squatting...

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squatting...

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jamsam

Joined: 21 Oct 2005
Posts: 2560
Location: erm....i dont know, its dark.

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 08 3:30 pm Post subject: squatting...

dont all jump to conclusions or have a go..im after some ideas here!!

as most of you know, i live in a quiet (ish) corner of wales. There are alot of empty council properties at the moment and many locals , like myself, have been on the housing list for years. we are told there are no empties and that we are not in need.

I know this is slightly anarcist but, would you , as fine upstanding members of the community who have repeatedly asked the local council, local councillors, press, community leaders and th local stick-your-oar-in busy-body to do something and got nowhere, post the address's of said empy properties n a squatters forum??

It was suggested to me today and im hesitant as im on the housing list and the last thing i would want to do is be moved down again as the properties become full.on the other hand, i would like to see the homes with a family in them..and there lies the dilema....

now i know that squatting is a dangerous and illegal practice, which im not condoning (neither is Downsizer at that) but is it a way to fill the empty spaces and reduce homelessness or just down right rude??

BahamaMama

Joined: 21 Sep 2006
Posts: 2315
Location: Away with the fairies

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 08 3:45 pm Post subject:
Can you identify the empty properties and ask the council why they are not being used?

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 08 3:49 pm Post subject:

I think I recall, years ago, reading about someone who on being told that there were no empty council properties went around and took pictures of lots of them. They then sent a letter with details to housing officers, the local councillors, and the local press. Worked very nicely, if I recall.

I'd do that first. Then I'd write to my MP, again, copying in the local housing officers. And if I were not subsequently convinced that there is not a good reason for these properties being empty, I'd get a little more proactive. But I'd explore these legal forms of badgering (and more!) before encouraging squatters.

dougal

Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 08 3:58 pm Post subject:

It may well be that the empty properties are not available because they are in need of some "essential" maintenance (perhaps rewiring?) to bring them to a currently acceptable specification/condition -- and that there is no budget provision for this work.

Accordingly, it might well be that the authorities would be open to discussions about some form of partnership arrangement for any 'rehab' work required.

I cannot imagine that inviting squatting would be in any way productive.

Fee

Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 15922
Location: Earth

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 08 3:58 pm Post subject:
You just want to cause trouble, don't you, jamsam? Cab's suggestion seems like an excellent one to me.

Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 08 4:12 pm Post subject:

dougal wrote:

I cannot imagine that inviting squatting would be in any way productive.

Depends. If it rains on the dorrstep you're kipping on this evening, it migh tbe construed as constructive. It's a scandal that there's enough empty houses in the UK to rehouse a city the size of Sheffield and STILL people sleep in boxes.

jamsam

Joined: 21 Oct 2005
Posts: 2560
Location: erm....i dont know, its dark.

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 08 8:43 am Post subject:

thanks for the ideas, i have to admit that i have tried most of them. We have( as a group of people) taken pictures, badgered the council. community council, press and local MP (he is a family friend and is now so fed up of me calling him at home that he avaoids me!!).

the issue i have with it all is that the housing department continue to say that there are no empty properties andthat the ones im concerned about are not empty or do not exist!

one has been auctioned off and is going to be demolished, one has been allocated but nearly 18 months later still has not been moved into and one has been used by the council to store building materials while they do up the school.

i will keep on it i think...

Stacey

Joined: 18 Jul 2005
Posts: 8380
Location: Kernow

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 08 8:44 am Post subject:
Yes, I would

cinders

Joined: 04 Jun 2007
Posts: 2437
Location: norfolk The daft old bat club

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 08 8:53 am Post subject:
I'm surprised the council keeps so many house empty.Where my daughter lives the houses which stand empty are either vandalised or squatters have moved in.Some have been demolished.Also its a very bad neighbourhood.

Rosemary Judy

Joined: 08 Aug 2005
Posts: 1215
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 08 7:32 am Post subject:
Could you not contact the local newspaper, with all your evidence, and get them to work up a storm about the council wasting tax payers money..... ? works well round here.......

marigold

Joined: 02 Sep 2005
Posts: 12458
Location: West Sussex

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 08 8:10 am Post subject:

jamsam wrote:

the issue i have with it all is that the housing department continue to say that there are no empty properties andthat the ones im concerned about are not empty or do not exist!

If a property doesn't exist, then you couldn't be accused of squatting in it could you?

@Calli

Joined: 03 Jul 2005
Posts: 1682
Location: Galway

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 08 8:44 am Post subject:

Can you look up on the land register to check ownership of the properties?

It seems a touch radical to encourage squatting without the knowledge of the states of the empty properties - and if they are indeed council owned properties then a campaign in the local press to gather support to make them habitable.

I get very concerned when I read in our local press figures that indicate the horrendous number of people who turn down properties.

happytechie

Joined: 24 Jan 2006
Posts: 408
Location: Surrey (at the mo.)

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 08 9:07 pm Post subject:

my understanding of the squatting law comes from some friends who lived in a squat in sheffield. The law punishes the criminal damage caused when gaining entrance to a property not the occupation of an empty unused property.

Once you are in I understood that the owner needs a court order to get you out. Of course these are easy for the owner to get if the owner's the council!

The local paper and a bit of publicity may be a better approach

toggle

Joined: 30 Dec 2006
Posts: 11622
Location: truro

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 08 9:29 pm Post subject:

Calli wrote:

I get very concerned when I read in our local press figures that indicate the horrendous number of people who turn down properties.

depends what they are turning down. I've heard stories of people in my borough that were offered properties without baths, or without running water in the kitchen, or with boarded up windows or absolutely filthy and with mould on the walls from the damp. They were apparently particularly bad about offering uninhabitable properties to traveller families.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 08 10:55 pm Post subject:

Calli wrote:

I get very concerned when I read in our local press figures that indicate the horrendous number of people who turn down properties.

Council housing isn't just there to be 'take this property because you've got nowhere else', it is also a perfectly valid and reasonable life-decision to live in a council house. So people go on to the lists, get to look at a property, if they don't like it they go back on to the list. What you should be concerned about is that those people who have to take somewhere else they'll be homeless are the ones who get the properties that no one else would live in

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