The squatters who have occupied a Russian oligarch’s £15m property in central London say they plan to expose the scandal of “buy-to-leave” properties across the capital when they face eviction proceedings in court.
The occupiers, who call themselves the Autonomous Nation of Anarchist Libertarians, or Anal, entered Andrey Goncharenko’s property in Eaton Square, Belgravia, through an open window on 23 January, and have created a temporary shelter for homeless people there.
The squatters are due in court on Tuesday where they hope to highlight what they see as a lack of housing in the capital and the number of properties that are empty.
Tom Fox, 23, one of the squatters, said: “It is criminal that there are so many homeless people and at the same time so many empty buildings. Our occupation is highlighting this injustice.”
The squatters say large and high-quality properties should be used to provide short-term accommodation for homeless people while their owners are not present.
Pete Phoenix, a veteran housing campaigner and squatter, said: “We need a sensible strategy to recycle and reuse all the empty residential and commercial buildings in the UK. We recycle and reuse glass, paper and plastic, so why not empty buildings? Cross-party cooperation is required at all levels to find solutions.”
Phoenix said several groups were already finding ways to recycle empty buildings, including Respace. “For the last few winters we have been helping to occupy many buildings to highlight homelessness and the waste of empty buildings. We need a national housing debate. Until solutions are found, many Londoners will no longer be able to afford to rent or buy in the city they were born in. There are more empty buildings than homeless people. We need to do the maths and take practical action.”
Jed Miller, 25, of Anal, said they were also concerned about the shadowy web of business interests that investors such as Goncharenko used when purchasing multimillion-pound properties. “We hope that the court will address these concerns tomorrow,” he said.
The squatters have been occupying the property peacefully but came under physical attack from a group they described as fascists on Saturday. A group of people gathered outside the property and hurled bricks, bottles and poles through the windows.
The squatters posted a series of messages on Twitter calling for help to fend off the attackers. “We are being violently attacked by fascists, get to 102 Eaton Square immediately. Lives are at risk,” said one message. Another said: “Fascists fought/scared off, police liaised and content. We would still appreciate numbers here to display that we will resist.”
Government figures show more than 600,000 homes across England are empty, including 200,000 that have been empty for more than six months. A report last year by the Empty Homes Agency, a charity, said the official figures may well be an underestimate as some owners of empty properties do not inform their local authority because doing so would mean having to pay council tax.
The proportion of dwellings that are empty is highest in the top council tax band: 2,094 of England’s most expensive homes – 1.56% of the 134,401 in total – are unoccupied. Geographically, areas in the north of England have the highest proportion of empty homes.
The Empty Homes Agency report says that in areas where the housing market is buoyant, such as central London, the level of empty homes may be linked to buy-to-leave. “There is some evidence that people are purchasing primarily new-build properties not to be used as homes but both as a safe store of value and in anticipation of a high capital gain when the properties are sold,” it says.
The report calls on the mayor of London and local authorities in high-value areas to conduct studies to understand the extent and impact of buy-to-leave and suggest measures they could adopt both to encourage people to bring those properties to the market for sale or rent and to deter people in the first place from buying properties primarily for their capital appreciation.
Official figures last week revealed a 16% increase in the number of people sleeping rough in England in the last year, to more than 4,000.
Rachael Robathan, the cabinet member for housing at Westminster city council, said of the Belgravia squatters: “Council officers are aware of the occupation of the privately owned, non-residential property in Eaton Square and will continue to monitor the situation.”
