'It would clog the courts up, and take years to get them out' warn authorities on the mass squatting of Cornish second homes

With so many second and holiday homes now squatted in Cornwall, it would take decades for the court system to be able to process any evictions, and that's if the owners even knew they had squatters, according to a leading expert on Cornish housing.

'Scenes in the press of entire families being thrown out onto the street would be a nightmare for any government,' claimed the expert. 'It makes one wonder whether tacitly the authorities are banking on the squatting families owning the property after a period of time, as squatting law stipulates.'

That staggering announcement comes in the same week as a national housing charity revealed that there were 5 times more empty houses in Cornwall than families and ordinary working people in need of accommodation. 'That's more than enough to go round,' commented the housing expert.