The era of squatters’ rights is to end, the Daily Mail can reveal.
Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke is to scrap existing ‘soft touch’ laws and make occupying a private property illegally a criminal offence.
It will mean the police can enter a property by force and evict the occupants within days.
Offenders will face prosecution and even a jail term if found guilty. In Scotland, where squatting is already illegal, they can be jailed for 21 days.
Thousands of properties every year are ‘taken hostage’ by gangs of aggressive squatters, but homeowners and landlords complain they are powerless to take them back.
Astonishingly, property owners can even face criminal prosecution themselves simply for forcing their way back into their own homes.
Landlords’ groups and MPs have long called for a change to the practically non-existent squatting laws. A senior Whitehall source said making the changes was now an ‘urgent priority’, as Mr Clarke seeks to end the nightmare of homeowners being locked out of their own properties.
The source said: ‘Ken has had enough of seeing homeowners battle to get squatters out.
‘He is determined to use the full force of the law to save people from the nightmare of having to fight to get their houses back. The days of squatters’ rights will be over.’
It is thought there may be up to 10,000 active squatters in England and Wales, who often move between properties with impunity.
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