U.K. squatters rise up against crackdown
Estimated 20,000 occupiers enjoy legal protection that could vanish as Parliament weighs new law
LONDON— With rents in London and across the U.K. at an all-time high, the British media have painted a picture of a squatting epidemic, with homeowners under siege by opportunistic occupiers.
In August, a doctor and his pregnant wife found their newly purchased $1.6 million home in north London taken over by a group of squatters who refused to leave until the couple secured a court order.
The same month, a family of eight Romanians moved into a government employee’s east London home while she was away, trashing her belongings and causing $63,000 in damage.
Residents of one northeast London community claim that a gang of roving squatters has occupied some 30 different homes in the area.
Even the infamous are not immune. Last March, the lush London home of Saif al-islam Gadhafi, the late Libyan dictator’s son, was seized by a group of squatters who claimed they were taking the house on behalf of the Libyan people.
From landless peasants in medieval times to homeless Londoners seeking shelter after the Blitz, squatters in England have long enjoyed protection under some of the world’s most accommodating squatting laws.
Though there is no hard evidence of a change in squatter numbers, the recent headlines have attracted public ire and lawmakers’ attention.
Parliament is now reviewing a bill that would make squatting a criminal offence in England and Wales, where is it currently only a civil matter. (It is already illegal in Scot- land.) The House of Lords will discuss the provision on squatting in early February. With their rights under siege, squatters are standing up to fight. “People are being convinced that if they go to get a pint of milk there will be squatters in their kitchen,” said Rueben Taylor, campaigner for Squatters’ Action for Secure Homes, a squatters’ rights advocacy group. The proposed law, she said, is “unjust and unnecessary.” There are an estimated 20,000 people squatting in England, according to a government estimate. They include homeless individuals, artists and young people seeking alternative communities, as well as Roma and Travellers (a nomadic group of Irish origin). They benefit from a wide selection of vacant properties — there are 720,000 unoccupied houses in England, according to housing nonprofit Empty Homes — and a legal and social environment that favours squatters’ rights. It’s generally legal to squat in a residential property as long as no one lives or intends to live there. If squatters don’t damage the buildings, there is often little police or property owners can do to evict them without a long, costly court process. After 12 years, the property legally becomes the squatter’s. Squatting tips are readily available from organizations such as the non-profit Advisory Service for Squatters, whose website counsels would-be squatters to send themselves mail and change the locks to bolster their claim to a property.
The proposed law would make it a crime to squat in any residential building, regardless of whether it is in current use.
Proponents say that it will provide police and government with muchneeded tools to evict illegal occupiers.
Most squatters don’t want a hostile confrontation with a displaced resident, said Taylor, who said she has squatted several times in London and found it “hard work.”