Episode 8 The Housing Enforcers

That doesn't feel safe. 'Everyone deserves a safe place to live.'

What's it like for you living here?

'But with rents rising and demand increasing,

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

Passers-by have used these as toilets.

Out she popped, brandishing a bottle above her head.

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

There are definitely fleas here. There's infestation.

He was trying to make this into a home

and then it just all went horribly wrong.

'I'm on the front line with those

'fighting for the right to decent housing.'

You can actually see the floorboards.

'As local councils and housing associations

'battle problem properties and slum conditions...'

-Are you ready for this, are you?

-I don't know.

'..as they deal with dodgy landlords...'

So, that's a dead rat.

What am I going to do?

'..nightmare neighbours...'

All hell broke loose and I could hear somebody screaming.

-Get rid of him.

-'..and everything in between...'

-I think that's referred to as a bong.

-A bong, right, OK.

-A makeshift bong.

-Yeah, a makeshift bong.

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

"If there's something strange in your neighbourhood,

"who you gonna call?"

'Today, there's an unpleasant revelation

'on an estate inspection in Peterborough.'

Passers-by have used these as toilets.

I've walked up here once and there's been urine running down

where somebody recently urinated.

'In Newcastle, there's an investigation

'into a shrinking garden.'

The fence is literally about to come down.

I mean, it's not the greatest, which is the main concern.

'There's a shock in store for housing officers in Stroud.'

It's going to take a few coats of paint on the doors, I would imagine,

to get them, but we will paint them white.

'And a 91-year-old resident gets a warm glow all over.'

Well, it will be a pleasure not to have to walk out there

in the winter time and get buckets of coal in.

It used to be so straightforward.

You leave education, you get yourself a job

and then settle down once you've found a house or flat.

And even though happily ever after wasn't guaranteed, you could usually

depend on getting an affordable and safe place to live.

Well, it's no secret that, thanks to the housing crisis,

today, things are a bit more complicated.

But there are men and women across the UK whose job it is to ensure

that everyone has the opportunity to enjoy a safe roof over their heads.

Every day, they're out fighting for your rights.

They are The Housing Enforcers.

As a social housing tenant, getting a property is hard enough,

but what happens if you need to move?

A mutual exchange means literally swapping homes

with another social housing tenant, and it can be an easier way

to move to another area or different-sized property

without having to join lengthy waiting lists.

'In Wiltshire, I'm working with housing officer Belinda Eastland

'on the way to see one tenant who's about to do just that.'

Today, we're seeing Rosie.

She's lived in the village for many years in one of our rented homes.

You know, her family's grown up,

moved away and she's left in a three-bedroomed house.

And that means she's got two spare bedrooms.

'Single mum Rosie has lived here for the past 21 years.'

KNOCK ON DOOR

-Hi, Rosie.

-Hello.

-How are you?

-I'm Belinda. This is Matt.

Hi, I'm Belinda, hi, Matt.

Nice to meet you. Thank you very much.

'But with her daughters gone,

'the introduction in 2013 of the Government's Spare Room Subsidy,

'otherwise known as the bedroom tax,

'means she could lose benefits for having unoccupied rooms,

'so she's decided to downsize.

'Luckily, after searching a house-swap website,

'Rosie's found a property that suits her,

'in a nearby town that's also closer to her kids.'

-Absolutely.

-You've found a wonderful house, haven't you?

-Have you seen it yet?

-No, I've seen where it is,

but I actually haven't been in it yet.

-That's later today.

-It's beautiful.

-It's a two-way swap, is it?

-Yes.

-Just the two of you involved?

Yeah, she's got a two-bed and she wants a three

and, um, I've got a three-bed and I want a two.

'So, it seems there's a very practical reason for the swap.

'But while Belinda does a final assessment of the property

'in preparation for the new tenant, I get the feeling that, for Rosie,

'this move might be a bittersweet one.'

21 years here, your family and your daughter's family growing up here...

-Yeah.

-..and now, you're looking at moving,

-so that must be quite a wrench.

-Yeah.

-How does that feel?

Um, mixed feelings, mixed feelings.

-Yeah.

-Sad on one...

This, the view out there - have you seen the view out there?

-Yeah, stunning.

-It is absolutely amazing - and that was nothing,

it was fields when I first moved here.

That I'll miss and I don't know how I'll ever replace it,

so I'll just have to do something in a different property

to make an environment nice again, you know, but, yes, it is a wrench.

How difficult does it make it,

knowing that you've been kind of forced into the choice a little bit?

When the Bedroom Tax came out, I was absolutely livid.

People can fall on hard times, you know,

you never know what's round the corner.

