Episode 5 Neighbourhood Watched

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

In the current economic climate, the waiting lists are growing every week.

For every person you make happy, there will probably be

three or four times as many who are disappointed.

Britain's housing officers are on the front line.

-Annette, can you let me in?

-It's just nothing like you've ever smelt before.

They deal with over 11 million tenants, day in, day out.

I don't believe you've let him out.

Most are good tenants but a few risk everything with their antisocial behaviour.

His tenancy is on a knife edge.

If they want to try and take it, they'll have to take it with me on it.

Eviction is the last thing we want to do.

We've got to do it for the sake of the community.

Every week, there's a different set of problems.

-Out of my face.

-Please don't shout at me, Anne.

The perpetrator's been into our office a few times and received warnings from us in the past.

All I want to do is go to sleep in that goddamn flat at night and I can't.

Do you know what I mean? The scooter's not making any noise.

I said to her, I'd never live in a caravan, and look at me now.

I've just got to take what comes at me really because I want an house that bad.

It is quite a competitive area to try and get a house in.

There will always be a lot of people left disappointed at the end of it.

You feel like you want to give up but you can't.

BUZZER Hello.

-Who are you?

-Phil from New Charter.

People coming, going, shouting, screaming, swearing, parties.

I'm monitoring you. And if I... Janette, listen to me a minute.

-I'll let you calm down for a minute.

-Go one. I'll see you on Monday.

I'm not convinced I'll see her on Monday.

People living in social housing have little choice in who their neighbours are.

And when tenants don't get on, it can sometimes mean war.

In Eccles, Greater Manchester,

two neighbours are locked in a long-running feud.

The clashing tenants live in this low-rise block.

One on top of the other.

42-year-old Anne lives downstairs.

The noise upstairs started originally

when I first moved in nearly two years ago.

She's been driven mad by her neighbour's party lifestyle.

The man keeping an up all night is sprightly 69-year-old Jimmy.

I've done nowt wrong. She's the one that's causing trouble.

He's furious with Anne for parking her mobility scooter in the communal hallway.

That trolley of hers, go-kart, whatever she's got,

it's out all day blocking the way.

I've asked her to move it and she just takes no notice.

David Wright is the housing officer dealing with the dispute.

He's only been in the job for eight weeks and already knows Anne well.

Anne, hiya. Are you OK?

-I don't think you're going to like me today. I not?

-Am I not? Right.

She's a regular visitor to the office with her complaints against Jimmy.

Today she is giving David her most recent incident diaries,

detailing Jimmy's late-night get-togethers.

It's just the same thing's happening over and over really.

Coming back from the pub, slamming doors,

talking loudly in the hallway instead of the flat.

I listen to it every night constantly. Do you know what I mean?

It's just a repeating ritual.

You just lay awake in anticipation of what's going to happen now.

We're trying to sort it for you now.

I'm not satisfied though because he gets believed and not me.

She's very frustrated with the process of filling in the diaries

and trying to gather evidence.

She doesn't seem to quite understand that we need this backup evidence from her.

The tit-for-tat history makes this case complicated,

and means that David can't act on Anne's diary evidence alone.

Sorry to bother you.

He needs advice from antisocial behaviour officer Jill Fenlon, who knows the case well.

Historically, when Anne's complained,

the neighbour she's complaining about has made counter allegations,

so we put CCTV in the block that was covert, so nobody knew it was there.

What came from the CCTV on a two-week period is that

Anne was causing more breaches of her tenancy than what James was doing of his,

in that the scooter was constantly in the communal area.

We never saw any evidence of James bringing anybody back to the flat.

We need to be looking at ways of getting other evidence together

to support what she's saying, or disprove what she's saying.

He's naturally going to come back with counter allegations and denial.

OK, brilliant.

Firm evidence to back up Anne's complaints would be another witness to Jimmy's noise.

So far, no other neighbours have come forward.

How are you today, my little man?

Just a paper for now. See you later.

-It's the early hours of Saturday morning.

-Look at that!

It's turned four o'clock and I'm still awake.

And Anne has been woken by noise from upstairs.

Oh, he's off. Gobbing it again.

It wouldn't be too bad if he just come back in from the pub

pissed as a fart, done it for an hour, and then buggered off to bed

because loads of people do that and nobody bothers about it.

But, because he continues it for hours on end,

that is what really gets to you.

It's usually the younger ones that cause shit like this.

