The Trouble with Young Men Neighbourhood Watched

contains some strong language

An estimated one-in-six people in Britain live in social housing.

Britain's housing officers are at the sharp end.

Hello?

There's not enough social housing, there's not enough to meet demand.

They deal with around ten million people day in, day out.

There's your keys.

This is the good part.

Most are good tenants, but some risk everything with their antisocial behaviour.

Right, what are you lot doing?

We have a problem.

This week, one difficult tenant causes problems.

Just evict me! Is that what you want? Is that what you want?

And another is in desperate need.

We're not always in a position to help, we can't help everybody.

I just need a place, I'll be happy to get anything.

And the enforcement team take a tough line on drugs.

Police!

It's like somebody's taking the mickey!

So we have no choice but to take serious action against them.

To the east of Manchester, one housing association houses almost 30,000 people.

The vast majority of their residents are good tenants, but a minority cause problems for everyone else.

Come on!

This way!

Trouble started on this estate when Stephen moved in with his family and pets.

This way!

Stephen's neighbours have been complaining about loud music and abusive behaviour,

-his exotic pets...

-Get here now!

-..And his dog.

-Get it away!

Get off, get here now! Get here!

It's supposed to be on a lead!

Fuck off!

We have to put up you old grannies complaining!

Be quiet now!

No, the person behind you!

Grow up!

Bye-bye, Grandma!

We don't have to put up with things like this. And why should we?

That's what we've got to put up with.

This morning, Ivan Wright from Enforcement has been called out by housing officer Anne Jackson

to confront Stephen.

There's lots of noise at the address, mainly in the form of music playing very loud

till the early hours of the morning.

They haven't been living there that long, they've only been there about six weeks, I think,

so it's quite early on for this kind of activity to start up

which is an indication of what kind of tenants they're likely to be.

As Stephen is new, he's classed as a starter tenant,

which means he has less rights

and can be evicted without lengthy legal proceedings if he causes serious problems.

Many of Stephen's neighbours have been disturbed by the noise and goings-on from his flat,

including John, who lives nearby.

It started off with the music... and the music, you know, the whole estate must hear the music.

What we've seen is three lads, two girls and a baby.

And then they have a dog, they have three lizards...

they have a parrot in a cage... or whatever they call it, and now they've got a snake.

It must be like a zoo.

It's only a one-bedroomed flat, you know,

and I really don't know how they've got all that in one flat.

Hi, pal.

We've had quite a few complaints about noise from the property...

mainly loud music.

-Not that loud.

-Well, you might not think it's loud, but it must be for them to complain.

The other issue we've got is the number of people staying here.

-So how many people live here now?

-There's just me that lives here...

Well, technically on paper you live here, but obviously people do stay here.

-So how many people stay here?

-My brother now and then, my girlfriend but she's got her own flat.

You can't have that many people living here. The other thing, the third thing, is the animals.

-How many lizards have you got?

-Four.

-There's four lizards...

a dog...

Anything else?

-But my brother...

-I heard a bird, didn't I, as I came in?

You're only allowed one pet as per the tenancy agreement which you signed and said you were happy with.

And they're the animals that you're allowed, just one domesticated animal.

Well, I can't see what harm they're doing.

Other people might have different views to yourself

about how dangerous or how pleasant it is to have other types of animals in an address.

If there was anywhere else your pets could stay, then, I'd be happy for you to stay here.

-I'm not leaving my pets.

-If you're not moving your pets we'll have to start taking action to...

The interview ends abruptly and Ivan is shown the door.

This is a load of shit!

It's just the way it is, isn't it?

As Ivan leaves, Stephen's brother joins in.

No, it's not.

It's not. Come into New Charter and we'll have a conversation, but I can't talk to you like this.

-What?

-I can't talk to you like this. I'll come into the building if you want.

-INAUDIBLE

-I've got to go now.

I don't want to end up in a big screaming row in the street.

It's going to disturb the neighbours.

We've got, like, four lizards, one snake, one bird and one dog,

but that dog caused no trouble and then we've got to get rid of them. Hang on a minute!