You can have people that have, like myself,

brought their families up in a property and then aren't actually,

if anything happens to them, they lose their job,

they haven't even got anywhere for their grandchildren to stay,

because they'll be eventually booted out and...

And 20 years of family life, and I've got six grandchildren.

I want them to be able to come and stay, not too often,

but I want them, you know... Or your family and friends.

Why should you be punished like that?

'I really do feel for Rosie,

'but whatever you think about the impact of the Spare Room Subsidy,

'the current shortage of suitable social housing means

'there are plenty of families living in overcrowded accommodation,

'for whom this place would be perfect.'

There's going to come a point where you're standing at the door

-and all your stuff's in a van...

-I know!

-21 years.

Can you imagine what that's going to be like?

I'm going to cry buckets when I leave here, I know I will.

But it is what it is, so you just have to, um...

Sometimes, you've just got to go with it.

'Of course it can't be easy,

'but it's great to see Rosie able to see some positives in her move.'

This other place, it's just...

a beautiful, old, listed half a farmhouse,

and I've always wanted to live in a cottage or somewhere old,

so I'll make something beautiful of it there.

You know? And she'll make something beautiful of here,

cos that's how it works.

-What did you find, Belinda?

-No, all is well, Rosie.

Internal decoration, that's up to the tenant anyway...

-Exactly!

-..so they'll come in and do what they want to do.

Good. Oh, I'm really pleased for you, Rosie.

-It's a new start.

-Well, it's bittersweet, it's bittersweet.

It is, it is, but new start.

Look on the bright side of life.

Oh, yeah, that's... LAUGHTER

I can definitely do that one.

'Well, I'm not one to pass up an opportunity.'

# Always look on the bright side of life

# Always look on... #

'I THINK Rosie's enjoying it. Isn't she?'

This is hysteria.

-Anyway...

-Very good!

-..the less of that you hear,

the better, I think, especially on the telly.

'Leaving a property after so many years is bound to be challenging,

'but I think the future looks pretty bright for Rosie.'

We're going to go and see the new place

-and check it out for you, is that all right?

-Yeah, please do.

-It's amazing!

-Thank you ever so much for letting us in

-and, um, I hope you're really happy there.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-Nice to meet you.

-And you, and you.

-Good piano-playing.

-It's really not. THEY LAUGH

Really not.

'Later on, we'll be meeting the tenant with whom Rosie

'will be swapping properties, and taking a look at her new home.'

-With all this space, it's great.

-HE KNOCKS

I've given myself a concussion nearly three times.

With a long waiting list of tenants desperate for a place to call home,

it's the job of housing officers to ensure any vacated properties are

reoccupied as soon as possible.

In Stroud, Zoe and Elaine are heading to check the condition

'of a recently-vacated flat on the outskirts of town.'

So, this property we're going to now is a one-bedroom flat.

We don't know if his furniture will be in there,

we don't know if there's going to be fleas, infestations of anything.

We don't know what we're going to expect.

But we'll see when we get there.

This property will need to be turned around quickly,

ready for the next tenant,

but before they can plan a schedule of work, they'll need to do

a full evaluation of the place with council contractor Mark.

-Hello. All right?

-Hi, Mark.

First things first - it seems Elaine's got

a foolproof trick to check for fleas.

Do you want to, um, just have a check with me?

What we do is we put a piece of paper on the floor.

Just wait. If there were any sort of fleas or anything,

it would come onto the paper.

-They're not jumping.

-No.

-Not jumping.

-Yeah.

So it'll be fine to go in.

The property might well be flea-free,

but inside, the decor is, well, alarming.

Oh!

Somebody liked red.

Tenants are allowed to decorate their properties however they wish,

although this looks like it might need some extra attention.

I've never seen this as a colour in a property before,

not with the walls and the doors,

so it's going to take a few coats of paint on the doors, I would imagine,

to get them, but we will paint them white with the frames white as well.

It doesn't help with...

SHE LAUGHS

The lightshade as well is quite...

..quite dark.

Just wait, Elaine, because in the bedroom...

it goes purple.

-Purple room.

-Purple!

And there is, quite literally, a purple patch.

This is a carpet.

Why is there a carpet here?

If that was where the bed was and to protect the bed...

Who knows?

The vibrant colour scheme continues in the bathroom,

which has definitely seen better days.

Ooh, green.

The toilet especially is, that's an old cistern on there,

so, to me, that just shows that it needs a new bath

and it'll just be all white.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen,

the decor is the last thing Mark's worried about.

The way the layout is with the cooker

is not really a suitable working kitchen.

