By Bethany Rose-
The unhygienic home of one of Britain’s worst landlords is laid bare today as The Eye Of Media.Com pays him a visit to check on his progress. Robert Earnest Crowe, the eccentric owner of a three-storey property in Southend On Sea, runs a largely unhygienic property for homeless people in Essex.
During a previous visit last week, mr Crowe promised to improve the unsightly garden that was annoying his neighbours within a week, and I was met by an improved looking garden this time garden. However, replacing the garden was an unsightly stairs leading to his property, which was filled with plant pots and all sorts of rubbish. It is within full view of passer bys and neighbours, whose resentment for mr.Crowe remains unchanged.
As I enter his property, I am confronted with his filthy kettle placed on a dirty tray, some flies hovering in the air. 69 year old Bob Crowe is as eccentric as they come, and I am forced to politely decline his offer for tea. ”Why is the kettle this messy, I ask him in a calm voice”? ”Oh, please, it is temporary, this is trivial, it will be cleaned, but he rejects my suggestion that it is a health hazard. Tenants just have to be concerned about their room, that’s what they pay for, he argues.
Outdated milk bottles surround the tea tray, they have been preserved in the fridge, and are still fine, he says. This is making a mountain out of molehill. We need to concentrate on the important thing, which is taking the homeless off the street and putting a roof over their heads”
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Tea Tray With Filthy Kettle
” The milk and tea is for me, he states, some of my tenants happily drink it, I pay for it, they don’t have to drink it if they don’t want to”. The Eye Of Media.Com has been permitted to photograph his property because this landlord is grateful for our efforts in scrutinising the Southend Council whom he insists have been mounting a campaign against him to bankrupt him and put him out of business. Mr.Crowe, a self professed engineer, yet to validate his claims, is in the wrong business. He has not got the capability to be an efficient landlord, the messy state of his property easily shows this.
”Why is the focus always on me, have you had a look at every garden on this street” he asks. Have you been in their homes”?
Mr.Crow has been knocked several times by former tenants who have at some point run off with housing benefit money paid to them which should have gone straight to his account. Some of those tenants must have become fed up with the property, although mr.Crowe claims most of those tenants who have run off with his money did so after he caught them doing drugs or high on drugs, or drinking excessively.
”I don’t permit any type of drugs in this property, he insists, I don’t care with it is soft or hard drugs, no drugs in here, he states in in a strong assertive tone. I have caught a few of them doing drugs, and given them notice, but what do they do? They decide to run off with my next payment instead of giving it to me. I don’t understand why the council pays tenants directly, a lot of these guys don’t know what to do with money they haven’t earned”. I have to agree, it is difficult to understand why tenants receive money directly, especially where many may be on drugs.
The idea is to make them feel responsible for their own rent payments, so that if they falter in their payments, they at least know it is the result of their own failing. However, as this is government money, perhaps a bit more attention needs to be paid to how tax payers money is spent. This may be something to be looked into further.
ATTACK
Mr.Crowe was violently attacked about two months ago, and suspects the attack was over a woman who gave him a deposit then demanded it back. ”I don’t know what world these people are in, somebody needs to tell them the definition of a deposit. I have bills and debts to pay, they can’t expect me to return a deposit to them, a deposit by definition is forfeited if you don’t go through with the rest of the arrangement made. If you leave a deposit to buy a car, then return for the deposit, you won’t get it back, but these low lives think they should get their deposit back after I have saved a room for them. I’m afraid, it doesn’t work that way”.
One evening, mr.Crowe was walking near his home when he was attacked by four strangers, damaging his pelvis, ribs and side. He was hospitalised for two weeks as a result. His injuries have healed quite a bit now, but he still relies on on of the two crutches he was given. He has heard from some locals and his tenants that the reason he was attacked was because he refused to return deposit of £280 paid to him by a woman who changed her mind and wanted it back.
He confirms, she is the third person to request their deposit back, though taking a look at the property, this is no surprise. He is due in court on September 3rd in relation to the state of his property, after being fined £37,000 by Chelmsford Magistrates Court in 2016 over the same issue. He has lodged an appeal in the Crown Court for that conviction, though as things stand will still be required to attend the September case at Basildon Magistrates Court.
I ask to take a walk round the property, and go to the kitchen, whilst mr.Crowe stands by the hallway at the request of a male photographer, who accompanied me to the property.
Duvet Covers surround the floor near the Sink
The idea was to view the kitchen and photograph it. Although we have his permission to take pictures, I take advantage of the fact he may have forgotten this arrangement whilst mindful of the possibility he could change his mind or regulate what parts of his home I can photograph. The space he calls the kitchen is more like a dumping ground for crap. There is stuff everywhere. A trip downstairs to the basement flats is even more frightening. The so called kitchen is a nightmare, it would be a travesty to even call it a kitchen.
Dirty Fridge Gathering Some Mould On The Edges
How can mr.Crowe live like this? ”You have got to understand, I am an old man, it will cost a lot of money to clear this all up, and the Council are trying to bankrupt me, don’t you understand that? This basement has a prohibition order on it , he says”, not that this is surprising. However, he can’t blame the council for the state of his property, it is his duty to put it in decent condition. One gets the impression mr.Crowe, a self professed humanitarian doesn’t like any criticism. He also doesn’t like being interrupted whilst he is talking. Mr.Crowe says nobody lives in the basement flats, but the thought that anybody once lives there is horrifying.
Unhygienic Basement Kitchen In Downstairs Flat
The Eye Of Media.Com has offered to oversee a complete transformation of his property. Two of his tenants who live rent free do work for him in exchange for rent, but nothing comprehensive enough. Something drastic needs to be done. Mr. Crowe will be sent a list of changes we want to see in the state of his property, and he has promised to co-operate with our recommendations. We shall see. His property is big and spacious, it could be really nice if kept in good condition. The Eye Of Media will be back to see to it that this landlord keeps his promise., but next time round it may well be somebody else from our team that visits him.