of these

shared houses that the council has visited before.

It does have a licence but the landlord was ordered to carry out

some work to bring it up to standard.

Today Will and his colleague, David North, are going to see

if the work's been done.

The windows have to have been changed from single

to double glazing.

We're also going to be looking at the general management -

so, carpets, kitchen facilities.

We're also looking at the fire detection in the property.

Since 2011 Oxford City Council has prosecuted 48 cases

where landlords failed to license properties or failed to comply

with enforcement notices.

This three-bedroom semidetached house needed a lot of work.

The landlord who owns it has had action taken against him

in the past.

The first problem, as with any inspection, is getting inside.

But some tenants aren't as security-conscious as they should be.

It's just... That's ridiculous, innit?

So there is a lock on the door.

I don't know why they weren't locking it.

Hiya. I'm Oxford City Council, environmental health.

Do you mind if we have a look round the property?

Yeah, is that OK?

Once inside, Will and David start checking to see

if the work that landlord's been asked to do has been carried out.

And they've spotted something.

It's a letter on the notice board from the managing agent.

It says, "During my visit to the property earlier this week

"I noticed there are additional mattresses in the bedrooms."

This is a big concern for Will.

The landlord's agent has a licence to house just four people here

and it's his responsibility to make sure that's not exceeded.

This is the downstairs cupboard.

There's ladies' shoes and there's men's shoes.

So there's seven toothbrushes within that downstairs cupboard.

Possibly...

owned by more than one person.

It's looking more and more likely

that there are extra housemates living in the house

but limiting the number of occupants

and enforcing regulations are vital measures to protect tenants.

One of the things the landlord should have done is to make

the staircase safer by lining it with flame-resistant material.

It hasn't been done.

Should a fire start there then it would very quickly compromise

and collapse so everyone upstairs would be trapped.

In the kitchen there are all sorts of problems.

The extraction fan...

doesn't work. The cooker looks in pretty poor condition.

The ignition has gone.

The actual hobs look in pretty poor condition as well.

Although it's up to the tenants to keep the kitchen appliances clean,

Will's spotted something that the landlord should have put right.

Evidence of previous damp coming through. Tidemark up here.

I presume the bathroom might be up there.

There's every sign that a lot of people are using this property

and it doesn't look as if the landlord has completed

any of the required work.

Will and David can't get access to the upstairs bedrooms

because the tenants are out, so they head outside, looking to see

if there are any more clues about how many people are living here.

Garden's overgrown.

It's unkempt.

There's, uh...one, two, three, four five, six...

Six bicycles.

Leading me to believe there's more people probably in occupancy

than there should be.

Then Will makes a shocking discovery.

Um, I think there might be someone sleeping in there.

Beds in sheds are a growing problem in big cities

and Oxford is no exception.

Last year the council found 2,500 structures

with no planning permission

that seemed to be being used for accommodation.

But you'd have to be desperate to sleep here.

There's clothing in here. A suitcase.

Some toiletries. Alcohol that's been drunk.

I'm very shocked. This is ridiculous.

There's a bed that's got a blanket.

Phone charger.

Even for experienced housing officers

this is hard to make sense of.

Steel door which is the bedroom door.

Their front door.

There is all the paraphernalia of a life here.

Someone's been trying to turn this into a home.

It's literally a garage.

There's nothing here that would accommodate a person.

Oh, God, there's a TV as well.

There's electricity in here as well.

This is a concrete garage with an asbestos roof.

It's obviously not designed to be a space where someone can live

and sleep in comfort.

He has no protection against damp - and there's even worse.

Over there you've got a hole in the roof that looks like they've tried

to repair with sheets of glass and bits of insulation

and it appears to be collapsing,

which just all adds to the general feeling of

you shouldn't have people living in here.

Personally, I've never seen anything like this.

All the heating they've got in here is that single electric one.

Any long-term exposure to the cold

and damp in here is going to have an effect on your health.

This is an awful place for someone to be living.

It's a foul, damp and dangerous structure.

There's a big hole in the roof and a very dodgy arrangement

of power cables near to the moisture-soaked walls.

That's the power supply to the light, and heading down that way,

which is presumably plumbed in to the house somehow.

If you follow the cables you'll probably find out where.

