Thread: How Migrants Snatched Our Homes

A GANG of Lithuanian squatters is behind a terrifying scam in which people’s homes are seized and locks changed while they are out, it has emerged.





George Pope returned to his home to find squatters there

The illegal tenants have been holed up in one property for at least five months and the authorities are powerless to evict them without a court order.
In another case, an elderly man took his dogs for a walk and returned home to find the Lithuanian gang had moved in and were throwing all his possessions out of the window and into his front garden. Tenants have been told the police are powerless to act as the occupation of their homes is a civil matter.


But critics of civil law complain it moves too slowly and vulnerable [at]people are left in a legal limbo while lengthy repossession order hearings are dragged out in courts.



Angie Belalij's (centre) house has been taken over by squatters

Yesterday mother-of-one Angie [at]Belalij, 37, revealed how she had moved out of her home in Barking, east London, for it to be renovated.
But she was shocked to return to find a family of violent Lithuanians had taken control of the house and were refusing to leave.
She said: “They have been in the property about five months now. It was empty because it was having major renovations. I went round to see the builders and we found squatters in the house.
“When I said to them, ‘Why are you here, this is my house’ they got in my face shouting at me that they had rented it and they had rights.”
Last night Tory MP Philip Davies said: “It is an outrageous state of affairs. The law needs to be strengthened, if necessary, to protect people from the menace of squatters. It is unacceptable for people to have their property taken away from them and not be able to reclaim it without a State-funded court hearing.”
Fiona McEvoy of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “Huge sums of taxpayers’ money are at stake in cases like this.
“The system is clearly not working if housing associations are getting tied up in lengthy court cases.”



Residents fear a ring of bogus estate agents may be watching their houses, waiting for them to leave before moving illegal tenants in.
Mrs Belalij said she was told by the Lithuanian squatters they were paying an agent £600 a month to live there. A printed notice on the window of the property cites the Criminal Law Act 1977 and threatens to prosecute anyone who enters the two-bedroom house without permission. The squatters have refused to leave and Springboard Housing Association cannot evict them without a lengthy court [at]process.
The terrified mother said “Under no circumstances am I ever moving back there now. If people can just break in and change the locks overnight, I have got a 14-year-old son and it’s not safe. I am scared to go back there. It is horrific.”
This week next-door neighbour George Pope, 72, was homeless after he found a family squatting in the council house he has lived in for four years. He had taken his two German shepherds to nearby Parsloes Park last Thursday but fell ill and stayed with a friend for two days.
When he came home on Saturday morning, his belongings had been thrown out on the street and the foreigners had changed the locks.
They claimed to be paying an agent £500 a month to live there.
The pensioner told the Daily Express: “On Saturday morning I went back and my key didn’t go in the lock. I saw a man walking up my path and said, ‘What do you want?’
“He said he was from Lithuania and said, ‘This is my property now’. He said they had paid £3,000 for six months.” Mr Pope, who suffers from arthritis and has cancer, was told neither Barking and Dagenham Council nor the police had the power to evict the squatters.
Although he has now managed to gain control of his property, he is too scared to live there.
He said: “I am not going to stay there. I sat in there this morning and I still felt shaky, looking out on the road. I have been shaking and shivering all the time and I haven’t slept for days.”
The squatters have stolen his washing machine, cooker, bedclothes and even his wall clock. Mr Pope said: “The houses all around the area are being taken over by squatters. It is some sort of scam through some sort of estate agent. It’s frightening.”
The Metropolitan Police said it would need a court order to evict squatters but confirmed it was investigating claims of fraudulent sub-letting of the premises.
Neighbour Sarah Knight, 37, has a nine-year-old son and is fearful for their safety. She said: “We’re frightened to go outside. It almost feels like I’m next. I’m frightened through the night now. My son is freaking out. He’s sleeping in my bed.” A spokesman for Barking and Dagenham Council said it was aware of both squats on the road.
He said: “We have contacted the housing association concerned and have asked them to try to resolve the situation.”
A Springboard Housing Association spokeswoman said: “We are very sympathetic to our tenant, Angie’s, situation. We are continuing to do everything we can to make sure she can return to her property as speedily as possible.”