Do you know what I mean? It's always the younger ones that are the noise nuisances.

I've just had enough.

Having been woken at 2am, the noise finally stops,

after five in the morning.

With house prices beyond the reach of many,

and private rents on the increase,

waiting times for social housing have almost doubled in the last decade.

This, combined with the economic downturn,

has forced some into alternative types of accommodation.

Every time I walk up here,

I always think about turning the tap on - how easy it is.

24-year-old Vicky lives on a caravan park near Earlham in Salford.

What I'd do to have one of these taps just to turn on in the caravan...

Vicky was forced into a caravan

in search of a cheaper way of life, like her mum.

My mum come up here. I said to her when she first moved in the caravan,

I'd never live in a caravan. Look at me now!

I'm living in one. I just wanted to be near my mum.

Since she moved into her caravan, a lot has changed.

Vicky has had baby Kenzie.

That's my water done.

Vicky's mum's caravan is right next door.

She downsized and moved here seven years ago,

in an effort to control the spiralling bills.

Here you are. I'll just go and get myself a cup of tea. All right?

All right, love. See you in a bit, little man.

Vicky's caravan is just eight metres long by three metres wide.

This is where I keep all Kenzie's clothes - in these three.

That's just all my rubbish. Jeans. Jeans. A little bathroom.

We don't have a bathroom. Kenzie sleeps here.

Five and a half years I've lived here.

I'm determined to get a house now because I've got my son,

because he's growing up and he's got no walking space

or crawling space in the caravan.

With the prospect of another harsh winter in the caravan,

Vicky's desperate to move.

I want Kenzie to be in an house because I want him to have his own bedroom.

That's the biggest thing - his own bedroom -

and having somewhere to walk.

There's not much room for him to do anything.

I think it's stopping him doing things as quick.

He can stand on his own but not for long.

You want your dummy? I love you.

In Eccles, the feud between Anne downstairs

and Jimmy upstairs rages on.

Desperate to prove her complaints about Jimmy are true,

Anne has rigged up her own covert CCTV,

against housing association regulations.

I thought, sod this. I just shoved one in my spy hole and sod them.

That is it. There are wires everywhere.

I just sort of like nailed them into the wall.

And, here it is.

Would you know what it was?

Nope.

But Anne doesn't need CCTV evidence

to prove Jimmy's latest bout of noise nuisance.

This time there are other witnesses.

It's the evidence David needs to issue Jimmy with a warning.

Thanks for coming in.

-What's this about?

-Do you know why we've asked you to come in?

They said I was causing a nuisance on Saturday. What time was that?

Friday night and Saturday morning, at two o'clock, when you came back from the pub.

That you were making a loud noise - yourself and two girls - until 5am.

I don't know who's making these false... These statements. But it's wrong.

Obviously, we have had this incident being corroborated and to warn you

that if they continue, we will have to take further legal advice.

I'm annoyed. That scooter. She's not moving it.

-I bang my leg when I go down there.

-You don't need to tell her that.

-We're following that up as a separate issue.

-You're not doing that.

-We are.

She's blocking the way. It hasn't been done.

Jimmy is receiving a warning

because the noise from the weekend is a breach of his tenancy.

Anne is also breaching her tenancy agreement,

which states that items, including mobility scooters,

-cannot be left in communal areas.

-You're going to get run over.

Anne's disability is a disease of the inner ear,

which causes her to periodically collapse,

and forced her out of work.

I got my scooter 3.5 years ago because I was so ill

because I was having drop attacks and falling on the floor.

Ever since I've had it, I've had nothing but pure independence.

Not had to rely on anyone. Never had to pay for a taxi to go anywhere.

It saved me thousands of pounds.

I don't know what I'd do if anybody tried

to make me get rid of it or anyone took it away from me.

There are thought to be

four times more mobility scooters now than five years ago.

With a quarter of a million of these vehicles

on the nation's pavements, they're filling up social housing blocks

that weren't designed to house them.

It's becoming an increasing issue for us.

It's more complex than it perhaps appears at first glance.

On the one hand, there is that element of risk,

where you've got something like a mobility scooter. It's quite large.

It's blocking a means of escape in the event of fire.

There have been instances where scooters have been vandalised

and even set alight.

The worst-case scenario, people have lost their lives,

where they've actually been the cause of major, major fires.

It is really about keeping the majority of our tenants safe.

So, this housing association are having a crackdown.

Today, David is warning Anne

about keeping her scooter in the communal hallway.

