Judge encourages Squatters....
 

Jesus wept. I think we can safely give up on Britain.

I don't even know what to say.

If its a derilict building then squatting is fine. Its only a problem when someone wants to live in or develop a building.

and who pays for (regardless of where they get the following things..), water for them to drink and wash themselves and their belongings with, refuse collection, sewerage, street lighting on the street that the building is in, general maintenance and upkeep of surrounding area...

Oh yes... honest Joe, who pay that little thing known as Council Tax and Water Rates.

what a stupid bitch

Somebody REALLY should give the squatters her address next time she goes on holiday. She'll soon change her tune when she returns home and finds it taken over.

It's infuriating that judges like this can't just be sacked. They are a disgrace and do damage to our whole judicial system. Her whole thinking is immoral and encourages people to think they can just take things that are not their's for free.

I don't see the problem with squatters, as long as it's a building which is unoccupied; it's better than them going homeless

and what about the following..... it's not about letting them have a roof over their head for nothing more than getting a night's sleep....
__________________

Yeah, lets all stop paying rent and mortgages and go live in someone elses house for free instead!

And every other type of public utility and service that the rest of us have to actually pay for.

I'll reply to both of these just to elaborate on my position

Squatters are liable to pay council tax I believe, and if they weren't there would the property owner not have to pay it anyway?

The simple fact is that there are thousands of houses in this country that are just serving absolutely no purpose, completely empty. How can that be fair when we are in the middle of a housing crisis with half a million people with no home at all? Why exactly do you think that is a good thing? At least squatters sometimes contribute to the communities that they squat in, cant say the same for the millionaire owners of these houses that have too much space than they know what to do with

Squatting is not a new phenomenon, there is something of a tradition of it in the UK, back in the days after WWII homeless servicemen with no home to go back to would squat in buildings left empty. It isn't fair just to generalise squatters as people who can't be bothered to work to get their own home.

Bastards basking in the glow of the streetlamps we pay for!

I don't give a sh!t about paying for streetlamps but I do care about the principal of not being able to just take somebody elses property just because they're not using it at the time. Call me old fashioned.

you could take that logic to all kinds of extremes that undermine any civilised society. There should be ways to force homeowners to use their properties without just giving any random squatters the right to break in and take over. Causing huge damage to the property and often dragging the area down into the bargain. It's insane.

And as for squatters paying council tax....hahahaha..good one.

Given that by the very nature of the people that squatters tend to be: how do you propose they are made to pay their council tax? How do you propose that the council collect monies from them when the default notices are ignored and they move into their next squat?

What part of that has got to do with anything. If I have 2 cars outside, paid for, taxed and insured but I chose to use only one; that means I should be happy for some parasitic human to come along and declare that it is now theirs to do what they want with, including damaging it...., and tough luck to me. Aye, very good.... !

What wonderful contribution do these squatters 'sometimes' (sorry, sometimes, sometimes just aint good enough), give back to the communities that they squat in?

The millionaires of these houses/properties etc: pay staggering amounts in taxes that are churned back into the economy: even on the basis of the interest alone from their savings, never mind everything else.

Another example of why the once great Empire that was Britain has now completely been destroyed. This country has long been on the way down, and honestly not a lot can save it. You can all huff, puff and disagree all you want, but the fact is, the UK has lost pretty much all its power (even within our own country) due to stupidity, idiotic decisions, cowardliness and greed. It's a shame because everything our ancestors worked for we have all taken for granted and let it slide from our greedy hands.

Ever see the documentary about a town taking council matters into their own hands? one of the things they lost was street lighting. What resulted was typically - crime increase, vandalism,burglary,house break ins, people falling and injuring themselves as they can't see kerb edges etc.

I know it may initially appear something flippant but suburbia plunged into darkness doesn't make for pleasant living conditions.

*Stands back and applauds*

Absolutely agree with every word, every sentiment you've put over here.

The idea of an empire in this day and age is hillarious. Whatever about domestic issues but good riddance to the British Empire. Most empires get reduced to the source.