You know what I mean? It's victimisation, that's what it is. Cos we're young.

I don't know how they can cause any trouble.

So these neighbours can go and fuck off! BABY CRIES

Back in the office, Ivan examines the starter tenancy agreement that Stephen signed up to.

"At the time of signing this agreement, you have our consent to keep the following animals...

-"lizard kept in a tank." So just that?

-Yeah.

-That means that the dog and everything else has to go.

-Yeah.

Cos that's all he's been allowed to keep.

They're allowed three persons to live in that flat.

And that includes a baby or children. So that has to be addressed as well,

in addition to the antisocial behaviour...and the language he uses to his elderly neighbours.

So what'll happen now is he'll get what's called a tenancy caution...

for his actions...for telling his neighbour to fuck off.

And that's like a final warning.

Er...but the crux of it is he's been given 28 days to get rid of the pets.

And if he doesn't, he'll be in breach of contract...

which means that it would be easier for us just to apply for possession,

based on the fact that he's not kept his side of the contract.

We don't actually decide who lives where.

What happens is a person would apply to us

and would be allocated points according to their circumstances.

What then happens is a person has to choose where to live. We don't put people into properties.

They have to choose themselves where to live,

so, in effect, the onus is on the person to make sure they are quite happy

with the property in the area where they expressed an interest.

One housing association in Ashton-under-Lyne

has over 8,000 applications for new homes, and, each week, another 100 are added to the list.

Sometimes it's quite heart-wrenching when you read some of the things that people put

and the conditions and circumstances that people find themselves in,

and we're not always in a position to help, we can't help everybody,

because, unfortunately, we just don't have enough properties.

One recent application on lettings manager Shonna Hildersley's desk

is from a single man who is desperate for a home.

What is written is that... "I'm currently living in homeless accommodation

"and I've nowhere to live for now.

"The situation is not good for me because I live with drug addicts.

"I don't have enough sleep because they always make noise, whether it's in the afternoon or at night.

"The condition is unbearable." Which is very sad, really.

Owen arrived in the UK eight years ago, seeking asylum from Zimbabwe,

and in the last three months was granted the legal right to live in Britain.

This is my bed and this is for my roommate.

He is currently living in a hostel for the homeless.

This is our sink, it's very small, but I don't usually use it anyway.

And this is our cupboard. Part of this is mine, because I'm supposed to use half of this.

Owen's official status is that he has indefinite leave to remain,

which now qualifies him for social housing like every other British citizen,

and he's keen to make a fresh start.

You can see my passport here. See? That's my occupation.

I used to be a teacher...

..teaching young kids in primary school.

This is me in the black shirt here. This is me and my friend.

We used to wear similar things, you know, as friends.

I had a good life, anyway.

In Zimbabwe, Owen's father was heavily involved in the opposition party

at a time of deep unrest in the country.

We ended up being targeted.

They intimidate you through your family.

My uncle was killed.

They came and took him at night.

That's when you realise that this thing is serious now.

Owen escaped from Zimbabwe with his partner and their two children.

This is my daughter...

Valentine.

This is my son Junior.

When Owen came to Britain, Valentine and Junior went into hiding with their mother,

but, sadly, she's since died from pneumonia.

Valentine and Junior will remain in hiding until Owen can afford to bring them to Britain.

He hasn't seen them for eight years.

I can't come and sit here

and give myself stress, and then I'll be thinking about my life now.

So I prefer to be out, you know...

All of Owen's days are spent looking for work and somewhere more suitable to live.

The most important thing is my documents now.

What this means is that wherever I go, I must always go with them.

At the moment, I just need a place, I'll be happy to get anything.

Owen's best chance is his local housing association, but they run a points system.

Points are allocated on need and every flat he's bid for so far has gone to someone with more points.

Each week, Owen has to bid on flats as they come up.

There's not much today. There's only two of them,

so I just put them for the sake, in case...

Owen isn't only looking for a home. He's also looking hard for a job.