Your mobility scooter's a hindrance to people getting out of the block.

It's not actually.

The only person that'll say it's a hindrance is Jimmy

when he's drunk, because he falls on top of it.

It is a policy that we are enforcing

and you will have to, unfortunately, stop storing it there.

I know. We're going to have to beg to differ on this

because I don't actually store it there.

It's never there for more than 20, 30 minutes max.

Going forwards, I will be taking action on the scooter,

if it continues to be placed in the hallways.

Anne has been given four weeks' legal notice

to stop leaving her scooter in the communal hallway.

The housing association are determined

she should take it inside every time she returns to the flat.

But, for Anne, that's not as simple as it sounds.

When I'm buzzing about, backwards and forwards during the day,

I just dump it here. It's only here for ten, 15 minutes,

and then I'm back out again. Once I'm finished with it,

it's in the flat, on charge.

It is an absolute pain.

I have to lift the back end up.

At the end of the day, I'll stand up for my rights. I don't care.

They won't make me back down. No way.

This is Annie they're talking to, not some little old lady.

Done!

Since 1980, almost two million social homes have been sold

under right to buy legislation.

So that today, a third of all social housing neighbourhoods are privately owned.

In Denton, east of Manchester, owner occupiers, Stephen and Elaine,

used to be friends with their housing association tenant next door.

Now, she's disrupting their family life.

It's been constant for the last four years, to be honest.

People coming and going, shouting, screaming.

Swearing, parties.

The last time Caitlin got scared and Cameron got scared

-because she was smashing her house up.

-No, I didn't.

-Cameron didn't get scared, Caitlin got scared.

-I'm a brave boy.

Yeah. Basically, smashing the house up. I think they were fighting.

Stephen and Elaine have complained to the housing association.

Tenancy enforcement officer Phil Bojanowski

is visiting their neighbour.

It's 10am on a Monday morning.

-Your neighbours have made complaints.

-Go on.

It's all the shouting, swearing, arguing,

bottles breaking in the house.

It wasn't my fault. Somebody else was there, at the end of the day.

-Somebody else is doing it?

-Yeah.

-You're not doing it?

-No.

These visitors that you have, do you want them in your property?

You don't.

In your tenancy agreement, you're responsible for visitors' behaviour.

You going to be able to turn these people away?

-Well, if she doesn't, I will.

-Right, OK.

And are you spending a lot of time together, you two?

We do spend a lot of time together. We're not partners.

-I'm not suggesting anything.

-He's smiling at me.

I'm not suggesting anything like that.

-We're just very close friends, honestly.

-Well, that's fine.

I'm not here to judge at all.

But if he's helping to keep these visitors you don't want away,

that's good.

-That's going to help you.

-Yeah.

-So we've got an idea of what we need to do between us all.

-Yeah.

-Enjoy the rest of your day.

-Right. Adoos, innit.

-See you now.

-Buenos dias.

It's quite difficult.

And really, whether it's gone in, I don't know. We'll see.

I might need to speak to her when she's more sober, I think.

Stephen and Elaine have owned their home next to Jeannette for eight years.

We moved into this property and then

we put a conservatory on, we did the driveway, we did the loft conversion.

You try your best to make your property nice,

and then you look next door and it's a mess.

If I wanted to sell my property,

people are going to say, "What are your neighbours like?"

I've got to give them an honest answer.

Because if I don't, in years to come,

and they find out that I've misled them, I'm liable for that.

I would like it if she had a separate house, not from anyone else,

so no-one can listen like we did.

I want her to be happy, and maybe,

it probably won't happen, but maybe just get a bit off the booze.

In Vicky's caravan, near Earlham, she's had to get used to life with no running water

and few amenities.

-I need to do the toilet.

-Come to Nanny, while mum does the toilet.

Say bye-bye.

The demands of caravan life have made Vicky want a more traditional place to live,

and her growing son has increased the urgency.

So Vicky's made the decision to apply for social housing.

I don't want him getting bullied at school.

It's not me they'll take it out on, it's him.

And it's not his fault he lives in a caravan. It's my fault.

Each year, City West Housing receives 40,000 applications

for less than 1,000 available homes.

And they allocate these homes through a bidding system.

This is the first time I'm going in here. I haven't done it before.

I'm really hoping I either get a two-bedroom flat or a two bedroom house.

I've just got to keep my fingers crossed.

To get a home, Vicky will need to place a bid on any empty properties available.

