Squatting victim begs ministers to speed up change in law

A woman whose childhood home was taken over by Moldovan squatters today begged Justice Secretary Ken Clarke to speed up changes to the law on home invasions.

Janice Mason's £250,000 property is Waltham Forest is the latest in a string of east London homes to be taken over by eastern Europeans, amid fears the problem is growing across the capital.

Up to 30 properties were occupied in the past year in Redbridge alone. Camden, Hackney and Lambeth have also been targeted.

The three-bedroom detached house in Walthamstow, which Mrs Mason, 49, inherited from her mother, was left empty when tenants moved out. Mrs Mason and her husband David only discovered what had happened when a neighbour encountered a pregnant woman brandishing what she claimed was a tenancy agreement.

It is believed four adults and four children have moved in. The Masons found the locks had been changed. Police visited but said they were powerless to act in what is a civil matter.

Mr Clarke recently announced proposals to make squatting in residential dwellings a criminal offence but the Bill is not expected to be formalised until spring, and it will take several months more before the law comes into force.

Lawyers for Mrs Mason have filed papers with a court to have notice served on the squatters, However, she fears that getting them out will take between two and eight months.

She hopes to gather 100,000 signatures with an online petition calling on the Government to criminalise squatting, which could trigger a Parliamentary debate. She said: "I have written to the Prime Minister and to Ken Clarke," she said. "I have left a message for Mr Clarke, begging him to ring me because I think this is one of his bugbears. Why should someone be able to go into your house and take it over?

"The police are powerless and that is what is winding everyone up. The main thing I want to do is change the law and make it a crime." Approached at the property today by the Standard, a woman refused to open the door but said in broken English that she was "on contract", that she had children and "maybe they are scared". She added: "I rent here...I am scared."

In another case just a few streets away, a businessman arrived home from holiday in America in September to find his home had been invaded.

Nick Tubbs, UK managing director of vacant property specialists VPS, said London was one of the areas with a "high incidence" of squatting.

"There are about 100,000 cases a year in the UK, and there is significant risk that comes with that."

His firm carries out risk assessments and advises owners on how they can make a vacant building look like it is occupied, in an effort to deter squatters and other intruders.