Stealing houses set to become illegal

Justicia

Carl31 wrote: »

Why? Its just a waste of land if lays un used. If people decide they dont want it then take it off them and put it to good use. If this was the case, maybe there would be less requirement for people to squat?

"Its just a waste of OWNED land if lays un used." <- my addition....

If I wanted to buy some land and keep it empty/clear (and thus "waste" it, in your opinion), why should I have to justify it to you/anyone?

If I own it, I should be able to do what I like (legal, obviously!) with it...

This is good news! :T

Turnbull2000

Fella wrote: »

As an aside my uncle went on holiday once & when he returned he found his house full of squatters who refused to move.

Errm, the existing law allowed for forceful removal in those circumstances.

the_flying_pig

Out,_Vile_Jelly wrote: »

Of course people should be able to go on holiday without strangers breaking in and taking up residence in their absence. How often does that actually happen though?

Empty, long-abandoned properties are a blight on residential and commerical districts. I have no problem with squatters at least making use of them, and drawing attention to the ridiculous waste of useable space.

Yeah.

A problem is that the term 'squatting' is used to mean a lot of quite different things.

IMO:

1 - people who are occupying obviously abandoned properties & not doing any damage to them should not face any sort of sanctions;

2 - but it should be possible to move such squatters along very quickly [within days rather than weeks] at such time as the properties' owners appear on the scene with an alternative use for the building;

3 - there should be a zero tolerance approach to the miniscule number of cases where householders pop out for a newspaper or whatever & come back to find squatters have set up shop - but TBH i think there always has been.

Loughton_Monkey

princeofpounds wrote: »

The new rules only apply to houses in occupation, so squatting in empty buildings is not criminalised, although of course people may be less willing to take the risk

Not true. It's non-residential that are excluded.

The law also protects owners of vacant residential properties such as landlords, local authorities and second-home owners.

Loughton_Monkey

Carl31 wrote: »

Im in 2 minds about this news

First, its great that landlords can now evict those that choose to illegally use their property with ease. It should be their right already

However, in many cases squatters use properties that have laid empty for months or years. Why not make use of them? Their should be something in the middle ground that stops empty properties going to waste

My Jag is sitting out on the drive now. I used it last Sunday, and will use it this afternoon.

So are you saying that it's perfectly OK for you to have come and borrowed it without permission Monday to Thursday?

Also, there's a nice plot of land that's been unused for absolute centuries [it's called Epping Forest]. Might as well just stake out an acre or two and build my own house on it?

IveSeenTheLight

vivatifosi wrote: »

I read this and immediately thought where's SquatNow when you need him? It would make for an interesting debate.

I thought the same.
Of course SquatNow didn;t actually squat IIRC.

pinkteapot

Carl31 wrote: »

Why? Its just a waste of land if lays un used. If people decide they dont want it then take it off them and put it to good use. If this was the case, maybe there would be less requirement for people to squat?

You might be happier living in a communist country...

quantic

The trouble is, its not like these squatters politely use the land or buildings while they are not in use, then when required again for use they move out, they don't they refuse to - at this point they are criminals.

Additionally, my dad's land which is within his gated and fenced business was occupied for a small time by gypsies, and when they left it cost him thousands to repair the fire damage etc they had caused.

the_flying_pig

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

My Jag is sitting out on the drive now. I used it last Sunday, and will use it this afternoon.

So are you saying that it's perfectly OK for you to have come and borrowed it without permission Monday to Thursday?...

I suggest you mentally tot up a little list of the ways in which your jag example's different to Carl's house example & use this list to answer your own question.

FTBFun

Stealing houses set to become illegal

Wait - BTL is now illegal?