http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/4357250.Wrecked_by_squatters/


10:30pm Sunday 10th May 2009
Online networks are helping squatters to find and occupy empty properties in Brighton and Hove.

They are providing groups with guidelines for where to look for places, how to get in, what to do once they are there and telling them what legal rights they have. The situation has been revealed after squatters caused about £20,000 of damage to an empty house after breaking in within days of new buyers taking ownership.

When they were evicted, faeces were found in every room of the building in Eastern Road, Brighton.

Staircases and windows had been smashed and graffiti vilifying the owners was scrawled over the walls.

Owner Steve Thorley said the occupation had been well planned and executed and timed “as though they had been tipped off”.

Mr Thorley said: “I have subsequently heard through police officers and others that there are networks in this area helping to guide squatters to places. I’m extremely angry.”

Several websites have been set up in Brighton and Hove giving advice to squatters.

One, Brighton Freespace, has set out a plan to squat in any and all buildings vacated around the London Road area to try to block development proposals involving Tesco.

Brighton-based direct action website SchNews carries a guide to squatting which includes sections titled “finding a place” and “dealing with the boys in blue”.

The Brighton and Hove Service Search website directs anyone looking for advice on squatting to weekly Welfare Rights Advice sessions at the Cowley Club, a libertarian centre in London Road, Brighton.

Brighton Kemptown MP Des Turner said: “It is not entirely surprising that something like this exists but it is not very laudable.”

Mr Thorley, 44, of Chailey, near Haywards Heath, bought the house trashed by squatters in March after it had been empty for two years. He and partner Janet Nunn planned to convert the three-storey Victorian property into flats to be let through Brighton and Hove City Council.

He said: “I grew up in Brighton and it makes me sad to see all these empty houses.

“We were trying to do something good here and have had it thrown in our faces. I’ve had to pay £2,000 in court fees to have them evicted and they’ve been able to do £20,000 damage while we had to wait for the order to come through.”

Ms Nunn said the group of ten squatters had been well organised, moving in within days of the couple taking ownership and sticking a sign on the front door setting out their legal squatters’ right.

They used knowledge of power company regulations to have the electricity turned on. Mr Thorley said he had an amicable conversation with the squatters when he discovered they had moved in. He offered them some of the cash he would be spending on legal fees to move on, but they refused the approach.

They promised not to damage the house. But when they were evicted on Friday he discovered they had not kept their word. They had strewn three skiploads of rubbish through the house, scrawled aggressive graffiti on walls and torn down banisters to use as barriers to block doors.

He found large pools of dried blood in one room.

Mr Thorley said: “It was vile in there. Disgusting.”

Maria Caulfield, Brighton and Hove City Council’s cabinet member for housing, said the city did not have a widespread problem with squatting and had good teams in place to help people who did squat to find legitimate homes.

She said: “I think most do it for idealistic reasons.”

A volunteer at the Cowley Club said it did not hold any formal meetings about squatting but said several members were knowledgeable in the area and willing to help others.

He said most of the squatters he knew of were ethical people who would not target private homes or want to commit damage. He said: “People want somewhere nice to live.

They’ve got nothing to gain from making it a mess.”

 andy.chiles@theargus.co.uk