SNOB(AHA)

So a few days back, we were down at court from 10am to support three squats in court. All three lost.

Ditchling1 argued that technically the papers were specifying only the upstairs part of the property and the judge said “So basically you are asking for an adjournment based on a technicality?” then granted possession to the owner anway.

The PDSA spoke to the prosecuting solicitor and were told they wouldn’t be evicted before Wednesday, although there was no possibility to make a deal. The owners apparently had a tenant ready to move in to convert the shop into a cardshop, who wanted to catch the Valentines Day market – a nice story, but unfortunately they couldn’t provide any evidence of that. The judge didn’t really mind and granted possession, saying he was powerless to do anything else. There are certainly precedents which show otherwise, I don’t think he cared.

Ditchling2 argued that they were living at the cottage, Ditchling Road and not 176c. Despite this being a perfectly legitimate argument the judge was unmoved and ruled in favour of the owner. He very nearly granted possession of 176 ditchling road (a pub) to the council but realised what he was doing just in time.

[All three squats were evicted the following week]

Three squats are due in court as the owners of the buildings try and regain possession.

The protest started at 10.30 outside Brighton County Court in solidarity with the squatters in court. Once the last squatters have had their court case heard the protesters will march through the centre of Brighton to raise awareness of the benefits of squatting and the attack on squatting by right wing Hove MP, Mike Weatherly.

Alex Jones, a Brighton squatter, said

“Today Brighton County Court will hold possession order hearings on at least three squatted properties. Before the occupation of these buildings they had been empty for a number of years. None of the owners of the buildings have suggested they intend to use them, these hearings are attempts to make people homeless on a point of principle. We believe the right to shelter should outweigh the right of people to keep property vacant just because they have a piece of paper declaring them the owner.

At a time of recession more and more people are finding themselves homeless and vulnerably housed, squatting can provide a vital lifeline to many people. In Brighton – emergency accommodation is oversubscribed,

there are currently 14,000 [1] people on the council house waiting list and private housing is ridiculously overpriced. Even if the less wealthy can get accommodation, much of its cost must be borne by the state and, ultimately, the taxpayer.

Squatting gives homeless people the opportunity to take control of their lives, while putting little or no burden on the general public. As the law stands, the system is heavily weighted in the favour of the landlords, legal and illegal evictions are a constant threat, with most Brighton squats lasting only a few weeks.

The current government has decided that squatting needs to be attacked. At the end of last year an amendment was tagged on to the (already controversial) Legal Aid bill. Known as clause 26, the amendment criminalises squatting in all residential buildings regardless of how long they have been vacant – this was despite 95% of respondents to the governments own consultation opposing criminalisation [1]. Clause 26 will mean that if someone seeks shelter in an abandoned building they could face up to a year in prison. We believe this law will target tens of thousands of homeless people to the benefit a small, wealthy elite.

Whatever they say, squatting will stay.”

ENDS

e-mail: snobaha@gmail.com

Phone: 07531871895

twitter: @snobaha

Notes

[1] 14,000 People in Brighton and Hove currently on the housing waiting list – http://s.coop/7w8m

[2] pdf – http://s.coop/7w8n

stats :

246 long term council owned empty properties in Brighton and Hove – http://s.coop/7w8j

£161,000 spent from Council funds to secure empty properties from occupation – http://s.coop/7w8l

SNOB is mentioned in this piece by Libby Powell –

NCTJ student Libby Powell, of City College Brighton & Hove, reports on the anti-squatting laws and finds out what it means locally

Anti-squatting legislation progresses through parliament today (10th Jan), as the revised Legal Aid and Punishment of Offenders Bill is submitted to line-by-line scrutiny in the House of Lords.

Amongst proposed changes to the Bill is a new law to make the act of squatting in a residential building a criminal offence, punishable by up to a year in prison or a £5,000 fine.

The new legislation has local roots. The campaign to criminalise squatting has been led by Mike Weatherley MP, who submitted an Early Day Motion to parliament back in March 2011.

Speaking of his pride in seeing his recommendations as a backbencher advance towards becoming law, Weatherley has said his target was not the ‘down-and-out’ but political and ‘lifestyle’ squatters in Brighton and Hove.

However, Caroline Lucas MP and national housing charities have spoken out against the proposed law, warning that it makes no distinction between those who chose to squat and those who turn to it as a last resort.

Brighton and Hove is in the 10 per cent of cities with the highest number of vacant dwellings in the country.

