Rise of the posh squatters

Squatters have been around since the late 1880s when the word was first used, but these days a new breed of building invader is targeting decadent rather than derelict properties to live in. We tracked down the people and homes involved in this growing trend.

Where: No.65 Chester Square, Belgravia, London
What: Three-storey four-bedroom Regency house
Worth: £10 million

In late August this year on a quiet weekday night seven squatters (and the TV documentary crew following them) found a broken window at the front of No.65 Chester Square and the group, who ranged from young homeless to silver-haired ‘political’ squatters from the Oubliette art collective, made their way into the property.

The group claimed the house had been unoccupied for more than three months and that they had done it under the noses of the policemen who look after Margaret Thatcher, who lives around the corner.