Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 The statutory basis for the criminalisation of squatting

is to be found at section 144 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012. This is due to come into force in September 2012. The maximum penalty allowable upon conviction is a term of imprisonment for a term not exceeding 51 weeks or a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale (or both), which is 5,000 There can be no doubt that many property owners will say that this is long overdue and highly welcome. The question is though, how effective will this protection be for property owners? The first point to make clear is that this legislation only applies to residential properties and not commercial ones, and so they will remain vulnerable to squatters. The wording of section 144 allows for many defences, as the prosecution will be required to prove that the person entered building as a trespasser, that the person knew or ought to have known that he or she is a trespasser and that the person living in the building intends to live there for any period. Moreover the statutes phrase building is defined in such a way that would to allow for challenge by defendants, and one can readily foresee section 144 (3) (b) of the Act namely a building is residential if it is designed or adapted, before the time of entry, for use as a place to live, as being being a keenly contested area of contention for imaginative criminal defence lawyers. Furthermore we have no doubt that this section of the Act will prove fertile ground for subsequent challenges under Human Rights Act legislation as there will be many keen to make a political point out of it all. The effectiveness of this law will only be as good as the Police willingness to enforce it. In London for example the terrorist threat places great demands on the Police budget, at a time when Police budgets are being curtailed. It is difficult to foresee how clamping down on squatters is likely to become a top Policing priority. There may be regional variations depending on local Policing priorities. The other key question to consider is whether the penalties for this offence will deter attempts at squatting residential properties? Three key points arise here. Firstly many squatters come from overseas so are unlikely to be aware of the law so it is unlikely to have any deterrent effect.

Secondly, from our experience (on the basis of paraphernalia recovered from squatted properties) many squatters are ideologically driven. The on going world financial crisis has undoubtedly polarised opinion in way that we have not seen since the early 1980s. For many squatting is a symbol of an on going class struggle against capitalism, and the publicity arising from contested criminal proceedings may prove irresistible to many. Thirdly, it should be borne in mind that the maximum penalties available under statute are very rarely imposed by the criminal courts. One can readily foresee circumstances where first time offenders with no antecedent history are treated very leniently indeed, particularly with the prison population at near record levels. It seems more likely than not that a former civil matter will not be seen by the courts a matter that should require imprisonment, particularly with the shortage of prison spaces and the high cost involved of imprisonment. Whilst no one can accurately predict quite how effective the new law will be, we believe, for the reasons outlined that it would be a brave property owner who dispensed with recognised and highly effective forms of property protection and availed themselves simply to the protection of the state. The last word in this article should go to the Advisory Service for Squatters who say about the pending changes to the law:Many people have no choice but to carry on squatting, and many will refuse to be intimidated. Finding empty non-residential property will not always be easy or appropriate. We are going to need to be more organised and look after each other better. We will need legal back-up available on the street, and people will need help moving quickly and storing their possessions. We need networks, linked up with others resisting evictions and attacks on housing rights. Their advice and determination is clear, its business as usual.