Looks like they may have ripped the lock off.

Or unscrewed it, to be able to gain access in here.

So it was padlocked shut.

And they've taken the screws off so they can get in here,

perhaps to use it.

Of course, it's possible the landlord doesn't know

someone's sleeping in his garage but he should be aware.

The lack of progress getting the rest of the house up to scratch

also demonstrates a lack of attention to the property.

There's somebody definitely living in here, isn't there?

We need to get back to the council and prohibit the use of this

against any occupation.

Coming up, the housing officers take urgent action to protect

the person resorting to living in a garage.

I'm taking the emergency prohibition order to the landlord's address

and serving it by hand

so that I know the letter has actually arrived at the property.

'In Stevenage

'I've been sent to help housing officer Mukesh Ladwa

'inspect a flat that's become vacant after the tenant was evicted.

'But barely past the front door it's obvious the previous occupant

'left the property in the most appalling state.'

I'm fine with it but just kind of aware that wherever you step here

-you could be landing yourself in trouble.

-Yes.

'The filthy conditions are bad enough

'but there's clearly been a much bigger problem here at some point.'

So we've got a fire halfway up the stairs which looks pretty serious.

Looks like they've either tried to start a fire of some sort

or there's been an accident.

That could have easily taken hold on the stairs and the whole block

-would be in trouble.

-That could be potentially a big fire.

Right, let's go upstairs.

'If the charred remains of the staircase are anything to go by,

'I can see we're going to have to tread really carefully here.'

God, another internal door here.

You can see the state of the bathroom as well.

The bathroom is...

This is not really an acceptable way of leaving the property behind.

Do you think(?) It's dreadful!

It's really, really...

shame to see something like this.

The television's all smashed.

'Given the number of people in dire need of a home of their own

'it's hard to grasp why someone's treated this flat

'with so little respect.'

It's disappointing when you know the pressure there is on social housing,

to give people somewhere to live.

Structurally, there's nothing wrong with this place.

This an opportunity for a great home for somebody.

And yet one way or the other it's turned into somewhere that

I'm struggling to spend ten minutes.

We give all our tenants a lettable standard property when they move in,

so we also expect, as a landlord, to see that they look after the place.

'I just can't get my head round why

'someone would choose to behave like this.'

-It's not for me to judge the way people should live.

-Exactly.

But what worries me is that you can't have an enjoyable life,

a fulfilling life in this kind of environment.

-There's no straight answer for this, to be honest with you.

-Yeah.

'With piles of belongings lying around,

'it's looks as though they left in such a hurry

'they didn't even get to finish their breakfast.'

So how does it happen, then? Cos the bailiffs come in and say,

"That's it, time to go." Or do they wait until they're out?

We get a court order for the evictions before we would

come in and evict them.

Although the most common grounds for eviction are non-payment of rent

and antisocial behaviour,

local authorities can evict a tenant who breaches

any of the terms of their tenancy agreement by applying for

a possession order. Once granted, the court will set a time

and date for a bailiff to arrive.

The locks will be changed

and any remaining belongings will be

cleared from the property.

This is not going to come as a surprise, there's going to be,

you know, warnings and notices to say,

-"This is coming and you need to sort it out."

-That's right.

They will communicate with them before anything like this happens.

'If a tenant's evicted it's their own responsibility to find

'themselves somewhere else to live,

'so I can't understand why someone would let things go this far.

'It's frustrating.

'Because of the mess left behind by the previous tenant,

'there's no way we can inspect the flat properly.'

There's not too much of a survey job we can do here

-without getting stuck in.

-The first priority for us for this property

-will be to clear everything out.

-Yeah.

And we're not equipped to start moving stuff around, really,

and clearing up.

'All we can do is document what we found

'and grudgingly admit defeat for now.'

There's a handle there...

But less than a week later the flat's been cleared of rubbish

and given a good clean, so Mukesh can properly assess

what needs to be done before it can be re-let.

The ceiling looks OK.

So there's no need to do anything on this ceiling up here.

We will leave it as it is.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said for those scorched stairs.

They need to be replaced completely

and to make sure they are safe to walk on.

And there are plenty of other jobs to do

before this place will be fit for the next tenant.

