:00:00. > :00:10.Hi, I'm a Elaine Dunkley, and welcome to Inside Out.
:00:11. > :00:13.Over the next few weeks we will be bringing you in-depth reports
:00:14. > :00:17.on some of the best stories from around England.
:00:18. > :00:19.Coming up: We speak to the people whose
:00:20. > :00:21.homes have been wrecked by sinkholes.
:00:22. > :00:30.Are changes in the tax and benefit system likely
:00:31. > :00:38.And tattooing, it's becoming increasingly popular,
:00:39. > :00:51.but just how clean and safe is it to go under the needle?
:00:52. > :00:55.Sinkholes, they appear without warning and are becoming
:00:56. > :00:58.more common, and it may surprise you to know,
:00:59. > :01:00.if you're buying a house, a survey wouldn't necessarily tell
:01:01. > :01:02.you there could be problems underground.
:01:03. > :01:14.David Whiteley from Inside Out East has been out to get some answers.
:01:15. > :01:17.Back in October, a giant sinkhole literally swallowed
:01:18. > :01:19.up this street in a city in Hertfordshire, cutting power
:01:20. > :01:30.Actually, it's only when you get up close to it, you get an idea
:01:31. > :01:35.Look, you have pipes hanging off here, bricks that have falling in.
:01:36. > :01:37.Building work has happened here and they have refilled
:01:38. > :01:40.much of the sinkhole, but if you live around here,
:01:41. > :01:43.in one of these houses surrounding here, the worry
:01:44. > :01:45.is surely is, could another hole just like this appear
:01:46. > :01:50.I'm going to find out why this happened and what we might do
:01:51. > :02:06.We went out the front, and we could see, we couldn't get
:02:07. > :02:08.near because they had already put fencing round,
:02:09. > :02:10.but we could see it was a massive thing.
:02:11. > :02:13.There were people out there crying, in a terrible state.
:02:14. > :02:15.Rosemary and Derek have lived here for nearly 40
:02:16. > :02:18.They, like other families on the street, were moved out
:02:19. > :02:24.But even now, things are still a struggle.
:02:25. > :02:33.You go into town, a path takes you to the main road and then
:02:34. > :02:35.you walk into town, but it has been muddy sometimes,
:02:36. > :02:38.And there is as shuttle service, is there Derek?
:02:39. > :02:45.That's here only way we can get across to the fire
:02:46. > :02:50.The hole was caused by the surface of an old
:02:51. > :02:57.Across this part of the country there are lots of old chalk pits
:02:58. > :03:00.making the area prone to holes opening up.
:03:01. > :03:04.Where I am used to be a chalk mine, in fact up until the 19th-century
:03:05. > :03:08.a lot of our region actually sits on chalk, but it is this chalk
:03:09. > :03:13.that is making are susceptible to sinkholes.
:03:14. > :03:15.And it is the combination of old mines and rain
:03:16. > :03:19.The bad news is that heavy rain is making it worse.
:03:20. > :03:21.In Hertfordshire there have been six major collapses
:03:22. > :03:32.One of these typical holes in the ground in this area around
:03:33. > :03:36.That's right, they are quite surprising, aren't they?
:03:37. > :03:42.So what we need to do to protect our homes?
:03:43. > :03:44.I've come to Stevenage to meet sinkhole expert Doctor Clive
:03:45. > :03:49.This town has also had its share of holes in the past.
:03:50. > :03:53.like this in the ground, but this is a sinkhole.
:03:54. > :03:59.Yes, it is a pretty big hole, and it's probably been here a long,
:04:00. > :04:06.long time and probably relates to perhaps the late 1700s,
:04:07. > :04:09.early 1800s, when chalk was being excavated out and mined
:04:10. > :04:12.We are getting a lot of nature at the moment.
:04:13. > :04:15.Can you seeing the problem becoming exacerbated,
:04:16. > :04:17.because of their change in our weather patterns?