I've applied for fork lift, warehouse, general...

also cleaning jobs so that I can get a place of my own and pay rent...

pay taxes like everyone, you know?

Near Ashton-under-Lyne, Ivan's rowdy, animal-loving tenant has been given 28 days

to cut down the number of animals and people in his flat.

This morning, enforcement manager Alan Kibble is joining Ivan to pay a surprise visit.

We're in the period now of the 28 days' notice that we've given this person

to get rid of the animals and bring them down to a number that's in line with the tenancy agreement.

And we're not sure whether they've done that yet.

However, this morning the estate seemed eerily quiet.

-The light's on.

-Well, that's a...

-It's just the landing light, yeah.

-Landing light, yeah.

Give it another bang and see if they're in.

-That's this week's, isn't it?

-Yeah, it's the same one.

Stephen and his family and pets are nowhere to be seen.

Alan and Ivan approach the neighbours to try and solve the mystery.

-Been like a graveyard.

-All right.

-They've not been here.

-Like a graveyard.

What day did the removal van come?

-It was either Monday or Tuesday, wasn't it?

-Monday or Tuesday, a removal van came and took stuff...

-What kind of things did they take?

-Cot.

-Right.

-Suite.

-So the baby's not there any more.

-Did it look like they were just moving her and the baby out?

-Well, I don't know.

-Well, I don't know.

Because there's a still a lot of stuff, you can see from here.

If they are determined not to get rid of the animals from that property,

and they realise they can't keep them there,

then it's quite likely that they might have just left the property themselves

and have found alternative accommodation.

Because sometimes we find that that happens, but the last thing they will think of doing is telling us,

saying, "Oh, we've left. There's your keys. We're terminating our tenancy."

They'll just leave it for us to find out.

After more failed attempts to get hold of Stephen, Ivan believes he has abandoned the flat.

The added concern is that by leaving a window open

the flat is currently insecure and could fall prey to squatters.

In cases like this, the association have emergency powers of entry to secure their properties.

I want to see what's potentially missing, like microwaves...

the fridge is gone.

It looks like Stephen left in a hurry.

The pets have gone, but the lizard tanks are still there, with the heat lamps still on.

Well, we've certainly got all the evidence we need to suggest they've abandoned the property.

I don't understand why he's moved in such a hurry because he wasn't being evicted.

He had the notice to get rid of the pets and the number of occupants,

but he's obviously chosen to go sooner than he's needed to.

With its new lock.

They will continue to try and reach Stephen

as he needs to officially end his tenancy before the flat can be re-let.

Most of our tenants are wonderful people, but in our estates

there's always an element

in some areas of this yob culture

or antisocial behaviour or neighbours from hell,

whichever way you want to describe it,

and we will deal with that, because antisocial behaviour can ruin people's lives,

can lead people to committing suicide, can lead to families breaking up,

can lead to people moving out of the area and that's not what we want to happen.

A few miles away in Ashton-under-Lyne, Owen is still looking for a home.

This is my place, this is where I live, this is my second home.

I spend most of my time here. This is the public library.

I'd rather keep my brains busy, come and do some research and read in the library.

So now I just come today to come and bid for the house.

In an effort to find a flat, Owen is widening his search for social housing out of his area.

At the library, he can bid online.

The system of bidding for flats means that people only bid for what they want.

However, it also means all the better properties are heavily oversubscribed.

I spoke to somebody who was sitting here again.

When I asked them, they said they had been bidding for a year, you know?

This morning, Owen's visiting his local housing association.

As part of the housing process, he's allowed to ask for advice about his application.

And today he's meeting Shonna, the lettings manager.

-Where are you living at the moment?

-It's a homeless place.

-It's a bed-and-breakfast.

-Do you share your room with anybody?

Yes, I do share with somebody.

-So how many are in your bedroom at the moment?

-There's two of us in the bedroom.

Your application at the moment isn't reflecting the fact you're sharing a bedroom with another person.

-So I need to get that altered for you. That will give you 325.

-Yeah.

Now, 325 points is a reasonable amount of points.

