Following years of public outcry and pressure, the act of squatting in a residential property today becomes a criminal act punishable by a fine or jail sentence.
The new legislation is introduced in s.144 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, which received Royal Assent back in May of this year. Pursuant to the Act anyone caught squatting in a residential property will face criminal proceedings with sanctions of up to a year in prison or a fine of up to £5,000.
A person will be deemed to have committed the act of squatting if:
Importantly the new legislation is retrospective meaning squatters occupying a residential building will be committing a criminal act regardless of when they entered the property and commenced their occupation. However, landlords should note that a squatting offence will not be committed where a tenant continues occupying a property following the end of a lease or licence.
Squatting is already a criminal offence under the Criminal Law Act 1977 however, for years residential property owners have often found removing squatters from their property a difficult and potentially costly process.
This new criminal act is currently the only measure implemented by the government to try and tackle the issue of squatting since the Ministry of Justice held a consultation on “The options for dealing with squatters” last year.
Many commentators argue the new legislation does not go far enough to tackle the problem and put power back into the hands of property owners. By only criminalising the act of squatting in a residential building, it does nothing to protect owners of land and commercial buildings and arguably accentuates their problems by making such properties more attractive to squatters who will inevitably see these as easier targets. In response, the government has stressed it will be keeping a close eye on the issue and dependent on the effect of the new law will look at what can be done to tackle squatting in commercial property.
Whilst the criminalisation of residential squatting is a welcomed move the effectiveness of the new legislation will largely depend on the approach of the Police when dealing with such matters and whether combatting squatting will be high on their list of priorities. I expect that in cases where squatters do enter and occupy a residential property, the Police are likely to find they are presented with a falsified tenancy agreement; whilst this will not deter the police for long such tactics will delay eviction and hinder any possible arrests.
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