:04:18. > :04:21.You had increased chances of holes appearing when you have wetter
:04:22. > :04:23.We have more concentrated rainfall for prolonged periods,
:04:24. > :04:27.that weakens and softens the ground, so it does make the chances of holes
:04:28. > :04:32.This is what happened in Hemel Hempstead two
:04:33. > :04:37.And this is what engineers' cameras found up to 17
:04:38. > :04:54.Truckloads of concrete had been pumped
:04:55. > :04:56.underground, and the two houses closest to the hole have been
:04:57. > :04:59.demolished, but as you can see, work has continued here
:05:00. > :05:03.This was also the site of a clay pit and residents
:05:04. > :05:09.here were told the hole was triggered by very wet weather.
:05:10. > :05:21.This was the initial stages, and over the next couple of days it
:05:22. > :05:23.just started falling away even further.
:05:24. > :05:25.So more and more fell away with time.
:05:26. > :05:27.When it goes, you don't know how deep it
:05:28. > :05:29.David went through six months of hell.
:05:30. > :05:32.I was not myself for those six months.
:05:33. > :05:35.I was not the person I wanted to be or anybody wants to see
:05:36. > :05:38.me be, because I was so stressed and taking it out on the people
:05:39. > :05:42.By coincidence, both had their properties up for sale
:05:43. > :05:46.When the sinkhole happened I lost buyers.
:05:47. > :05:49.I had a cash buyer at the time, obviously she walked away.
:05:50. > :06:11.Dr Edmonds believes councils need to demand that developers make extra
:06:12. > :06:13.They have heightened awareness of flooding issues,
:06:14. > :06:15.and equally they should be aware that
:06:16. > :06:17.with the changing weather patterns there is a greater chance
:06:18. > :06:19.of collapses of the ground occurring,
:06:20. > :06:21.so they should be demanding more developers to address such hazardous
:06:22. > :06:27.The good news is, there is already information that can help.
:06:28. > :06:30.Dr Edmonds has mapped where there are historic chalk
:06:31. > :06:36.This may prove invaluable in the future for developers
:06:37. > :06:42.On the map here, we are close to this red dot, which is this
:06:43. > :06:48.The one over here on the left, that's one that has presented itself
:06:49. > :06:55.The others are prospectively where mines are recorded or believed
:06:56. > :06:57.to be present, based on the historical
:06:58. > :07:07.This information is vital to anyone who wanted to build
:07:08. > :07:09.in these areas, because you would look at that and see potentially
:07:10. > :07:16.The dots do identify features in the ground which need to be
:07:17. > :07:22.You may be surprised to know that when you are buying a house,
:07:23. > :07:26.your survey may not show up chalk mines.
:07:27. > :07:29.The surveys, when they came back, all they check for is coal
:07:30. > :07:32.If there are no coalmines, you don't get anything.
:07:33. > :07:34.Which isn't great, because round this area
:07:35. > :07:36.there are so many old clay pits and chalk
:07:37. > :07:39.mines which people are not really aware of, because the surveys don't
:07:40. > :07:43.David actually did his own DIY survey before looking
:07:44. > :07:56.When I sold, eventually, and bought my new property,
:07:57. > :07:58.I looked at the maps we were given links
:07:59. > :07:59.to via what had happened here,
:08:00. > :08:02.and looked and what was on those sites, because I knew
:08:03. > :08:05.the survey was going to pick it up, because they don't
:08:06. > :08:11.David and Richard are now very cautious.
:08:12. > :08:14.Once it happens to you and you will always have it in the back
:08:15. > :08:17.When you are looking for property you
:08:18. > :08:20.They have now both sold their homes and
:08:21. > :08:26.Back in St Albans, Hertfordshire County Council
:08:27. > :08:32.is still checking their no more cavities.
:08:33. > :08:37.These chalk mines are supposed to be 1820-1830, I mean who would think
:08:38. > :08:39.150 years later that this would happen?
:08:40. > :08:41.Rosemary and Derek can't wait for the disruption
:08:42. > :08:54.Staying with housing, there are 2 million private buy
:08:55. > :08:58.Many are ordinary working people trying to boost their income
:08:59. > :09:07.But are changes to the tax and benefit
:09:08. > :09:10.system likely to cause some private landlords to give up?
:09:11. > :09:12.Rachel Royce reports from the south-east of England.
