Hi Fiona – most of us aren’t quite that old so would only remember the 90s and 2000s – but on another site called Tribal Living there were many posts from an old skool squatter.
The legal realities are and have been (until a year or so ago when the Tories criminalised squatting residential premises) that “squatters rights” for permanent posession only existed after continuous unopposed occupation of 12-20 years (adverse posession). the Section 6 notice was originally intended as a warning to the owner and/or vigilantés that is was illegal to use force to retake the premises when it was occupied.
Even now an eviction (from the time squatters are discovered and notified to the eviction itself) can take anything from a few weeks to a few months, especially when its non residential premises and the owner is a property management company with no immediate plans for the use of the building.
The difference between the 1970s and 2000s is that in those days the cops were far more likely to turn a blind eye to the owner and/or anyone who supported him and was “hard enough” to take “direct action” of their own and recover the building by brute physical force.
