The Evening Standard is reporting the sentencing of the first person under the new anti-squatting provisions in the LASPO Act.
Alex Haigh received 12 weeks in prison. Unfortunately Mr Haigh appeared to be unaware that squatting was now an offence and admitted to Police that he was a squatter.
I am not going to repeat the various comments we have made about this legislation and its implementation. The most recent post on the topic is here.
I am also not going to comment on the Standard article except to highlight this phrase from the article:
The law was brought in amid a squatting crisis in London as organised eastern European gangs and other squatters targeted family homes.
Really? Crisis? Clearly the severity of a crisis has been downgraded recently.
I am now going to have some lunch or, for Evening Standard reporters, alleviate my food crisis.