We squatted 131 Pembroke Road, Clifton on 30 September. It's a £1.5 million posh office with Lloyds TSB as the leaseholder. They served papers on us last Wednesday with the court hearing today.

Before the hearing we approached their solicitor and attempted to negotiate an agreement to take into the court, based on us not opposing possession in exchange for the bank agreeing possession in 14 days. Their solicitor attempted to ring his office for instructions but was unable to get through to the right person.

In the hearing we made the following case:

Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998 gives everyone a right to their home. We argued it would be disproportionate to award possession forthwith because:
- there were nine people in the building so nine people's rights had to be considered
- we had caused no damage or disruption so there was no urgent need to evict
- Lloyds TSB were likely to leave the building empty until April 2013 when there's a break clause in the lease

The judge adjourned the hearing for a short while to enable the claimant's solicitor to again phone for instructions about allowing a 14 day order. I think if he'd been able to get through to the right person we might have swung it, the judge had given him a pretty clear idea of what she'd like.

However, the claimant's solicitor was again unable to get through and so returned to the court asking for possession forthwith. The judge stated on reflection if it was proportionate under the Human Rights Act to evict us it was also proportionate to evict forthwith and gave the order to the claimant.

So overall we didn't get anything from this attempt but it showed signs of being useful and we'll definitely try it again in a similar situation.