:09:13. > :09:19.Collecting the rent at Pavilion Court is a weekly
:09:20. > :09:26.Mac lives in the block by Folkestone Harbour himself,
:09:27. > :09:29.but owns a couple of the properties and manages 80
:09:30. > :09:38.A lot of the tenants currently have most of their rent paid directly
:09:39. > :09:47.?340 every four weeks, but Mac collects a small top up,
:09:48. > :09:54.New tenant Richard Barnes has just moved
:09:55. > :09:57.Mac is confident he will pay his rent on time,
:09:58. > :09:59.but not all his tenants are like that.
:10:00. > :10:01.Mac is concerned about changes to the
:10:02. > :10:05.benefit system, which are being rolled out across the country.
:10:06. > :10:08.The changes mean his tenants will now
:10:09. > :10:11.get paid all their housing benefit directly and have to pay Mac
:10:12. > :10:16.He is worried that some of them won't pay up.
:10:17. > :10:22.They are the less fortunate people in life, why try to help.
:10:23. > :10:25.Now when the government give the money, they
:10:26. > :10:28.either have an alcohol problem or an addictive problem,
:10:29. > :10:33.They will not give me their rent money.
:10:34. > :10:39.By past experience, I know that they won't give me
:10:40. > :10:44.So I won't have the money to keep this
:10:45. > :10:54.building the way it's kept now, I and I will go bust.
:10:55. > :10:56.There is provision in the new rules for
:10:57. > :10:59.landlords to be paid directly if tenants are registered addicts,
:11:00. > :11:03.but Mac fears that some will fall through that net and get into rent
:11:04. > :11:13.Mac took me to meet another one of his tenants.
:11:14. > :11:18.Ziggy was homeless and slept rough the three
:11:19. > :11:21.months before she moved into Pavilion Court.
:11:22. > :11:23.I am very privileged to live here, because without Mac I
:11:24. > :11:25.would still be sleeping rough on the streets.
:11:26. > :11:28.One of the things that will be happening if the council
:11:29. > :11:30.is going to start paying the rent money
:11:31. > :11:34.No, I prefer it direct to the landlord because I'm useless
:11:35. > :11:35.with money, because I'm a big drinker.
:11:36. > :11:38.So you would prefer it to stay like that?
:11:39. > :11:41.Landlords often get a bad press, but there are some genuine
:11:42. > :11:43.worries that we are going to look at.
:11:44. > :11:55.For instance, changes to the benefit system are not the only concern
:11:56. > :11:58.From this April there is to be an additional 3%
:11:59. > :12:01.stamp duty for anyone buying a second property.
:12:02. > :12:05.But its clause 24 of the Finance Act which is being
:12:06. > :12:08.phased in from April next year, that is causing even greater concern
:12:09. > :12:12.Under clause 24, many landlords will be taxed on the whole
:12:13. > :12:14.of their rental income, without being able to offset
:12:15. > :12:16.all of their mortgage interest costs.
:12:17. > :12:17.It's a little bit complicated, but will
:12:18. > :12:22.affect many landlords who have borrowed money for buy to let.
:12:23. > :12:25.Chris Morris is Head of Policy for the
:12:26. > :12:28.National Landlords Association, which represents private landlords.
:12:29. > :12:32.This is probably the biggest piece of bad news, certainly that I've
:12:33. > :12:36.seen in my time, probably the biggest change to the way
:12:37. > :12:39.landlords will be able to invest in property
:12:40. > :12:42.since the beginning of buy to let in the late 1990s.
:12:43. > :12:47.This will affect those landlords who already have property,
:12:48. > :12:49.because quite frankly the way they are changing,
:12:50. > :12:52.planning to change the way landlords pay tax, will mean many landlords
:12:53. > :12:56.are paying tax than more than 100% of their profits.
:12:57. > :12:58.Clause 24 doesn't affect companies with more than 15
:12:59. > :13:07.properties, but it will affect ordinary people who have large
:13:08. > :13:16.Daniel is 37 and works in a local gym.
:13:17. > :13:18.He had hoped to build a small property portfolio
:13:19. > :13:25.He bought his first home 13 years ago.