I've never done this before, so if you could just help me a bit, please.

-I'll just do the search and see what comes.

-Right, OK.

We have just one that's come up in Earlham. Avocet Drive.

-It's a two-bed, end terrace.

-Yeah, I can bid on that one.

-Do you want me to put a bid on that one?

-Yeah, please.

Each week, homes are allocated to those considered to be most in need.

At the moment, you're currently first on the listing.

But bear in mind, nobody may have bid on it yet.

As other people bid, it may change, your position and the bidding.

-Right, OK then. Thank you very much.

-You're welcome.

-Thanks.

-Thank you.

As the week goes on and others bid on the property, those with greater need,

like the homeless, could push Vicky down the list.

So that's the one I've bidded on. The end terrace, two bedrooms.

-But, like she said, that's it for this week.

-Yep.

As a single mum, Vicky relies on her mother for support,

and so is looking for homes within half an hour's drive of the caravan site.

Her local lettings coordinator is Liam Davis.

Earlham is our smallest area, in terms of stock.

We have the least amount of properties down there.

Typically, it's high demand and low turnover.

The most recent house which has gone on Home Search in Earlham

attracted 76 expressions of interest.

Obviously, when it's such a competitive bidding cycle,

there's always going to be a lot of people ultimately left disappointed at the end of it.

Two days later, Vicky is checking online to see where she is on the list

for the two-bed terrace.

I was third yesterday, so I don't know what I'll be. I'm just going to give it a check.

I'm still third.

No, no, you can't press the buttons.

Five days later, when all the bids are in, Vicky has dropped.

To 27th.

In Eccles, Jimmy has had a letter warning him about his late-night activities.

It says loud TV and music and voices.

Anne's also had a warning.

Today, she officially has to stop leaving her scooter in the communal hallway.

And she is ready for any eventuality.

Just to make sure that they don't take it.

If they want to try, they'll have to take it with me on it.

It's down to David to enforce the order, and he's also come prepared.

She's threatened in the past when we discussed the scooter with us, no-one is allowed to touch it.

And she's told me herself to bring police officers with me.

They're here should there be any problems, really.

He's going to speak with you, yeah.

Come on, David.

-Hiya, Anne, you all right?

-Yep.

Basically, obviously I can see you're obviously chained to the scooter and you're not for budging.

We're not looking to remove your scooter today.

But we do need to store your scooter inside the block, inside of your flat.

When I signed up to this flat, right, they knew I had the scooter.

So if the scooter goes, I go with the scooter, as simple as that.

If you're refusing to move from the scooter today and have it taken inside,

we'll apply for an injunction for trespass.

-Trespassing?

-Yes.

So you're going to get a trespass injunction on a mobility scooter?

-Yes.

-Right. Well you're going to have to go to court to get that then.

-Yes, we will do.

-Him upstairs can get away with what he wants.

-Nothing's been done about him.

-The situation...

-I'll see you in court.

-OK.

-Don't speak to me no more. Do it through solicitors.

-Right, OK.

-Out me face.

-OK, I'll inform our...

-Out me face!

Please don't shout at me, Anne.

-Thank you. I'll see you later.

-Don't have me saying it a third time.

She's obviously not for complying with our request

for her to put the scooter back into her hallway today.

My understanding from our legal department was that if she didn't do that,

obviously to start the ball rolling for the injunction.

I love the challenges with City West.

When I used to work, you see,

me brain was ticking over non-stop, 24-seven, do you know what I mean?

And all this with City West it just gives me a bit of fun,

bit of spark in my life.

In Denton, a month has passed

and Stephen and Elaine have had another disturbance next door.

I think one day, with all of the arguments that go on in the house,

somebody, I think, is going to get hurt.

It's always, "Effing this, I'm going to effing kill you."

And you don't know, under the influence of alcohol, what they're capable of.

And I don't want to bring my children up listening to that every day.

It's dead scary.

In every instance of antisocial behaviour, there's always a core problem.

And that could relate to the offender, inasmuch as that they're vulnerable.

I would say a very high percentage of cases we deal with

are related to alcohol abuse, or excessive use of alcohol.

So it is a problem we have to deal with a lot.

But unfortunately there are some people that will just not want to engage with you.

Phil is returning to see Jeanette to tackle her about the latest disturbance.

This time, he's heading round at 9.30am.

We're going early to try and catch her before she does have a drink.

