93celicaGT2
93celicaGT2 SuperDork
10/21/10 11:59 a.m.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1322246/Man-leaves-home-week-decorated-15-squatters-in.html

Words fail me.

DukeOfUndersteer
DukeOfUndersteer SuperDork
10/21/10 12:06 p.m.
Dailymail said: Police are powerless to intervene because squatting is a civil rather than criminal offence.

Isnt that breaking and entering?

914Driver
914Driver SuperDork
10/21/10 12:08 p.m.

Call Tony Soprano, he knows what to do.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker
Giant Purple Snorklewacker SuperDork
10/21/10 12:11 p.m.

Something is fishy there. If I came home and found someone in my house it would be reported as intruders in my home - burglars.

If the law wasn't keen on arresting them... its still my property. I can break my own door down if I want, I can clean weapons and generally amuse myself flaying the flesh off the bones of an Italian squatter with a cheese grater at gun point with all the drapes drawn and the stereo blasting.

Can't I?

pilotbraden
pilotbraden Reader
10/21/10 12:12 p.m.

Some soccer hooligans could prove useful to get him back in his house and allow him to change the locks. This is crazy.

flountown
flountown Reader
10/21/10 12:13 p.m.
DukeOfUndersteer wrote:
Dailymail said: Police are powerless to intervene because squatting is a civil rather than criminal offence.
Isnt that breaking and entering?

I think they claimed the door was open. Either way, this is ridiculous...

Mikey52_1
Mikey52_1 HalfDork
10/21/10 12:23 p.m.
flountown wrote:
DukeOfUndersteer wrote:
Dailymail said: Police are powerless to intervene because squatting is a civil rather than criminal offence.
Isnt that breaking and entering?
I think they claimed the door was open. Either way, this is ridiculous...

TRUTH IS SPOKEN (WRITTEN) HERE...

Dr. Hess
Dr. Hess SuperDork
10/21/10 12:40 p.m.

The comment:

In our country, you are allowed to shoot and kill people who break into your house. Squatting does not typically occur in America.

pretty much sums it up. Too bad the English gave up their God Given Rights, fought for and established by the Magna Carta. Oh well, SUCKERS. Not here (yet.)

Wally
Wally SuperDork
10/21/10 12:55 p.m.
pilotbraden wrote: Some soccer hooligans could prove useful to get him back in his house and allow him to change the locks. This is crazy.

The problem with this is that then you need something to run the hooligans out and in the end you're stuck with something that can't be run out

1988RedT2
1988RedT2 HalfDork
10/21/10 1:04 p.m.
Wally wrote:
pilotbraden wrote: Some soccer hooligans could prove useful to get him back in his house and allow him to change the locks. This is crazy.
The problem with this is that then you need something to run the hooligans out and in the end you're stuck with something that can't be run out

Couldn't you just pay somebody to stand in the front yard and yell "FREE BEER!" and then just close the door when they run outside?

pilotbraden
pilotbraden Reader
10/21/10 1:07 p.m.

In reply to Wally:

Tickets to the "Big Game" would move them out

ClemSparks
ClemSparks SuperDork
10/21/10 1:10 p.m.

In reply to Wally:

Like many a children's story book.

Mouse has to go...get a cat. Cat has to go...get a dog. Dog has to go, get a [fill in blank]...until you have an Elephant that has to go. Get a mouse...be happy with it.

Clem

mrwillie
mrwillie Reader
10/21/10 2:17 p.m.

"Hey....why won't my key work"

Drewsifer
Drewsifer HalfDork
10/21/10 2:22 p.m.

This is.......horrible. I can't believe the police are saying this isn't a crime!

JFX001
JFX001 SuperDork
10/21/10 2:25 p.m.

Randy Quaid School of Home Ownership?

Giant Purple Snorklewacker
Giant Purple Snorklewacker SuperDork
10/21/10 2:25 p.m.

Squatting in the United Kingdom

Seems like a cheap way to vacation abroad the way they have it set up.

BoxheadTim
BoxheadTim Dork
10/21/10 2:41 p.m.

Errr, before everybody gets too worked up about this, I would consider the source.

The E36 M3 that the Daily Mail prints makes Fox News look like a news station for liberals (and that's liberals in the way they would be understood by the Fox News audience).

I would expect that there is a little more to this story than they're letting on.

