christmas lets short term squatting?

[TIZZARD2286]

Hello all.. I have been trying to obtain a short let from now until christmas. NO luck.

How do all the traders get in then? we all see short let christmas shops.

What is the law, do they just open up shop and then wait to be evicted? how do they not be prosecuted for trespass and or criminal damage etc?
Thanks in anticiaption of reply.
Tony

[Buenchico]

(2-part post):

With a few exceptions, trespass has never been a criminal offence. i.e. all of those signs which say 'trespassers will be prosecuted' are usually meaningless. There have alway been some exceptions (e.g. trespass on the railways or on MoD property). Additionally, recent years have seen some changes to the law, mainly directed at travellers creating unauthorised sites on private land. Despite this, if you leave your front door unlocked, I'm still fully within my rights to walk around your house, open the drawers to read your diary and sit on your furniture to await your arrival home. If I do that (and nothing involving theft or criminal damage), neither you nor the police can prosecute me because no criminal offence has been committed. So, 'squatting' in commercial premises is not, per se, a criminal offence.

[Buenchico]

The only problem, of course, is getting in to start with. Obviously, someone will normally have to commit criminal damage (by, for example, forcing a lock) but the fact that someone then trades from that site would not provide sufficient evidence for a successful prosecution for criminal damage. ("Well, your honour, I was looking for somewhere to trade from when I came across this shop where I could see that someone had smashed the lock. I know nothing about how that happened but I decided to take advantage of the vacant premises and trade from there"). Unless there's corroborating evidence (e.g. from the town's CCTV system), any prosecution would fail because it didn't meet the test of 'beyond reasonable doubt'.

Those traders who are experienced at 'playing the system' know how to stay on the right side of the law (or, at least, the right side of the courts). For example, when they replace the lock which they 'just happened to notice had been broken by someone else', with a new lock of their own, they ensure that the damaged lock is left inside the shop. This is because failure to do so would lead them open to a charge of theft of the lock. (Once again, they could claim that the lock was missing when they found the shop. Nevertheless, it's better to keep the threat of prosecution to a minimum).

Chris

[TIZZARD2286]

Thanks Chris. Interesting! Have police and Law contacts in family so will be trying to keep on the right side of the law.
I was willing to pay, but this may prove an alternative more interesting route to acheive my target!!