Section 144 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, creates the offence of 'squatting' in a public building. It came into force on 1 September 2012 (SI 2012 No. 1956). A person commits an offence if he is in a residential building as a trespasser having entered it as a trespasser; the person knows or ought to know that he or she is a trespasser; and, the person is living in the building or intends to live there for any period. This is a summary only offence.
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