We are gutted to bring the extremely sad news that media reports suggest that homeless man Daniel Gauntlett is the first known person to die because of the new squatting law brought in last September which criminalised squatting in residential properties.
There may be more people who have been affected in this way but he is the only person we know of for sure. He passed away last Saturday. The news comes exactly 6 months after the introduction of the new law.
The same MP who has tabled an Early Day Motion (EDM) that highlights the need for owners of commercial property to have the same rights as owners of residential premises when it comes to removing squatters has invited musician and DJ Fatboy Slim (aka Norman Cook) to play an unprecendented set at The House of Commons on the 6th March!!! Cook will be performing at Parliament’s terrace bar as the support act for the winner of “the House the House competition”, in aid of the Last Night a DJ Saved My Life Foundation, a charity which is aimed at getting young people involved in their communities.
Birmingham Tenants & Homeless Action Group have occupied an abandoned council house with the intention of handing it over to a homeless person. They’ve contacted the council and demanded that they put the property back into use as low cost social housing and then do the same with the other nearly 12,000 empty properties around the city. Otherwise they have said that despite changes to the law on squatting they will continue with occupations of the other empty properties with the intention of handing them over to the homeless. With 11,924 empty properties, the highest rate of homelessness in the country and an estimate by city planners that Birmingham is currently short of 11,000 affordable homes, putting the abandoned houses back into use is the only logical step
This post is by Leigh Day & Co legal firm who are coordinating the legal challenge and was originally posted on their blog here…
A mother of four from Wales is taking legal action challenging the new anti-squatting legislation, coming into force today (1 September 2012), in a bid to stay in the house she has lived in for 11 years with her children.
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It looks like the squatban will come in on September1 (here’s pretty incontrovertible evidence).
This is .. surprising since there was a silence for a while.
This is … exciting because now there’s going to be some action.
This is … sad because people are probably going to lose their homes and derelict buildings reclaimed for housing are now going to be returned to emptiness.
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