So squatting has been made illegal in the UK...

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Do you reckon in the future, when all wealth is consolidated by a single entity, 99% of all buildings will be empty and 99% of all people will be homeless?

The world is becoming awesome!

Squatting is illegal in a lot of places and it is good for their economies.

These places don't end up with loads of empty housing then? Town centres here are already full of them.

There's empty housing, but there are criminal and civil penalties for messing with it. In working class neighborhoods, empty houses are frequently bought up by speculators and landlords, and apartments and condos/flats are in demand. Even if residential or commercial properties are vacant and available, they are still illegal to enter without the owner/representative's blessing.

Squatting should be illegal. Would you like it if people just moved into your empty house and lived there without your permission and without paying you rent?

Yeah hes right, Take it that your own a house, and you're renting it but something happends to those tennats. You're over seas n cant do anything about it at the time. Then all of a sudden these people who have nothing to do with the house, come in and take over living in it - RENT FREE what would u you do?

Think about it long and hard.

You wouldn't be happy, to come back find you have strange people living in your house... no, no one would!! And the thing is,regardless of the law, the cops can't do anything about them either >.<

Well, squatters must target a variety of properties I assume, and if some are temporarily empty then sure, they shouldn't be opportunistic... but there is much housing that has been empty for years, my impression is. Heck, there was an entire decrepit college in the town I live in for about ten years... in the middle of all civilization. That's not only unjust if anyone actually bothers to throw people out (and this was really decrepit, so people would have to be desperate to go there in the first place), it was simply stupid that they never even bothered to either restore it or destroy the absolute eyesore.

But hey, what the hell do I know? Capitalism rulezzz!

W O R D !

Let them eat Ipadz!

Not likely. The government will do what it must to forestall a revolution.

And the inequality of wealth will ruin the corporate Cronies because they depend on a consumer economy for their wealth. There will be enough redistribution to insure that the pot keeps on boiling.

The metaphor 99 and 1 is totally unrealistic. It is more like 80 20 or 70 30 and it won't get much worse than that.

ruveyn

The Irony here is that probably quite a few of the UK lawmakers that passed this were CRASS fans back in the 70's and 80's.

Whether it's empty or not, that doesn't mean that it's not private property. Say you had a really great bike and you left it in front of your house. You weren't riding it and you never rode it. Somebody is walking by and they see it there, day after day, not being used. Why shouldn't they just take it and ride where they needed to go on it? I mean, you aren't using it or anything. They need it.

If there is so much empty and abandonded space, why doesn't the government buy it and convert it into projects if people are that much in need? Why doesn't a charity buy it and fix it up and rent it cheaply? If there isn't enough housing for those who can afford housing, why are abandoned buildings allowed to just sit without being bought or forfieted? Do the owners pay taxes on them?

The thing is, while it may be stupid that they don't fix it up or sell it or bulldoze it, that doesn't change the fact that it belongs to them and is theirs to do with what they want.

Say you aren't using your computer and somebody comes along and uses it without your permission. A total stranger. Whats wrong with that? You aren't using it, they need it.

Private property.

If squatting is prevalent, it is an indication that government has failed to take steps to ensure the avaialbility of affordable housing in locations that are reasonable for people who need it to occupy it. People need somewhere warm and dry to live. They must have access to public transit, and it must be reasonable access to available work, schools, and social services for those who cannot work.

Depriving private land owners of the quiet enjoyment (in the legal sense) of their property is not a reasonable method for government to deal with the issue of housing affordability.

If you were a displaced residential occupier (ie you had come home and found your house squatted) it was already possible to use reasonable force to evict, however frequently to police would refuse to assist and would even arrest the rightful occupier if they tried due to the lack of any criminal offence and misuse of Section 6 Criminal Law Act. The real effect of this change will be to give the police a clear power to enter and arrest squatters for a criminal offence, which will have the effect of removing them and enabling the displaced occupier to return.

Some here make squatters out to be down on their luck victims.
Whereas of course they are free loading, verminous, parasites.
About time the law was changed.

Next they need to change the law on thieving "gypsy" travellers in the UK.

One man's trespasser is another man's squatter.

If people do squat on abandoned property I think the law should be easy on them. I think the law should make it easy for squatters on abandoned property to acquire the property legally.

ruveyn

I was goig to make a bathroom reference, but...
I have seen in my area a recent increase in squatting. Some of the squatters are not a nuisence (aging disabled veterans, people trying to get out of the sex trade), but I would say the majority are (drug-dealers, gang members trying to keep a low profile from law enforcement personnel-no address + transient = harder to locate). Due to the current state of the economy, I can only forsee even more people ending up in this situation. There should also be be programs in place where the individuals can do some sort of work (cleaning streets, painting ran-down houses/beautification, lawn-keeping, etc.) to earn themselves a place to stay. This will be especially beneficial in neighborhoods with many abandoned properties. Additionally, this program could address issues that result from lack of funding (see aforementioned community projects), since the individual will not necessarily receive payment, but instead will earn food/commissary items and a place to live.