And there's no extractor fan, which is a must, really,

in these properties.

Let's hope things are in better shape in the next room.

OK, lounge.

Nice size.

The ceiling's OK.

That's not too bad. We can leave that up, if you like.

-Just paint it.

-Yeah.

Strip the wallpaper, see what the walls are like underneath.

But they look pretty good,

so it'd just be a redecoration and we would just repaint the walls.

So, not too bad, then.

Oh, hold on, hang on a minute.

They're not... They will need replastering.

And the coving's coming off as well.

-Do you see the state of the walls here?

-Yeah.

-They're all flaking.

-Yeah.

-Yeah, remove the coving now?

-Yeah.

That's not good.

It's clear the property needs a complete refurbish

before the next tenants can move in.

The question is, how much will it cost?

Budget like this one, I would say would probably -

because it needs new heating, kitchen -

you're probably talking about 11,000.

With the void properties, it's the same worktops, same units, flooring.

It is white suite, white tiles throughout

and just one floor colouring.

It's good quality, it is good quality.

Cost effective, but practical.

And Elaine is determined that it will be built to last.

Once we put it in there, we won't be replacing it for another 20 years.

That's the kitchen and the bathroom.

It won't be replaced under any programmes for another 20 years.

If you do it right once, you won't be coming back and, as I say,

if you leave the property in a nice state, prospective tenant coming in,

they tend to look after them a bit more, you know?

This, I would anticipate to be a family home,

so whether it's a couple with one or two children,

more than two children, but it would be a family.

And it's a central location to the town,

so I think it'd be a popular one for people to bid on.

A bid is when a tenant expresses an interest in a property.

The success of the bed depends on their position

on the council's priority list.

But whoever the new tenant is,

they'll be enjoying a completely refurbished flat

with a colour scheme that's a bit easier on the eye.

There's a lot of responsibility, cos you've got to get it right,

you can't keep going back for repairs.

The big job will be the kitchen and bathroom, really.

The rest is just decoration.

Well, true to their word,

Elaine and the team have managed to complete the work,

and, three weeks later, it's the role of housing officer Rachel

to show off the result.

This is a big day for this property.

We're showing its new tenant,

hopefully, around for the first time.

She'll love it, I hope, and she'll want to move in as soon as possible.

For mum Abby and daughter Eloise,

the property could provide a much-needed new home.

So, the bathroom is all brand-new.

It's a new bath, new shower, toilet, basin, tiles, everything's new.

And we'll put a shower curtain up there for you as well.

The shocking red is gone as well. Much more neutral.

If you want to come across. A little bedroom.

Everything's been painted.

It's all gas central heating and double glazing.

Is this going to be your room?

OK, so, this is bedroom one.

If you come through here, I'll show you the lounge and the kitchen.

It's a really lovely flat, actually.

-Cos it's got the two windows, it's really light.

-Yeah.

And then you've got your brand-new kitchen, which has just been fitted.

-It's nice, isn't it?

-Yeah.

It certainly looks the part,

but will it get the thumbs-up from Eloise?

Do you want to live here?

I think we'll take that as a yes.

So it will have nice carpet and all your furniture and your bed.

-Yeah?

-And it will look a bit cosier, probably, next time you come in.

'Yeah, that went really well,'

and that'll be home next week for her and her little one.

So she's had a really happy ending.

I know I've got somewhere I can call home. And it's permanent.

I can make it actually homely for us, so I feel a lot safer,

knowing that I've got somewhere now. So it's just amazing. I'm so happy.

'Back in Wiltshire, the introduction of the Spare Room Subsidy means

'social housing tenant Rosie has to leave her three-bedroom home,

'but instead of joining a lengthy waiting list,

'she's decided to literally swap her property with another tenant.'

21 years. Can you imagine what that's going to be like?

I'm going to cry buckets when I leave here, I know I will.

But it is what it is. Sometimes, you've just got to go with it.

'It's becoming an increasingly popular way of moving home,

'and it's enabled Rosie to find a property that is perfect for her -

'this rather nice two-bedroom barn conversion,

'currently occupied by 6ft 9 man-mountain John.'

Please, make yourself at home, anywhere you like.

You've applied for a mutual exchange with one of our tenants.

-Yeah.

-So we've just been to see Rosie at Marlborough...

-Yeah.

..and you've obviously been to the three-bedroom house there

-and like it?

-Yes.

'John lives here with his partner, her daughter and her child.

'But where Rosie's downsizing,

'for John, it's about needing more space.'

HE KNOCKS

I've given myself concussion nearly three times.

-So it's a fact that you've got the low doorways, low ceilings?

-Yes.

