New breed of squatters who renovate and fit solar panels

Polo is no ordinary squatter. The builder, 32, enters empty properties and changes the locks, but then pays the utility bills, renovates and even fits solar panels.

Once the preserve of society’s poorest, now even those holding down jobs are turning to squatting amid skyrocketing rents and high property prices.

The number of people turning to squatting and “unconventional accommodation” has risen by 25pc in the past decade, according to homelessess charity Crisis. After becoming homeless at the age of 12, Polo was taken in by others who introduced him to squatting.

Polo – who uses a pseudonym to avoid legal repercussions – now travels around the country to reclaim empty properties. He says: “I’ve got somebody in the system who has access to certain file systems and tells me what kind of properties are in the area that haven’t been used.

“I drive the motorbike down, check them out, wear a hi-vis jacket with ‘locksmith’ written on the back, gain access to the premises, change the locks and then walk away with a new set of keys to that property. Within an hour I’ve got 10 people moving in.”

It comes as a report by the Local Government Association last year found that the number of long-term empty homes in England has increased by nearly 10pc over the past five years.

House prices in the UK are also at their most unaffordable level since the Victorian era, according to analysis of historical Bank of England data by investment platform Interactive Investor. At the same time, rents on new lets have soared by 31pc since 2020, according to Zoopla.

Polo grew up in the care system and says he later could not get social housing because he was a single man and therefore less of a priority. He sees squatting as a way of helping others who have fallen on hard times. “Have you ever heard the story of Robin Hood?” he says. “That’s what I’ve done.”

He typically chooses empty commercial premises such as high street shops, pubs and industrial buildings but occasionally finds a suitable abandoned residential property.

One of the houses he has occupied in Gatwick, West Sussex, has been empty for 32 years because the owner passed away with no surviving relatives. The property is worth about £500,000. Polo says that once he has stayed there for 12 years he can transfer the ownership lack of affordable homes. She says: “We are just seeing so many people struggling to access any form of social housing if they become homeless, or struggling to keep a home.”

Only around 7,000 social housing rental properties are being built every year in England – but 90,000 are needed to meet the current demand, according to Crisis. Existing social homes are being sold off through the right to buy scheme but not replaced at the same rate, which has led to a dwindling supply. Meanwhile, a freeze in housing benefit in recent years has made it harder for claimants to find housing in the private rented sector.

Autonomous Winter Shelter, a squatting group that occupies empty properties, says increasing numbers of people are getting in touch to ask if they can stay in one of their shelters.

When Peter Albescu got involved with the group, he says squatters tended to be homeless people who had lived on the streets for years, but now, their numbers have expanded to include students, young people and parents with children.

Some are hospitality workers and in low- paid sectors that used to pay enough to cover their rents – but not anymore. Rents for new tenancies have risen by 9.7pc in the past year as landlords pass on the cost of rising interest rates and demand exceeds supply, according to property website Zoopla.

Albescu, who spoke using a pseudonym, says he and his “crew” have squatted all over London but are mainly based in the borough of Croydon.

They are now taking over around eight properties, which they plan to offer to others in need.

Alexa Phillips