Hundreds of flats in 'top UK surf resort' Newquay squatted as developers go bust!

Students, young professionals, families and even retirees have descended upon Newquay to take advantage of UK squatting laws to lawfully occupy 'high spec' trendy apartments fitted out with 'state of the art' interior appliances and furniture.

Simon, 27 and his girlfriend Petra, 25 were living nearby paying £750 per month rent until they realised that they could be saving thousands of pounds a year simply squatting an empty flat. Petra, who works in the travel industry, explains: 'We met other people who told us they'd taken occupancy in a new block of flats that had been taken off the market as the developers had gone into receivership. Simply, nobody really cared about what happened to the flats. Our neighbours are retired. Their income had dropped because of low interest rates on their savings, so they've rented out their house in the Home Counties for the extra income.'

Although the Cornish squatters don't pay rent, they still need to pay council tax, utilities and conform to other legal obligations. 'It's still worth it.' claims Simon, 'and the views are fabulous.'

While some in the popular holiday resort of Newquay aren't so impressed with their new neighbours, most appear relieved that the hundreds of empty flats and houses abandoned by developers haven't fallen into dereliction. A local shop worker said: 'It's great to see some life breathed back into our town.'

Cornish repossessions soar, homes auctioned off to companies, then squatted!

Repossessions are up by 300 percent in many Cornish towns and villages, with some seeing as much as a third of their entire housing stock sold off to property holdings companies at knock down prices, according to the latest housing figures for Cornwall. These empty houses are then squatted by the same families that were evicted from them, and because of the huge financial incentives for squatting, this trend is set to continue.



One family who couldn't afford their mortgage repayments explained to rentfreecornwall how they managed to keep their 'home' despite no longer paying any mortgage or rent on it. 'The business I work for is in manufacturing, and because of the strong euro and credit crunch, our orders went down, and I had to go from full time to part time,' said a family member. 'We couldn't afford the repayments for the house, so it was repossessed and sold off at an auction. I bought the house for £150,000 five years ago, but it went for under £70,000. But when I found out no one had actually moved in and it was just owned by a foreign holdings company, I used existing squatting laws, and legally gained entry and our family is now in occupation of it again.

'It's great. The sale cleared the rest of my debts and because our outgoings are less I can start saving for another house - they're going so cheap in Cornwall now that I reckon after 7 years of squatting our old Cornish house we will be able to afford a new house in Cornwall.'

Holiday home owners with second homes in Cornwall have been less fortunate. Unable to keep up with repayments on their Cornwall holiday homes, thousands have been repossessed and sold off at auction, often at a fraction of their original price, only to be squatted by other Cornish families, students, or just people fancying a free place to stay in Cornwall.

Luxury holiday flats converted by squatters into live /work units in North Cornwall

A group of young professionals announced they had converted a building containing luxury holiday flats into live /work units after squatting it for 5 years. The occupants in their twenties and thirties proudly invited rentfreecornwall to inspect the state of the art work spaces and high quality living accommodation. Planning permission is currently being sought for some form of on site micro generation from renewable energy sources, including the use of photo-voltaics and a small water mill running from a nearby stream within the 5 acre grounds of the former manor house. 'We've saved thousands of pounds over the years because as squatters we did not have to pay any mortgage or rent on this beautiful Cornish property,' declared Sam, a freelance civil engineer with clients and projects presently running both in the UK and overseas.



With the work units currently being used as studio and office space for light creative, design and legal consultancy purposes, the squatters insisted they were expecting to stay in the property for at least another 10 years. The £3.1 million house was previously owned by a property holdings company with a registered office in the Cayman Islands. A telephone number for this company proved to be disconnected when rentfreecornwall attempted to contact it. Successive attempts to track down the company have revealed that it went into receivership in 2006.

'I'm not sure if micro-generation is the way ahead,' added Sam, 'but we're trying it out anyway, as it's a great way to save on energy bills. Being squatters of a large and remote Cornish holiday home we're used to not having to shell out cash all the time!'

Rise in Cornish holiday home repossessions creates squatting free for all

Soaring repossessions of Cornish second homes have resulted in an upsurge of squatting houses, flats and chalets around Cornwall, according to housing market observers.

'Families that were previously anticipating a ten year wait on the social housing register have simply moved into unoccupied properties, paying no rent, and saving themselves thousands of pounds a year. As Cornwall has the lowest wages in the UK, this is providing a real economic boost for the area.'