-OK.

'Ouch! Despite only having two bedrooms, it looks like there's

'still plenty of room for Rosie and anyone who wants to visit.'

-A spacious landing as well, gosh.

-Yeah.

-It's quite old, isn't it?

-It's a 16th-century barn conversion

so, yeah, it is rather old!

-And this is the loft.

-Ah!

-This is all just space. These aren't...

This isn't an official bedroom up here, then?

-No, no, because it's a third floor, there's no fire alarm.

-OK.

Yeah, I mean, it is an enormous property, isn't it?

But it's classed as a two-bed,

-cos they're not allowed to use the room there.

-Officially, yeah.

Yeah, OK.

'It really is a beautiful property.

'I'm wondering why would you want to leave a place like this?'

-So now you're leaving...

-Yeah.

..what are the reasons for you going this time?

Because, looking at that, you'd look at that and think,

why would you want to go from somewhere like this?

Well, I am 6ft 9 and I bang my head far too regularly,

-and it really hurts.

-Seriously?

-Yes!

I mean, this is the thing about country cottages they don't say.

-Yeah.

-5ft 8, you're fine.

-Yeah.

-I mean,

-I

-struggle and you are substantially bigger than me.

-I am.

There's going to be people who say this shouldn't be social housing.

-Yeah.

-What do you think about that? You know, this is...this is...

Social housing should be basic and providing a basic need for people,

-and this is anything but that, isn't it?

-Well, no.

I mean, it's a bit exotic-looking, but it's very basic in its, um...

in its purpose.

You know, there's no central heating, it's all storage heaters,

there's no double glazing still. We have to use thermal blinds.

So, you know, people who say that,

they need to come and live here for a week and I can say it's basic.

It did its job and now, it's time to move on

-and stop getting bumps on the head!

-MATT LAUGHS

-Um, so, you've checked out Rosie's place.

-Yeah, yeah.

What did you think when you walked through the door there?

Um, I like the small little community it's in and the door,

the kitchen door, I walked through without having to duck.

-That's as simple as it gets?

-It is as simple as it gets.

-John, it's been lovely meeting you.

-Oh, and you.

-And I wish you all the best with the move.

-Well, thank you.

I think it's one of those situations where it seems, touch wood,

-again, touch wood...

-Yeah.

-..to be working for both parties.

-Let's hope so.

-The best of luck to you and your family.

-Nice to meet you.

-You too.

-Cheers, mate.

What a place. Amazing, isn't it?

And what a swap as well.

A mutual exchange that could be perfect.

Rosie's family, not as big as it used to be,

John's bigger than it used to be,

and they're finding themselves in districts which work out better,

giving them a support structure, a family around them.

It sounds like the perfect mutual exchange.

Let's just hope that it goes ahead.

Well, the good news is the move DID happen

and both families have settled in well.

Defending our right to a safe place to live

is the job of housing officers right across the UK.

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

It's like a red rag to a bull, isn't it, doing something like that?

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

There's a window open there as well.

That's not so bad. I've seen worse.

'..hitting the streets,

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

The smell round here is... is really strong.

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

-Oh, so you've got a choice?

-Yeah. It's a tomahawk of some sort.

The choice of the tomahawk or the bayonet.

So that's a parting shot, basically, is it, from the tenant?

"Anti-social behaviour" - three little words that can mean

a whole lot of trouble for both tenants and housing offices.

For tenants, it's no fun living next door to noisy neighbours,

overgrown gardens or having a collection of refuse

dumped unceremoniously on your doorstep.

And for the housing officer, well,

tackling antisocial behaviour can mean having to play the role

of policemen, diplomat and councillor all rolled into one.

'And today, in Peterborough, that role lands in

'the capable hands of housing officer Jasmine Hammond.

'I'm joining Jasmine as she visits a local estate that's suffering

'from, amongst other things, unsightly fly-tipping.

'It's been causing the tenants big problems,

'but providing a solution has been difficult.'

The residents themselves, I mean, cos it affects them most directly...

-Mm-hm.

-..and, you know, they're the eyes and ears of the estate

of an area, aren't they? Do you get much help from them?

Well, um, I was getting complaints from residents saying,

"Oh, you're not doing anything, the police are not doing anything,"

so I wrote to them and said to them,

"You actually do need to be reporting this to us, and giving us,

"you know, number plates and descriptions,

"so we can actually do something about it,"

and just in the past week,

two fly-tippers have been reported to us.

'Jasmine's point is a good one.

'Housing offices and tenants are much a stronger force

'when they work together. And when we arrived,

'I see just why residents here are so concerned.'