I can't tell you how long you're going to have to wait before you're successful for something,

but you must carry on placing your bids each week.

-And just keep my fingers crossed.

-Yeah.

-Bye.

-Bye.

-Cheers.

He is sharing a bedroom with a person who's not a relative or family member,

and what that actually means is that he's entitled to overcrowding points

which should assist him with being placed higher on the bidding cycle.

The extra overcrowding points will help Owen,

but there are no guarantees that he'll get a property.

He'll only be awarded a new home if he has more points than anyone else bidding at that time.

Over a third of all properties with the main housing association in Ashton-under-Lyne

are one-bedroomed flats.

And Cavendish Mill has the largest number in a single building.

In the past, the mill's had many issues with antisocial behaviour.

Following thousands of pounds of renovations and safety improvements, things have calmed down,

but there are still problems.

To keep a firm grip on the flats, they have their own enforcement officer, Linda Chapman.

We've got approximately 64 cameras around the building

just to tackle the antisocial behaviour and to make people feel safer.

The building was seen as a sort of last-resort tenure for people in Tameside,

you know, that came here, and we inherited all the tenants from the previous landlord.

And, unfortunately, some of those tenants caused us some problems when we first took over.

This is a safety shutter in case anybody tries to climb over or attack the staff.

And it's just a case of pressing the button and it goes up very quickly.

When the problems are serious, Linda works closely with the police.

This morning, she's at the mill for an early-morning raid

on a flat in the annex building next door.

Highly suspicious smells have been reported by the caretakers coming from one front door.

Linda is concerned that inside the flat they may be growing cannabis.

It's looks like they're going to actually put the door in, so they want a quick entry.

Police!

Cheers! The tenant's decent, then?

Inside they quickly seize a man in his 20s.

The specialist search team begin to scour the flat for evidence.

Within minutes, they find large quantities of cannabis drying in boxes.

He's drying the plants there... to cultivate, to sell.

There's more in there.

It's more than just for his own use, that.

In the bedroom, they find the centre of operations.

It looks just like a big zip-up wardrobe, you know?

It looks like the sort of thing you could just nip to Wilkinson's and buy, but obviously it's not.

-Is this a specialist piece of equipment?

-It is, yeah.

That's to circulate, the fan's to circulate, that's the extractor there,

and that's the heat source. These plants have only just been started,

but, as you can see, they're quite thick stems, so he's been at this for quite a while.

He's taken the harvest off the plants, he's drying out the plants

and now he's recycling what he's already got.

As they search the flat they discover evidence of cannabis everywhere.

They've actually found some further cannabis leaves in the kitchen cupboard,

and, as you can see on the side there, there's quite a lot more cannabis.

Any drugs seized by the police are removed and will be destroyed.

It's 7.35 now. And we're arresting you on suspicion of possession with intent to supply, all right?

You don't have to say anything but it may harm your defence...

But as the man is arrested, Linda discovers that he is not in fact her tenant.

What I need to do is just establish who the guy is that's been arrested,

because I've just heard the police mention his name and that doesn't match with the name of the tenant.

He says that he's a visitor to the property and not the tenant.

After the man is taken away, the drugs dog makes a final search.

Right, this is what we've been looking for. It's the dog that found them.

There are called snap bags.

As you can see there's a bit of cannabis in there.

They put the individual amount in there, they weigh it out and then they're sold.

This proves that he's got the drugs with the intent to supply them.

As a landlord, it's really frustrating because people come to us for housing,

you know, and people only get housing when they're in need of a home,

and he's obviously taken advantage of that situation.

Linda needs to find the tenant.

Despite the raid and the overwhelming evidence, the law says she can't just seize the flat.

She needs to question the tenant in person.

Drugs are a problem in social housing,

both the use of drugs

and obviously supply or cultivation.

We've found that

taking a firm line in dealing with drug cases, and dealing with all cases that we come across,

is hopefully having a knock-on effect of mitigating any associated activities in the community,

antisocial behaviour, people hanging around, crime and so on.

