Episode 4 The Housing Enforcers

It's difficult to imagine calling this a home.

'Everyone deserves a safe place to live.'

So, that's a dead rat.

'But with rents rising and demand increasing,

'it's getting harder and harder to find a secure place to call home.'

You can actually see the floorboards of the bathroom there.

There is clear evidence here.

-Clearly someone living down here.

-Yeah.

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

Someone nicked your wheelchair?

'I'm on the front line with those

'fighting for the right for decent housing.'

The amount of mould is quite shocking.

Happiest residents of this property are the rats.

'As local councils and housing associations

'battle problem properties in slum conditions...'

This is just a scene of Dickensian misery.

It absolutely pen-and-inks.

'As they deal with dodgy landlords...'

-SHOUTING

-Whoa, sir!

-Calm down!

'..nightmare neighbours...

There's a good chance people will be getting evicted.

'..and everything in between.'

Does feel like we are close to the bottom of the housing ladder here.

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

If there's something strange in your neighbourhood,

who you going to call?

Today, an eviction reveals a shock discovery.

-Oh, so you've got a choice.

-Axe, tomahawk of some sort.

Of the tomahawk or the bayonet.

'A fly-tipping incident turns violent.'

-Oh, do us a favour!

-Can I have my phone back, please, sir?

-No!

-Sir, sir?

-No.

In Lewisham, an investigation into possible tenancy fraud

leads one housing officer down a mysterious path.

The door's open.

I am going to push the door open and shout in

because I'm a little bit concerned about what's happening here.

As you can see, the door has been blocked by a...

a shopping trolley.

'And an OAP keep fit class leaves me breathless.'

I've already got it wrong! THEY LAUGH

Finding a suitable place to call home for you and your family

has never been harder.

Especially for those on a restricted budget.

But low rent shouldn't mean your house doesn't live up

to the same basic standards as everyone else's.

Fortunately, there is a group of men and women

who are out on the front line battling on your behalf

against bad and dangerous living conditions.

They are the Housing Enforcers.

The UK is in the grip of a housing shortage.

Home ownership is out of reach for many

and with private rents increasing,

social housing can often remain the only option.

So, the main role of the housing officer is to try and help

those most in need of a roof over their heads.

But if a tenant doesn't look after their property

or fails to pay their rent, it can mean they will be evicted.

It's a tough call for a council

and it's one facing housing officer Joe Phillips here in Stroud.

So, Joe, this looks like a typical Stroud council property.

It's got that nice stucco render on the outside.

And why are we looking at that picture right now?

OK, so this is the flat we're going to be going to

while we're carrying out an eviction today.

The tenant has been in rent arrears for over ten years now.

We've worked with them as much as we think we can.

So, we've applied for a warrant of eviction.

The warrant of eviction expires today,

so we'll be attending with a bailiff to get the property back.

So, ten years of warnings.

At some point, something has to give.

-Let's go.

-Let's get off.

As Joe says, evictions are always a last resort.

But the demands on housing are high,

1.8 million households in England and Scotland

are currently on the waiting list for a home.

So, there's no shortage of local people

who desperately need a property like this.

And will pay their rent.

When we arrive, the bailiffs have already been and gone.

The flat's unoccupied.

But what's left behind tells a story.

It looks like the place has just been dumped.

He's probably taken anything of value and just left.

-So, he knew this was coming?

-Absolutely.

He knew eviction was coming, so there was a good chance

he's taken anything that he really wanted to hold on to.

Definitely.

Looks like he's not bothered doing any washing up

in the last week or two. Why would he?

-Lots of rubbish everywhere.

-Yeah.

Probably where most of the smell is coming from, to be honest.

One immaculate...

-..chef's knife.

-Yeah, that's probably worth a few bob as well.

-Bizarre, isn't it?

-Amazed he hasn't taken that with him.

Well, the kitchen isn't going to win too many awards for cleanliness,

and I'm beginning to sense a theme for the rest of the flat.

-Bedroom?

-Bedroom, yeah.

-There's no evidence of a bed in here at all, it's just...

-Yeah.

Piles of clothing, which has just ended up on the floor.

We've got towels, which are just completely mouldy.

You can see signs of where he has looked after it before.

He's got a picture on the wall.

He's got this hanger, ready for hanging all his clothes on.

Shelving's put up,

so he's obviously paid attention to it at some point.

And he's just lost interest.