'The estate is home to many families,

'including those with young children.

'Not only is the tipping an eyesore,

'you can see why they might not want their kids anywhere near it.'

So that looks like someone's had a refurb of their house,

they've taken out some old doors, maybe a kitchen

and just, er, dumped it, right in this corner.

But it's not the only one.

I mean, we've got more over there.

It's becoming quite a major problem in this area.

-Yeah.

-I mean, it was only cleared up last week.

And this has been dumped in the meantime.

'Jasmine suspects this isn't any common-or-garden waste

'from the local residents.'

We're finding that people are coming on a daily basis now to fly-tip.

Is it happening at the same time, in the middle of the night?

-Cos that's when you'd probably...

-Well, one resident reported to me

that, at the weekend when they fly-tipped,

there were six families out here playing, because, obviously,

this is quite a large area and, when it's clear,

it's somewhere that the children do play,

cos they obviously play here - and they actually came along

and dumped the rubbish in front of six families playing out.

-While they were there? That brazen?

-Yeah, yeah.

-Wow.

-That's... That takes..

-And when somebody confronted them,

he just gave them the V sign and drove off.

-Fair enough. That's what you'd...

-So they're that blase about it.

Yeah.

'It's a lovely quiet spot here lined with trees, but it's possible

'the picturesque surroundings might, in this instance,

'be making it harder to spot the culprits.'

So, you've got, I mean,

I'm trying to look at it as an area and see what there is

-to stop people doing it, cos it's so secluded here.

-Yeah.

I mean, even the flats kind of look in the opposite direction

and you'd have to crane your neck from one of those

-to see what's going on.

-To see what's going on.

I've got a couple of residents that are quite vigilant

and we caught a fly-tipper last week.

And the one that fly-tipped here at the weekend,

we've got his registration number as well,

so we'll be passing that on to the council.

'Residents here get the double whammy.

'Not only do they have to put up with the mess,

'they have to pay to clear it up, too.'

Something like that, along with the rest,

is probably going to be in the region of 200, £300,

potentially more. It goes on to the service charge

that is spread out over the year, but obviously,

the service charge goes up and up every year,

and it just seems to be becoming more of a problem.

'It's money that could've been used to improve services

'for local people, but instead...

'Well, it's going to waste, quite literally.'

Oh, it's a wheelie bin!

-It's got wheels.

-Yeah.

-Oh!

-That's what's left.

So that's what happens if you set light to a wheelie bin.

'Fly-tipping isn't the only antisocial problem here.'

I mean, it's full of little nooks and crannies, this estate, isn't it?

-Yeah, yeah.

-There are loads of little dark corners

where, if you wanted to get up to something, you could.

'And these dark corners have encouraged

'more sinister activities. As well as reports

'of couples engaged in inappropriate behaviour in the alleyways,

'there's also been sightings of drug use on the estate.'

At night-time, there's no lighting.

Is there lighting here or have I missed it somewhere?

-There's outside lighting on the blocks...

-Yeah.

..but it would be fairly limited.

-Cos it's really nice and peaceful.

-Yeah.

-That's the plus side of it.

-Yeah.

-Lovely and peaceful.

-And the flats are actually

-really nice inside.

-Yeah.

For the residents here, it's not too attractive, is it?

You've got people having illicit liaisons in alcoves, then you've got

teenagers coming here to smoke drugs, cos it's nice and secluded,

-and you've got people...

-Fly-tipping.

-..fly-tipping.

So you've got...

You have got sex, drugs and carpet roll.

SHE LAUGHS

That is awful. Come on.

Let's have a little look around, see what else we can find.

'It is a bad joke,

'and it's clearly no laughing matter for the many residents here.

'Later on, I'll be chatting to a couple to discover

'the real cost of the antisocial behaviour.'

My son is not playing outside,

-because the kids come in, they're smoking weed.

-Smoking weed.

-Yeah.

-So you don't like leaving your son out the front there?

-Exactly.

Many of us dream of moving to a home with a bigger garden,

a large outdoor space to call our own.

But here in Northumberland, housing officers

Laura Barnett and Lindsay Jones

are on their way to investigate a mysterious case

where the garden of one of their homes might actually have shrunk.

The property we're going to now has just recently been re-let.

When it was void, um, we had a massive clearance in the garden,

cos the rear garden hadn't been maintained,

and, as we started to clear the garden,

we then noticed it appeared that the owner-occupier next door

had slightly encroached on our land with his fence.

The new tenant isn't at the property today,

but the neighbour responsible for the new fence is.

Hello there! I'm just going to go and measure up in the garden.

-Oh?

-Yes, is that OK?

