( Squatting and Trespass )

Use of estate without the owner or occupier's prior consent.

The Law doth punish man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common
But sets the greater felon loose
Who steals the common from the goose

The difference!

Trespass
* does not usually entail any permanance,
* may occur a number of times for short periods and
* it mostly happens on open fields.

Squatting
* usually done for accomodation and hence some permanence,
* usually of a dwelling, but could be open ground,
* usually a one off event for the targetted property.

However it can be just a political act and permanence is not the issue - see (Tom Boland)

Mass Trespass
* where a large number of people gather for a meeting.

I have written a bit about squatting for those who have to do it, and for those aggreived to find their property occupied.

I've gathered some stuff from other sites and have copied in full two pages from West Mercia Constabulary and cut down versions of two other webpages.

Click on a topic to view

The Home Page links are to the originating sites so you can see if there's more.

If you find any other usefull sites please let me know.

Oh! and by the way please thank the other sites for their info, especially West Mercia Police. {:-)>

24 July, 2004