Squatters can be evicted and easily arrested in Tyne and Wear.
Squatting is when a person deliberately gains access to your property in Tyne and Wear and starts living there without the owner's or the tenant's consent.
Many take squatting as the last option when there is no other suitable alternative in Newcastle upon Tyne, Sunderland, or South Shields.
It isn't an option that is long-term for the homeless, and you will possibly be arrested and almost certainly be removed in Tyne and Wear.
However, you live in a property in Tyne and Wear after your tenancy or license is expired then you cannot be termed as a squatter.
It is considered a criminal offence in Tyne and Wear to be squatting in a residential building.
You'd most probably be arrested and in case of a conviction, you can face:
Prison in Tyne and Wear for about six (6) months
Be penalised up to £5,000
You won't be arrested in Tyne and Wear if you:
Stayed on the property in Tyne and Wear following the end of your tenancy or license
You got deceived by a fraud rental agent and you actually thought you are a tenant in the property in Tyne and Wear
You are a traveller or nomad living on unauthorised land in Tyne and Wear
As a Tyne and Wear squatter, you can be evicted if:
The police in Tyne and Wear are not prepared to make an arrest
Property owner in Newcastle upon Tyne, South Shields, or Sunderland does not want to involve police in the matter
You stay on a commercial property in Tyne and Wear
If the squatters have gone out, the owner of the property in Tyne and Wear can change locks.
When you or any other squatter continue to remain on the property in Tyne and Wear against the landowner's wishes, a Tyne and Wear court order will be gotten.
It is against the law for the landlord to use violence or even threaten to use violence against you.
Owners must serve you with form copy of possession claims through the letterbox or paste it on the front door minimum 5 days before the scheduled court hearing in Tyne and Wear, or 2 days for commercial places.
The details in the forms must include the time and place of the court hearing, as well as the defence form.
If you are wrongly accused of squatting in Tyne and Wear, challenge the case by returning the defence form to the court.
Do this by applying to trial the defensive form and heading to court hearing in Tyne and Wear.
However, if the court in Tyne and Wear rules that you are squatting, they will order you to leave the Tyne and Wear property right away.
If you don't vacate the property, bailiffs from the court in Tyne and Wear may evict you on the owner's order.
Squatters in Sunderland, South Shields, or Newcastle upon Tyne are referred to as homeless due to the fact that you are living in a place you do not have the rights.
You should apply for assistance as a homeless person to your local council in Tyne and Wear.
The Tyne and Wear council must advise you to find a place to stay somewhere in Tyne and Wear if you are homeless and also single.
Some areas in Tyne and Wear offer expert services which offer emergency help so that you do not have to sleep just anywhere.
If you at risk, for instance if you have young children, or are pregnant, the Tyne and Wear council may make emergency housing provisions for you.
On the other hand, the Council may not help you with longer-term housing or emergency if you are an asylum seeker in South Shields, Newcastle upon Tyne, or Sunderland so you have residences and immigration restrictions applicable or the status of your immigration means that you do not have recourse to public funds.
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