So, armed with a trusty tape measure,

it's time for a little bit of detective work.

Just measuring up, cos we've got the measure

of what it should be off the deeds.

So we'll find out where the actual position of the fence should be.

After some detailed investigation, the verdict is in.

So, we're looking at the right measurement.

It should be 8.1 metres, which is to this post,

so that's the same all the way up and down the garden, so all of this,

the fence should go straight from this post

instead of coming outwards.

It seems the neighbour has built a new fence halfway down the garden

that encroaches onto this tenant's lawn,

creating a larger space for himself in the process.

Yeah, it sticks out, and we're also concerned with

the health and safety of the fence. It's literally about to come down.

I mean, it's not the greatest, which is the main concern as well.

On this occurrence, I think we'll be taking down the fence

and putting up a six-foot fence in the correct position.

The tape measure doesn't lie.

Now it's time to report the findings to the neighbour

whose impromptu spot of DIY appears to have caused the problem.

-We've measured it. So up to the post next to your gate...

-Uh-huh?

-..is the actual width of the garden, right?

-Mm-hm.

So we're going to remove your existing fence

and follow it up in a straight line, OK. And we'll do that.

The first post that's in place, where your gate is...

-Where your gate...

-That's right.

-So it should be up from there.

And then, it comes out on a bend and then goes straight.

That's where it's been pushed across a little bit.

-The fence at the back of the garden?

-Yeah.

-That one's changed.

Oh, yeah, at the back, along the back?

-That's on the border-line?

-Yeah.

Yes, so you'd be just going straight up to that.

-Oh, right, yeah.

-We'll go straight up.

-So it's from the edge of the hedge straight down.

-Yeah.

It seems like a straightforward open-and-shut case.

The neighbour accepts his new fence is in the wrong place.

So Lindsay and Laura will instruct their maintenance team

to put up a brand-new one in the correct position,

and that gives their tenant back the whole garden.

But you know, it's not all bad news for the neighbour.

We're going to take on the costs,

because, obviously, it's deteriorated in standard

because of the neighbour and it wasn't anything you'd done

or anything, so we'll take the cost on board for that, OK?

-All right, I will let you know anyway.

-Right.

-OK, then?

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you!

-Thanks very much.

I'd say that's case closed.

That's right, we've gone with what's on the deeds.

He's seen the deeds, he is happy with that.

He understands that, yeah, he did take a little bit of our land.

He's taken about half a metre at the back of the property,

probably a couple of metres squared,

just so that he could have more room for his shed, really.

Certainly, in a close community like this, um, you know,

if one person says, "Well, I've taken a foot of land there,"

it goes on down the street.

Another person takes another foot, and it goes on and on and on.

So we have to try and nip it in the bud as soon as we can.

'I'm back in Peterborough with housing officer Jasmine Hammond.

'She's been called into a local estate where residents are having

'big problems with antisocial behaviour.

'There have been reports of fly-tipping

'where vehicles are taking an untidy detour to dump piles of waste.

'But they're not the only ones making the place look a mess.'

Is this just residents who are chucking stuff out?

I would assume that that is residents.

Cos it's kind of ordered, isn't it?

Yes. This was put out quite a while ago for a council collection

-and somebody has just put, "When?"

-"When," right.

MATT LAUGHS It's been too long!

So we've had to raise that for clearance. Yet again,

that's going to be a cost that'll be passed on to the residents.

So, normally, what you'd have to do is call the council and you'd say,

"I've got a fridge," and the council would say,

"That's going to be..." I don't know.

-25 quid, possibly.

-Right, 25 quid.

-It's no more than £30.

So the alternative here is just to leave it until everyone gets fed up

-with it...

-And reports it, or I spot it and it gets raised.

How do you persuade them that it's actually better

to pay the money upfront? And these are people

-that might not have that money or much money?

-What I say to them,

and I do send the letters out quite regularly, is,

if we catch you fly-tipping, we will report you to the council,

they will investigate that, you will get a fine off the council,

then we will charge you up to £250 to arrange for that to be cleared.

OK, so, that's the big stick at the back of that.

-Yeah.

-That, if you do this sort of thing, actually,

-it could cost you ten times as much further down the road.

-Yeah, yeah.

'Jasmine has another rather graphic illustration of how the layout

'of the estate might be encouraging antisocial behaviour.'

The thing is, with these alleyways, these...

-I mean, you're out of the public view, aren't you?

-Mm-hm.

And you've got this little narrow thing, anything can happen in there.

Well, we've had complaints from residents that passers-by

have used these as toilets. Um, I've walked up here once

and there's been urine running down, where somebody's recently urinated.