Right, so as we go into the bathroom...

Oh, the light works. That worries me a bit there, look.

-You've got a big dip in the floor.

-Hmm.

The guy's lined up all his razors.

It's really strange,

there's evidence here of trying to order a life.

-Yeah.

-Of trying to make things work...

..erm, at some point during his tenancy.

He was trying to make this into a home

and then it just all went horribly wrong.

'But looking around the rest of the property...'

I'd say this is the living room.

Obviously taken his telly, a few knick-knacks around.

'..we find some disturbing clues about the tenant

'and the life here that he's left behind.'

The bit that probably worries me the most is what's going on here.

This is why I'm quite glad that he wasn't here.

-Yeah.

-When we came through the door. So, I'm thinking that

-maybe....

-Or possibly the...

Oh, so you've got a choice.

-Axe, tomahawk of some sort.

-Of the tomahawk or the bayonet.

-Hmm.

Makes you wonder who that was supposed to be depicting,

-to an extent.

-It's somebody that he was not terribly keen on.

-No, I imagine.

-We've got a selection of weapons there.

Obviously had a bit of an interest, didn't he?

Yeah.

The kind of support that he was getting up until this point,

what was it for? What kind of issues?

Various kinds of support.

It was financial support there offered, mostly, because that's

the important part of why he's was removed from the property today.

The main issue we had with him was he wasn't,

he was engaging for a short period of time

and then not engaging with support services.

And you can't force support services on someone, they have to want it.

He's obviously paid attention at some point

and he's made an effort at some point to decorate this place

and to me, it looks more like it's been neglected more recently.

Well, what's the point? If I'm going to get kicked out,

-why would I bother doing the washing up?

-Yeah.

-And then that accelerates the process.

-Yeah.

'But just as we're trying to work out how this flat ended up

'in this condition, it seems I'm going to get a chance to find out

'first-hand, as the tenant and his friends arrive back unexpectedly.'

-Look. Going to get some stuff.

-All right, what do you want to grab?

Did you see any knives?

Meanwhile in the English county of Essex

lies the coastal village of Jaywick.

Its picturesque location masks a unique set of problems.

It's one of the most deprived areas of the country

and a higher than average unemployment rate

has increased demand for affordable accommodation.

It offers a real challenge to local housing officers like Rob Goswell.

Today, he's on the way to investigate

a complaint about an abandoned house.

We've been called to a fly-tipping thing

that actually is still in an empty property.

The empty property has been sort of broken into.

And also, what we reported is potentially that someone

has actually tried to nick the land that this empty property's on.

So, we need to have a look at what's going on and find out

who the owner is and go from there, so we can get it back into use.

So, that's one of the remits of our job,

is to get empty properties back into use again.

Rob's joined by his colleague Ian Kavanagh

and it's not too difficult for them to find the problem.

This is the empty property here.

We were told it was unsecure.

So, it's looking good.

From the front here, it's looking like it is secure,

but I'm thinking that's where they were talking about the land grab,

all that fly-tipped waste at the back there.

Across England, councils dealt with more than 900,000 incidents

of fly-tipping last year

at a staggering cost of nearly £50 million.

So, it's something local authorities take very seriously.

It is unsecure, it's very easy to get round the back.

No gate here, is it? Yeah, I'll go and have a look.

There's a gentleman here but I think he's on the plot behind, isn't he?

Yeah, I think that's the problem.

Is this part all of your land here or is this part of this house?

Part of that one? Where does yours end and where does yours start?

-Oh, right, so you're storing it on there, are you, sir?

-OK.

We've have a complaint about your scrap metal there because, yeah,

it's just people have been complaining

about fly-tipped waste and that.

If the landlord wanted to put a fence back up,

-would you be all right with that, would you?

-Yeah.

OK, that's fine, yeah.

The unsightly scrap metal storage

is clearly an eyesore for fellow residents,

and will be an issue for any potential new tenant

that might move into this empty property.

That's if Rob and Ian can help get it back in working order.

Broken glass under there, so this property is abandoned.

I just wonder if that's him.

Can't get in.

One thing I do remember is you can, they set fires below them.

-They get in from underneath.

-Yeah, I know they get in.

And then they take all the piping.

But it looks like what we've got here is some plastic pipes,

-which is good.

-They're all right.

I don't think we've got anybody going under there and getting in.

-Yeah.

-It's never easy, is it?

-No.

