Forums › Life › Squatting or Homeless › Hove MP calls for end to ‘squatter rights’
A Brighton and Hove MP wants squatters and tenants who stop paying their rent to be dealt with in criminal courts.
Mike Weatherley, who represents Hove and Portslade, said they caused damage and disruption and should be held to account for their actions. Currently landlords have to go through the civil courts to get squatters or problem tenants evicted. The Conservative MP has written to the government calling for the law to be changed.
Brighton and Hove has 3,655 empty homes, the highest number in Sussex. Mr Weatherley said: “I’d like to see it criminalised. “What happens is there’s no criminal act so they get evicted from the home and move to another and then evicted and evicted and evicted. “We ought to make it criminalised so these people can be held to account for their actions.” He added: “A lot of people say there’s enough laws for example, but they’re all technical laws. “One of the laws, for example, says you can’t use utility companies. “Until the police actually sit outside and see a light on they can’t do anything about it. “It’s just not acceptable. We need a faster process and we need to have them criminalised so they don’t keep reoffending.”
Labour peer Lord Steve Bassam of Brighton, who squatted in the 1970s, said: “Our campaign was largely directed at private landlords and persuading the then council to make sure that they made better use of empty properties, and that really is the issue. “What we cannot have is queue jumping and illegality.” He said his sympathies were with landlords and local authorities that had to “pick up the pieces”.
But Lord Bassam added: “What we should do is make sure that the legislation that is in place is properly used and that the legislation that is there to ensure that empty properties get brought into use is adequately used so that people are not homeless.”
In Scotland, squatting is a criminal as well as a civil offence but in England, Wales and Northern Ireland it is a civil offence only.
In Scotland, owners can evict squatters without notice and they could face a fine or a prison sentence.
imo if theres that many empty/abandoned houses its obvious homeless ppl will go in, over here ther arent reli many truly homeless as we have homeless hostels 4 them, any empty houses here jst turn in2 sumwer to gt fuckd if its cold lol bt wud this mp rather have the homeless living on the streets tho?
that Tory MP has been asleep in the Commons or not bothering to go to London for meetings/votes. The rest of his party actually debated this a few months ago and came to the conclusion that even adopting the Scottish law was unworkable.
Also, the Police regularly do take action using the criminal law against squatters if they are causing criminal damage and/or have taken the building just to party in rather than as a genuine home.
@extraslim 421634 wrote:
A Brighton and Hove MP wants squatters and tenants who stop paying their rent to be dealt with in criminal courts.
Mike Weatherley, who represents Hove and Portslade, said they caused damage and disruption and should be held to account for their actions. Currently landlords have to go through the civil courts to get squatters or problem tenants evicted. The Conservative MP has written to the government calling for the law to be changed.Brighton and Hove has 3,655 empty homes, the highest number in Sussex. Mr Weatherley said: “I’d like to see it criminalised. “What happens is there’s no criminal act so they get evicted from the home and move to another and then evicted and evicted and evicted. “We ought to make it criminalised so these people can be held to account for their actions.” He added: “A lot of people say there’s enough laws for example, but they’re all technical laws. “One of the laws, for example, says you can’t use utility companies. “Until the police actually sit outside and see a light on they can’t do anything about it. “It’s just not acceptable. We need a faster process and we need to have them criminalised so they don’t keep reoffending.”
Labour peer Lord Steve Bassam of Brighton, who squatted in the 1970s, said: “Our campaign was largely directed at private landlords and persuading the then council to make sure that they made better use of empty properties, and that really is the issue. “What we cannot have is queue jumping and illegality.” He said his sympathies were with landlords and local authorities that had to “pick up the pieces”.
But Lord Bassam added: “What we should do is make sure that the legislation that is in place is properly used and that the legislation that is there to ensure that empty properties get brought into use is adequately used so that people are not homeless.”
In Scotland, squatting is a criminal as well as a civil offence but in England, Wales and Northern Ireland it is a civil offence only.
In Scotland, owners can evict squatters without notice and they could face a fine or a prison sentence.
HA! this was proposed shortly after we occupied Taj in the centre of brighton, opned it to the public and caused quite a stir in the local media.
Do you think anything will come of it, GL? Obviously the days of legal occupation are numberd. makes me sad
Its already been debated and he missed the boat for law changes. However I wouldn’t discount extra Police action against squats like what happened in the 1990s when the Tories were last in.
However even in Scotland you still have stuff like TAA and infoshops and empty buildings used for rehearsal studioes etc, except people succesfully negotiate the payment of a peppercorn rent to building owners. This might however also be due to the Scots attittude where folk don’t want to let useable resources lie idle – something IMO we should adopt here!
Plus whilst (having learned about this both from yourself, a friend of mine and the local media) I can fully understand the reasons behind occupying Taj, it looks like the real reason it folded and got sold to Sainsbury’s is the young British Asian lads what ran the parent company simply weren’t as shrewd in business as their older generations were – they had cashflow problems which really they should have planned for like all their elders did…
Ì also had a look at some info on Taj and they were suffering a bit from customer service issues, including allegations that some of their Asian staff weren’t as “multicultural and inclusive” as they should be towards members of the LGBT community, also allegations of poor hygiene. OK supermarkets can be just as bad (though ironically their corporate offices do often force political correctness on local managers) but if you want to take on the big boys you need to fight harder and better than them including in the marketplace and it means hard work and sacrifices.
Someone needed to give up a few weekend/evenings, sit in front of the computer and sort out the finance problems. If they weren’t doing this, it meant suppliers weren’t getting paid on time which isn’t ethical, its almost like selling stolen goods! The Khans also needed to get their staff in a meeting and explain to them that diversity is a critical aspect of their business (they cannot afford to cherry pick customers!) and is an essential aspect of life in multicultural England.
