Squatting

[flip_flop]

Should squatting be considered a criminal offence?

[jake-the-peg]

If damage has been done then there is already an offence of criminal damage.

If not then no it's a civil matter between property owner and an individual much like trespass

[Jonathan-Joe]

Yes, because while they occupy your home, they have stolen it.

[jake-the-peg]

You obviously don't understand the meaning of the word "stolen"

Stolen implies the intent to permanently deprive

[jake-the-peg]

Incidently if someone is squatting and a person who normally lives there or has a right to do so asks them to go they have to or they are breaking the law.

http://england.shelte...elessness/squatting#1

So how much more do you want?

[RATTER15]

Clearly it has to be a YES!!!

[keyplus90]

I have no doubt about it. If someone comes and occupies my home then I will do whatever to get him/her out and I may not bother calling police or going to court. Call me whatever but if someone comes to my home causing problem then I did not invite him and he should be ready for consequences. Although I am a law abiding person but any law that gives criminal more rights than a victim is simply a wrong law.

[pa___ul3]

should it not be considered the same as burgalry, with the right to use reasonable force to get them to leave?

[jake-the-peg]

Well I think the question has been written that way in order to elicit such an answer Ratter.

Do you know what the existing law on squatting is?

If not on what do you base your opinion?

[jake-the-peg]

This is the thing keyplus

Almost nobody "comes home and finds squatters"

Squatters almost always occupy abandoned buildings

[Gromit]

Do you think it should be a criminal offence to leave a property unoccupied in London, a city with 150,000 homeless people?

The more unoccupied houses in a City with a housing shortage, drives up rent prices, further hindering peoples' ability to afford a roof over their heads.

[DrFilth]

with all the benefit cuts there will be more and more homeless people

[RATTER15]

Im sorry but if someone moves into a property owned by me without my permission then I think they should be prosecuted, they did not have my permission to be there!

[jake-the-peg]

I think perhaps Grommit, Council tax should be payable at double the normal rate if a property is left unoccupied for more than 2 years

[chelle7272]

Squatting can be considered a criminal offence once an interim possession order has been served, if the squatters remain there longer than 24 hours.

[pa___ul3]

there was an article I read last week about squatters 'being good enough' to move on when they found out the house in which they were squatting belonged to a couple who were about to have a baby, suggesting if they weren't they would have stayed put. This is obviously the circumstance in which the law needs to be clear, and in favour of the home owners.

[AB Editor]

Afternoon,

"Incidently if someone is squatting and a person who normally lives there or has a right to do so asks them to go they have to or they are breaking the law."

You have to get a court order, not just ask. How hard is this? I imagine it to be a very frustrating situation for a landlord.

[AB Editor]

"I think perhaps Grommit, Council tax should be payable at double the normal rate if a property is left unoccupied for more than 2 years."

This is an interesting idea. Or something similar to encourage efficient letting.

[RATTER15]

I would have them out, kicking and screaming if necessary, I would deal with it!!!

[flip_flop]

Victims of squatters must go through the expense and the time involved of obtaining an eviction order through the civil system.

So in addition to having the stress and sense of violation that having squatters must undoubtedly bring (plus being made 'homeless' if you have nowhere else to go), you then have to incur expense to get them out.

How can this possibly be right?

[jackthehat]

Most houses squatted in are empty second properties.

They are rarely the primary residences of the owner.