After this inspection,

Rob and Ian now need to track down the landlord

to find out what his plans are for the property,

as there's a big demand for homes in the area and an empty house

can be a magnet for crime and antisocial behaviour.

Right, so it looks like it's secure.

It does look like there's potential for a land grab at the back there.

I spoke to the gentleman and he said he'd happily give the land back

if the landlord wanted to reinstate a fence.

Which is a win in many ways,

I was half-expecting a bit more of a battle there but I think

hands up, he was caught.

-He was caught!

-I think he was hands up, he's been caught, so...

For Rob and Ian, this looks like a straightforward visit

but later on, we'll discover how things can become more complicated

very quickly when tempers flare.

-MAN SHOUTS

-Whoa!

-Hey!

-BEEPING

-Whoa, whoa! Sir!

-Calm down!

-Sir, sir.

'Meanwhile, back in Stroud, and I'm with housing officer Joe Phillips,

'attending what on the face of it

'looked like a very straightforward eviction.

'But just as we were nervously wondering about the habits of

'our former resident...' Oh, so you've got a choice.

-Yeah, tomahawk of some sort.

-Choice of tomahawk...

or the bayonet.

'..the tenant, Joel, had returned, with friends in tow.'

Joe, obviously we're in the middle looking round the house.

-The tenant has come back.

-Yeah.

Presumably he's got rights to take his property away

-during this time...

-Absolutely.

-..even though the locks

-are currently being changed.

-Yeah. It's no benefit for us

to just chuck it all in the skip and get rid of it.

If he wants to keep any bits and pieces, that's absolutely up to him.

Anything you want Max, just take it, otherwise it's going in the bin

-or is being destroyed.

-Yeah.

Help yourself.

Joel, rather than you try and rush through it today,

here's what we'll probably do, is move anything of value

into one of our garages for 28 days,

and then if you want to collect anything...

It's not...

None of this is really of value,

which is why I brought Sammy and Max up.

If there's anything they want to keep then they can keep, but...

-Otherwise it's just a little heartbreaking for me, really.

-Yeah.

Max, take that clock there. You might have use for it.

That belonged to a friend of mine.

-He died, so I want to see it go to a good home.

-Is it a clock, is it?

-It's a clock, it's a radio.

-Oh, with an alarm on it?

-Yeah.

-I could do with...

-That's fine, then take it.

Thank you.

'Although Joel technically no longer lives here,

'it's clear there's still

'an emotional attachment to the property.'

Can we help you at all, Joel?

There really is no help at the moment.

I'm just getting stuff that I forgot last night.

Larger stuff I just can't take -

tables, chairs, there's no way I can take those.

There's just no room where I'm going.

So, can I ask you where you're going,

-what's going to happen to you next?

-I'm pretty much on the street.

I'm going to be sofa surfing for a little bit.

In terms of plans, I'm hoping on working for a week straight,

which should be enough for me to put a deposit down on a new flat.

But that's all a big if.

I'm currently working on a zero-hour contract.

Zero hour, meaning that I'm on minimal amounts of wages.

You're now kind of at the mercy of the private rented market.

That's right, yeah.

I mean, it's a long time to be in a property.

-Like, this is ten years now, is it, in this...?

-12.

-12 years in this property.

-Yeah.

After a number of years of living here,

it became quite apparent to me that I can't respect the property,

when the floorboards in the bathroom

are so damp because there's no ventilation

that the floorboards themselves are rotting,

the toilet is falling through the bathroom floor

into the next-door's flat underneath,

if you run a bath the entire flat fills up with steam,

you open the windows, you have no heating,

it becomes bitterly cold.

We were looking around the flat before you came in and trying to...

In your absence, trying to make sense of

what's happened here and what happened in your life.

Because it looks like there was... Up to a point you'd really tried to

make a home in this place, and you made efforts to make it comfortable,

and then there was just... It seemed...

We're just putting together clues here from what we can see.

No, you're pretty much on the ball.

For the first, maybe, five years,

I tried really hard to make the best of a bad situation.

There's quite a lot of damage to the property,

which has clearly come from somebody inside here.

-You know, to the door...

-The doors, the doors, yes. That...

Those were damaged over time.

A lot of my friends were so angry that they couldn't even get

a necessary renovation done to the flat

that they stopped paying respect to it.

How are you feeling about what's going to happen

over the next couple of months?

I'm quietly optimistic.

