A Bill to make a person liable for any damage caused by any person to land, or property on that land, on which he is trespassing for the purpose of residing there ; to amend the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 in respect of eviction from land; and for connected purposes.

1) Liability for damage

(1) A person who is trespassing on land with the purpose of residing there shall be liable for any damage caused to that land, or property on that land, while he is present there, whether caused by him or by any other person.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), the land on which a person is liable for any damage caused is any land within the natural or artificial boundary of the site, or within 100 metres of that natural or artificial boundary, of any vehicle, tent or other structure in which the person is residing.

2) Eviction

(1) The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 is amended as follows.

(2) In section 61 (power to remove trespassers on land)�

(a)for subsection (1) there is substituted�

�(1) If the senior police officer present at the scene reasonably believes that any person is trespassing on land with the purpose of residing there for any period and that reasonable steps have been taken by or on behalf of the occupier to ask him to leave and he has failed to do so, the officer may direct any such person to leave the land and to remove any vehicles or other property he has with him on the land.�;

(b) after subsection (1) there is inserted�

�(1A) Where a local authority reasonably believes that any person is trespassing on land in its area for the purpose of residing there, and that reasonable steps have been taken by or on behalf of the occupier to ask him to leave and he has failed to do so, it may, with the agreement of the occupier, request the Chief Constable for the area to issue a direction under subsection (1) above for any such person to leave the land and to remove any vehicles or other property he has with him on the land, and the Chief Constable shall comply with any such request.�; and

(c) in subsection (9), in the definition of �land�, paragraph (b)(i) is omitted.

3) Short title and extent

(1) This Act may be cited as the Trespassers on Land (Liability for Damage and Eviction) Act 2002.

(2) This Act extends to England and Wales only.