Like (hopefully) most people, I think that causing huge amounts of unfair/unnecessary grief to rightful homeowner(s) through squatting is pretty contemptible behaviour, but squatting in it's general sense should be a human right and this law could cause real problems. As usual, I detest the way the biased media focuses almost solely on the former (far less frequent) situation and neglects the latter whilst skipping the bigger picture all-together. Anyway:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8388795/Squatting-to-be-made-illegal-vows-Clarke.html

They've done it in Scotland and Holland, as far as I know, and probably beyond.

(Far less importantly, it's a pretty bad prospect for squat parties, too...)

'Only rich people's kids squat'?

slaves

Yeh, sorry Sideshow and Bill, I went a bit much there but hey ho. Shows you what I write after a few beers I shoulda learned my lesson by now. I still stand by the rich kids thing in a way. The majority, not all, of squats I've been to are occupied by these sort of people (have a go anarchists, 'punks', etc) - its kinda something fun for them to do until they get bored with it, but concede that a lot of other people sadly now are forced to consider it as a reality, due to high rents, low income and the impossibility of getting yourown house if you earn less than £50,000 a year (or something).

There are of course a lot of great squats in town in which live a lot of my friends and enemies, and I've also been to many squat parties over the years. And the Foundry was wicked while it lasted. Sad news indeed if this law goes ahead.

Of course, pisstaking aside, squatting can be a total laugh or a total nightmare. I dont know, I've never squatted out of fear of being homeless when I get back, losing my stuff (bikes / records etc), and preferring to rent for security reasons really. I truly do not know the full extent of what its ike to squat.

Ta!

When I was squatting in the 80s in Islington & Hackney, the majority of the people that I knew who were squatting were young. However, my recollection is that although some were from better-off backgrounds, I can't really think of that many that were from 'rich' families - by which I mean were privately educated.

I don't know if the demographic of squatters has changed that much. For instance, the guys that I know who currently squatting are nearly all couriers, and are definitely not from rich families. Obviously I can't say for sure, as I really don't know that many squatters any more.

It's worth saying that there was then (and probably still is now) considerable social stigma associated with squatting. Squatters were (and are, judging from the recent Daily Mail article) portrayed as criminals who moved into people's houses whilst they were on holiday, ripped up the floor-boards to use as firewood and defecated on the floor. My own family (which is not rich) ranged in attitudes from barely tolerant to uncomprehending disapproval, particularly my grandmother, who was very disappointed in my choice of housing.

There are always going to be dilettante squatters, or squatters whose motive for squatting is political, but for most, it is a choice borne out of lack of viable economic alternative.

Years ago,whilst tanking it down Haverstock Hill,a ped walked out on me.I had no time to swerve round the idiot and so slammed on the anchors.Somehow the ped managed to step out of the way as I was rear-ended by my own saddle by which I mean it rammed up and into my coccyx bone,the little tail-like bone at the bottom of the spine.
I could not squat for over two years afterwards.
True story.

...And you would've kissed it better.

Not all squatters are ex public school boys, eco warriers or couriers looking to save on cheap rent by occupying obviously empty properties.

Nor does it matter whether they are smelly and illegal but the point remains, their house was overtaken in their absence and removal of these illegal occupiers is through civil court.

They are not my stories but as reported in your english newspapers.

Another of the many sides to the story...

Where I grew up, in Mid Wales, there are dozens of little abandoned cottages in amongst the hills - uninhabited either because no bugger wants to live there, or because it would cost too much to put in plumbing and build a road, or because of property disputes. There's one just across the valley from my parents' house, and I've been keeping an eye on it for the past 20 years or so - every year it deteriorates a bit more. The roof's falling down, there are trees growing in and out of it, and it's not safe (or even possible) to go upstairs any more. Give it another decade and it'll just be a pile of rubble. What's particularly poignant is that this house is very similar in age and layout to my parents' - a reminder of just how quickly things would fall apart if we let them.

A couple of fields away there's another house, also very similar, that has been squatted for as long as I can remember. When I was growing up my mother referred to it as "the squatter cottage", and although I didn't know what squatters were back then, it was made very clear that this was something we disapproved of. But the cottage is still in one piece. People live there, and repair it when it breaks, and stop the roof from leaking, and grow things in the garden. It's alive. If the squatters weren't there, it would probably just crumble away into the hillside like the other one.

And in the middle of writing this, I happened to have a conversation with someone who's squatted in London, and indignantly pointed out that they always took houses that hadn't been lived in for years, and put a lot of effort into fixing them and doing them up.

Obviously there are many different kinds of squatters. I wish the media were capable of seeing things other than in black and white.