Squatters rights is a crude colloquial expression for what the law itself, calls ADVERSE POSSESSION.

I think the law varies in each jurisdiction but the following things are important:

1. The claimant must have had possession of the property for a minimum of 12 years.

2. The claimant has had exclusive control of the property for that time.

3. The owners of the property must be aware that the claimant is in possession.

4. The claimant must use the property in such a way as to display his intention to own the property

5. The claimant must never have paid rent to the owner.

6. The claimant must not be in possession of the property through any form of force or threat.

APPLYING FOR ADVERSE POSSESSION

In the UK people apply through the Land Registry Agency.

There is a form to complete and a strong body of evidence required.

If you afford a lawyer all the better.

But you can represent yourself as a personal litigant.

Thats not an easy task.

People who want more information on adverse possession can consult the SHELTER housing charity website.

From BBC

SPANISH BISHOP LEAVES TO MARRY EROTIC AND SATANIC NOVELIST.

When Spanish bishop Xavier Novell resigned last month, the Roman Catholic Church cited strictly personal reasons without going into detail.

It has now emerged in Spanish media that he fell in love with a woman who writes Satanic-tinged erotic fiction.

In 2010 at the age of 41, he became Spain’s youngest bishop, in Solsona in the north-eastern region of Catalonia.

He has backed so-called conversion therapy for gay people and carried out exorcisms.

Seen as a rising star in Spain’s Catholic Church, his decision to resign with the Vatican’s approval came as a surprise last month. He is said to have met several times with Vatican officials as well as the Pope himself.

Xavier Novell was traditional in his remarks on abortion but his strident views on homosexuality and outspoken support for Catalonian independence were controversial.

It came as a shock when Religión Digital reported that he had fallen for divorcee Silvia Caballol, a psychologist and erotic novelist. The news site said that the former bishop was now looking for a job in the Barcelona area as an agronomist.

Caballol’s books include titles such as The Hell of Gabriel’s Lust and the trilogy Amnesia. In the blurb for one of her works, the reader is promised a journey into sadism, madness and lust and a struggle between good and evil, God and Satan with a plot to shake one’s values and religious beliefs.

Neither the ex-bishop, who is now 52, nor the novelist have responded to the reports although Religión Digital quoted him as saying “I have fallen in love and want to do things properly”.

The diocese has since responded by emphasising that “corroboration or not of this story is a strictly personal matter for him alone”.

The issue has again raised the issue of celibacy within the Church. In earlier interviews, Xavier Novell admitted that in his youth he had fallen in love with an 18-year-old girl and he had later wanted to marry and have children before deciding on a different path.

His change of heart has prompted grumblings within the Church. Dominican nun Lucía Caram said he was “out of his mind” and criticised his promotion of “conversion therapy”.

PAT SAYS:

Someone made the point the other day that there is now a great variety show of misbehaviour and deviance among the clergy and episcopate.

I suppose a bishop running off with a Satanic and erotic novelist is a new turn?

And the old Pharisee was promoting conversion therapy for gay people.

As ne granny used to say: bad cess to him.