WilberM3
WilberM3 Reader
10/21/10 2:51 p.m.
Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Squatting in the United Kingdom Seems like a cheap way to vacation abroad the way they have it set up.

unbeleivable. i love the next COMMON SENSE enry for the country of Scotland...

Scotland Squatting is a criminal offence in Scotland, punishable by a fine or even imprisonment. The owner or lawful occupier of the property has the right to evict squatters without notice or applying to the court for an eviction order, although when evicting, they cannot do anything that would break the law, for example, use violence.
carzan
carzan HalfDork
10/21/10 3:52 p.m.

It aint just the UK, folks:

Valley Couple Can't Kick Stranger Out

April 17, 2009 06:55 AM

SPOKANE -- A stranger moves into the backyard of an elderly Spokane couple's property and now they can't get that woman to leave.

The woman has been living in their garage for almost a month but even so police say she isn't trespassing because police say the property owner's son invited the woman to live in that garage.

Once she moved in police say she established residency. Apparently it doesn't take much and it's left this elderly couple with a big mess to clean up.

"I think it's wrong, it's my property, I pay taxes for it, I want it back," Homeowner Don Bain said.

Don Bain built his garage to fix up old cars and make bird houses, however for the past three weeks a stranger has called his haven home.

"I don't even know her, I don't know she looks like a street walker to me," Bain said.

It all started when Don allowed his stepson to move into the garage three months ago.

"He moved different people in, he had as high as eight people in here at different times and we told him no you stay there and no one else," Bain said.

When Don asked for the guests, including the woman to move out there was a confrontation and his stepson was arrested and taken to jail. The woman and another man stayed without a lease and not a dime paid for rent.

"She don't even pay the light bill," Bain said.

Don called police, hoping they'd be forced to leave, but police say the woman isn't trespassing.

"First of all we understand this is a frustrating situation for the Bains, but she was allowed to live in this facility," Lt. Stephen Jones with the Spokane Valley Police Department said.

Police say it doesn't take much to establish residency...

"There's no cut and dry test for this other than she's been living there for a period of time, her belongings are there and the current resident invited her in and allowed her to live there," Lt. Jones said.

So, unfortunately for the Bains, police can't kick her out.

"It is a mess and I would advise people to be very careful about these kinds of situations so they don't get into this mess," Lt. Jones said.

Don Bain has served the woman with an eviction notice and she has to be out by the end of the month but for the Bains it isn't soon enough.

"It's just a stinkin' mess," Bain said.

Police say the best way to avoid this situation is to have a legal lease with anyone who plans on staying on your property even if it's a relative and it doesn't include paying rent.

carzan
carzan HalfDork
10/21/10 4:03 p.m.

^^^ Link to another (more detailed) article on above story: Couple Want Backyard Back

integraguy
integraguy Dork
10/21/10 4:05 p.m.

As far as the couple in Spokane....don't they watch People's Court? Get the town's code enforcement involved as they will determine that the garage is NOT a legal dwelling. (At least it isn't with "...up to 8 people".) Unfortunately, getting the woman to move will still be a problem, provided the stepson ISN'T collecting rent. If she is, again, it's an illegal apartment.

Squatting has been going on in the U.K. pretty much forever.

moparman76_69
moparman76_69 New Reader
10/21/10 4:19 p.m.

me + 2nd amendment + castle doctrine > squatter

rebelgtp
rebelgtp SuperDork
10/21/10 5:54 p.m.

There is a reason my shop is locked up at all times. My grandfather told me about one time during the winter he went out to his shop one morning and found a bum in there. Gramps ran him off with a Colt and has kept the shop locked up since and so have I.

Besides I don't need any of my car parts or tools wandering off.

Jensenman
Jensenman SuperDork
10/21/10 6:26 p.m.

Several years ago a buddy went out barhopping, got lucky and the next morning when he got up to go to work the girl walked out with him. He locked the door behind them. It appears she had unlocked the back door, when he got home the girl was inside with her two kids and the locks had been changed, she refused to leave. He had a helluva time getting rid of her. Two days after all this started the cops finally put the girl and her kids out, then he got a call from a lawyer saying she was suing him, it went on for a while.

Hocrest
Hocrest Reader
10/21/10 6:30 p.m.

Set up a ring toss in the front yard...

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