Squatters Estate Agents, putting people places
Map aids London Squatter
Checking out the properties available in the squatters estate agency
... the entrance area ...
... with the Squatters Estate Agents ...
The display boards were also on display at other autonomous spaces over the weekend, including the Hackney Social Centre.
Lots of people seemed to really appreciate the idea and it worked on multiple levels. Not only did it provide a practical and up to date list of a few possible places people might go off and squat but it also showed how many properties sit empty for years doing nothing while properties developers wait to cash in. It also started to present and document bits of recent squat history.
It's now planned to continue and maintain the project, adding more properties and arranging specific estate agents open days when people can meet up to go view properties together. The next opportunity will be the Days of Action follow up on Saturday 19th April from 2pm till 4pm at the Bowl Court Squat in Shoreditch.
If you'd like to contribute to the project or have a copy of the display for your put up at your space then contact the.rampart AT gmail DOT com . Feel free to send in photos and details of any empties you know of.
Comments
Hide the following 13 comments
What about an online version?
15.04.2008 15:44
cyber
Yes please
15.04.2008 21:43
Ben
brilliant idea
15.04.2008 21:48
riku
face to face is safer
15.04.2008 23:26
The squatters estate agents is a great idea for a physical space, not online.
usual stuff
Perhaps, perhaps not
15.04.2008 23:53
ben
Open works
16.04.2008 00:01
opensource
If you knew anything
16.04.2008 00:16
Now, okay, indymedia gets hundreds of posts per day while an online empties list would probably get only a handful of posts each week so would be easier to moderate, but would those moderates go round and physically check that submitted info was for real? That would be highly impractical. I think a system requiring registration makes much more sense.
i
online offline?
16.04.2008 10:07
"The Empty Property Hotline runs and promotes a telephone and e-mail hotline for reporting empty properties in ENGLAND.
The Agency is still involved with working on tackling individual empty properties. In the main this is achieved through our Empty Property Hotline and working closely with local authorities."
Note the final line. Also we see councils such as Camden pay substainally for an empty properties housing team to keep them out of the hands of squatters amongst other things and also have a reportage system online.
The ASS forum, which is pretty quiet now, also had people swopping empty properties but with around 900 registered on the site that obviously has security problems as discussed above; also a web presence is not enough on it's own.
Face to face is better for bring people together, particularly when people are looking for other to squat with.
anon
email list
16.04.2008 11:11
riku
Hidden history
17.04.2008 09:15
elder
Are lists really useful?
17.04.2008 20:05
It's different when it comes to making a judgement about which empty place(s) are simply going to give you the best chance of a roof over your head with minimum problems for as long as possible. For that, lists can be a bit crap.
Things change and they go out of date very quickly.
People inevitably think a place on a list must be a good or recommended place to squat, and that's not necessarily true.
What helps you make the best judgement of prospects for a particular place is researching its story in the council's planning register (free), the land registry (£3 a hit) and assessing the info. -or lack of it- against the LOCAL political / "development" / re-fucken-generation situation, the housing finance system for councils and HAs, and what's going on with their "market" at the moment. Things are shifting and changing rapidly on all those fronts. Have a look at page 14 of Squatters Handbook, which I hear may be expanded in the new edition. People who've really got their noses into a particular borough or patch and know what's what, who's who, and what's going down are in the best position to pick the best places. Nothing is 100%, of course, but the trick is to eliminate all possible unknowns and go for the most likely chance(s). Verbal info. may be reliable or it may be complete bollocks. So know your sources!
I agree with those who're against even an attempt at a list online. Just makes life too, too easy for landlords, councils and cops and far too profitable for "security" firms.
The best and absolutely up to date list is kept on the streets. It's the RESEARCH that really counts. You can generally do that bit anywhere it's warm, dry and has an internet connection.
Arbuthnot Maladaptive
Useful stuff, thanks
18.04.2008 16:22
I agree that an online list is a bad idea and I appreciate that in many ways the squatters estate agency last weekend was a bit of a stunt rather than a serious or comprehensive empties list but it still proved useful and got people together to go open buildings.
more the merier
Daily (Hate) Mail article about the Squatters Estate Agency
29.04.2008 21:23
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=562325&in_page_id=1770&in_page_id=1770&expand=true#StartComments
Estate agents' offer empty homes for squat
By MILES GOSLETT -
At first glance, they are the sort of glossy particulars you would find in the window of any estate agent's.
But, on closer inspection, most of the properties on offer 'boast' some rather unusual features - such as boarded-up windows, possession orders and no front-door entrance.
The homes are being offered by Squatters Estate Agents, which has set up a 'shop' in a derelict warehouse near the gleaming office buildings of the City of London.
The new service is advertised on anti-capitalist websites and prospective 'tenants' are directed to the premises - squatted, of course - in the Shoreditch area of the capital.
A reporter from this newspaper met James, an 'agent' in his late 20s, wearing jeans, a T- shirt and several days' stubble, who guided us through the details of dozens of ' available properties' on printed sheets produced using a digital camera and a computer.
He explained that the service was free and designed to guide others like him into new digs.
On the agency's 'books' are scores of former pubs, abandoned flats and houses, derelict council properties and empty buildings owned by Government departments.
One squat up for grabs is a former JobCentre in East London, owned by the Department for Work and Pensions and described - in perfect estate agentspeak - as a 'huge brick building of mansion-like proportions with two side wings and a covered rear extension'.
Its proximity to a canal and a Lidl supermarket are highlighted. But in a piece of advice you would be unlikely to find in most agents' literature, it adds: "Access looks relatively easy... round the back."
Another hot property is Bedford House, Wheler Street, near the squatters' office.
Pitched as a "beautiful large building", it boasts a "red brick, stone and terracotta facade" noted as being "architecturally significant". The blurb adds: "It's a stone's throw from Liverpool Street and close to trendy Shoreditch and Brick Lane. It used to be an art gallery but has been empty for quite a while now."
"According to Land Registry records, the vast Bedford House was bought by a company called Islepark Limited in 2005. Its owners could not be contacted.
James said: "There is an enormous amount of unused property in London and other parts of the country.
"The Government keeps talking about the need to build millions of new houses to cope with the housing shortage - but we're proving they're wrong. They could turn existing empty buildings into new houses instead."
The 'agents' - Britain's first group dedicated to sidestepping the property ladder - are briefed in civil law so they can tell their clients that squatting in England and Wales is, technically, not a crime, so long as the squatters can get into an empty building without damaging it, and are able to secure it.
Quoting from charity the Empty Homes Agency, they claim there are 30,000 vacant dwellings in London alone.
All of the advertised properties carry the warning: "Your home is at risk if you do not keep up your occupancy at all times and replace any existing locks secured on it."
Squatters Estate Agents are trained in civil law and tell their clients that squatting is technically not a crime, so long as the squatters can get into the building without damaging it, and are able to secure it
Richard West, who owns a former pub in East London being advertised by the squatters, said he was unaware that it faces becoming a squat. He said: "Thank you for the tip. I'll have to secure it. "Ultimately, though, anyone who wants to squat there can do and there's little I can do about it until we get planning permission. Squatters have more rights than you'd think.'
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