Express.co.uk - Home of the Daily and Sunday Express | UK News :: How migrants snatched our homes

I may be wrong but i think ,if its a persons actual home the police will remove the squatters straight away , only when the place was unoccupied do they need a court order -
for homeless brits i say - squat now while stocks last ,
as regards the east europeans ,the west should put the iron cutain back up

getting rid of squatters and tenants that have stopped paying rent can be a nightmare in the uk. there were some truly evil landlords in the uk over the last 40 years; these people are using laws that protect people from these landlords.

However throwing your stuff on the road is criminal damage, so I would have thought in the police hand any sense, i know, they could arrest the lot for criminal damage and take them to the station for questioning, giving the real owner time to use the same laws to get back in their house and keep it.

Originally Posted by English Noodles

the Lithuanian gang had moved in and were throwing all his possessions out of the window and into his front garden

very kind of them not seizing his possession as well.

this story reminds me a Simpsons episode , when two gipsies seize their home and heat it burning photo albums

Originally Posted by blue

I may be wrong

You are, read the article again if the police classify it as a civil matter then that further compounds and complcates the squatting problem.

The law is an Ass and very slow to act, these squatters know that and after months when a court date is eventually granted they will move out just as quickly as they moved in.

However in the meantime they live rent free and are able to claim benefits because they have a fixed address.

The UK introduced strict civil laws to protect the rights of tenants against unscrupulous lanlords and I think the case of Rachman prompted these in the 60's not sure.

Thanks to the tinkering acadamic do-gooders the UK's now got a greatly refined justice system, that is if your an illegal, burglar, conman or a plain thief!

ok, i looked into it Rodney , i squatted empty council places in the 1980s in london ,and you are right the law has been changed, but its an urban myth scare story that you can go out to buy a a pint of milk and come back to find squatters have moved in, and then stay for months .

''.Under the amendment to the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, section 72, which came into force as of 3 February 1995, Section 6 of the Criminal Law Act 1977 is amended. It is no longer an offence for a protected intended occupier (PIO), a displaced residential occupier (DRO) or someone acting on behalf of a PIO or DRO to force entry into the premises when there is someone in the property.''
------------an empty property, squatted is a different matter.


as regards they can now ''claim benefits because they have a fixed address.'' is wrong , any homeless person can claim benefits on a'' no fixed address'' basis .

anyway keep posting on TD i enjoy reading your entries

Originally Posted by blue

a protected intended occupier

In legal terms, what does 'protected intended occupier' mean exactly?

Originally Posted by English Noodles

Originally Posted by blue

a protected intended occupier

In legal terms, what does 'protected intended occupier' mean exactly?

think it means someone who has been given ,say the lease to an empty council house , but not yet moved in

Originally Posted by blue

think it means someone who has been given ,say the lease to an empty council house , but not yet moved in

How could that work then? It's impossible under current legislation.

no idea, perhaps everythings made obscure so lawyers can earn lots ,

Its the same in australia,while we were on holiday in Huahin , a bunch of squatters (5 beachbums) moved in to our home, police could not do anything to help us, luckily help came in the middle of one night in the form of a chuck norris lookalike and his mate rambo mcnugget, severe physical warnings were issued in the form of lunmps ,bumps ,and bruises, that is why we always use housesitters now when we are away

Hard to believe even the British Police can be that screwed up. It you rent to someone and want to evict them, that's a civil matter, but trespass is criminal.

I would imagine illegal entry, tresspassing, breah&enter, home invasion, etc would be a criminal mater. Cannot understand why the Police say it is a civil mater. If agents rent to these people that is fraud and that is a criminal offence.

Originally Posted by Yemen

I would imagine illegal entry, tresspassing, breah&enter, home invasion, etc would be a criminal mater. Cannot understand why the Police say it is a civil mater. If agents rent to these people that is fraud and that is a criminal offence.

I'd guess the 'agents' are often in collusion with the 'renters' to provide legal documentation that allows them to ram the Law up its own ass.

But of course that's only speculation and in some quarters may even be deemed racist.

I'm sure it's the tip of a legal quagmire and will remain so as long as it is not the properties of the bleeding hearts that are being squatted. Still, I'd wager that if a WASP family squatted the empty home of an immigrant it would kick up a perfect storm.

Not sure about now but in the 90s if they squatted an empty council property they had it made, because if the council ever bothered to evict them then they become legally homeless and it had an obligation to house them. Worked fine with Lefty councils, esp where children are involved as is common.