That's following on from the Supreme Court who have also demonstrated a hard line in drugs cases

and said, "If you use social housing and also use or supply drugs from that housing,

"you should not get the benefit of that social housing."

It's a week since the locks were changed on starter tenant Stephen's flat,

and he's called up and wants to meet a housing officer.

What are your intentions for the property? Are you staying here?

Well, yeah.

It turns out Stephen hasn't abandoned the flat after all.

He says that he's been looking after his dad who's been ill.

Your animals aren't here?

The good news is that most of his animals have gone.

All I've got now, I'm not lying to you, is the two bearded dragons.

-but they only grow about that big.

-If they're in the same cage, I can't see too much of a problem,

as long as you don't go any further than that.

To me, it looked like you was moving out.

You can promise that you're living here. You've just been caring for your mum and things like that,

looking after your dad?

Stephen has returned most of his exotic pets to the pet shop and found a new home for his dog.

His girlfriend and her baby have also left him.

His brother Mark is still around.

MUSIC: "Mockingbird" by Eminem

At the office, they've received some information about Stephen's previous tenancy

with a different housing association, and Alan is concerned.

Prior to them actually taking up a tenancy with us, they were actually a tenant of another social landlord.

They were hardly the best of tenants there and, in fact, were evicted from their tenancy there.

Now, they were overcrowded, they had an excessive number of animals, again it was lizards...

they damaged the flat, there were threats of violence from the tenant.

I don't think we were made aware of that at the time,

so this could have an impact... the fact that they've potentially made a false declaration

when they actually applied for the tenancy,

so we really need to just discuss this issue with Legal

to see if it's going to make a major impact on where we go from here.

At the homeless hostel, Owen is calling home in Africa with some news.

Yes, I've got a job, Mama. I start on Monday.

Yes, I'm starting... Yes, Mama. I'm starting on Monday.

All right, bye-bye, Mama, I love you.

Bye, Mama.

It is very important. I've been waiting for this for a long time.

I'm buzzing!

I'm buzzing...

It's two steps forward. Since I've got a job now, it's going to be much easier.

So the next thing now is a house.

I went for a bidding today, so I hope something will come out, out of my bidding.

Owen's new part-time job is on a production line at the local cake factory.

With some money in his pocket, Owen can now afford to send presents home to his kids.

It's going to be his birthday next month.

Two, four, six, eight, ten, twelve.

I've got twelve of them...

you know. These were going for 50p in the charity shop.

Those are the things that make always think about me.

What I'm doing is, like, I'm buying love now...

..to my son.

I mean, it's been a long time now. It's been eight years now without seeing him.

I left him when he was two...

which, I don't know now whether I can... You see some photos, but is he going to remember me?

Of course sometimes they ask me, "When are you coming to take us?"

That's when the pain comes, that's when the pain comes.

I feel angry for myself... and the only thing that I do is I come here and I sit down and I cry,

on my own. Even if I can try not to think about it,

it keeps on coming, so it's quite hard, it's quite hard, I know...

This morning, Ivan is returning to the flat of starter tenant Stephen.

There's been more antisocial behaviour,

and that, coupled with the failure to disclose the trouble at his previous flat,

means the housing association are now considering eviction proceedings.

Since we last spoke to him, there's been a number of issues surrounding antisocial behaviour.

He's told...

..a neighbour to fuck off...again... the same lady.

Once I've spoken to him about the antisocial behaviour issues,

I'll then ask him about this previous tenancy that he hasn't been completely upfront about.

You've had a written warning and a tenancy caution about your behaviour at the address.

These things I'm going to speak to you about now obviously follow on from that, all right?

The first one... Now, this follows somebody calling the RSPCA.

-I know who that was.

-You shouted to a female resident across the way...

"You fucking bitch! You called the RSPCA."

Do you remember saying that?

Obviously I'll have to go back and speak to our legal department about what happens next,

because obviously these are alleged breaches of your tenancy.

You've made a partial admission to some.

-Tell me about your previous tenancy.

-What's that got to do with this?