I've said a number of times to my friends that this place

has been like a velvet prison for me.

It's given me support, it's given me somewhere to go to,

but it's been holding me back for so long.

It's made me really unhappy, it's made me depressed over time.

I tried to make it a home, but it's just remained a house.

So I'm quietly optimistic. Even though the future is unsure...

..it's better than just knowing that you're going to be unhappy.

'It's a rare opportunity to be able to talk to a tenant in the process

'of an eviction and get the chance to hear both sides of the story.

'It's clear Joel holds the council at least partly responsible

'for the state of the property, but by his own admission,

'he's not blameless either.'

I'll be honest, when I heard you coming up the stairs,

I was concerned.

-It's OK.

-You know, because we found, like, bayonets,

we see the back of the door and that sort of thing. I was really worried.

I'm glad to see that you're able to kind of work through this

-and you're feeling optimistic about it.

-Yeah, it's OK.

Contrary to appearances, I'm not a thug.

Like, and the appearance of the flat is because I literally

came in yesterday, pulled everything off of shelves, tried to put things

in boxes and bags, so I had to move my life out in two hours' time.

OK, well, I'm really sorry to meet you under these circumstances.

I hope things really improve for you.

'It's tough to watch Joel piece together the parts of

'his life that remain in his now former home.

'But it's understandable that after ten years of rent arrears,

'something had to be done.'

So, I hadn't really expected that.

I thought once, you know, the flat was empty,

I hadn't expected to see Joel come back,

and I didn't certainly expect him to explain in such depth,

you know, the circumstances which had led up to his eviction.

What did you make of what he was saying,

the explanation he gave of his circumstances?

Yeah, I mean, obviously he's a very emotional about it all

and he's got his side of the story.

I mean, it's 12 years he's been a tenant.

If he's had those same issues for 12 years,

I don't really know what to say.

I mean, I'm sure we've looked at things before.

Either that or he hasn't reported them in the right way

and let us know that there's been issues that need resolving.

But to be in a flat for 12 years and then mention problems

you've had since you first moved in, then, yeah,

that would be very frustrating for him.

The last time we were in court with him he was actually represented

by the agency that persuaded the judge on his behalf to allow him

to stay in the property based on him making certain payments.

You have a degree of sympathy for him, but then,

if he's not listening to the people who are telling him exactly

what he needs to do, how much handholding can you do of someone?

When we were looking around the flat to start with and you're looking

at the damage, and there's knives and things in here as well,

you start to get a really negative image of someone.

And then Joel walks in and actually, he didn't react to us

with any aggression at all - quite the opposite.

My idea of who he was changed very, very quickly once he'd...

You know, and it kind of taught me a lesson about making assumptions

about people based on what you see around you, really.

'Evictions in England and Wales are currently at an all-time high,

'with 170 tenants like Joel losing their home every day.

'As today's experience demonstrates,

'the reasons are rarely black and white.'

Before I was living here

I was living in supported housing because I was a care leaver.

Which was really bad for me

because I didn't have the whole idea of living independently

explained to me, and so that's where the debt started.

I mean, they've allowed you to be in arrears for nearly ten years.

They've been very patient.

But it's not the patience that I needed,

I needed someone to just give me a hand.

That's all it really was.

I needed some options. I needed a way out.

-Sam...

-Yes.

Oh, there they are.

You move up, you renew,

you try to make better than what you've had before.

I don't think anybody likes doing evictions.

We get into the housing business to have people in houses,

not to remove people from them.

But, you know, there's plenty of people who want to live in

a flat like this and will pay the rent, at the end of the day,

and that's what we're after.

I worry now that he's going into the private rented market

which, from what I've seen, can be pretty brutal.

-He had a degree of security here...

-Absolutely.

..which now he's trading for goodness knows what.

Yeah, definitely. I mean, he would have this property for life

if he hasn't been in arrears or broken his tenancy agreement.

Talk about meeting someone at their low point.

You can't help but wonder what's going to happen next to him.

You know, evicted from his home for the last 12 years,

he's not got regular work

and he's got to somehow scrape together enough for a deposit

which, to be honest, feels a long way off.

Even though he's optimistic,

I think he's got the bit of a challenge on his hands.

But the eviction had to take place.

He wasn't paying his rent

and he clearly wasn't looking after the flat either.

Doesn't leave you with a good feeling, though.

That's a tough job.

