SirFozzalot

But it's not their home, they didn't buy it or pay for it so why should they be allowed to live in it free of charge just because the owner happens to not be in it?

If I decided to live or work overseas but want to keep my house here in the UK for when I return do you think it would be ok for people to get in to my home and live in it just because I'm not?

tony de wonderful

Why not?

Nobody's being deprived of anything if nobody is living there. Many of these houses are run down and abandoned.

markjmd

iTrader: (11)

You're really living on another planet, aren't you. Would you say the same about somebody's car, if they happen to own more than one? "Fine go ahead, I only bought it as a toy to drive at weekends, you can do what you like with it during the week. Who cares if you scratch up the polished leather, kerb the wheels, or the stink the thing up with marijuana smoke, it's only a poxy 911/Jag/Merc/Skyline/insert-name-of-favoured-classic-or-sports-car-here"

My last and final appeal to reason here - if it was the case under existing squatting laws that when an owner wanted to make use of a squatted property again, the squatting occupants buggered off sharpish without kicking up a fuss, there'd be nothing for any of us to discuss here. Fact is though, that wasn't what happened, so your whole argument of 'nobody being deprived of anything' is a complete load of tosh, and you probably know it.

tony de wonderful

Cars wear out by use though, land doesn't....or not by simply being on it anyway.

The squatters rights were there to stop people immediately ending up living in cardboard boxes. It is possible the law could have been improved but the daily mail pleasing criminalisation of squatters by default is harsh I think.

SirFozzalot

Be sure to let the local squatters know they are welcome to stay in your house free of charge and do what they want with it next time you go away on holiday then. Nobody is being deprived, you're not using it for a couple of weeks so might as well let them use it eh?

Dingdongler

He doesn't own a house, he rents a bedsit.

boomer

You have become a tedious *****!

Daily Mail: Immigration officer comes home to find family of Romanian gypsies squatting in her house, wearing her clothes and drinking her wine (after telling neighbours she'd died)
The Telegraph: Gang of Romanian gipsy squatters 'targeted several houses'
London Evening Standard: Squatters said I was dead as they drank my wine
Daily Express: SQUATTERS WRECKED MY HOUSE
Mirror: Immigration officer returns home to find family of Romanian gypsies squatting in her house

mb

hodgy0_2

The above sounds more like a problem with Romanian gypsies

tony de wonderful

Awesome irony.

Boomer, have you read the article? The woman kicked thm out the next day with a county court order. The new law won't prevent your house being broken into and trashed.

jonc

That's not what the new law was intended for. No amount of law and criminalisation will prevent someone's house from being broken into. What this law will do is allow the rightful owner of the property to evict a squatter quickly and for it to act as a deterrent that there are now repercussions for squatting, trashing someones home and making the rightful owner homeless in the process.

cster

Is that a fact, m'learned friend?
Amazing what one can learn on SN!

hodgy0_2

In England, squatting has a long historical tradition. The BBC states that squatting was "a big issue in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 and again for the Diggers in the 17th Century [who] were peasants who cultivated waste and common land, claiming it as their rightful due" and that squatting was a necessity after the Second World War when so many were homeless.[45] The BBC also reported in 2011 that the British government estimated that there were "20,000 squatters in the UK" and "650,000 empty properties".[45]

From wiki btw

zip106

Bless.
It's a sad life.

Just for Tone-ee...


Sunday morning going slow
I'm talking to the radio
Clothes and records on the floor
Memories of the night before
Out in clubland having fun
Now I'm hiding from the sun
Waiting for a visitor
But no one knows I'm here for sure.

Dancing
Laughing
Drinking
Loving
And now I'm all alone in Bedsit land,
My only home

I think it's time to cook a meal
To fill the emptiness I feel
Spend my money going out
I've nothing left, I'm left without
Clean my teeth and comb my hair
Look for something new to wear
And start the nightlife over again
And kid myself I'm having fun

Dancing
Laughing
Drinking
Loving
And now I'm all alone in Bedsit land,
My only home

I look out of my window view
There's really nothing else to do
Read a book maybe write a letter
'Mother, things are getting better'
Watch the mirror, count the lines
The battle scars of all the good times
Look around and I can see
A thousand people just like me.

