3 ms·

You mean that if I have a place and leave it empty for any reason, then it can be squatted, and this is perfectly legal? If yes, this is unbelievable and insan

• deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
• KineticLensman 3y ago
  IIUC, a UK place of residence cannot be squatted but a business can. In either case, damage can be prosecuted
• southerntofu 3y ago
  There is subtlety here. Leaving it empty because you are away doesn't mean it's not your residence anymore. Abandoning it changes the legal status of its occupation. Only abandoning the place makes squatting not a criminal offense in most countries. Such difference exists for a reason, as a balance against an absolute power of owners which drives the number of homeless people up as we can see in certain areas. Take for example the netherlands. It was very common and well regarded to squat for a while, and the homeless population was very low. Now that squatting has been outlawed, both homeless and empty dwellings have gone up. There was some public study on the topic a while back: https://en.squat.net/2016/05/27/netherlands-housing-crisis/ https://en.squat.net/2016/05/27/netherlands-housing-crisis/
• gopher_space 3y ago
  UK squatters generally move into buildings the local community consider to be blighted, so there’s never much of an outrage. As an owner it’d be hard to claim damages against a building that was a tear-down thirty years ago.
• flandish 3y ago
  In the context of your point: Leaving your primary home empty because you visited a grocery store is not the same as leaving your 2nd (physically unnecessary) home empty except for 4 weeks a summer. Housing should be a right. Hoarding it should be criminal.