Squatting is a term used to refer to people entering and staying in a building or land without the legal owner’s consent, which is illegal in the UK and squatters can be arrested, fined or both under current legislation. Individuals occupying a dwelling unlawfully can also be charged if they damage the building, under either criminal or civil law. Long term squatters can eventually become the registered owner of a building if they have occupied it continuously for 10 or 12 years, which inevitably seems disadvantageous for property owners.
Non-residential property (commercial property) is deemed as any building or land that is not designed to be lived in. Typically, those who own residential buildings are in a much better legal position regarding squatters compared to those who own commercial buildings, as the police can arrest and prosecute an individual squatting in a residential property. A probable reason for this increase in commercial squatting is the introduction of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (‘LASPO’) which made squatting in residential buildings a criminal offence, punishable by up to six months in prison, a £5,000 fine or both, where previously it was purely a civil matter. However, the LASPO has failed to extend the scope of the offence to include commercial premises, thus driving squatters away from refuging in commercial premises and into occupying vacant commercial premises where no risk of prosecution arises. Whilst residential landowners benefit from the provisions of the LASPO, the police do not have similar powers regarding commercial properties since paradoxically, it is the landowners that risk committing a criminal offence if they seek to forcibly remove any squatters from their property because of the Criminal Law Act 1977.
Whilst the police are unable to act to evict a squatter from the building, as discussed above, the police can nonetheless act if squatters commit any other crimes when entering or staying on a property or land. Squatters do not possess any legal rights to the property they own until they apply for adverse possession where they may be able to claim legal ownership of a property after occupying the premises continuously without permission for a specified period of time and meeting specific legal requirements. In the UK, the period of occupation required to claim adverse possession is typically 10-12 years, depending on various factors, such as whether the land is registered or unregistered.
Thus, it is vital that landlords act quickly once they are aware that their building is occupied by squatters as the longer their occupation, the greater the risk that damage will be caused to a property by their occupation. If landlords discover that their commercial property has been occupied by squatters, they will need to apply to Court for a possession order within 28 days from when they were first made aware of the squatters. This can either be in the form of a Summary Possession Order (SPO) where proceedings are held in the County Court within 5-7 days after the claim has been issues or alternatively through an Interim possession order (IPO) where proceedings are usually in the County Court where the aim is to obtain a possession order quickly as an interim measure, pending a full hearing at a later date.
Understandably, landowners would want to avoid the hassle associated with court proceedings and protect their vacant premises from being accessed by any commercial squatters, therefore they can take some preventative steps to make the vacant commercial property as inaccessible as possible to limit the risk of commercial squatters. Some practical steps that can be taken to achieve this include: ensuring that the property is secure and all entry points are locked and boarded up, investing in an alarm system that links directly to a security company if activated, putting lights on timers to give an impression that the property is occupied and hiring a security guard to patrol the premises at periods of high-risk.
Therefore, since the repeated existence of commercial squatters is on the rise, it is imperative that commercial property landowners monitor their premises as best as they can to prevent squatters taking occupation. Removing squatters both costs considerable sums of unrecoverable money and causes inconvenience to the landlords, due to the lengthy procedure.
Alertness and knowledge of how to best protect empty commercial buildings is beneficial in ensuring that commercial squatters are kept as far away from these vulnerable premises as possible.
For more information or for expert advice on commercial property, contact us at info@carterbond.co.uk or email us at www.carterbond.co.uk or call us on 020 3475 6751.
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