Dancing
Laughing
Drinking
Loving
And now I'm all alone in Bedsit land,
My only home

Dancing
Laughing
Drinking
Loving
And now I'm all alone in Bedsit land,
My only home

I'm waiting for something
I'm only passing time
And now I'm all alone in Bedsit land
My only home

Dancing
Laughing
Drinking
Loving

tony de wonderful

Yep cos in feudal society there wasn't private property as we know it. Peasants lived on common lands which was part of manors and estates....the Lord had rights and duty over this land but he couldn't monetize it. Just as the lord has rights so did the peasants. There were successive inclosue acts which parcelled up this common land and this pissed off peasants.

Really all private property (land) in this country is land which someone once took by force, created a legal system to say they owned it....and eventually sold it to someone today who 'owns' their house.

Inside ways you could argue the inclosure acts were illegitimate since they were not voted for democratically.

boomer

Strange that you should pick the Daily Mail article as an example, as you seem to hate that publication so much. How about quoting the Stan'ard...

Such nice people, these squatters are (and continue to be)?

mb

boomer

Brilliant News (ending squatter's rights) - i can't believe that the change in law took soooo long!

There was some dopey woman squatter (Katy Kennedy?) on Radio 4 yesterday morning pleading her case...

Paraphrased...

"Er, i had been, um, in, er, um, an abusive relationship, er, for, um, er, several months, um, and there, um, was nobody to, er, turn to, um. Then this white knight of a squatter offered me somewhere to live"

Right, so she had no family or friends or colleagues who could help out and there was no support from the council or police or charities? Nah, some waster in a squat "offered" her somewhere to live - THAT WAS OWNED BY SOMEBODY ELSE. He had nothing to offer because he had stolen it in the first place! Some friend?

She then blathered on about "um, no water or electricity, er, um, hard times, um" etc.

Anyway, the presenter asked where she would be living tonight (Friday night) as squatting would then become illegal, and she said "um, er, i don't, er, know (um)"

It turned out that she was a teacher - FFS, why do we allow squatters to educate our children????

So the presenter asked why, as an employed teacher, she could not afford even a basic bedsit?

"Er, um, because i am not a full time teacher, um, i am , er, a contract teacher, um. Some weeks i have an, um, income and on others i, um, don't, er, um..."

Stupid, crumbly, soap dodging, hippy bitch!

Dingdongler

Excellent

If you remove the dancing, laughing, drinking and loving you've basically summarised him.

He does sometimes crack a rib whilst trying to do 'declined fly exercises' on his camp bed though

zip106

Using a tin of beans in each hand?

Dingdongler

This is the only kind of squatting that should be allowed

Dingdongler

Yes, empty ones that he has eaten for his supper

zip106

Alas, he'll never have one squatting on his face.

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

I don't know why you lot even bother with him, he has zero entertainment value at best, so obvious in all his responses that it's not even funny, every time i read a thread where he is leading everyone by the nose it's like ground hog day.

Boring troll.

Dare i say, come back PSL all is forgiven.

I wouldn't be trying to remove the squatters above, in fact i'd be incouraging them to stay indefinatly.

Dingdongler

+1

He's just boring, I don't understand why people even try and enter into a discussion with him.

DYK

OHHHHH Baby,she could squat on my face anytime....

David Lock

So if the cops sling these people out isn't the local authority duty bound to house them?

dl

boomer

I hope so - in prison. As in "proper prison".

mb

Leslie

How would you honestly feel if you came back from a holiday,or even from work ,to find that a bunch of them have moved into your house and changed the locks.

Under the old laws the police could do nothing about recovering your home for you.

Is that a good situation?

Les

Leslie

Good to see that the coppers are at last empowered to act against people who steal someone else's home and property.

Les

hodgy0_2

The actual reality is that we have some of the most effective and transparent laws regarding the recognition and protection of property in the world

That is why so many million and billionaires throughout the world put their money/wealth in the UK property market – boosting property prices in the process.

The problem I have with this law is its cynical populism, playing on mainly unfounded fears that the minute people leave their house it will be overrun by squatters.

What this law will do is allow large organisations/companies/housing associations/councils etc leave properties empty and fall into disrepair – in effect just banking the land and its increase in asset value, great for me personally tbh, great for the UK PLC?, I am not so sure.

Truss

iTrader: (2)

About time.
I work hard to be able to rent and run my house, why can't these tree hugging free loaders do the same.
If a property is owned surely it is up to the rightful owner to do what ever they see fit to do with it, even leave it empty.
Some absolute bollox being spouted.
TDW, if you feel so strongly about the poor running of state housing, why dont you rent your house out for free while you're away?