The kitchen - the doors are missing which we need to replace.

Doorframe has been somehow chewed or damaged.

There's another door which has been completely smashed.

So that needs to be replaced as well.

It's looking like a lot of work is going to be needed

to put the property right, but at least it can be fixed.

Basically, this property, once it's been cleaned and repaired again

and the doors have been fitted, it'll be ready to let.

Once it is, Mukesh and the team will have turned it back into

a really nice home for someone who needs it

and hopefully will treat it with the respect it deserves.

I'm pleased to say that housing officers have told us

that extensive repair work's been carried out on the flat

and a new tenant moved in a few months ago.

We're back in Oxford, where housing officers Will Christian

and David North made a shocking discovery when they visited

a suburban semi which had been converted into a shared house.

Hiya.

As well as worrying signs that the safety of tenants was being ignored,

there was much worse outside.

I think there might be someone sleeping in there.

Will and David are anxious to get back to the council

so they can get the garage shut down.

But as they're about to leave, one of the tenants on the ground floor

decides to let them in to see the shabby conditions he's living in

inside in the house.

There's evidence of, again, on this side of the wall

that there's been a previous leak.

You can see a bit of mould growth here.

The ceiling has been really, really damp.

There's damp, mould and large mushrooms growing here.

It's the last thing you'd want to wake up to.

With the spore growth here

they can create respiratory problems for the occupant in the room.

There's a smashed pane of glass.

This is on the exterior of the window.

Also a crack here in the pane.

We expect to see a window to provide ventilation

rather than these French doors,

especially in bedrooms, where they compromise security

and they're poor ventilation. They need to be changed.

I don't think any work has really been carried out.

Will and David have to take immediate action

about this property,

particularly to protect the person who's living in the garage.

I'll be coming back today with the prohibition,

to serve it on the property.

Serve it on the landlord, serve it on the agent.

Serve it on the occupant of that building.

Back at the council offices, they do some more investigating.

It appears the person sleeping in the garage could be a former tenant

of the house.

It could be a vulnerable person that's got drug issues,

alcohol issues, and so he may have left the property

and come back to it and broken in.

Whoever's living there, it's not only the cold

and damp that could endanger their health -

the dodgy electrical cabling poses a serious fire hazard.

This is an imminent risk of it catching fire.

Maybe spreading to the main house.

With the paperwork done,

Will wastes no time getting back on the road again.

We are now heading back to the property to serve

an emergency prohibition on the outbuilding.

I'm taking the emergency prohibition order to the landlord's address

and serving it by hand

so that I know the letter has actually arrived at the property.

The notice also warns the occupant of the garage and the house tenants

of the council's action.

When the landlord and the agent get the notice

they should shut down the garage straightaway.

If they don't comply the owner could be liable to a £5,000 fine.

The council could also do any necessary work

and then charge the owner.

But, as it turns out, that drastic action won't be necessary.

A few weeks after the emergency prohibition order

Will and David learn the landlord has exchanged contracts

and the house has been sold.

It's good that the property's been sold.

Now the landlord is out of the market.

Hopefully the next person that takes on that property will see

a good tenant in the future.

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 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 that 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.

What do you think one of the top reasons is

for calling a housing officer? I'll tell you - damp.

The great British climate doesn't help and it can make a tenant's life

a misery, while slowly destroying the building itself.

Housing officer Chris Gallimore

is heading to the market town of Sleaford in Lincolnshire

to inspect a property after a tenant called the council.

The landlord's been notified of the inspection so we'll see

if he's there today and obviously we can inform him of the issues

and take his comments on board as well.

But I've not come across him before.

My time with housing officers has taught me

that bad landlords are often already on the council's radar.

If Chris hasn't met this chap before it's probably a good sign.

It's best not to make any judgments until we get there.

It's just through that archway there.

The tenant's complained about the property's heating and damp.

Two can be connected.

It's possible that the heating isn't sufficient in the property

so that's what we're investigating.

Just seeing if there's any offences under the Housing Act 2004.

-Hi, there.

-Hi.

-Chris Gallimore from the council.

-And you are?

-David Blaine.

-Oh, right, you're the landlord.

-For my sins.

-OK.

We'll just have a look and see what the issues are

-and we'll see how we can try and resolve those.