'Over on the East Coast in Jaywick, housing officers Rob and Ian

'have been investigating a garden

'that's been turned into a dumping ground.'

If the landlord wanted to put a fence backup,

would you be all right with that, would you? OK, that's fine.

'It all seems to have turned out quite amicably,

'until a disgruntled neighbour turns up and objects to us filming.'

So, we're looking at this abandoned property as part of our job

and they're just filming the rubbish because they've come over.

I spoke to the gentleman and he said he's happy to reinstate the fence.

'It seems this resident is involved in the fly-tipping too.'

-OK, sir.

-OK, no problem.

'And he's not happy with Rob and Ian asking questions.'

-Hey, hey, hey! Whoa, whoa, whoa!

-BLEEP!

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down!

Sir, sir, sir...

All right? Do us all a favour, go!

-Can I have my phone back, please, sir?

-Go!

-Sir...

I'm off, I'm off.

-What don't you like about it? Tell us.

-Why are you filming?

-We've got you out papping with

-BLEEP

-cameras round here.

-BLEEP.

I don't know if you caught all of that, but the one of the owners

of the land wasn't very happy with us filming

that plot of land and the rubbish on there.

Once we'd spoken to him and calmed him down,

because he was very agitated...

Tempers can always be quite flared here, you know?

The issue here is there has been a lot of hard press here.

A lot of people feel very upset

with the way they've been portrayed down here.

I grew up here and it's actually a really lovely area, you know?

You've got some lovely people, lovely community.

We chatted to him, he said he's only keeping that there

because he's trying to clear up the area himself.

Hopefully he'll be good on his agreement we've got with him

and the fence will be back up and then I can deal with

the empty property separately,

and then that's some way of getting closer to finishing it.

Rob and Ian's visit to Jaywick is a perfect example of

the demanding role of the housing officer, where a straightforward

visit to a property can turn into something much more challenging.

Unfortunately, when they returned to the property six weeks later,

they found the fly-tipping had actually got even worse,

proving a real headache for the rest of the community.

But Rob and Ian are not giving up and they've reported the issue

to the Environment Agency in the hope further action can be taken.

Defending our right to a safe place to live is the job of

housing officers right across the UK.

It is unusual for us to find a tenanted property in this condition.

-You can smell that rubbish still, can't you? Even from here.

-Yeah.

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

You got insulted, we got kicked out.

Bit of a red letter day, really, isn't it?

'I'm hitting the streets,

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

You've done a great thing, you've done a superb thing.

You really have.

..as we make sure a house is a fit place to call a home.

The place is clearly being plagued by rats,

raw sewage in the back garden.

It's just apparent that this is not an OK environment

for anyone to live in.

There's no such thing as an average day.

Yes, it's a cliche, but like all the best cliches, it's true,

certainly when it comes to the role of the housing officer.

It's the nature of the job that despite all the phone calls

and research, they never really know what they're going to face

when they walk through the door.

It's a role where a perfectly straightforward visit

to a tenant can turn into something much more serious and challenging.

Finding an affordable property in London

has never been easy but with house prices here in the capital

continuing to rise and rents also set to increase

over the next five years, you can see why people

are talking about a housing crisis.

So, making sure social housing is available to those in need

is a priority for councils and housing associations here.

But in some parts of the city,

housing officers like Grace Briody are finding their jobs

are being made harder by some tenants trying to cheat the system.

Here in south London, in Lewisham, I've found tenancy fraud

seems to be one of the top things

that I'm investigating at the moment.

Tenancy fraud is a criminal offence and punishable by

up to two years in jail. But combating it is difficult,

as it can come in many different shapes and sizes.

You know longer use the property as your main and principal home -

that breaches your tenancy agreement.

People have started a tenancy here, maybe left the country,

allowed family members to remain in the properties,

and it is a really big problem in London.

It's something that we come across all of the time.

Illegally subletting your property means that those in need

have to wait even longer before they can find suitable accommodation.

And when you learn that Lewisham alone has more than 9,000 households

on the social homes waiting list, you can understand why councils

and housing associations are so keen to clamp down on the problem.

Today, Grace has got a couple of properties in her sights

she thinks may be cheating the system.

First up, there's the mysterious case of an invisible tenant.

We've been informed that the rent hasn't been paid

for quite some time, housing benefit has been stopped.

There is some information, though we're not quite sure how accurate

it is, that the resident may actually be in prison at the moment.