Data from homeless support charity, Shelter, shows a 21 per cent rise in households declared homeless in Brighton and Hove over the first six months of 2011. Despite the need for housing, the Department for Communities and Local Government has a record of 4,128 empty buildings in the city. 251 of these are council-owned. This puts Brighton and Hove in the 10 per cent of cities with the highest number of vacant dwellings in the country.

Weatherley agrees that empty buildings are a problem but says that this should not give people the go-ahead to occupy private property: “If you have a classic car sitting in the road and you think that it will be a good investment for the future, it doesn’t give someone else the right to drive that car.”

‘Matt’, of the Squatters’ Network of Brighton and Hove, questions whether this law should be a priority when there is an urgent need for shelter and a 10,852-strong waiting list for council housing: “In a time of austerity when there are so many places that are empty, it seems a very strange thing to be doing.”

He also disputes Weatherley’s classification of ‘lifestyle’ squatters: “People who have been homeless or have mental health problems are squatting because they are outside the system and they need a way in. There are some who are squatting because of their political beliefs. But moving monthly? Having to fix properties that have been smashed up? If it’s a lifestyle, it is a hard one.”

Weatherley said that revising the laws around squatting was already on the Conservative agenda; they simply needed a ‘nudge’.

This will give fuel to critics have accused the coalition of rushing through pre-determined legislation and ignoring the views of experts and key stakeholders. 90 per cent of the responses to the public consultation were against changes to the law.

In late December, a group of squatters living in the vacant council-owner Ainsworth House, Wellington Road, Brighton, clashed with bailiffs but were granted a temporary injunction by the court at the ninth hour, postponing their eviction until after Christmas. The building has been empty for two years. Under the new laws, it is likely that all 25 of the squatters would have faced a fine or a stint in prison.

Currently, occupying a residential property without permission is classified as trespass and is dealt with under civil law, as opposed to criminal law. This means that property owner must initiate legal action themselves against the squatters. They will usually be granted an interim possession order by the local magistrates court within 24 hours, allowing the police to intervene.

Current law prohibits property owners from violently evicting a person from their house, compelling them to seek a court order before acting. This was initially passed to protect tenants, spouses and partners, but has given rise to the notion of ‘squatters’ rights’.

However, it is already a criminal offence to break into a home, to damage doors or windows, or to refuse to leave someone’s home or a home they are about to move in to.

The new law will have the most impact with regards to criminalizing the squatting of empty or derelict buildings that can be accessed without force.

Crisis, the support charity for single homeless people, has said it would like to see the exclusion of buildings that have stood empty for more than six months and where there are no significant steps being taken to refurbish, let or sell the building.

It would also like to see a division made between those who make a decision to squat and those who are homeless, leaving care or women’s refuges. The law as it stands makes no such distinction.

The Lords have no power to reject a bill once passed by the House of Commons but they will have two further opportunities to make amendments to the Bill before it becomes law.

Weatherley said: “As a backbencher I have a duty to ensure that there are not any unintended consequences as a result of the Bill. I will be asking Shelter and Crisis to feedback to me on where they feel the law hasn’t worked.”

http://thelatest.co.uk/brighton/2012/01/10/anti-squatting-laws-progress-through-parliament/

This morning at 8am, less than 48 hours after a possession order was granted by Brighton Magistrates Court, the Brighton and Hove council attempted to evict the occupiers of Ainsworth House on Wellington Road, Brighton.

Co-operative housing in Brighton & Hove (CHIBaH) is a secondary housing co-operative which promotes co-operatives. I am a representative to CHIBaH for a start-up co-operative called Starlings.

Many co-operators have spent time in squats. We are aware of the changes that are being proposed to the law with regards to squatting & wish to express our solidarity with you.

With so many empty properties in Brighton & Hove & the number of people who are homeless it seems the wrong time to be changing the law. More so as it is being added onto what seems an unrelated act & at such a late date.

We recognise your struggle to make best use of empty properties & keep them from degenerating into derelict properties.

PRESS RELEASE FROM SQUASH

For Immediate Release

Mass arrests at Squatters Homelessness Protest ‘undermine democracy’

Late last night police arrested homelessness protesters for attempting to sleep outside Parliament against government plans to criminalise squatting. Hundreds of police were deployed to kettle a ‘mass sleep out’ against a proposed late amendment to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill to be voted on today, that would criminalise squatting in residential buildings.