-OK.

And we'll take it from there.

But be aware that until right now I didn't know there were any issues.

-This tenant's been here for nearly two years.

-OK.

-I've not been inside.

We've had a couple of inspections, been nothing mentioned.

David Blaine is an experienced landlord

who owns several properties.

He's not happy the tenant called the council with his complaint

rather than contacting him first.

I've only just got a letter so I've got no idea why we're here, really.

This tenant signed up recently to rent the property for another year

with no issues at all. Didn't tell me of any issues he's got.

If there was any issues they would have been dealt with.

Cos they always have been. You don't leave things to rot.

It's my property, after all.

If there's any issues with it, it wants sorting out.

-OK, is it possible to have a quick look inside?

-Quick look, yeah.

Can't be too long, though.

We'll have a look inside first.

David's not been inside the property while the tenant's been living here

so he's not sure what to expect.

Chris has to find out if there's any merit in the tenant's complaints

about damp and poor heating.

-So, yeah, you can smell the damp in here a bit.

-Well, yeah.

You say damp - it's an old house, it's not a new property.

There's bound to be some element of it but there's no wet patches

creeping up the walls. It is what it is.

Can we just have a look?

Down here you can see evidence of some damp coming through.

See there?

You got the salts coming through here from the...

Well, that's not even outside.

But it's obviously tracking out from somewhere and we can see some

other evidence a bit further on there behind the storage heater.

That's the steel casing and that's condensation gone on that

from cooking in here without the fan on and that's what's caused that.

-Can you see the issues here?

-Yeah. I'll just be looking outside

-and the issue there is a blocked gutter.

-Right.

As I say, it is two years. It's not my job to clean gutters

or I'd be there for the rest of my life.

-Had he reported a blocked gutter I'd have got it sorted.

-Yeah.

Also what you can see on here, if you just come up the stairs,

you can see a tidemark on the stairs.

You got this line here where you can see it has been damp at some point

and you've got other buildings - it's a bit difficult to see

the other side of this building but it looks like...

-The building that butts up to this, he's got no problem at all.

-Right.

If there is an issue, I've not been told about it.

Can we just have a quick look upstairs, is that all right?

There is definitely damp in this house

so now Chris wants to take a closer look at the heating.

But as they head upstairs, David thinks he's discovered why

the person living here complained to the council

before contacting him.

There's a curious lack of belongings in this house...

This is why he wants out of this.

-Yeah.

-He's already gone.

But his lease is still on next year.

David Blaine's tenant has done a vanishing trick.

David thinks his tenant contacted the council because he thinks

the person renting the house wants a reason to break his contract early.

Leaving a property early can be an expensive business.

A fixed-term contract is designed to

give both the tenant and the landlord security.

But it means that if there isn't a break clause then the tenant

is liable for rent for the full length of the tenancy.

It's not just as simple as giving notice.

However, the tenant can find someone to take over their contract

with the landlord's agreement.

Although, if a tenant just moves out then this is called abandonment

and it doesn't end the agreement.

The landlord can still charge rent

until the agreement ends.

They can apply for a court order

to make sure the tenant pays up.

If he wants to come out of lease, that's fine

but then there's cost of reassigning the lease to somebody else,

which he's quite at liberty to do as long as we're happy with

the person it's reassigned to. There may be costs involved.

Didn't like that, threw his teddy out the pram,

didn't realise the implications of reassigning a lease.

But it works both ways.

If I had issues and wanted to sell the property, I couldn't.

I'd have to pay him to go.

But things may not be as cut and dried as David thinks.

Chris does think the disappearing tenant may have a point

when it comes to the heating.

So, again, I know you keep saying about condensation -

one of the things this property has obviously got is storage heaters

with solid walls, which isn't the best combination in the world...

-I think heat's heat at the end of the day.

-Well, it's not from

the point of view of storage heaters. With them you've only got

a limited amount of heat and once that heat's gone,

and with walls not being insulated...

-Actually, that storage heater is a new one. Only put in last year.

-OK.

So with the heat, we'll have a look and basically see how it affects

the standards cos at the moment it looks as though it's going to fail

the Housing Act Standards, OK?

But we may have to look at upgrading the heating.

