From the “why did this take so long” file:

Squatting set to become a criminal offence

In short… up until now, if you lived in Britain and left your home unoccupied overnight, someone could break the locks, wander in and take over (basically stealing your home, all your stuff, your whole life), and the police were powerless to stop it. Crazy as it sounds, until now if someone were to do that to you, and late one night you broke into your own home and beat the squatters to death, stuck their heads on pikes in the front yard and tossed their corpses into the nearest garbage bin, *you* would be the one held legally to account. I’m not entirely sure that the change in BritLaw would not allow for this particular praiseworthy public service to be considered legal, but one step at a time.