After months on the street, chef is 'overjoyed' with new squatted Cornish holiday home

A chef was last night treated to a home cooked meal and a warm bed, after 4 months living rough in his home Cornish village, thanks to making use of the squatting laws to legally enter and occupy a Cornish holiday home in his home village.

Prior to being homeless, the chef was living in a bed-sit, from which he was evicted after rejecting inappropriate advances from the male landlord, who had bought an estimated 6 properties in the village since moving to Cornwall 1 year ago.

'It was very disturbing for me. I was working a 60-hour week, then being stalked, harassed and threatened by the landlord. In the end I was evicted because I refused his advances. I ended up sleeping rough, and was too embarrassed about everything to tell anyone. I had to go to work early and wash in the staff toilet.

'I went to the council for help, and they directed me to a homeless shelter. But the staff there explained they couldn't help me because I was employed - they would only help people who were on benefits. I have always worked and paid taxes. In the end I was close to a breakdown, living like a wild animal, but then I noticed all these empty homes, hundreds of them. It didn't make sense. Why shouldn't I just move in to one?'

Many social and economic experts now agree the Cornish housing market has created the perfect environment for slavery, with those who do not own houses now at the whims and mercy of landowners, and that squatting second homes brings more rights than a rent-paying tenant.

For centuries, Cornish people have lived as tenants, paying affordable rents to the wealthy landowners. In recent years, the wealthy landowners in Cornwall have sold off property, leaving the Cornish priced out of the market or driven from their land.

Others argue that with no criminal checks on the new private landlords, the safety and security of tax-paying, law abiding tenants is at risk.

'I'm overjoyed. It's fantastic,’ said the chef of his new home. 'I would recommend squatting a second or holiday home in Cornwall to all working people who are sick and tired of the stress and misery caused by Cornwall's housing crisis.'