Hopefully it will go in, what I'm trying to tell her.

Jeanette, it's Phil from New Charter. Can you let me in?

Phil has arranged the appointment with Jeanette in advance.

But she doesn't seem to be home.

Later that day,

Phil manages to track her down to a friend's address.

-It's Phil. You've got an appointment this morning.

-'I don't know. Have I?'

Yeah. Can I come and have a chat with you?

Hi, Jeanette, are you all right?

Do you know why I want to see you?

-Yeah, because of the disturbance in the house again.

-What happened?

I had some stuff taken out my house, and I just lost it, really.

-I understand the police were there.

-Yes.

-And they took you away, is that right?

-Yes.

I'm going to issue you a final warning now.

Anything else happens and we will be looking at tenancy action.

The sooner I can get moved from there and come back to a smaller place,

it will be a lot more better for me anyhow.

As long as there is no more problems, then I will look at helping you to move.

I'm not willing to if you can't behave.

Properties like the one Jeanette's in don't come up very often

but I'm not willing to assist her in a move if she can't demonstrate

that she can manage a tenancy, because we're just going to move the problem somewhere else,

rather than resolve it.

As winter approaches, Vicky's becoming desperate.

Each time she visits the housing office,

she's either unsuccessful or there's no suitable homes available.

Every week I go in and come out and still the same result.

It's getting worse because it's getting colder.

And it's getting colder in the caravan for me son.

So...

Temperatures at the caravan site are below freezing.

Vicky had hoped to be out of the caravan by Christmas.

Five days to go. Well, I said from day one that you'd still be here.

I don't want to take photos with him opening the presents in the caravan.

So I'm going down to one of my friends at Christmas.

They've got a tree and I'm going to put the presents under it,

so he can have a proper Christmas instead of having a horrible Christmas in the caravan.

In Denton, Phil has made another appointment to see Jeanette at her home.

Same as it was the other day. Yeah. She's not been back.

Phil needs to inspect her home,

as he is worried her latest disruptive behaviour may have involved damage inside.

He will only be able to assist Jeanette in the move she once if her home is in good order.

There's an ideal solution to this one.

There's a single person in a big, three-bedroom property.

She's said she doesn't want to be there,

she can't manage the property, it's too big for her.

But because we can't get in touch with her,

I'm not able to assist her at the minute.

Once again, Phil tries Jeanette's friend.

-'Hello, who are you?'

-Phil from New Charter.

-'Do you want to come in?'

-Yeah, can I come in for a little minute?

-'Yeah.'

-Thank you.

He sounds pissed.

-'Are you in?'

-Hiya, are you all right?

-I'm just going shop.

-All right.

-Are you all right?

-Yeah. Do you mind putting that out for a minute?

Just while I'm here, because I've got bad asthma. If you don't mind.

Hiya, Jeanette. Are you all right? I've been looking for you.

-Where have you been?

-Hiding.

-Hiding. From me?

-Have you been hiding from me?

-Yeah.

-Why? I want to try and help you.

Do you know what, the conversation we had, yeah,

you said you'd give me a one-bedroom flat, yeah.

So why isn't it happening?

Because you've not let me in your property, as we asked.

-Do you remember when I spoke to you last time?

-Yeah.

-Heh?

< Just sort her a one-bedroom flat.

I know you've had a few this afternoon, haven't you?

I've had about three, yes.

I still need to speak to you at your property. I've got to get into your property.

-Can you be there on Monday morning?

-Erm...

-About 10:30?

-Half past ten?

-If I write it down on a piece of paper, yeah?

-Yeah.

-You won't let me down?

-No.

-I'm going to emphasise again

-I'm here to try and help you.

-OK. Fair one, fair one.

-I don't want to evict you.

-OK?

-OK. I'll be there.

-Stick to your end of the bargain...

-And you stick to yours.

-I'll stick to mine.

But you don't do your job properly! SHE LAUGHS

Listen to me, I'm monitoring you. If I...

Jeanette, listen to me a minute. Listen to me. Seriously.

It's a serious message.

-SHE CONTINUES LAUGHING

-I can't... I'll let you calm down for a minute.

-Enjoy the rest of your day.

-Oh, yeah, what I've got left.

Right, cheers. Half past ten, Monday, yeah?

I'm not convinced that I'll see her on Monday.

And I think this'll have to be her final chance,

before we look at legal action.

Hello, Becky.

You OK, sweet? Eh?

