Filled nappies, rotting raw meat on a kebab skewer and a mildewed mattress litter the back alley that runs to Anand’s family home in Harrow. To Gareth Jones, a council housing enforcement officer, the stinking hillocks of rubbish are tell-tale signs of illegal, overcrowded dwellings.
Jones picks his way up steps to the front doors of flats constructed hodge-podge over the back of an interwar shopping parade. His colleague, Sheetal Rajani, slaps on one door loudly and Anand, a shop worker answers.
