Squatters!

[longfingernails]

I think the government should make squatting in England and Wales a criminal offence without delay. It is already a criminal offence in Scotland. Forget publishing "advice", Mr Shapps!

It is galling that a "Squatters Advisory Service" is even allowed to exist.

How can it possibly be non-criminal to just take over someone else's property, and change the locks?

There is already a distinction along the lines that Giddypickle suggests, as I understand it from listening to the PM programme yesterday. It is illegal to refuse to leave a squat immediately if the "previous domestic occupier" demands that you leave. That covers anyone in the circumstances you describe - having been previously living there immediately before the squatters moved in, or returning after a short-ish trip/posting abroad.

Giddy ... but where do you draw the line between the two scenarios. As far as I'm concerned squatting is theft, criminal and deserves a harsh jail sentence.

Owners of buildings that allow them to stand idle and decay can be taxed to encourage redevelopment/letting/sale.

I don't think allowing theft at any level creates a good precedent.

Moving in to some ones house while they are away is awful. But this is so very rare compared to the number of genuine squatters out there.

London alone has hundreds if not thousands of squats. People making the most of disused and abandoned buildings. These pass under the radar because the landlords are not complaining. Many landlords have a good communication with the squatters, and consider it a positive thing to have in their buildings kept in a good state by squatters.

When the time comes that they can afford to renovate or rebuild or whatever they plan, it is easy to get a court order to remove the squatters. The ones in good communication with the landlord actually move out at the appropriate time. I have heard of many instances where the landlord will even find the squatters a new building.

In any walk of life there are bad eggs. Rich people can be nasty, poor people can be nasty, doctors can do bad things. Moving into a family home is a terrible thing to do but that does not mean that all squatting is bad.

Putting a high tax on dissused buildings is an unrealistic thing to suggest. This is never really going to happen.

Tanso Why? It is much easier than most buildings.

It's easy to devise a schedule for unoccupied property which will encourage selling up or fast re-letting.

0-6 months 100% council tax
6-12 months 120% council tax
12-24 months 200% council tax
24-36 months 300% council tax
36-60 months 500% council tax
60 months+ 1000% council tax

Argh I meant much easier than most taxes.

LFN - another thread with your right wing views again??

I usually know enough that if it is written by you, then i should hide it, as we are never going to agree on political views, ever.

But, the Squatters Advisory Service has been around since the 80s, it's not a new thing and neither is squatting.

Since 1995 the laws on squatting and travelling did change and they were made by your beloved Conservative Party and drawn up by Michael Howard.

Squatting an occupied premises is illegal and an IPO can be sought and the squatters be made to leave within hours of it being served. there are other ways that they can get people to leave i.e. on trespassing and criminal damage laws.

Have a read up before you start ranting again love...

FFS.

Squatters almost never take over property that is actually occupied. I have never heard of this happening in 12 years of involvement with squatting culture. I have a secure home now, but if I needed to I would squat again.

There is a very interesting book called Cotters And Squatters that tells the history of squatting. It was not always a marginalised activity - in the past it was an accepted way of gaining tenure on land.

The real scandal is that we live in a society where there are more empty homes than there are homeless families.

88,000 empty properties in London that are not on the market, just left empty, bet half of them are massive and could be split up into many flats, so probably well over 200, 000 households could be homed.

The needs of the many should outweigh the greed and lazyness of the few.

If someone has two cars, but they only use one of them at weekends, should others be able to unlock it and drive it about during the week?

If something belongs to someone, it is theirs. You may not like it, but tough. And let us consider specific cases. I have a flat that I rent out. The rent (just) covers the mortgage, service charge, block repairs bill, voids, repairs and redecoration. The previous tenant moved out and allowed someone else to move in, paying them a nominal rent. So I then pay a mortgage for someone else to live in my property while the previous tenant has a nice little earner.

If I had had to go through the courts, it could have taken six months (London courts have a huge backlog), and the flat would have been repossessed.

That would have been fair, wouldn't it?

I don't believe that people are absolutely advocating this activity. If the house belongs to someone then it belongs to someone, just because they may not be using it at the time doesn't give anyone the right to break into it and start using it. I would make squatting a criminal offence and put a hefty jail term on it.

kingbeat23 I am fairly obviously right-wing, but I don't think it is right-wing to say that property rights should exist, and be legally enforceable.

Unless you are Marx, and believe that property is theft, or something.

QueenFizzBangPoppingEverything "Squatting culture"? Really?

For those who support squatting I have 2 rooms in my house that are not used does that mean that someone should be allowed to live in them as well?

LFN - Property rights do exist and are legally enforcable, as I said in the last post, go and have a look at the Criminal Justice Act 1995 and see what the last Conservative Government did....

Vixel - the same thing to you as well, have a look at the CJA and what the laws are about and what you can or can't do. Squatting in someones house is not something that someone could possibly do as the laws of this land do not and could not allow this to happen.

A reactionary conclusion to a reactionary report on LFNs "beloved" BBC.

FGS - you think it is better that these houses stand empty for years and years slowly rotting?
hullygully completely different situation
vixel you live in your house. Squatters use houses that have been empty for years, they also (at least all the folk I've known who squat) pay their utility blls etc because that would be theft to use it and not pay.

Yes HandsOff, a lot of people do put property above people. Abandoned, disused, often semi derelict property at that.

Bizarre.

Squatting is not about taking someone else's home. It is about making use of disused buildings, often not even houses (factories, warehouses and the like), and using them to house people who have nowhere else to call home.

Maybe people would rather they all joined the council waiting lists

FGS it can be years before the owners even notice that their property is being occupied.

My new NN keeps throwing me. I might have to change back to WoTmania as I keep going o reply to my own posts then thinking something is familiar about them,.

QueenF - some of my friends have made building live-in-able after years of disuse.
I was listening to Jeremy Vile the other day (I don't know why, it raises my blood pressure) and the crap people were coming out with 'it's theft'. Er, yes, obviously all that rent they would be recieving if not for the awful squatters.
'They leave the place a mess': maybe a smell minority - the same as a small minority of people in rented acc. leave it a mess. The difference is usually a squat is, well, a squat and not in a good state when they move in.
I could go on.....

I read the first page of this thread and immediately thought about this squatters thread.