It's not nice and it's not nice for the residents either,

because, obviously, they're the ones that have to clean it

and complain about it. But it's catching somebody, really.

I'd rather not, in some ways, what, mid...

-HE CLEARS HIS THROAT

-I'd make him clean it up himself.

I would! THEY LAUGH

-You'd have serious words with them once they'd finished.

-Yes.

'Although the problems of this estate are not the worst

'I've ever come across, it's clear that a build-up of issues like these

'can have a big effect on the tenants who live here.

'People like Eduardo.'

THEY LAUGH

'Eduardo's a big family man.

'He's lived happily here on the estate for a while, but recently,

'parts of the communal space have become a no-go area for his son.'

This side is sometimes terrible.

For example, my son in the school time is not playing this side,

because the kids come in, they're smoking.

OK, so they're smoking what?

-Weed.

-Smoking weed?

-Yeah.

-So you don't like leaving...

-Exactly.

-..your son out the front there?

-Mm-hm.

-That's not so good for you?

-No, it's no good for my son, for me.

-Yeah.

-Yeah, yeah.

And how about the rubbish that we see, the fly-tipping?

So, the rubbish is terrible.

-Any idea who's doing it?

-No, no.

-Do you ever see them?

-No.

And then, in terms of the costs of that, does that go to you?

-Yeah.

-You end up paying for that rubbish?

-Yeah.

So what's the answer?

-So put the camera...

-Yeah.

-..for, yeah, the surveillance camera,

I think it's better for seeing that.

-So if there was a camera up there to watch it...

-Yeah, watch it.

..and get rid of it, that would be better?

-Yeah.

-Thanks for talking to me.

-Really nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

I hope it all gets sorted for you.

'It's clearly tough on Eduardo and his family,

'as this estate should be a very pleasant place to live.'

The thing about not being able to send your kids out to play...

Well, they can't, that's where they come here and smoke the cannabis.

It's really difficult for families to let the children play out here.

You think about that, and you know it goes on,

you know it happens in places,

-but then, you put it right next to families...

-Mm-hm.

..and, of course, you know, it influences those kids.

-They see it, they're around it.

-Yeah. It's really bad for them.

The behaviour that goes on with it as well is really...

-It's not what you want your kids to be around.

-No.

'For Jasmine, the visit has provided a lot of food for thought,

'but unfortunately, it hasn't offered any easy answers.'

We've used CCTV before. That wasn't successful,

because nobody gave us any reports or they'd say, "Sometime last week."

We can't go through that much footage, we need specifics,

and that's why I've ended up writing to the residents and saying,

we really need you to be reporting, even if it's just the number plate,

day and time, and that you're prepared to give a statement,

we can do something about this,

but we need the residents to be on board with it.

The thing about this estate, though,

is it's got loads of potential to be lovely. It is quiet, it is secluded,

which should make it a lovely place to live.

It's got bags of parking, loads of amenities.

We do really need to tighten it up and see if we can open up the area

for families, rather than for people committing crimes!

Yes, ideally. In an ideal world.

'Everyone has the right to feel safe and secure in their own home,

'a right to a quality of life, but it's also clear that,

'for that to happen on this estate,

'it's going to require a team effort.'

It's always the way, though, isn't it?

You know, probably 85% of the residents here want it to be as good

-as it possibly can be for them and their kids and everything...

-Yeah.

..and it's just there's a few that are ether turning a blind eye...

-Or they don't care about their area.

-..or doing it themselves.

You can smell that rubbish still, can't you, even from here?

Yeah. It's really bad.

'I don't envy the scale of Jasmine's task here,

'but she's a no-nonsense character.

'Something tells me she'll be getting things sorted

'sooner rather than later.'

Well, since our visit, I'm pleased to report

that there have been more residents coming forward to report incidents

of fly-tipping on the estate.

Registration numbers have been reported to the authorities

and gardening contractors are looking at the possibility

of reducing the height of the trees,

to help residents keep a further lookout for offenders.

The police have also teamed up with a local college to target the area

and help reduce complaints about groups of young adults congregating

to take drugs. That's great news for tenants like Eduardo and his family.

Official figures indicate that Britain's population is

an ageing one, with statistics suggesting that,

in less than 25 years' time, 1 in 12 of us will be over 80.

'That's going to present some pretty big housing challenges

'in the future, but today, here in Aylesbury,

'there are more immediate issues

'facing housing officer Tony Proud and one of his elderly tenants.'

So where are we going today?

This lady's had solid fuel for a long while, a number of years,

and she's now got to the point where it's hard for her to maintain it.

