DEBRIS litters the front garden. The top floor window of the house is smashed and the door is boarded up with a tatty piece of wood.

For the past four years the property on Bromwich Street, The Haulgh, has lain empty, an infested hovel frequented by drug dealers and prostitutes.

Everywhere there are signs of neglect and decay. While the exterior looks uninviting, the interior is nothing but repulsive. The bare floorboards look brittle and ready to give way. Some already have, revealing holes in the floor.

The bannister has been pulled from the rotting staircase and thieves have stripped the house of its copper piping.

"Enough for them to buy a bag of heroin," landlord Zahid Razzaq jokes before realising that, as with many wisecracks, there was an element of truth to his thoughts.

An upstairs room had become a drug den. A collection of used syringes were strewn across the floor and a dirty blue blanket lay in the corner.

Hazy sunlight streamed into the cold property from the curtainless windows. It was impossible to gauge the rest of the "delights" in this property -- for venturing to the top floor was out of the question as the staircase was unsafe to walk on.

Mr Razzaq bought the house for £40,000. It was set to cost him a further £35,000 to renovate -- a total of £75,000, far more than the house would eventually be worth.

He said: "It's actually a lot cleaner now than a few days ago. When I bought it, it was infested, an absolute mess and one challenge has been to stop drug users from breaking in.

"When I've finished with it, it will be a pleasant place to live. Attitudes are changing now and landlords are going to have to become more choosey about who they allow into their properties." The building once housed eight tenants, each living in bedsits with shared cooking and toilet facilities.

Mr Razzaq promises to convert it into five self-contained flats with separate rooms for the kitchen, lounge, bathroom and bedroom. In the process he will re-lay the stolen carpet, eradicate the damp on the walls and hide away the exposed wiring.

"We need more power to evict problem tenants and the police and the council need to work with us," he said.

Mr Razzaq owns 12 houses in The Haulgh and began snapping them up four years ago because "they are in an ideal location close to the town centre".

But, he said: "At first I just wanted to fill the houses with tenants. As a landlord, it's sound business practice to do so, but then you become more experienced and you learn to spot who would be trouble.

"I'm investing a lot of money into my properties and the only way to ensure it will be a good investment is to be selective.That makes it good for me, for the people who come to live here and for the law-abiding residents in the area."

The 43-year-old has also begun renovating recently-purchased properties.

One on Hilden Street is in the process of virtual rebuilding. The once-leaning perimeter wall which ringed the overgrown back yard has been straightened, and the derelict extension was knocked down and re-erected. And the interior is undergoing a revamp with five small flats again replacing eight bedsits.

They will become home to a fresh batch of tenants, their rents mainly funded by the Department of Social Security.

Asked whether landlords would be better renting the homes to families, Mr Razzaq said: "They would have to rent the whole property and these buildings may well be too big for the average family."

He originally bought the houses for the student market. "Landlords can make a lot of money from the student market and the tenants are less hassle, but the market bottomed out when Bolton Institute was not granted university status," he said.

"Unless this area gets rid of its reputation it will not turn around. There needs to be tighter laws against prostitution and drug dealing."

His new flats will cost between £50 and £60 a week to rent, a figure which he said was high enough to deter drug dealers and prostitutes.

Bolton Council has set up a scheme banning landlords from renting out properties which they fail to bring up to scratch. It will tackle empty properties and see massive investment in properties over the coming year.

A vetting process for tenants will be put in place. Mr Razzaq said: "I fully support the Council's move because it means we are all protected. I'm sure the area will be turned around eventually." To illustrate the type of tenants he wanted, he invited the BEN to see 25-year-old Akida Andre who has turned his fully-furnished and decorated flat on Bromwich Street into a comfortable home.

Mr Razzaq has recently completed renovations on the property, papering the walls, varnishing the bannisters and fitting carpets throughout.

He said: "Mr Andre is a perfect tenant. He's clean and decent. We, as landlords, have to realise that attracting people like him is only possible if we provide quality accommodation."