Anything I can do that is going to be cost effective...

If it needs £2,000 or £3,000 spent on it, it'll get it.

It may not even need that much, to be honest.

My view, ordinarily, is a warm tenant's a happy tenant.

The tenant, then, could be right about heating problems.

Coming up, the landlord is forced to admit that work will be needed

on this property.

You've gotta take a view,

if it costs you four or five thousand quid,

all right, it's a year's rent but it's your property, ultimately.

We're in the London borough of Newham...

where there's huge pressure on the council to provide and regulate

reasonable homes for a growing population.

Housing officers like James Burton and Ellen Nicholson

often have to crack down on planning issues

in an effort to keep homes up to standard.

They're frequently out and about, making inspections of homes

so it pays for them to keep their eyes peeled

and notice anything unusual going on in their neighbourhood.

Today I'm joining them on some routine inspections

when suddenly James spots someone bulldozing part of a house.

This is very exciting.

At the end of this road there is a digger and a group of guys who are

knocking down an extension.

What do you make of it, James?

Well, I'm not sure. We'll have a look and check our records.

It could be somebody's had a notice or it may be there's planning

permission for a new extension and they're preparing for that.

Or they might just be removing it altogether.

Looked like a tiled building on the outside.

That could be good news or bad news

-if they're going to stick something else in its place.

-Yeah. Exactly.

James and Ellen get straight on to the office to check whether this

address is on the council's radar. If there's no planning permission

for work they have the power to shut the site down.

I can't resist going along to see what happens.

So all this wall's come down here.

Could you explain what it is that's going on here?

Yeah, the use for this one is drilling...

Right, so this is an old extension that was part of the house

and you're replacing it with a new one.

'While I'm chatting to the builder, the front door opens.

'The owner is Muhammad Aslam.'

Is this your property? Fantastic.

'Hang on a minute, did he say cup of tea?'

We never get invited in for a cup of tea. It just doesn't happen.

We end up knocking on doors...

This very kind gentleman, who's having his extension

knocked down and then built again, has asked us in for a cup of tea.

So we're going to. Because...I like tea.

And it's rude not to!

'Despite all the chaos that's going on all around him,

'he actually seems delighted we're here.'

-It's lovely, thank you very much.

-You're welcome.

This is a bit different.

We saw there was that building work taking place on the corner

and thought it's worth a look at cos it was going ahead

and we've been invited in for tea.

-Does that happen...

-No.

-..very often? At all?

-Never.

The owner, I think, wants to show us it's all above board

and it's being done properly.

The guys are here from the planning department...

OK, she is from the planning - no, we got planning.

Well, we've checked and what's the word from the office?

That the application was all approved.

Not only has Aslam applied for and got planning approval

for a double storey extension and loft conversion, he couldn't be

happier at how quickly his application was dealt with.

We got the permission within ten weeks - "What?"

-Yeah.

-Unbelievable.

-We haven't set you up here.

This is not a set-up. We have just seen the work taking place

and it appears we have a happy customer.

-You seem happy with the process.

-Very happy.

I'm living in Newham 25 years.

-So I haven't got any problems with Newham.

-Wow.

Before, when I came in this country, my hair not like you, like him...

LAUGHTER

Everything changes.

'Aslam and his wife have brought up their four children here.

'As we chat it emerges he works as a taxi driver

'and selling ice cream to provide for them,

'and that the three eldest are studying law.'

You must be very proud.

I am dearly thankful for God, thankful for Allah.

Tell me about the work you're having carried out outside?

-What are you trying to achieve?

-We're trying to make a double storey

building on that side.

We've got already one room that side which is not enough for us.

And what difference will that make to you and your family?

They got more space to live

because the kids are all grown-up, all uni students.

We got only three bedrooms upstairs.

And sometimes we see the darker side of Newham and actually

it's really nice for you to allow us in and hear your story.

Believe me, I can't tell you how much I'm happy to see you!

LAUGHTER

-When you're on the motorbike...

-HE IMITATES ENGINE

I was on the motorbike yesterday. It was very wet!

-Thank you so much. Lovely to meet you.

-Nice to see you.

'For once, an impromptu visit that couldn't have gone any better.'

There we go, a different story.

