An undercover report is set to expose the alleged squalid conditions of temporary housing in the borough.

Channel 4’s Dispatches programme will examine Croydon Council’s provision of housing in its Landlords from Hell show tonight.

In the show, an undercover reporter stays at the Apollo Guest House, in Beulah Road, Thornton Heath – often used to house people who find themselves homeless.

She accuses the guest house of providing a £30 a night family room with a door that did not lock, mould and fungus growing on the carpet, stains on the bed and a bed bug infestation.

The reporter claims the owners at Apollo were taking home £2,000 a week, mainly from housing benefit.

Homeless families, relocated by the council, are only supposed to be put in B&B accommodation for six weeks, but the show will claim one family had been staying at the hostel for more than a year.

When Dispatches contacted Croydon council they denied placing this resident at Apollo but four days later they moved her to another B&B.

Yinka Adedeji from Apollo Guest House, says the conditions Dispatches described were "totally at odds with our observations and reports from the local authority on the satisfactory state of the property."

He says: "The property is routinely treated for bed bugs and other pests. With regard to the structural faults, it is not unusual for tenants to make false and exaggerated complaints."

Dispatches also asked Croydon Council if Apollo Guest house and a neighbouring Beulah House Hotel are of an acceptable standard for HMOs licensed by them.

They say that there are six people placed by Croydon Council as these hotels at the moment, none of which are families.

They also say the hotels are used: "As a last resort... We inspect both regularly under the Housing Act and take any appropriate action.... There is a huge pressure on housing of all forms in Croydon, where there are 1600 people in temporary accommodation and more than 300 families in emergency accommodation."