Well, when you applied to us, you should have declared certain things.

I didn't know.

-Is this going to carry on?

-This is the last...

-I'm getting sick of it.

Just evict me! Is that what you want? Is that what you want?

-I want...

-Is that what you want?

-..There to be no more problems here.

-Do you want to evict me?

-I want there to be no more problems.

-Just go ahead and do it, cos I'm getting sick of all this bullshit!

-I've got to ask you about...

-I'm not answering no more questions, cos I'm getting sick of it all now, right?

I suffer from anxiety, I suffer panic attacks and all this is fucking doing my head in!

I asked you to come in for a meeting last week, didn't I?

Yeah, well, I forgot, all right?

So that's why I'm here today, because you didn't turn up, so I've got to ask you about it...

I'm sorting my life out now.

As before, the interview is prematurely ended by Stephen,

who doesn't want to talk about the problems at his previous flat.

Thanks for letting us in anyway.

'The Department of Work and Pensions...'

The interesting bit was obviously when I mentioned the previous flat.

His first answer was, "What's that got to do with anything?"

He knows exactly that he's been found out.

I've instructed him that it's because when he applied to us he should have disclosed that to us...

and at that point he's decided he's not going to answer any more questions...

so I can go back to my legal team and say he's well aware of it,

but he's not going to tell us anything about it.

What everyone's got to realise at New Charter,

and when I was applying for the property I told them, that I suffered from anxiety...

and the medication's right there on the floor to prove it.

All it takes is for them to upset me and I fly, I can't help it.

It's been difficult all the way though my life. I've been in care.

I come out of care when I was 16.

I've had no help, I've just fended for myself.

-Is it important for you to keep this flat?

-It is at the moment cos I haven't got nowhere else to say,

you know what I mean? So, at the moment, yeah.

Despite Stephen's need to keep his home,

if he fails to take this situation seriously, he will be evicted.

At Cavendish Mill, Linda still needs to talk to her missing tenant.

If she doesn't, it could take months to get the flat back.

This morning she's arranged a meeting.

She needs to prove that the tenant knew about the cannabis to begin eviction proceedings.

We want to ask him about his involvement,

whether he had any knowledge of what was happening at the property,

and that will help us decide what action we're going to take against him as the tenant.

So it's not really an ideal interview room, but it's a case of what's more convenient to him.

It's on his doorstep, so hopefully there's a better chance of him turning up.

KNOCKING

-Some books for the book drive.

-All right, then. Thank you.

-OK.

-See you.

Books for the book drive.

After waiting and waiting, the tenant fails to show up.

He appears to be keeping a low profile,

but the caretaker did have a brief discussion with him a week ago.

-I've seen him about three or four times in the last six, seven weeks.

-Right.

So if, as the police say, the plants are eight to nine weeks old,

and he's been at the address, you've seen him at the address, or the cleaner has,

in the last six to seven weeks, that suggests that he knows about the cultivation of cannabis.

I would have thought so, yeah. When I was talking to him about it,

he was actually using the phrases a drug dealer would use.

-"I didn't know he was having a grow there." The terminology came out then.

-Right.

Despite repeated attempts to find Linda's missing tenant, he appears to have gone to ground.

Today Linda's going back to his flat for one last attempt to catch the missing tenant at home.

BANG!

He's home!

The door's opened.

He's either gone out and left it unlocked or he's in.

With anyone involved in drugs, Linda has to approach the situation extremely carefully.

-Hiya, Mr

-BLEEP.

-Mr

-BLEEP?

Hello?

I am going to go in because the property's been left insecure,

so we might need to secure it if he's abandoned it, so...

I would say he's abandoned.

The furniture's gone that was here when we came and did the drugs raid,

and all his stuff's gone out of the kitchen.

Er...

And there you go! That's my letter inviting him to the interview.

So he's definitely had the letter...

..er...and failed to turn up.

The letter, him receiving that letter could have resulted in him deciding to move out.

He's probably realised that he's at risk of losing the tenancy and given it up.