Someone who's completely played it by the book.

Applied for planning permission, got it, and he's now doing the work

so that his family can continue to grow and flourish.

It's not just the tea but it's given me rather a warm feeling.

'A few hours and two property inspections later

'we're minding our own business in a nearby street

'when we spot our new friend doing his rounds with the ice cream van.

'This time he's giving out cold refreshments.'

-There you go.

-Thank you.

This is in no way a bribe or inducement of any sort, right?

Already got the planning permission.

Thank you very much.

-There you go.

-Thanks.

See you again.

Back in Sleaford, housing officer Chris Gallimore has joined

landlord David Blaine after his tenant has complained of damp.

You can smell the damp in here a bit.

-You know, when you come into the property.

-It's an old house,

it's not a new property.

But the issue of the damp is proving trickier to solve.

The tenant may have complained

but the landlord isn't happy with what's been happing in his house.

That's knackered.

Is that something that's happened recently, do you think?

Washing machine wastes...

They take the washing machine waste away, take the washing machine away,

plugs in, still use the sink.

All flows out. This is all absolutely sodden.

Look at it, it's rusted and everything.

Methinks there's a bit of expense coming on this one. Oh!

A tumble drier.

-I think that's a tumble drier.

-Or is it a condenser?

It's not a condenser which collects moisture as water.

The tenant installed this vented tumble drier which needs

a hose or vent to the outside.

But it's unlikely to have caused the damp walls here.

What the tumble drier could do is add to any condensation.

That's created by moist air condensing on cold walls.

It can be exacerbated by poor ventilation and heating.

The other possible cause at this house is penetrating damp,

and that happens when water leaks through walls,

usually as a result of structural problems like faulty guttering

or roofing.

Tells me that if you've got a tumble drier, drying clothes,

chucking out moist air, you're going to have damp.

From my point of view there isn't a lot of condensation-related

damp evidence here and a lot of the damp you can see is penetrating damp

coming through anyway.

Be just nice if you can have a look at the issues that are there,

obviously to prevent them getting worse.

We'll look at the damp issues and see if it can be,

in the first instance, repaired.

And see how cost effective it would be

but I think, ultimately, it won't be right now,

it might not be next year.

I shall probably strip it right back

and put the insulated plasterboard on to address all the issues.

It's only a little place. And you gotta take a view.

If it costs you four or five thousand quid, all right,

it's a year's rent but it's your property, ultimately.

You're investing in your own property which is another thing

landlords don't necessarily want to do.

While the water from the leaking washing machine drain

and the tumble drier can't help the situation,

the penetrating damp clearly has some other cause

and Chris thinks the answer might be outside.

-You can see how high the ground level is.

-It's drained, though.

Just looking at the stuff in that gulley there, it's...

a lot of stuff that would be associated with a washing machine

sort of waste. That's obviously blocking the gulley up.

But if that's blocked up - what really needs to happen is that

needs to exit underneath the grate so it'll go straight into the drain.

You've also got this downpipe that's discharging here so all this area

is potentially getting a lot of water going into it

and, you know, if you look at this downpipe,

it goes underneath the gulley.

-Whereas that other one...

-Yeah.

It seems the housing and the landlord are coming to an agreement

on the cause of the damp, too.

-It is good walk round with you and see your side of it.

-Yeah.

As I say, I don't like being lambasted as a bad landlord,

-to be honest.

-Yeah.

-Not happy at all.

As Chris shows,

there's a real skill to keeping an open mind in every situation.

He seems to be a good landlord and he's got a lot of properties

and he's also somebody I've not come up against before so, you know,

that tells me he hasn't got a lot of tenants that are making complaints.

I've only previously spoken to a tenant, now I'm speaking to

the landlord as well. So ultimately what we're trying to do is improve

the property either for the current tenants or future tenants.

Chris is happy that landlord David will make the necessary repairs

and changes to this house.

Whether David gets his rent from the vanishing tenant remains to be seen.

The council has now issued

a suspended improvement notice on the house.

It requires the landlord to ensure work is done to address damp

and heating issues before it's let again.

The tenant's still not been in touch to say whether he intends to return.

That's it for today.

Join me next time when I'll be learning more about what it takes

to be a front-line housing officer.