Justice Minister Crispin Blunt yesterday proposed making squatting an offence for the first time and abolishing ‘squatters’ rights’ in order to provide more protection for home and business owners.
Persistent offenders could be jailed under the proposals, which have been put forward for consultation.
Blunt said: “I am clear that the days of so-called ‘squatters’ rights’ must end and squatters who break the law receive a proper punishment.”
However, while the NLA welcomed the government’s move, it believes the reforms fail to address the central issue of owners being able to regain possession of their property from squatters.
It said: “The NLA does not believe that criminalising individual squatters will alone solve the problem.
“At present, it can take landlords upwards of three months to lawfully regain possession of their property from squatters. The NLA would like to see landlords being able to demand that squatters leave immediately and also automatically regain lawful possession.”
It added that the police should be able to support landlords through amendments to their existing statuary powers, such as exclusion notices to prevent squatters from returning.
The NLA said: “We would like to see the government put the rights of property owners at the core of this policy.”
