We have had a lot to say about squatting. In fact those of you who are quick may even be able to see one of the authors of the blog on television talking about it today!
With the new legislation criminalising squatting due to come into force at the weekend (presumably to catch out those sunday morning squatters!) the Ministry of Justice has issued a circular to Judges, Courts, and the Police.
The circular starts with a statement that the new legislation will “protect owners .. of any type of residential building.” This of course ignores he point that they were already protected.
The circular makes clear that the new offence does not apply to tenants who remain in a property, even if they are in breach of their tenancy agreement. It then goes on to state that the offence is only committed if a person knew that they were a squatter and it is also not intended to apply to individuals who have occupied a property in good faith believing themselves to be tenants. However, the circular also tries to contend with the obvious problem that every squatter will claim to have been the victim of a fraud by stating that it would be reasonable to expect a person claiming this to produce a tenancy agreement or similar. However the circular does make clear that the offence is committed by someone who takes on a squatted property from another squatter.
The circular also bizarrely points up the errors in the new offence. So para 11 makes clear that it does not apply to a person squatting in a building that has not been designed or adapted for residential use, even if the squatter has done some adaptation themselves. In addition para 19 makes clear that the original squatting offences under s7 Criminal Law Act will be kept. This is because the definition of a property under the CLA offence is wider and so if you squat a garden or a garden shed you will not be committing an offence under the new legislation but you would be committing an offence under the CLA if you did not leave when asked by an appropriate person.
In an effort to respond to complaints that this new legislation attacks the homeless there is a statement that the police may wish to liaise with homelessness service providers before taking action to clear buildings known to house rough sleepers. Whether they will or not remains to be seen.
Surprisingly, there is absolutely nothing in the circular that will deal with the issue that plagued the current legislation. This was the consistent refusal of the Police to act and the regular assertion that it was a “civil matter”. If the government really wants to change things and address the complaints of homeowners then they need to make sure that the police act on problem squatting rather than seeking to attack the homeless. If they just want to be seen to do something for show then they are going the right way about it.