BTW here in Ipswich there are about 4 or 5 different shops like Taj and an organic food co-op, all thriving, in places they have legally rented. There are also plans afoot to legitimately make use of empty shop fronts, in a way that everyone wins.
it seems that the the reality with the Taj place is the Khans were given an chance to make something of it after a big business couldn’t use it. For whatever reason their small business failed, and they lost the property to the administrators BDO, who sold it to Sainsburys. It also seems like the Khans got the shop using the same business methods Sainsburys took it from them, picking over the carcass of assets of a failled business venture!
I’m not a fan of the excesses of capitalism, but the right to enjoy property or resources you have legally paid for (and have it protected from theft by others) and to expect people to behave ethically in business are as important as free speech, free expression and partying/fun..
I ain’t a fan of people squatting in someone’s actual family home. Specially when that house is being renovated and someone just moves in. Proper out of order that is.
@GiantMidget 422292 wrote:
I ain’t a fan of people squatting in someone’s actual family home. Specially when that house is being renovated and someone just moves in. Proper out of order that is.
Its also already hightly illegal (and a comparatively rare occurence) – there is an existing law against it. The Police do take action but the problem is often they only have the other person’s word for it that they own the home (ironically unless they are already known to the Police!) and it needs a lawyer to check HM Land Registry records. Some cops therefore say “its only a civil matter” as they can’t always get hold of the duty CPS lawyer as they are busy dealing with violent crime etc.
So by the time this is done, the “squatters” can be in the building for some time do a lot of damage. Often they are just teenagers who are looking for a place to party rather than genuinely homeless folk (who know better than to target houses under renovation)
What cops do suggest is that a homeowner/the builders actually notify them before they go away and get the renovation done, so they know who should and shouldn’t be there. Which actually makes sense as people will also try and rob stuff like building materials and metal from sites if they aren’t kept secure..
TBH I think the Brighton lot scored a bit of a own goal picking this particular building. its a big place, there must have been others they could have used..
@General Lighting 422295 wrote:
TBH I think the Brighton lot scored a bit of a own goal picking this particular building. its a big place, there must have been others they could have used..
purely because we wanted to raise awareness of the proposed plans. St James st doesnt need a new sainsbury. believe me.. crews in brighton are always apprehensive about opening squats in central brighton.. simply becasue they dont last. there was even a quote from the superintendent of sussex police along the lines of “squatting will not be tollerated in central brighton”
although saboTaj (completly ridiculous name imo.. we wern sabotagin wag Taj at all.. but it was a kool play on word) was only around for less than a few weeks.. we certainly proved a point and got people thinking.
it may well be the case that some folk do believe there are too many supermarkets in that area, but surely though sainsburys aren’t that stupid as to piss their shareholders money up the wall building a shop no one will use, in the face of lots of local opposition?
the short term action has stated your point but sainsburys have still bought up the place legally, within whatever Council rules exist in your area, seizing the same kind of opportunity the Khans did to take the building from Debenhams!
The proof now will be if their business succeeds or fails – after all if there are already loads of supermarkets and they aren’t adding any value no one is going to want to shop there!
@General Lighting 422305 wrote:
it may well be the case that some folk do believe there are too many supermarkets in that area, but surely though sainsburys aren’t that stupid as to piss their shareholders money up the wall building a shop no one will use, in the face of lots of local opposition?
the short term action has stated your point but sainsburys have still bought up the place legally, within whatever Council rules exist in your area, seizing the same kind of opportunity the Khans did to take the building from Debenhams!
The proof now will be if their business succeeds or fails – after all if there are already loads of supermarkets and they aren’t adding any value no one is going to want to shop there!
yea i do agree with you. it was inevitable we wernt gonna be there for long anyway. but why leave it empty, sitting there doing nothing. in the little time we had it, we had an art exhibition, free cafe/shop, library, a meeting place/social center plus all the awareness that was raised surrounding the supermarket chain. sainsburys will open (their 9th or 10th store in B&H) and it will be up to the local residents and the people of Brighton to simply not use the store.. but, what i hope will happen is this- a couple of years ago an old garage forcourt was squatted when Tesco announced they would be opening a store on the site. A community garden was opened which thrived and lasted for about 18months. Although the garden was evicted Tesco will not open their store because of all the publicity. So they won. Hopefuly the No more supermarkets in Kemptown campaign will be much the same.
I was outside Taj one day during the occupation and got 5 A4 pieces of paper filled with signatures against the sainsbury in an hour! There was a brilliant response from the community. Some pigs even walked pased seveal times.. i had to get in “Hey, will you sign the petition”.. all i got from them was “your so funny”
@Pike Tom Us 422310 wrote:
but, what i hope will happen is this- a couple of years ago an old garage forcourt was squatted when Tesco announced they would be opening a store on the site. A community garden was opened which thrived and lasted for about 18months. Although the garden was evicted Tesco will not open their store because of all the publicity. So they won. Hopefuly the No more supermarkets in Kemptown campaign will be much the same. [/quote]
Yep I heard about that. it really needs a consensus of the people, as well as true discussion about the issues caused by these small stores being taken over and investigation of their business practices.
For instance, what often happens is the large supermarket adds exactly the same price premium to the small store’s goods as an independent business owner would have added (making them more expensive than in a branch of the same supermarket in the city)
BTW on the way to work I counted 10+ foodstores along the Norwich Road, everything from Tescos to various multicultural places. I would have tried to get pictures but its a busy road with dangerous traffic. but all the stores are thriving within their own market niches (TBH I suspect the foreign owned ones are doing better than the big supermarket chains!)
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Forums › Life › Squatting or Homeless › Hove MP calls for end to ‘squatter rights’
