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Squatters in Vacant Premises

01/05/2009

Walking down the high street, it is easy to spot an increase in the number of vacant shops and offices.

Owners of both commercial and residential properties need to be aware of the risk of trespassers entering and remaining in vacant properties or sites.

Over the past months, there have been a number of high profile examples of squatters taking possession of properties. Prominent examples include a £15 million mansion of London’s Park Lane, the Ministry of Defence quarters (William Gardens) and a £22.5 million house in Mayfair (Charles Street). Most recently squatters have taken possession of Raven’s Ait, an island on the River Thames.

Removing the trespassers requires an order of the court. Obtaining a final court order enabling removal of the trespassers can typically take in the region of two to four weeks. Trespassers should not be stereotyped into opportunistic vagrants looking for a place to sleep in shelter. More commonly, the trespassers are well organised and have a good understanding of their legal rights and the steps a land owner must go through to obtain possession. These kind of trespassers can attempt to draw out the legal proceedings to enable them to stay longer.

Owners are very unlikely to be able to recover the legal costs of the proceedings from the trespassers. Once trespassers are removed from site, the clean up or repair costs can be significant.

Should the trespassers remain on site for a long enough period, they may be entitled to obtain ownership of the site by way of adverse possession.

The advice to owners of vacant premises is to ensure that security of the site is maintained. Should trespassers take possession, the owner needs to take legal advice on how to remove them as soon as possible.

Contact our Litigation team for help and advice on 01204 527777.