Squatting

Justice written question – answered at on 22 October 2012.

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Photo of Mike Weatherley Mike Weatherley Conservative, Hove

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice

(1) if he will estimate the total cost of damage to buildings by squatters in the latest period for which figures are available;

(2) if he will estimate the total amount that property owners spent on removing squatters in the latest period for which figures are available.

Photo of Damian Green Damian Green Minister of State (Ministry of Justice and Home Office) , The Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice

Figures are not held centrally but responses to last year's consultation on ‘Options for Dealing with Squatting’ showed that property owners could spend hundreds or even thousands of pounds seeking to evict squatters and repairing any damage they had left behind. The new offence of squatting in a residential building should mean that residential property owners no longer need to spend time and money seeking to evict squatters because they can report them to the police.

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Secretary of State

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