They turn run-down flats into cosy nests but the Town Hall wants them out

THE BLOCK looks unwelcoming from outside. Windows are covered by security screens. Faux Tudor cladding hangs off the brickwork. Leaking drainpipes have stained the front of the building.
The state of the place is not surprising. Holly Lodge Mansions in Oakeshott Avenue on Highgate’s Holly Lodge estate has been empty for nearly 10 years.
The estate boasts family homes that are worth more than £1 million, but it has a collection of run-down council blocks and Holly Lodge Mansions is one of them.
But it is no longer empty. Squatters moved there in January and have made the flats warm and cosy inside. They see their new homes as the answer to Camden’s chronic housing shortage, while the council says they are occupying a block that should be given to families on the housing waiting list.
Frank Stucik, 29, who works as a handyman for a photography studio, moved into Holly Lodge with his girlfriend Valerie Manning.
He has squatted buildings across Camden since he moved from the Czech Republic nine years ago. He says he is caught in a housing trap he can only solve by squatting.
He explained: “Rents are so high, you have a choice – go on housing benefit and don’t work so you can get your rent, work every hour you have to scrape together the cash, or find somewhere that is empty and run down, and make it habitable.”
Frank, Valerie and around 20 other people are the third group of squatters to live in the flats. Frank said: “They are empty and in a terrible state. When the last group were evicted, they were told it was because builders were waiting to move in.
“They were scheduled to start in January 2004. But the council barricaded the flats up and have left them empty since.”
Val, 27, works part time and is studying design at City and Islington College. Her wage is just enough to get by on, but she would not be able to make ends meet if she had to pay rent too.
She said: “Landlords want a deposit. That puts it out of reach.”
And applying for a council home is not an option. She said: “There are people here who have been on a waiting list for 10 years.”
Frank discounts suggestions that squatters take homes off people waiting patiently for a council house.
He said: “We will move out when we have to. With squatting, we look for empty, run-down properties that need care to make them habitable. We do them up and then move on when we are asked. The man hours you put into a place are the price you pay instead of rent.”
The council says work will start on the flats at the beginning of April.
People on the estate have mixed views about the squatters. The neighbours like having the blocks occupied and the squatters make sure their behaviour is exemplary.
“They are perfect,” said one neighbour.
Others are worried that the flats are unsafe. The block was closed because its foundations were slipping and structural engineers would not recommend that families should move in.
The council does not have the money to underpin the building yet, so the block has to lie empty. But it is against council policy to let squatters stay in homes waiting to be rebuilt.
A council press official said: “We want to maximise the amount of accommodation we have, so we always take action against those who illegally occupy our property.
“In order for us to issue proceedings to regain possession, allowing work to start, we need to satisfy the county court that permission has not been given to squatters to use the building they are occupying.”
But Frank said: “The only winners are private landlords and security companies, who were paid to look after this block round the clock for six months when the last group of squatters were moved out.”
And in the meantime, Frank and Val will be making their home in Holly Lodge Mansions.