It's shame because there's such a shortage of housing,

and people treat it like, you know, this tenant has,

and has abused the fact that, you know, social housing have given him a home.

Er...once this tenancy has ended...

I'll fill in what's called a "suspended applicant form",

and that will make sure that he is suspended from applying for any further properties with us

for at least a period of two years.

Following Linda's visit, the tenant later handed in the keys, ending his tenancy.

The police took no further action and neither did the housing association,

as they had the flat back.

Re-letting the flat in Cavendish Mill falls to Shonna's department in the housing association.

What we don't want to do is reverse all the good work we've already carried out down there

and end up back in the same position we were in when we took the mill on.

All new tenants in Cavendish Mill are carefully considered,

and former asylum seeker Owen is one of the names on the list for a different flat in the mill.

Owen's expressed an interest to live in Cavendish Mill,

and given his current circumstances, he's got quite a lot of points.

So he'll have been high on the list,

and what we tend to do is vet and check as many people as possible who apply for the mill,

and we've managed to reach Owen, and that's how he's come up for this offer.

PHONE RINGS

-Hello?

-Hello? Is that Owen?

-Yes, Owen.

-Hi, Owen, it's Shonna from New Charter Housing.

The reason I'm calling you is you've been successful with one of your bids for Cavendish Mill in Ashton.

-Wow!

-Now, if possible, I'd like to meet you there to show you round the property.

-OK, when do you want to meet me? Now?

-Could you do it today?

Yes, today!

Er...could you do 12 o'clock?

Yes, I can.

All right, then, so I'll see you at dinner time.

I don't care what the building looks like.

I don't mind, I don't care,

as long as I'm going to see myself out of this place.

If she says I move tonight, I'm moving in!

-Hello!

-How are you?

-Fine. How are you?

-Fine, thanks.

-Good.

Start here. This is your living area.

-And, obviously, your kitchen.

-Yeah.

This is what I've been waiting for now.

This is it! This is it!

-This is the bedroom.

-All right.

Then we've got the bathroom here.

Ah! Perfect!

-This is...

-Do you like it?

-I like it. I like it.

-Would you like to take it?

-Yes.

-Yes? Come on, then, and we'll do the paperwork.

-Thank you.

This is what I wanted most before I even got the job.

I wanted a house, a place of my own,

so now I've got it now. What else do I need?

Legal proceedings against Ivan's problem starter tenant are underway,

but Stephen still believes he's doing nothing wrong.

I don't have music on, I'm out Monday to Friday.

I'm only here at weekends with my girlfriend and then I get all this trouble.

At the end of the day it's my flat, I live here.

The Government pays the rent, they get the money, so what's their problem?

Further investigations reveal that, apart from not declaring problems about his previous tenancy,

he's also not declared his many criminal offences on his application form.

This, combined with all the complaints,

has led the housing association to apply to the courts to evict him.

So this is an eviction notice.

He's got two months to vacate the tenancy,

which is plenty of time for him to find another residence and to move his belongings.

We've got a whole number of things. We've got previous criminality not declared,

we've got previous addresses not declared, and on top of all that we've got the antisocial behaviour,

so it's very unusual. In fact, the legal officer who's dealt with it said he's never done one...

He only realised after he'd finished that the covering letter was nine pages long,

which is very, very rare. I will be glad to see him gone.

Because they don't deserve it.

Because he's lied, he's managed to slip through the net.

But it's because he's lied that he's been able to do it.

Hopefully he knows that if he carries on behaving like this, he'll never be able to settle anywhere.

He's been evicted from one property within the last 12 months.

He's now been evicted from another.

He's got to realise at some point that he can't carry on the way he has.

CAR DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES

Three days after looking around the flat in Cavendish Mill, Owen is moving in.

I can't wait until I open the door!

This is a new chapter for me!

This is a new chapter now.

This one-bedroomed flat is the first place Owen has been able to call home for eight years,

even though he doesn't have a bed.

This is my duvet for tonight, down there on the floor.

Finally, I am here! That's a happy ending now.

That's a happy ending now, with a big smile!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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