From the “too weird to be true but it is anyway” file: entire homes in Britain are being hijacked by squatters.A gang of Lithuanian squatters are moving into people’s homes and changing the locks while they are out. George Pope, 72, took his dogs for a walk and returned to find a family had moved in and changed the locks. And now it has emerged Angie Belalij, 37, also lost control of her home when illegal tenants allegedly moved in after she left to allow renovation work to go ahead. Police and the council say they are powerless to act unless they have a court order requiring the squatters to be evicted. The deadlock leaves the authentic residents in limbo and facing a potentially costly court battle to reclaim their own home.
How the hell does some bizzarro-world insanity like this even happen, you say? A picture taken outside the property yesterday showed a young woman clutching a sharp kitchen knife, leaning over the gate. Mrs Belalij says the squatters claimed they were paying �600-a-month to live there. A printed notice stuck to the window cites the Criminal Law Act 1977 and threatens to prosecute anyone who enters without permission. Wait, a knife? I thought sharp objects were banned in Britain...? Landlords cannot legally evict squatters without going to court. Police and councils have no power to act so even though squatters have no legal right to stay, you cannot physically remove them.
I guess this will be the next socially-progressive and environmentally-friendly idea brought over from Europe. Compulsory house recycling. People in the area are now afraid to leave their homes, not because of the crime on the streets (which actually increases when you remove police presence, who’da thunkit) but because they might come home to discover the home is no longer theirs.
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