The £98 a week ruin Rats, rotten cupboards and damp silence the inspectors

It is rare these days for housing officers to be lost for words. But on an inspection of a rented flat in north-east England this month, one experienced officer struggled to articulate her disgust - not at the state of the property, but at the obvious dereliction of its landlord.

- Josh Halliday

"Incredulous," she says, when she finally finds the right word.

"Like, how dare they take rent [for this]?" It is difficult to know where to start with the disrepair of Peter Thompson's ground-floor flat - but it hits you like a cold shower when you knock on his front door. An icy blast of rainwater pours from a hole in the guttering, drenching visitors and covering the front step with ice in the colder months.

Thompson, 72, has lived in this one-bedroom flat for 30 years. His £98-a-week housing allowance is sent directly to a landlord he has never met.

A former joiner, Thompson has made the place his own, decorating practically every inch of the living room with trinkets and memorabilia, and has never once complained about the conditions.