Old Warehouse Gt Suffolk Street

saw some lights on inside the old warehouse/factory on great suffolk street, opposite the motorbike garage.

one of the doors at the front has a broken padlock so i assume it's being squatted rather than redeveloped.

it's one of my favourite buildings in se1 so much nicer than the grey plastic boxes that keep springing up

It's been squatted for a few weeks by the now ubiquitous art squatters (as opposed to homeless people squatters). There is an event on there this Sat: http://www.artevict.com/

I am doing my nails that night!

Where did they get Camberwell from?!!!!

Will the police require a "password" to evict them, or just use force?

Rather ironic that a building in the same block as the Crown Court can't be kept secure!

It's a criminal offence to use force to evict squatters. It's a civil case of possession that is usually settled by the courts and the bailiffs of the court do the evicting. Mostly.

They aren't doing any harm, just putting on some really dodgy 'art' events in a space that's empty. I wish them well as long as I don't have to watch the performances!!

As this is a non-residential property they can, in fact, be removed (by force if necessary) immediately. But the police are unlikely to act until the landlord makes a complaint.

The rules on squatters (which is not a legal term, the correct one being trespassers) was substantially updated in 2001 as part of the Civil Procedures Act.

If it were a residential property then an Interim Possession Order would need to be applied for via the court. As soon as an IPO is granted the trespassers have 24 hours to vacate the premises, after which they can be removed by force.

I've never heard of owners being able to use force to remove trespassers in non-residential buildings (or any buildings or land for that matter). Usually owners go through the local court or the high court and don't bother with the IPO. Who would the owners get to apply the force anyway?

The only cases i know of where force was used (contrary to Section 6 of the 1977 Criminal Law Act) are when heavies come round and people then don't usually argue the fine points of the law. But it doesn't happen as much as you would think, thank goodness.