:13:26. > :13:27.This modest terraced house near to his parents home.
:13:28. > :13:31.It's now a buy to let and he has a second buy to let property
:13:32. > :13:35.He lives in this home that he shares with his wife
:13:36. > :13:38.I bought my first house and lived in it for many
:13:39. > :13:44.I found I could take some money out of it to buy another property,
:13:45. > :13:47.Moved into the new property, keeping my old one and
:13:48. > :13:50.then over time when the property values have gone up,
:13:51. > :13:53.I've managed to pull some money out to buy another.
:13:54. > :13:56.At the moment he makes ?2500 a year profit from his buy to lets.
:13:57. > :14:08.But when clause 24 comes into being,
:14:09. > :14:12.he's calculated he will only take home around ?400,
:14:13. > :14:14.and that's only if interest rates don't go up.
:14:15. > :14:16.If that happened, would either have to put
:14:17. > :14:19.up his rents, if he can, or he fears subsidise his tenants
:14:20. > :14:21.from his own wages to live in his houses.
:14:22. > :14:25.It's not affecting big business, it's not affecting the super
:14:26. > :14:28.wealthy, but people like myself, who are just trying to provide
:14:29. > :14:30.But in his last budget, George Osborne
:14:31. > :14:33.said that he was making the tax change to create fairness.
:14:34. > :14:38.First will we create a more level playing
:14:39. > :14:41.field between those buying a home to let, and those who are buying
:14:42. > :14:45.Buy to let landlords have a huge advantage in the market
:14:46. > :14:47.as they can offset their mortgage interest payments against their
:14:48. > :14:57.What you think the impact of clause 24 will be on the housing market?
:14:58. > :15:00.I think this is one of the things the Chancellor hasn't really
:15:01. > :15:04.They seem to think the effect will be negligible and will
:15:05. > :15:08.From the research we do with our members, we predict that
:15:09. > :15:15.something like 600,000 landlords will have to exit the market.
:15:16. > :15:18.The Government has made the move because it is worried about the fall
:15:19. > :15:20.in home ownership among younger people.
:15:21. > :15:22.The Treasury told the BBC they are taking strong action
:15:23. > :15:30.by restricting the mortgage reliefs available to landlords we have
:15:31. > :15:33.removed the unfair advantage that they enjoyed over others trying
:15:34. > :15:36.Only one in five landlords are expected to pay more
:15:37. > :15:39.tax as a result of the reform, and they will still enjoy generous
:15:40. > :15:41.tax relief to help with the upkeep of
:15:42. > :15:48.Chris Cooper is a landlord who's has decided
:15:49. > :15:51.to challenge the Government over clause 24, together with another
:15:52. > :15:53.landlord he is seeking a judicial review.
:15:54. > :15:54.They've raised finance through an online appeal
:15:55. > :15:56.which was supported by more than 700 other
:15:57. > :16:02.It's a good point that not many people will complain about taxes,
:16:03. > :16:05.or if they do that accept the fact they have to pay tax.
:16:06. > :16:10.I accept that I need to pay tax as well, but...
:16:11. > :16:14.If somebody was asked to pay all their salary in tax so they had
:16:15. > :16:16.nothing left at the end of that, I think
:16:17. > :16:20.At Pavilion Court Mac is thinking about
:16:21. > :16:22.selling up and moving to the Philippines.
:16:23. > :16:33.Daniel is also considering what to do and may walk away from his two
:16:34. > :16:40.Its 600,000 private landlords to leave
:16:41. > :16:43.the buy to let business, will it mean tenants like Ziggy face
:16:44. > :16:59.in the UK, but how do you know if you will be safe if you go
:17:00. > :17:02.One council in the north-west has introduced a new
:17:03. > :17:05.ratings scheme after discovering filthy where some customers had
:17:06. > :17:15.There used to commemorate events and loved ones.
:17:16. > :17:18.Remind ourselves of life mantras or mark a turning point
:17:19. > :17:27.What are some of the worst things you have seen in premises?
:17:28. > :17:34.There was one where there was no sterilisation because there were no
:17:35. > :17:37.electrical facilities within the certain premise,
:17:38. > :17:39.so people who were having body piercing done were being
:17:40. > :17:41.done so effectively with dirty utensils and equipment.
