A group of over 160 lawyers with expertise in housing law have published an open letter exposing government and media misrepresentations of the current legal situation. The letter, apart from clarifying current legal situation, points out how the housing minister, Grant Shapps, and justice minster, Crispin Blunt, are “obscuring” the law and accuses them of “sensationalist misrepresentation” during recent debates on squatting legislation.
The letter has been published on Guardian website:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/sep/25/squatting-law-media-politicians
along with a cover editorial:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/sep/25/squatting-law-misrepresented-claim-lawyers
Grant Shapps commented on twitter here:
http://twitter.com/#!/grantshapps/status/118059187841417216
He also said, in a more verbose response, apparently missing the whole point of the lawyers’ letter and singing the same old misleading, scare-mongering and law-ignorant song:
“The guidance I published earlier this year makes clear to homeowners where the law stands on squatters, however commonsense suggests there should be quick and tough sanctions available when someone’s home is squatted, without the homeowner necessarily needing to bring a civil case.”
The issue has been followed up and commented on the Nearly Legal Blog here:
http://nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/2011/09/well-he-would-wouldnt-he/
It has then been picked up by another anti-squat superhero Hove MP Mike Weatherley:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/sep/29/lawyers-interest-in-squatting-law
Which sparked further comments from legal experts:
http://nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/2011/09/squatting-a-reply-to-mike-weatherley-mp/
http://nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/2011/09/pass-me-down-the-wine/
Have a read for laughs, legal clarifications and confirmation of how cynical and twisted our beloved leaders are. A brief summary would go something like this:
Ministers: Raaah! Down with gangs of freeloaders kicking hard-working citizens out of their homes! We need new laws to see their asses in jail!
Lawyers: Dear ministers, you are misleading the people, it’s already a criminal offence to squat someone’s home. Please, let’s have a serious debate and not a propaganda war.
Ministers: We need new laws to see the scummy romanian bloodsuckers out of people’s homes!
Raaah!
Sad but true.