Housing

Squatting in a home is a crime: what the law says

Q: What is banned?

Under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (section 144), a person commits an offence if they are in a residential building as a trespasser (having entered as one), know or ought to know they are a trespasser, and are living there or intend to. The penalty is up to 51 weeks' imprisonment, a fine (up to level 5), or both. A building is «residential» if it was designed or adapted to live in before the person entered.

Q: What it does NOT cover?

An important point: the law does NOT apply to someone holding over after a tenancy or licence ends. A dispute with a former tenant who will not leave is a civil eviction matter, not this crime. Separately, this section is about RESIDENTIAL buildings; occupying non-residential (commercial) premises is dealt with differently.So for a homeowner, strangers moving in unlawfully is a police matter. And for anyone in housing need, occupying an empty home is a crime — help should be sought from the council's housing options or specialist organisations instead.

Moving into an empty house «because no one lives there» is not a grey area but a crime. Here is what exactly is banned — and what it does NOT cover.

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An empty house with a boarded-up window — Living in someone else's residential building without permission is a crime. Photo: ONLYWAY NEWS

There is a myth around empty homes that you «can move in if it's standing empty». Since 2012 this is expressly against the law.

What is banned

Under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (section 144), a person commits an offence if they are in a residential building as a trespasser (having entered as one), know or ought to know they are a trespasser, and are living there or intend to. The penalty is up to 51 weeks' imprisonment, a fine (up to level 5), or both. A building is «residential» if it was designed or adapted to live in before the person entered.

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What it does NOT cover

An important point: the law does NOT apply to someone holding over after a tenancy or licence ends. A dispute with a former tenant who will not leave is a civil eviction matter, not this crime. Separately, this section is about RESIDENTIAL buildings; occupying non-residential (commercial) premises is dealt with differently.

So for a homeowner, strangers moving in unlawfully is a police matter. And for anyone in housing need, occupying an empty home is a crime — help should be sought from the council's housing options or specialist organisations instead.

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Published 23 October 2026, 17:13 2 min read Editorial desk of the British newspaper ONLYWAY NEWS - LONDON - UK

Sources

Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, s.144 — legislation.gov.uk