Squatting law is being misrepresented to aid ministers' reforms, claim lawyers

This is the same argument Andrea Tocchini was making in his Mute article which pipped the Guardian to the post..... miraculous.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/sep/25/squatting-law-misrepresented-claim-lawyers  Squatting law is being misrepresented to aid ministers' reforms, claim lawyers Letter from 160 leading legal figures says law change is not needed and accuses ministers of fostering 'ill-informed debate' Grant Shapps, the housing minister Squatting law reforms led by housing minister Grant Shapps aim to make squatting in an unoccupied building a criminal act. Solicitors, barristers and legal professors have accused the government of misrepresenting the law and misleading the public to push through reforms on squatting. The 160 lawyers, who represent tenants and landlords across England and Wales, say the housing minister, Grant Shapps, and justice minster, Crispin Blunt, are "obscuring" the law and accuse them of "sensationalist misrepresentation" during recent debates on squatting legislation. The letter, published in the Guardian, says that ministers' obfuscation and media misreporting have created "fear for homeowners, confusion for the police and ill-informed debate among both the public and politicians on reforming the law. [In] failing to challenge inaccurate reporting, ministers have furthered the myths being peddled around squatting". "As the proposals would have far reaching consequences for many vulnerable people, there is a need for informed factual discussion rather than a response based on sensationalist misrepresentation," it says. The letter adds that ministers should make the effort to "correct any statements they have made which are likely to have confused the public". Solicitor Giles Peaker, who was one of the letter's organisers, said the signatories were fed up with the persistent misconstruing of the law at the highest levels of government. "We know what the existing law is and I think people are actually extremely annoyed that it is being misrepresented … in the course of this particular proposal. The ministers must know [the law] and if they don't then that's severely worrying," he said. The letter's signatories – who include a QC and a land expert from Oxford University – say the law already covers cases where squatters move into properties where residents live or intend to move into and a change is not needed. Shapps and Blunt say new legislation is necessary to deal with such cases such as that of Dr Oliver Cockerell and his pregnant wife. At the start of the month police told the Cockerells that they could not help them after their new Hampstead home was invaded by up to a dozen squatters before they were due to move in. On 13 September Shapps told BBC Radio 4 that when it came to a case like the Cockerells, "The police don't act because the law does not support the police acting … it's not fair, it's not working and it is creating an enormous amount of heartache." The group of lawyers also pointed to a comment by Conservative MP Mike Weatherley, who wrote in the Daily Mail two weeks ago that "Thanks to one of the most pernicious loopholes in British law," residents had "no powers" to throw squatters out of their homes. The Ministry of Justice is currently consulting on a white paper until 5 October which seeks to criminalise squatting of buildings where there is no resident. Under current law this is a civil offence. The government's white paper, which has a signed foreword by Blunt, recognises the criminal nature of squatting someone's home. "It is therefore a criminal offence (under section 7 of the Criminal Law Act 1977) for any person who is on residential premises as a trespasser … to fail to leave those premises on being required to do so by or on behalf of 'a displaced residential occupier' or 'a protected intending occupier' of the premises," it says. The letter has been backed by housing charity Crisis whose chief executive, Leslie Morphy, said the reforms to criminalise squatting of unoccupied buildings would cause further suffering to the homeless. "With so much at stake it is disheartening to see elements of the media, and even the government, spreading misinformation about squatting and the laws already there to protect homeowners," Morphy said. "We know 40% of single homeless people escape the horrors of rough sleeping by squatting, mostly in disused properties, and we fear they will be hit hardest by a law change, so we can't allow it to happen on the basis of myths." Figures on statutory homelessness this month showed a spike in those being helped into housing by councils – up by 17% on the same quarter last year to 11,820. Responding to the lawyers' letter, Shapps said: "The guidance I published earlier this year makes clear to homeowners where the law stands on squatters, however commonsense suggests there should be quick and tough sanctions available when someone's home is squatted,without the homeowner necessarily needing to bring a civil case. "That's why we're consulting on making squatting a criminal offence, to shut the door on so-called squatters' rights once and for all, and end the misery and expense that homeowners can endure."