SQUATTING has been hitting the headlines in Oxford recently. But why? And what exactly is it? And what are the laws governing the eviction of squatters?

Squatting is the occupation of unoccupied land without lawful permission. It is a hot topic in the news because the sight of empty properties can be hard to take when the number of rough sleepers on our streets is increasing. Squatting can be seen as a way of redressing this balance.

Figures recently released by the Government revealed a 16 per cent rise in the number of people sleeping rough between October 1, 2015, and November 30, 2016, in England (outside London). In Oxford a slight fall in the number of estimated rough sleepers was recorded during this period (from 39 to 33) but this is in the context of an increase of more than 300 per cent in the number of estimated rough sleepers in Oxford in the last five years – from nine in 2011 to 33 in 2016. At 0.56 rough sleepers per 1,000 head of population, this is towards the upper end for local authorities outside of London.In so far as the law around squatting is concerned, there is a very important distinction between squatting of residential and non-residential land.

Changes to the law in 2012 saw squatting of residential land become a crime. Land will be residential land if it was designed for someone to live in. Anyone occupying residential land is subject to arrest by the police and a court order is not required to remove them.

Importantly, someone who had permission to occupy land will not become a squatter, even if they have been asked to leave. For example someone who was a tenant or subtenant of a property but has been served with a notice ending their tenancy can remain lawfully in occupation until evicted by Court bailiff and they will not be squatting.

There are also very limited circumstances in which a long-term squatter can become a registered owner of it if they have occupied it without the owner’s permission for 10 years (12 if the land is not registered with the land registry) and have acted as owners for the whole of that time.

Squatting of non-residential land (for example, an abandoned office or warehouse) is not usually a crime and those squatting there can only be evicted by obtaining a possession order through the civil courts. In certain circumstances however, squatting of non-residential land can be a criminal offence, for example, if those occupying the building caused criminal damage by forcing entry to it but there would have to be witnesses to the fact that criminal damage had been caused. Squatting will also become a crime if those occupying the land refuse to leave after a court order has been obtained.

There are procedures that landlords must follow in order to obtain a possession order against squatters of non-residential land and if these procedures (including very particular requirements as to giving notice) are not adhered to then the squatters will have a defence to the proceedings. However, if all procedures are correctly followed then those occupying the land will have no defence to the proceedings and the Court will have no option but to make a possession order. The occupants’ only option then will be to seek to negotiate with the landlord to remain in occupation, perhaps until the land is to be brought back into use.

 

* Turpin & Miller LLP