We haven't been informed of this by family or by the resident

or by the police service,

so obviously we need to ascertain if anyone is in the property.

Our records show that it should just be one person

living in the property,

so I want to find out, just check that there's no

subletting going on and obviously just to see if I can make contact

with the resident and just clarify the information we've been given.

If the tenant's housing benefit has stopped,

it's clear something has changed at this property.

Although it seems pretty quiet to me.

Time for a more direct approach.

Hello, it's Grace from Hyde Housing. Is there anyone in there?

OK, well, there doesn't appear to be anyone answering the door.

There are some personal items inside,

so I can't ascertain whether it's been abandoned.

A further inspection reveals more evidence of signs of life.

There's a bag of clothes that obviously belongs to somebody.

I can't really see a huge amount through the net curtains.

There are items in there.

But while Grace is busy piecing together the clues,

it seems help may be at hand from an unexpected source.

A neighbour claims to have some information that could prove useful.

The gentleman that lives there, do you know who he's been?

Scotland?

So nobody's living there?

And there's an even bigger bombshell.

So, he's not been there for a year and a half.

See, we were told he could be in prison.

This new information could explain why Grace is having

no luck gaining entry to the flat.

And although she can't speak to the elusive tenant,

she does have a clever way of checking whether

the neighbour's information might be correct.

Just going to have a quick check on the metres and see if anyone's

topped them up recently.

The electricity metre has got a debt of £90 on it,

which suggests that nobody has topped up this

in six, seven, maybe more months.

It's clearly saying £90 owed,

and there's £35 owed on the gas metre...

..which does corroborate the idea

that no-one is living here at the moment.

It looks like the tenant has left without informing

the housing association,

leaving a hefty utilities bill for someone else to pick up.

A couple of things I can do.

The particular resident I'll need to now investigate,

see if they're registered to any alternative addresses,

see if they've got any changes in their bank statements,

find out if they've got any current housing benefit claims

anywhere else, job-seeker claims or, you know,

their bank addresses have been moved.

After this visit,

Grace is confident she's learnt enough to start taking action.

I will serve a notice of seeking possession today.

We'll give them 28 days to respond back to us to say,

"No, I'm living here, actually, there's been a mistake."

That's obviously an option we're going to give.

If they don't come back to us we'll assume the property

has been abandoned.

And she's getting the ball rolling

to get one of this flat ready for one of the 9,000 households

on Lewisham's waiting list.

I've got a notice to quit that I've drafted.

It clearly states that they've got 28 days to get back in contact

with us and if they don't come back to us and say,

"No, we're living in the property and there's been a mistake,"

or provide any further evidence, we'll proceed to end the tenancy.

Right, job done.

-Later...

-Hello? It's Grace from Hyde Housing.

..Grace's investigation into a second flat reveals

something even more shocking.

The UK has a rapidly ageing population.

By 2020, it's expected there will be an extra 1.1 million people

over 65 years old.

That's going to pose a huge challenge for councils

across the country.

One solution to that challenge is sheltered retirement housing,

like here in Stroud.

Places like this provide accommodation in the form of

flats and bungalows for ageing residents,

with the aim of keeping them as independent as possible.

Mo moved in after a recent amputation left her in need

of some extra help.

I didn't realise at first that I was going to be having my leg off.

-Right, so you went in not quite knowing...

-Not quite sure.

Thinking that I could get away without having the op.

-But I couldn't.

-Yeah.

Because if I had carried on without treatment,

it was going to take my life anyway. It is sore.

But what happened, I came home for a very short time,

and after the amputation,

got off the loo and promptly fell on my stump on a concrete floor.

So half a day later I'm back in the hospital for another month or more.

Yes, that's making me go a bit funny.

-That must have been very painful.

-It was.

'It's important for residents like Mo to keep as active as

'possible and the staff here run groups like this keep fit class.'

-I was told you were a naughty group.

-We're not naughty, are we?

-Well behaved.

-Are you?

'The aim is to encourage tenants to stay physically fit and healthy.

'But it also provides vital social interaction.'

Just heel raises.

Alternately.

'Looks nice and straightforward.'

Just one? Sorry.

Same foot.

LAUGHTER

I've already got it wrong.

'OK, maybe I spoke a little too soon. It's clear though,

'these ladies are having plenty of fun together.'