And we've now just put her electric central heating in?

So she had coal fires up till now, then?

-She did, yes.

-That's what it was?

-She was looking after it herself,

going outside and getting her coal in.

Quite an extraordinary lady, really, for her age.

-So how old is she?

-91.

Wow!

'It is a beautiful spot, but the very rural location

'makes it more difficult to access utilities like gas central heating.

'The tenant here, Mrs Dumpleton,

'has been relying on a solid fuel solution,

'something that clearly isn't practical at her time of life.'

Mrs Dumpleton, could you tell me how long you've lived in this house?

85 years last month.

So you moved into this when it was brand-new?

-Yes.

-This house?

-Yes.

-Wow!

Do you remember that, cos you would've been a very small girl?

-I can remember it as though it was yesterday.

-Really?

-Yes.

-Do you remember? Cos you're with your mum and dad...

-Yes.

-..you're about six years old?

-Yes, that's right.

So what happened? Talk me through it.

Well, you just carried your things.

You didn't need furniture vehicles

and anything like that to remove you, just, er...

You had neighbours, everybody was helpful to one another,

and you just carried your things across the road and done with it.

-So you went from that house over there...

-Yes, yes.

-..to this one here...

-Yes.

-..when it was brand-new?

-Yeah.

And you've had, what, 85 Christmases in here?

-Yes.

-Wow!

-My father was here for a time,

then my brothers, and, of course, my husband.

But I lost him 19 years ago,

and I've had to manage on my own ever since.

Can you tell me what your daily routine was,

-with getting the house warm?

-How would it work?

I used to get up at half past five every morning, did the ashes,

and stoke up for the day.

-Shifting bags of coal and bags of logs and chopping wood.

-Yeah.

-All of that sounds like quite a job?

-It was always a job.

This last few months, to do the ashes

and all of that sort of thing in the morning,

that was a bit of a nightmare, to be quite truthful, for me.

'Fortunately, thanks to Tony and his team,

'a more hi-tech solution has now been implemented.'

In the whole of the house now, we've installed these

high-efficiency storage heaters. Simple controls, easy-to-use.

Every one can be done individually.

They're a lot cheaper than propane gas and solid fuel.

Which is what we need to have out here in the country?

So, when you're out in the sticks, it's a lot better.

-Very modern technology.

-Consider myself educated.

Thank you very much, Tony.

'Despite Tony's admirable enthusiasm,

'no-one's going to claim that radiators are the new rock and roll.

'But for Mrs Dumpleton, they're going to make a massive difference

'and help her remain in the property

'she's called home for more than eight decades.

'But the changes have left one small issue,

'as her son Dennis explains.'

-That's it there, is it?

-This is the coal bunker outside.

-Er, completely filled up.

-How do you get in there?

SLAB SCRAPES Oh, my God!

-Look at it!

-So what are we going to do with that, then?

You look at that and what your mum

used to have to do to try and get that inside...

-That's right.

-91!

She was carrying coal in, er...in buckets.

You can't carry coal at her age.

How important is this place for your mum?

I mean, 85 years is such an incredibly long time, you know,

and, during that time, births, deaths, marriages, Christmases,

all of that stuff that's taken place here.

She's seen her husband die here,

she seen her mother die here, her grandfather, er...

Whenever anything happened years ago,

everyone came to the family home.

This central heating enables her to carry on here and, at the moment,

she's got her independence for another however many years.

'Which is great, but that still leaves the question,

'what to do with all this coal?

'I'm determined to do my bit.'

-I'll take one as a souvenir, there you go.

-Please do.

-That's it.

-That's only a small piece.

-That's a help!

THEY LAUGH

If you've lived here for 85 years, with bags of coal,

this is a big change for you?

Yes. Well, it will be a pleasure not to have to walk out there

in the wintertime and get buckets of coal in.

-That's good to hear.

-Yes.

-Have you noticed a difference in the house?

-Yes, it's much better.

Well, I'm glad you're happy with the way it is now.

-I'm very happy with it.

-Apart from anything else,

-it does look the part, doesn't it?

-It's very nice, isn't it?

-Yeah.

'It's been great to meet Mrs Dumpleton, and today's visit

'just goes to show that, when a housing officer gets involved,

'even small changes can make huge difference to people's lives.'

Just to give you an idea,

when Mrs Dumpleton first moved into her house...

..this is where she got her water from.

85 years later, that place is still

knitted into the DNA of her family. Six generations!

They've been born there, they've died, they've got married,

and now a simple thing like fitting new heaters to that place means that

Mrs Dumpleton can carry on for a few more years at least.

That's gotta be a good thing.