The campaign to save Friern Barnet Library
A group of squatters have been given three weeks by a court to come up with a plan to prevent a local library being closed.
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Squatters go to court to keep library open
A group of squatters who moved into Friern Barnet Library have been given three weeks to allow them to put together a case to stay there so they can keep it running. The decision at Barnet County Court could mean a stay of execution for the library.
Barnet Council closed it in April and wants to sell the building. However, local people have donated books to the squatters so they can keep the library running.
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Andy Slaughter comment on squatters law
– Shadow justice minister Andy SlaughterHomeowners around the country are concerned about squatters and rightly want assurances from this Tory-led Government that their properties will be protected.
The distress squatters can cause to families, as well as the financial damage they do, is completely unacceptable.
Existing squatting laws 'extremely complicated'
Crispin Blunt, Minister for Prisons and Probation, said the existing laws on squatting were too complicated. He added: "If you are illegally, knowingly, or ought to know, in improper possession of someone else's house, it's an offence."
Squatting to be made illegal
Squatters will face up to six months in prison and so-called squatters' rights scrapped as it becomes a criminal offence.
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