'I was just trying to put myself in your place when you're going back

'and this is maybe be the first time you seen some of those people,'

and the first thing you're doing together is

-a physical fitness session when you're missing a leg.

-Yeah.

I've got to be fit.

But, you know, I thought that was quite a brave thing to do.

A lot of people just sit back and it's, "Woe is me".

But you don't sit back here.

-Can you tell you about this place where you're living?

-Yeah.

-This complex, can we call it?

-It's lovely.

-Is it?

What is it that makes it so good for you?

That everybody mucks in. There's always someone here for you.

We do our bit for each other.

Making this programme, I've seen the alternative.

-I've seen people who are incredibly isolated.

-Yeah.

-Who don't have this.

-That is down to them.

-Not always, I don't think it is.

-A lot of the time.

I get the feeling that even what you've gone through,

that's not going to stop you getting involved, is it?

No, it's not.

'You have to admire Mo's attitude and also that of the rest of the

'residents here, even if they do occasionally make

'a slightly younger man blush.'

Oh!

LAUGHTER

I'm going to look up again.

LAUGHTER

'The class is run by Becky, and I'm guessing she keeps herself

'fit just trying to keep everyone in line.'

It's a fabulous group.

They're very happy and vibrant, great to be around and very

enthusiastic about the exercises. Very rowdy.

I find that I come out here with an aching jaw.

And they might have their aching legs and their aching arms.

One, two, three, go!

OK. Cool it down now.

'They've all said to me how much they are enjoying the classes.'

I think amongst doing the exercises

it's a good social impact as well for them.

So everybody is being able to meet each other and have

a good laugh along the way.

'Housing officer Teresa is the one ultimately responsible

'for the residents' wellbeing,

'but you get the impression she enjoys the challenge.'

On the programme,

-we end up meeting a lot of people who are quite isolated.

-Mm-hmm.

It's such a refreshing thing to see people at this stage in their lives

-having such a buzz, having such a laugh.

-Yeah, it is.

You've got people who are going through

some quite big things in their lives.

At this stage of their lives, big illnesses come in to play,

like we saw with Mo. Losing partners and friends,

these are weekly or monthly occurrences for that group.

The fact that Mo today has been able to

overcome a massive hurdle by coming into a room full of people

when she's just a few weeks from leg amputation is absolutely fantastic,

that she felt welcome enough

and everybody was so pleased to see her and greeted her.

And it will be a big boost for her confidence.

I come away feeling refreshed

because it's such a happy bunch of people.

They see people get on like that together,

it's a wonderful thing, isn't it?

Come on, now!

LAUGHTER

We are doing a sit to stand, see how many we can do in 30 seconds.

On your marks, get set, go.

'The residents here are showing no signs of slowing down.

'I'm just about done in.

'Of course, sheltered accommodation won't be to everyone's taste

'but from what I've seen today it could provide

'a great solution for a lot of older people.'

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Earlier, housing officer Grace Briody

was on the hunt for tenants

suspected of illegally subletting their properties.

After discovering one flat that appeared abandoned...

I've got a notice to quit that I've drafted,

clearly states that they've got 28 days to get back in contact with us.

If they don't we'll proceed to end the tenancy.

..she is now on her way to a second property.

The housing association has been writing to this tenant

over allegations they are illegally subletting the property

to family members. After they have refused to engage,

Grace has decided it's time for a face-to-face.

In an ideal world I would love to get there and that the real tenant

is living there and that there is no drama,

no issues to deal with.

That would be ideal.

We'd like to think that our properties are being resided in

by the correct tenants.

I'm not naive enough to think that could be the case.

I'm going to have to wait and see.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to knock on the door.

If I get an answer,

I'll be requesting to speak to the main tenant.

Trying to investigate tenants who may be breaking the law

can be a tricky business, so housing officers have to tread carefully.

At this point, so early only on,

it's not advisable to really say what we're doing here

or to say that we have information

that conflicts what they are telling us,

because then people will close down.

So my main kind of questions are going to be,

"Hi, can I speak to the tenant?" And if they say, "No",

"Right, when's the tenant going to be back in?

"I've been trying to write to her for a couple of months now,

"still not had any response.

"A few issues that have popped up with the tenancy

"that I need to discuss with her.

"Can you let me know when she'll be home

"and I'll come and visit on another day?"

If the property is being sublet to someone unknown

to the housing association,

removing them could prove a long and costly legal process.

So Grace needs to make sure she's doing everything by the book.

