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The fancy-dress squatters outside court after being told they must leave |
SQUATTERS KICKED OUT
Judge orders £6m Mayfair mansion artists ‘out into the cold’
IT took just six weeks for the republic of 18 Upper Grosvenor Street to fall.
The Da! Collective squatters made headlines when they moved into the £6million Mayfair mansion, but now they face the prospect of Christmas out in the cold.
There was no blood-letting or pillage – rather a bizarre court appearance.
Men in tights, Jacobean jesters and Mary Poppins look-a-likes swelled courtroom 1 at Central London County Court on Tuesday morning to hear whether they would be allowed to stay in their mini-utopia.
But despite showing he had a sense of humour, apologising for turfing out the rag-tag group on such a “cold morning”, Judge Harvey Silverman delivered the coup de grace, ruling they had no legal right to be there.
On October 14, a dozen intrepid members of the group scaled the Grade II-listed Georgian terrace under the cover of darkness, changed the locks, and set about transforming the house into an art gallery.
Within the next week, court bailiffs will be despatched to the building, returning it to its owners, the property company Deltaland Resources Ltd.
Hopes of an unlikely victory for the collective of artists were briefly raised during the 15-minute hearing when a man claiming to be the real owner of the property told the Judge he wanted the group to stay.
Mohammad Ghadami, who claims he is the registered beneficiary on the property deeds, said: “The property is due to be signed over to me. These are good people, and I don’t consider them trespassing. I even went round for a cup of tea. They have looked after it well and I wish for them to stay on.”
He called on Judge Silverman to halt proceedings because the property was in the process of being transferred to him.
But Mr Ghadami was told the correct procedures had been followed and that the dispute over ownership must be taken up with Deltaland in another court.
Group spokeswoman Stephanie Smith, 21, who represented the squatters in the absence of a lawyer, did make a last-ditch plea for a postponement on the grounds that in France there is a law that prevents the eviction of squatters during the month of November.
Judge Silverman said: “I understand they looked after the property and they are a well-mannered group, but they have no right to be there and, although I agree it is very cold, outside I must order repossession.” |
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