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Originally Posted by Mr Angry
Apologies Russ. I thought since you quoted it that you were replying to my "I honestly don't know if squatting should be made illegal" statement when you responded with " Too right it should - if I went away for 2 weeks..." sorry if that wasn't the case.
Yes. Squatting and breaking and entering are two different things - hence the police in the case you referred to saying they "could do nothing as they had not forced entry. Locks were changed from the inside and the occupants could not legally be moved without a court order due to "squatters' rights"."
You see had it been a case of forced entry or breaking and entering the police would, quite simply, have arrested them. Since it would appear that removing them from the property would have involved a court order due to squatters rights then we have to assume that they claimed squatters rights. Ergo, they had not comitted a crime.
That's what I was referring to in my "pretty much sums up what I said" comment.
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I beg to differ.
If they broke in, and repared the damage (ie bought a new window pane for a tenner) thus giving no evidence of the damage, they could (as advised to do so by many squatter's web sites) claim that the front door was open as they walked past.
A crime has been committed.