I've got my own fobs.

I don't like to ring the buzzer, so I need to identify,

if I do have to start a fraud case,

physically be able to describe the person that I've spoken with.

It helps that if for any reason another team

has to take over the investigation, or one of my colleagues,

it's important for them to know exactly who I spoke to

and what they look like so we can get consistency.

So I won't ring up, I'll get my own entrance and I'll knock on

the door and see if I can get in.

Grace has no idea how the tenant might react, especially if they

are about to be told they could be facing a prison sentence for fraud.

But she wasn't expecting that.

An abandoned shopping trolley isn't exactly the warmest welcome.

And there's something else that is causing concern.

The door's open. I am going to push the door open and shout in

because I'm a little bit concerned about what's happening here.

As you can see the door's been blocked by a shopping trolley.

SHE KNOCKS ON DOOR

Grace was expecting to be confronted by at least one tenant here

so the open door and lack of life is particularly worrying.

Hello, it's Grace from Hyde Housing.

The fridge is wide open. Milk from July. Food from July.

Eggs from July.

The kitchen doesn't provide much of a clearer picture.

I'm just going to do a check round property and make sure that

there is no evidence of anyone still remaining here.

It certainly doesn't look like there is.

OK, so we've got... We've got a wheelchair here...

This we'll arrange to get back to the mobility company

so hopefully it can be reused by someone, which would be nice.

They've left... Some items have been left in the property.

There's a lot of clothes in here.

It may have been that they had some intentions of returning.

An abandoned wheelchair is a strange discovery.

But what Grace finds next is even more surprising.

There's a prosthetic leg.

This property is proving to be a real mystery,

even by a housing officer's standards.

That's not what I expected to find.

It may have been that the family who was staying here

decided that...

They may have been aware that we were going to come and investigate

as a result of the lack of contact that we've been having and

the letters that we've written, although we've not suggested

in any of our letters that we were going to start investigating.

But, it happens sometimes.

As you can see they've taken all of their goods.

Obviously the warning sign when we came in was the fact that the

door was being blocked by a shopping trolley.

Very surprised none of the neighbours reported anything.

Hello. I'm from Hyde Housing, I'm a housing officer. What's going on?

A chat with one of the tenants next door reveals no-one

has been seen in this property for several months.

If the neighbour is correct and the property

has been abandoned, Grace's first concern is what has happened

to the tenants, especially after what she has just found.

There was obviously somebody that had mobility issues.

We can see there's a wet room, the wheelchair, the prosthetic leg.

You know, it's not just the place has been abandoned.

I need to do some research into who was living here and find out

where they've moved onto. I've got a duty of care to my resident,

that still for the next 28 days while we serve a notice to quit,

it will be the resident, that I actually need to find out

where they've gone and to check that there is

no safeguarding or safety issues that we need to be aware of.

While investigations will begin to track the tenants to see if

they're OK, Grace will also start work on getting

this neglected flat back in shape.

A lot could have gone wrong.

This could have been squatted in. It could have been broken into.

There could have been all sorts that this property could have been

used for. Leaks could have broken out.

And also what's really sad is that potentially it's been

abandoned for a couple of months now.

That's a couple of months that another family could have been

living here, making use of this property,

and instead it's just been left.

We've come here today to do a tenancy audit on the information

there may be additional people living in the property.

Did not expect to find the door open

and the property to have been abandoned.

Obviously a little bit concerned about what

has happened to the tenants and I will try and find that out,

but I'm glad that we've discovered the property.

If the tenant no longer requires the property,

whether it's a couple of months down the line, or immediately,

for us to find that it's been abandoned

and be able to take immediate action to get it back into a liveable state

for the next person, absolutely.

I hate to see empty properties

when I know there's so many people in need.

So we can now take action. We'll get the locks changed

and obviously still attempt to make contact

with the tenants and really verify,

clarify that they are no longer wishing to remain in this property.

After that visit, Grace swung into action.

At the first property, the eviction process is now in progress.

Once complete, the flat will be prepared for a new tenant.

While at the mysteriously abandoned second property,

Grace has been able to confirm the resident has moved on.

So that too is in the process of being made

into a much-needed home for a new family.

It's clear that even though the job of a housing officer can be tough,

it's certainly never dull.

Every front door offers a different challenge.

So join me next time, when I'll be back on the front line

with the men and women across the UK

fighting for your right to a safe and secure place to call home.