One Cornish holiday home squatter told rentfreecornwall that since they moved into their rural squatted holiday home a month ago, they had seen their disposable income rise significantly, and had started taking advantage of rising interest rates to set up a long term savings account with a view to buying a property. 'Though of course, after a certain period of time, I may be entitled to actually keep the house I'm squatting and not pay rent for,' claimed the squatter.

In villages where previously there had been up to 90 percent of houses unoccupied as empty holiday or second homes, there were now so many new residents squatting these holiday homes that the council was considering re-opening the village school. Post offices around Cornwall were also reporting brisk trade thanks to the increase in full-time working residents in the villages now squatting holiday homes in Cornwall.

Added the housing market observer: 'So many homes have now been repossessed, the banks and building societies simply can't keep up with who owns what and where all the properties are, and don't have the resources to find out who's squatting the holiday homes in Cornwall. It's a free for all.'

'We saved £25,000 in a year' boast Cornish holiday home squatters

Three young professionals had a celebration champagne buffet on a beach in South Cornwall last week, only yards from their seaside squatted holiday home, and brazenly vowed to continue their tactic of squatting 'whatever empty Cornish house they wanted.'

'If it's empty, got enough white goods and within commuting distance of our jobs then we'll take it,' claimed Harry. Refusing to give Rentfreecornwall his surname, Harry revealed he was earning £22,000 per year before tax - well above the average Cornish wage - at a reputable international firm's Cornish offices. His co-squatters earned similar amounts working at a local authority.

'We're young, we're earning good money, why waste it on paying rent to subsidise some middle aged bore's buy to let?' added Harry.

The three squatters claimed to have found the property on a holiday home lettings web site, then legally gained entry to the property and using UK laws to secure the property as their residence. Since moving in a year ago, the squatters have saved up £25,000 between them. Rentfreecornwall were then shown co-signatory bank account statements showing a balance of £25,700.

'We've all put money in each month, as if we were paying rent, then when we've got enough we might buy our own house as a property holdings company. We're capitalists as much as the next guy!'

A Cornish property expert admitted yesterday that squatting Cornish holiday homes was now 'out of control', with otherwise well off professionals viewing squatting Cornish second homes as a 'free for all.'

'It would clog the courts up, and take years to get them out' warn authorities on the mass squatting of Cornish second homes

With so many second and holiday homes now squatted in Cornwall, it would take decades for the court system to be able to process any evictions, and that's if the owners even knew they had squatters, according to a leading expert on Cornish housing.

'Scenes in the press of entire families being thrown out onto the street would be a nightmare for any government,' claimed the expert. 'It makes one wonder whether tacitly the authorities are banking on the squatting families owning the property after a period of time, as squatting law stipulates.'

That staggering announcement comes in the same week as a national housing charity revealed that there were 5 times more empty houses in Cornwall than families and ordinary working people in need of accommodation. 'That's more than enough to go round,' commented the housing expert.

After months on the street, chef is 'overjoyed' with new squatted Cornish holiday home

A chef was last night treated to a home cooked meal and a warm bed, after 4 months living rough in his home Cornish village, thanks to making use of the squatting laws to legally enter and occupy a Cornish holiday home in his home village.

Prior to being homeless, the chef was living in a bed-sit, from which he was evicted after rejecting inappropriate advances from the male landlord, who had bought an estimated 6 properties in the village since moving to Cornwall 1 year ago.

'It was very disturbing for me. I was working a 60-hour week, then being stalked, harassed and threatened by the landlord. In the end I was evicted because I refused his advances. I ended up sleeping rough, and was too embarrassed about everything to tell anyone. I had to go to work early and wash in the staff toilet.

'I went to the council for help, and they directed me to a homeless shelter. But the staff there explained they couldn't help me because I was employed - they would only help people who were on benefits. I have always worked and paid taxes. In the end I was close to a breakdown, living like a wild animal, but then I noticed all these empty homes, hundreds of them. It didn't make sense. Why shouldn't I just move in to one?'

Many social and economic experts now agree the Cornish housing market has created the perfect environment for slavery, with those who do not own houses now at the whims and mercy of landowners, and that squatting second homes brings more rights than a rent-paying tenant.

For centuries, Cornish people have lived as tenants, paying affordable rents to the wealthy landowners. In recent years, the wealthy landowners in Cornwall have sold off property, leaving the Cornish priced out of the market or driven from their land.

Others argue that with no criminal checks on the new private landlords, the safety and security of tax-paying, law abiding tenants is at risk.

'I'm overjoyed. It's fantastic,’ said the chef of his new home. 'I would recommend squatting a second or holiday home in Cornwall to all working people who are sick and tired of the stress and misery caused by Cornwall's housing crisis.'