:17:42. > :17:42.We've seen young people being tattooed.
:17:43. > :17:50.We've seen dirty equipment, we've seen
:17:51. > :17:52.cigarette packets and part eaten food lying around,
:17:53. > :17:53.generally filthy conditions, where skin is being
:17:54. > :17:57.broken, it is a disaster waiting to happen.
:17:58. > :18:00.Sean from Blackpool booked in for an eight hour tattoo
:18:01. > :18:11.It went as normal, just like any other
:18:12. > :18:13.tattoo, but an hour, an hour and a half after I had it
:18:14. > :18:17.done, I just felt really dizzy, I had a headache,
:18:18. > :18:19.He became worried that his arm had become infected
:18:20. > :18:30.After about a week, a week and a half,
:18:31. > :18:33.it started to go really hard and you could feel a gel
:18:34. > :18:38.Because of the size of the tattoo it was pretty much my whole
:18:39. > :18:43.After it started to scab over I noticed that the scab was kind
:18:44. > :18:46.of peeling up and there was thick yellowy goo coming out of my arm.
:18:47. > :18:49.Sometimes you would push down and there would be bits of blood
:18:50. > :18:54.There was no way that this was part of the healing
:18:55. > :19:00.process, especially considering I've had loads of tattoos before.
:19:01. > :19:04.So I went to A and they took all the skin where I'd had my tattoo
:19:05. > :19:07.It was stinking, it really smelt, it was horrible.
:19:08. > :19:10.Sean was put on gas and air to help ease the pain.
:19:11. > :19:14.They did say they had never seen anything like it before.
:19:15. > :19:19.They had seen bad tattoos but nothing as bad as mine.
:19:20. > :19:20.Blackpool has been nicknamed the tattoo
:19:21. > :19:26.It has 53 premises registered to carry out
:19:27. > :19:32.tattoos, body piercings and semipermanent make-up.
:19:33. > :19:35.Making up one shop for every 3000 people in the these
:19:36. > :19:46.a new scheme to ensure that all registered premises are given
:19:47. > :19:49.Stickers showing the ratings should be
:19:50. > :19:59.Tim says the major problems they encountered
:20:00. > :20:02.in Blackpool revolve around a general lack of knowledge.
:20:03. > :20:08.survive just doing the bare minimum, we've decided to intervene and raise
:20:09. > :20:10.the bar, because it's in the interests of all locals
:20:11. > :20:13.and visitors to the results, to have a safe
:20:14. > :20:17.Public-health experts have been forced to contact
:20:18. > :20:21.customers to arrange precautionary testing to ensure they have not been
:20:22. > :20:23.put at risk of serious infections or diseases when incidents
:20:24. > :20:29.We have people who have been disfigured and
:20:30. > :20:32.we have, we are aware of people who have contracted blood-borne
:20:33. > :20:34.viruses, through having these procedures done
:20:35. > :20:39.when the equipment hasn't been sterilised prior to use.
:20:40. > :20:41.Fortunately, infection with HIV is rare and we
:20:42. > :20:44.haven't seen that from any of these procedures,
:20:45. > :20:47.but we have seen people who have acquired hepatitis B and hepatitis C
:20:48. > :20:50.infections from having these procedures done.
:20:51. > :20:53.Do you think the fact that the industry is
:20:54. > :20:56.largely self-regulating, that's not very helpful, is it?
:20:57. > :21:01.When members of the public are trying to make
:21:02. > :21:06.Yes, it's unfortunate that there is no national standard.
:21:07. > :21:08.There is a general lack of training for people
:21:09. > :21:11.in the industry, lack of regulation within the industry,
:21:12. > :21:27.Jackie Harrison is responsible for checking
:21:28. > :21:29.cleanliness and hygiene of tattoo parlours and body piercing
:21:30. > :21:37.We keep all the consent forms and we keep them
:21:38. > :21:45.locked in a cupboard for a year and every consent form we write down
:21:46. > :21:48.exactly what ink we used and the batch numbers of the ink.