Not that I'm doubting it's importance. Countries invading eachother is how mankind as a species actually managed to progress because ideas, concepts and inventions were spread across the globe. Sure a ton of people got brutally killed but that's just how the world used to be. And to be fair to the British Empire, half the time they eventually would just buy out the country they were invading.

But that was the past. Empires and monarchys are miserable, draconian ideas that belong in the ground. And in terms of domestic problems Britain has always had domestic problems. Different generations pose differtent problems and you could sit around comparing them till the cows come home.

That's why these bold declerations of 'the flag is dead! our nation is going under!' always annoy me. People ten years ago said that, people twenty years ago said that, people fifty years ago said that. People always have said it and they always were wrong. Relatively speaking Britain isin't that bad a place to call your home, is it. It's got issues but it's not dying anytime soon. It just needs to sort a few things out.

I don't know how they collect it, I'm no council tax expert but this is what I found online http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/...uncil_tax.htm:

The hierarchy of liability is:
- a resident owner-occupier who owns either the leasehold or freehold of all or part of the property
- a resident tenant
- a resident who lives in the property and who is a licensee. This means that they are not a tenant, but have permission to stay there
- any resident living in the property, for example, a squatter
- an owner of the property where no one is resident

So as you can see squatters do have to pay council tax, and even if for some reason they are not the homeowner is paying it whether there are people squatting or not so what's the big deal?

And you want some examples of squatters contributing to the community, here's a couple:

There's the famous St Agnes Place, a street which became one of Britain's most famous squats; over 30 years it grew into a large community offering social centres for the homeless as well as hostels and the place was visited by several artists and musicians including Bob Marley

Also in Dalston squatters kept the properties in good condition, did repair work to the roof as well as general weatherproofing and internal maintenence to buildings that would otherwise have fallen into disrepair.

But nah ****** them, better for them to be homeless and for streets to be filled with empty and derelict houses right

I'm with Stu, I struggle to take doomsayers seriously.

starting with bitchslapping judges like this out of power. They're totally out of touch with public opinion.

sometimes you have to wonder which side of the law they're on.

Surely having the largest Empire in the world was also pretty greedy? I don't understand how you can blame greed for losing power

The Mother has baby due today and is going to return to her Camden home
A Squat Punk was on London ITV Local News last night
he said they are leaving today.



That Judge needs to Correct how she speaks.

You still haven't actually answered what I asked; how do you propose that the council actually get the money from squatters when they fail to pay (on the premise that they even advise the council that they are there squatting....as they tend to do, as far as I understand, the council then have a legal requirement to provide them with running water).

Neither did you consider the example I gave about one person paying for their own property - and others thinking they should be able to use that property simply because the owner is currently not.....

As for your examples:

let's not coat it in sugar icing and scented flowers .....

On 1 June 1969 house number 54 was the first to be squatted. The council had acquired the unit and planned to demolish it for the extension to Kennington Park. The derelict buildings were completely rebuilt by the squatters. An attempt to evict it in 1977 was successfully resisted on the rooftops, although many buildings were demolished and most were badly damaged but were rebuilt again by the residents. The residents of St Agnes paid all utility bills and for several years were run by a housing cooperative. One resident of St.Agnes, on Lambeth's housing list for eighteen years, forced to squat with children was never offered housing by the council.[citation needed] There were many families there and it was only in the last few years that the population consisted of a larger number of young homeless people. In November 2005, Lambeth London Borough Council finally obtained a High Court of Justice order to evict the residents of 21 properties. This mass eviction was completed on 30 November 2005.

The bit that is missing in all of this .... they didn't rebuild anything for the good of the community...they did it for themselves and no one else. the homeless people bit was only very latterly - it wasn't as though this was something that went on for decades.

So yes, as you put it: ****** 'em.

Absolutely.

I think, he can correct me if wrong, he's referring to the get something for nothing way of thinking that now seems to be so prominant in our culture.

Morals are down the toilet. When you have judges like this dumb bitch making light of rape, burglaries and home stealing(which is what squatting is) then it just makes decent people want to pack up and leave. Taking their taxes with them.