Eh? RINGTONE Oh, phone. Who's that?

It could be mine. I don't know.

Hello?

Who's that?

Oh, Yvonne, yeah.

Despite the recent warning for late-night partying,

Jimmy's social life hasn't simmered down.

There's me, you, Margo, Pat.

I'll meet you in the pub.

All right, I'll see you at half eight, sweet.

Sometimes, I have a dance, you know what I mean? Not noisy.

69, I'm still going! HE CHUCKLES

I'll go make a brew now.

But Jimmy doesn't know that, downstairs, the housing association

have stepped up their investigation into his disruptive behaviour.

-Hi. Anne?

-Yeah.

Today, they are installing noise-monitoring equipment

into Anne's flat.

-The music usually comes from in that corner.

-Oh, does it?

Two weeks of sound recordings should prove

whether the noise from Jimmy's late-night socialising is unreasonable.

Fingers crossed, for the next couple of weeks, he will show

-his true colours upstairs and then everything will be on record.

-That's me, then.

-All right. Thanks again, love. See ya.

-See ya.

While they're waiting for the results,

the housing association have called Anne in for a meeting.

Do you want to come in?

David and Jill want to explain to Anne

that her tenancy breach with the scooter could undermine

her credibility as a witness to Jimmy's noise nuisance.

When a judge makes an order, he's to find the facts

that it happened, which is fine, because we'll have the sound recording,

but then he's got to find that it's reasonable.

The issue with the scooter...

We're getting back onto this mobility scooter again, and this will see me off.

-I knew this'd happen.

-No, Anne, I'm not doing anything to be...

All I'm trying to do is make this case as easy...

The only person that has got any problem

with my mobility scooter is Jimmy.

-We're trying to deal with that.

-Do know what I mean? The scooter's not making any noise.

We're not trying to be unreasonable and make things difficult.

You are, because yous know I need that scooter.

Jimmy does not need to have parties every night. Jimmy doesn't need to get drunk.

He's not there 24/7 like yous all think.

Just evict me, right, because I tell you now, that's it.

That's the only way you'll get rid of that scooter out of that hallway.

Just evict me. I'm not listening to this no more.

This is Anne's last chance to move the scooter

before the housing association go to court for an injunction.

I'm getting driven out of my home

and there's nothing I can do about it.

But I will fight them until the day I leave.

SCOOTER BEEPS

See yous later.

In Denton, home owner Stephen has had no disturbances

from his neighbour Jeanette for the last month.

Jeanette came back once at beginning of the week.

I think she stayed 20 minutes, half an hour, and disappeared again.

And there's been nothing since, again.

It's like living in a detached house, it's great.

I'd like to see her in a flat somewhere and, hopefully,

sort herself out.

You've got to care for everybody,

because if nobody cares, then there's no point.

As predicted, Jeanette didn't show for her Monday morning appointment

and, after three further attempts,

Phil still hasn't managed to get in and check the condition of her home.

He's meeting head of tenancy enforcement, Alan Kibble.

The only thing we can do now is go down the legal route, where we're going to have to obtain

a court order, an injunction,

to ensure that she gives us access to the property.

Unfortunately, there are some people who will not want to engage with you

and will put their head in the sand. Then the only option is to go down the legal route.

It's very frustrating, because I would take every step.

and the team would take every step they possibly can,

to avoid having to go down that route, because it costs us money,

which costs tenants money, if we have to do that.

Also, it lengthens the process,

because all the time we are having to go down that process,

we're not solving the problem.

In four days' time, the housing association are going to court

to gain access to Jeanette's house.

Phil is giving her one last chance to let him in.

She's in. She just walked past.

She won't open the door.

-It's Phil, from New Charter, can I have a word?

-No!

Jeanette, I'd like to help you move.

But if you don't answer the door, I can't help you.

Phil's only option now is to give Jeanette the legal papers.

Jeanette, I've got some documents here for you.

It's details. You need to attend court on Tuesday.

Because we want to get access to the property.

Obviously, we can't force our way in, we can only

apply to the court to get in, so there's not a lot more I can do at the minute.

You're always banging your head against a brick wall,

when it could quite easily be resolved, if she played ball.

In Earlham, Vicky's been climbing up the list,

but she still hasn't been offered a home.

The housing association offices are about to close the Christmas,

but, first, Liam has a property he needs a tenant for immediately.

We've had a two-bed house. It's had major works done on it,

so it was put through the bidding cycle in mid-August.

