Monitor

SQUATTERS' RIGHTS

Reaction to squatter Timothy Ellis being given ownership of a pounds 200,000 house in London

Evening

Standard

MR ELLIS has never paid poll tax or council tax to Lambeth, which tried belatedly and in vain to prevent the house from falling into his possession. Had Lambeth carried out even the smallest of improvements to the house, the council would have established ownership of it. One lawyer with a paintbrush could have put a stop to Mr Ellis. This case is an outrage.

The Express

CAN WE really blame the squatter, Timothy Ellis, for taking advantage of Lambeth's total failure to assert its right of ownership or to fill its empty houses? With homelessness showing no signs of going away, houses cannot be allowed to go to waste. It is a situation where every house should count and local authorities should, at least, count every house. (Bill Randall)

Daily Mail

JOBLESS SQUATTER Timothy Ellis has been awarded full ownership of the pounds 200,000 London house he moved into 16 years ago. He's never paid a penny in council tax, so I suggest this manipulative scrounger is presented with a post-dated bill and sent to prison if he refuses to pay. (Lynda Lee Potter)

The Sun

DOESN'T IT make you sick. A jobless squatter is handed a home on a plate. While his neighbours work hard to pay their mortgages, Timothy Ellis gets a house for nowt. He's never even paid a penny in rent or council tax. Lambeth Council, once a hotbed of loony leftism, had 16 years to evict him. But they didn't. Who will repay the pounds 200,000 the people of Lambeth have lost? No one. And that's the worst thing about the whole sorry business.