:21:49. > :21:54.Monica and her brother both received 40 hours of unpaid community work
:21:55. > :21:56.after being prosecuted for tattooing someone
:21:57. > :21:59.They were also criticised for having unhygienic
:22:00. > :22:09.premises following a visit from Blackpool Council.
:22:10. > :22:12.It was a bit of an unfortunate day in our studio because we had
:22:13. > :22:19.I was ill at home, so I was brought here to give some explanation
:22:20. > :22:23.What was your explanation about what was going on?
:22:24. > :22:25.My brother, his nature is sometimes to say too easily, yes.
:22:26. > :22:31.Maybe too easily believed what people tried to
:22:32. > :22:39.For many years I was working hard to keep the good name
:22:40. > :22:42.of this studio, and then a bit unfortunate, row of events put
:22:43. > :22:52.My work, my profession, my source of money for my family.
:22:53. > :23:04.And you accept the criticisms that were levelled against
:23:05. > :23:08.Yes, absolutely, because furniture was worn off.
:23:09. > :23:10.It was a matter of things getting older and it doesn't look very
:23:11. > :23:18.fresh, and sometimes you cannot see because you
:23:19. > :23:22.see it every day, so of course, it was probably a week or two too
:23:23. > :23:30.Monica's tattoo parlour has now been retested by Jackie.
:23:31. > :23:32.You have turned everything around, from being in court,
:23:33. > :23:34.you now have a five on the ratings scheme.
:23:35. > :23:36.Has it been difficult to turn things around?
:23:37. > :23:48.My ambition always was to keep the salon up to standard.
:23:49. > :23:54.The needles, the grips, something which is 100% I am
:23:55. > :23:59.Jackie brought this ratings scheme and we
:24:00. > :24:02.followed all points, as much as we could.
:24:03. > :24:11.We were lucky to go to five stars now.
:24:12. > :24:17.While Monica has embraced the new scheme, the council says it
:24:18. > :24:21.will name and shame many other businesses not up to standard
:24:22. > :24:22.by publishing all ratings scores online.
:24:23. > :24:24.And whilst it's currently voluntary, the council does
:24:25. > :24:28.If people don't want to join the scheme, that would set
:24:29. > :24:31.We will prohibit practices or prohibit
:24:32. > :24:41.What we can do is firstly wash your tattoo and take a look
:24:42. > :24:47.Sean is now looking to get his tattoo covered
:24:48. > :24:49.up, and has used the council's rating system to research and find
:24:50. > :24:53.I can see you have obviously had a terrible,
:24:54. > :24:55.terrible infection around this portion of your arm.
:24:56. > :24:58.Whether that is down to the ink or overworking the tattoo,
:24:59. > :25:02.All the trouble seems to have been this area around the front,
:25:03. > :25:09.Which has left you with some pretty nasty scars, actually.
:25:10. > :25:11.If you're interested in getting this tattoo finished,
:25:12. > :25:13.my advice would be to get very small skin patches
:25:14. > :25:17.I would take it very slowly, test the colours.
:25:18. > :25:21.It will be a long, drawn-out process for you, but we will be able to do
:25:22. > :25:25.Sean welcomes the new scheme in Blackpool, but still
:25:26. > :25:29.feels cautious about his ambition to get more tattoos.
:25:30. > :25:33.To be honest, I probably wouldn't go to anyone that didn't have a 5-star
:25:34. > :25:36.rating, regardless of what anyone says,
:25:37. > :25:38.it is art, but it is definitely a medical procedure.
:25:39. > :25:46.My ideal situation, before this happened,
:25:47. > :25:53.was I wanted to be covered in tattoos.
:25:54. > :25:56.I have so many different ideas, but there are a lot of tattoo
:25:57. > :25:58.artists I've seen, I've walked in and just
:25:59. > :26:01.turned back round and straight back out the door is cleanliness
:26:02. > :26:08.If you would like to see more stories from
:26:09. > :26:11.your area, join our Inside Out teams on Monday evening at 7:30pm
:26:12. > :26:30.Very blustery and the next few days, some heavy rain and wind this
:26:31. > :26:31.evening. This weekend is going to go