It's been on offer to a girl since then.

When I called her last week,

she said that she's no longer interested but she hasn't told us.

I've gone back to the list and nobody else on there

is either contactable or interested in the property.

That's not uncommon when it's been quite a long time since the property

has gone through the cycle, simply because people's circumstances change.

Because of Christmas,

if the property is re-entered into the bidding cycle,

it could remain unoccupied for at least another six weeks.

Liam is desperate to find someone who can move in now.

If we were to put it in the cycle and Victoria was to bid on it,

she would be ranking right up there on the list, anyway.

So we'd look to offer it to her directly.

Vicky's a priority because, in the middle of winter,

she's living in one room with a small child and no central heating.

-Hiya, it's Liam Davies from City West.

-'Hiya.'

You might remember you spoke to me a few weeks up at Earlham office.

-'Yeah, I do.'

-I'm just calling you, I don't know whether you'll be interested,

we've had a house become available.

It is ready to let, so we need to do it as quickly as possible.

-So when would you be available to view it?

-I could view it tomorrow.

Right, thank you very much.

What? I heard something about a house.

There's a house become available.

He's got to get somebody in it quickly.

-Oh, Vic.

-I'm well chuffed.

He said two o'clock tomorrow.

The new house is only a ten-minute drive from the caravan park.

Dead excited.

-Hiya, you all right?

-Hiya.

-Shall we go in, then?

-You like it, don't you?

-A new kitchen.

-I take it this is Kenzie's room?

-Yeah.

And a bath!

I just want to scream, but I can't.

-There's not enough words in my body to express how I feel at the minute.

-No more carrying water.

No! A house with a toilet. I love it!

-A house for life.

-Yep.

Ah!

A day before she was due in court,

Jeanette allowed the housing association access to her house.

Phil was finally able to carry out an inspection.

There's not much damage in the property. There's a door missing in the living room

and a couple of door handles, but, other than that,

most of it's, really, cosmetic.

Hopefully, that's the end of it.

I can now close my case, because I'm satisfied the property

has not been damaged and she's not causing any trouble where she is at the minute.

She said to me today that she wants to move before Christmas.

What's annoying is, if she had allowed access sooner,

she might have already got the move she wants.

In Eccles, Anne is watching telly - or two tellies to be precise.

And one of them is showing she's got a visitor.

Oh! Sarah!

-Hiya, all right?

-Are you coming in?

-I can't stop.

-Oh, why?!

-I know.

I thought you'd come for a social chat, then.

-You know I don't do social calls, Anne.

-What's this?

It's an application. City West have been to court this morning

and filed for an application for injunction regarding your scooter.

All the information's in there. If you want to seek legal advice,

I seriously suggest that you do.

-All right.

-OK. Bye.

Now that is a joke.

Taking a scooter to court for doing no wrong.

SHE SIGHS

They want 330 quid off me for them going to court.

I mean, I don't know how anybody can say

they're going to send somebody to prison for a bloody mobility scooter!

It's not like a mobility scooter's going out

and doing ram raids, or going round shooting people,

or it's got a big ghetto blaster on it, being a noise nuisance.

The only noise that makes is when it's reversing, to let you know it's coming.

Is this all worth it? >

I believe it is.

I still don't see why I should have to drag it in and out, in and out,

14 or 15 times a day, just because they say so.

But, at the end of the day, at least I can turn round and say I didn't go without a fight.

If Anne breaches this injunction

and continues leaving her scooter in the hallway, she could be evicted.

At the housing association offices, the noise monitoring

has revealed evidence of Jimmy's late-night activities.

BANGING SOUND

I think the noise that we've got, I would class it as unreasonable.

It's banging

and loud voices.

The time on the recording at the moment is 4:15 in the morning.

You can almost hear what they're saying.

I personally wouldn't want to be living listening to that in my living room.

I think City West will now be going forward

and progressing it for legal action.

Injunctive action against Jimmy means

he could also now face eviction, if he doesn't keep the noise down.

It's the New Year and, ten minutes down the road from her mum,

Vicky is settling into her new house.

-BABY CRIES

-What's wrong with you?

This is my favourite thing - having running water.

The cooker, I only had that in the caravan.

The best bit of the bathroom is having a toilet. It's brilliant!

This is my baby's room, Kenzie's room. His bed.

It's made so much difference to my life, seeing my little man

playing with his toys in that room and having more space to walk around.

It makes me so happy.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd