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Polish decorators down tools and claim squatters rights in banker's flat
Last updated at 09:37am on 10.11.06
Nita Bowers and her £215,000 apartment
When City investment banker Nita Bowers bought a two-bedroom flat in Docklands her only problem seemed to be that it needed a spot of paint before being rented out.
So, like thousands before her, she hired some builder-decorators and tasked them with doing up the flat in a few days before putting it on the lettings market.
But the two workmen liked the look of the £215,000 apartment overlooking Canary Wharf so much, they downed tools and moved in, claiming squatters' rights.
When mother-of-four Mrs Bowers called round to check the progress of the work she found the locks had been changed. Then one of the workmen thrust a legal document in front of her saying they lived there and had no intention of moving.
Now she is facing a gruelling legal process to force the Polish builders out while they run up utility costs and her mortgage bill soars.
Mrs Bowers, who bought the buy-to-let property to give her a pension when she is older, said: "I went round with an estate agent and we found we couldn't get in.
"Then a very burly man came out and thrust a legal notice on to the agent's chest, saying they lived there now." Mrs Bowers called the police who came round but said they were not allowed to move the squatters on and suggested she take civil action against them.
She said: "The police have visited but there's nothing they can do; we have to go through the courts. I'm now having to pay two mortgages and there are bills galore. It's my first buy-to-let investment and all my property dreams have turned into a nightmare."
Attempts at dialogue with the squatters also failed. She said: "I've tried to get in and banged on the door but these two burly Polish guys have told me they are claiming squatters' rights. I said to them, 'it's not your dream home, it's mine.'"
Mrs Bowers is now waiting for her application to remove the squatters to make its way through the courts. She said: "Where is the justice in all this? I can't believe people can just come and live in someone else's home."
The squatters confirmed they were living at the flat but declined to comment further. Mrs Bowers's ordeal came to light as Polish president Lech Kaczynski claimed thousands of his "feckless" countrymen were raking in benefits back home while also working in Britain.
In a press conference with Tony Blair at Downing Street, the president said Britain had become the "destination of choiceî for jobless Poles and claimed the workers were "raising unemployment figures in Poland while they are doing very nicely in the UK."
An estimated 400,000 Poles have come to live in Britain since the expansion of the EU in May 2004. The Government has defended the influx, claiming the new arrivals are hard-working. Westminster council revealed last week thatmore than half the homeless on the streets of central London originated in eastern Europe.
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