I’m fed up with talking about the weather, but I can console myself with the fact we have grabbed every opportunity so far and progress is not too bad.Removing trespassers is a much simpler process
Gypsies and squatters are probably the last people you want to find on your land but they can be removed quite legally without lengthy court procedures.
MANY landowners view gypsies as ‘unwanted guests’, find them unapproachable, and often have an unsightly and costly mess to clear up behind them. And the owners of these caravans and maybe, tents, have no legal right to be on your land.
The police and local councils are usually unable to help as it tends to be a civil matter and the travellers have not actually caused a breach of the peace.
Take it upon yourself to do something and it can lead to unwanted confrontation and even retribution from the travellers. So what can you do when travellers invade your land?
One option is to go through the Court procedures but these tend to be costly and time consuming – maybe a month or so.
Employing bailiffs on the other hand is a common law remedy and certificated bailiffs are authorised to remove the travellers on your behalf.
The Country Landowners and Business Association (CLA) says the problem of trespassing travellers is not now the problem it once was.
The association’s public law adviser Chris Price said the very fact it was now easy for a landowner to engage a form of bailiffs to have travellers successfully removed, meant the tactics had changed.
“We are increasingly seeing travellers buying agricultural land and perhaps moving on over a Bank Holiday, and so then making it a planning matter rather than anything else.”
Cost-effective
Where a trespass does occur, however, one firm of bailiffs says the procedure for removal is quite simple, efficient and cost-effective.
Spokesman for The UK Bailiff Company, Ben Gower, said: “The office is instructed by the landowner, tenant or agent to evict the travellers. Bailiffs attend the site and serve a ‘Notice To Vacate Land’ on the travellers. This notice advises them they are trespassers and have no right to remain on the land.
Furthermore, it gives them a reasonable amount of time, usually 24 hours, to leave the land with their vehicles and possessions,” explained Mr Gower.
“If the travellers fail to leave, our bailiffs will exercise the rights of self-help to remove them from the land. The police are in attendance while the bailiffs exercise the rights of removal to ensure that there is no breach of the peace.
“When our bailiffs attend, they will survey the site and advise on the best possible solutions for protecting the site from future incursions, such as the positioning of concrete blocks.”
Mr Gower claims the firm has never yet had to physically move a caravan, and neither has it had reports of any retribution.
“We have had a 100 per cent success rate and have been carrying out evictions for many years, being firm but fair.”
The firm operates on a fixed fee basis (£495 plus vat) for the initial attendance and service of the papers, irrespective of the number of travellers or the location.
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