New traveler

[AliceL]

Hello there! I've been lurking here for a while and finally decided to register.

I currently live in Finland. I'm quite sick of the town I live in and want to see the world a bit. Since I'm not doing anything useful at the moment and I have no real plans for the future, I decided to leave the whole country some time after new year and go travel by hitchhiking. Why the hell not?

I don't really have much of a plan, I'll mostly just see what happens and what kind of people I meet and eventually go back home, or stay on the road. I'd like to stay in England for a while, though, so any news about how the new law affects squatting over there and stuff like that would be appreciated. I haven't been able to find much information. Any english squatters around?

I'm still in the middle of getting information, selling stuff I don't really need and buying stuff I do, but I think I'll be going in January or February.

So yeah. Nice to meet you all and maybe I'll meet some of you on the road.

 

[urchin]

As of September, I think it was, squatting in England is illegal.

However welcome to the forum.

 

[landpirate]

Hi Alice,

Welcome to STP!

There's a few of us Brits hanging around on the forum. I've pasted a couple of links to articles on here about the squatting law changes in England.

http://squattheplanet.com/threads/uk-squatting-law-change.14812/#post-114233

http://squattheplanet.com/threads/british-ban-squatting-to-tackle-anarchists.15502/#post-118469

The basics of it are that you can legally squat a commercial building, like a shop, or cafe or school. You are not allowed legally to squat residential properties ie: houses. If somebody wants to evict you from a commercial building they will have to go to court to get a possession order and come with bailiffs to remove you from the premises. If you squat a house the police are allowed to remove you straight away and they can fine you/ you can be sent to prison.

When the law first came in the police were quick to arrest people for getting it wrong, but from what i have seen they have eased off now the whole thing has somewhat faded from the public's view. i think it probably depends where in the country you are.

My experience of the changes are that it is still possible to squat, people are just having to be a bit more adaptable and think outside the box. People are considering buildings that a few years ago they wouldn't have tackled. This has meant that ideas are getting bigger and to some extent better. I live in a place called Brighton, its on the south coast of England. What has been happening here is that before the law change you would have had multiple squats going on all over the city in houses, now people are getting together into bigger groups and all squatting together, mainly because the commercial buildings available are big and because with more people it is easier to work on the building and secure it. I think this is promoting a greater level of activism amongst squatters, which I think can only be a good thing. Also, because of the law change, squatting has been in the news and surprisingly people are more supportive of it than I would have expected.

Anyway, I could say a lot more on the subject. But for now, if you come to the UK then Brighton, London, Bristol and Manchester are all good places for squatting communities.

there are quite a few threads about coming to England in the international destinations section on the forum.

Good luck with your plans!

Sally

 

[urchin]

You live in Brighton? I was there about three years ago. It's a beautiful city.

 

[landpirate]

yeah its my hometown. I am here right now, doing the family christmas thing. I'm pleased you liked it. What were you doing whilst you were over here?

 

[urchin]

Visiting a friend who lived in the city. She attended one of the universities.

 

[landpirate]

nice one, yeah there are a lot of students here. Its funny how well known brighton is actually, i've been to quite a few countries and people always seem to know it or have been here.

 

[urchin]

I wish I could've stayed longer than two weeks but I had to go to Germany next. That was fun as well. Love Germany.