People are forever having tremendous problems as a result of squatters moving into and trashing their homes when they leave them unattended for more that a day or two, so this should really help matters in the UK.
Judge Fiona Henderson has ruled that squatters should actually be encouraged because they bring empty homes back into use and that they are not criminals. She added that there was no evidence (apart from all the recent high profile cases, Council studies etc etc) that they carried out more anti-social behaviour than rent-paying tenants.
The judge ordered a list of empty homes in North London to be made public to the Advisory Service for Squatters, an East London-based organisation known as the ‘estate agency for squatters’. The group publishes details of empty homes and a handbook showing how to take full advantage of housing laws.
Judge Henderson’s ruling that squatting can be a good thing and not a crime comes as Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke is considering laws that would make squatting a criminal offence as it is in the great majority of the civilised world.
So, as the judge might say, to sum up. Breaking and entering a house while the owner is away on holiday/in hospital/at work in order to use it as your own dwelling can be a GOOD thing? The destruction/sale/theft of the rightful owner’s property/belongings can be a GOOD thing? Depriving the rightful owner of a place to live can be a GOOD thing?
The problem is that squatters, as has been seen in recent cases, enter homes while the owner is only away for a weekend, not just buildings which may have been empty for years. This cannot be GOOD under any circumstances whatsoever.
Perhaps the time has come to institute tougher requirements for judges, such as an IQ in double figures, and a requirement that they must spend at least five minutes of their lives in the ‘real world’.