And We Thought the Kelo Decision Was Bad!.

Homes of the dead to be seized

Bereaved families could have the homes of dead relatives seized under new laws that allow the state to commandeer empty properties.

Local councils will be able to take control of inherited homes if they are left vacant for more than six months.

After that time the beneficiaries of a will risk seeing the house that has been left to them taken over and rented out as social housing.

The new rules, which could affect 250,000 homes in England, will come into force next month, according to details slipped out by Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly.

They state that those who leave a house or flat empty for six months risk losing control of it to the local council, which will have power to break in, alter or refurbish it, and let it out to tenants of the authority’s choice. The greatest impact is likely to fall on bereaved families.

Although actual ownership will remain with the family, the new law means that the home of a relative who has died may be taken over by the council just six months after the will has been put into effect.

Many families are likely to be debating how to deal with or share out the value of the home of a loved one for several months after a death. The risk of losing family property comes on top of the growing burden of inheritance tax and the highly controversial ‘means test’ system for long-term care of the elderly.

Tory housing spokesman Michael Gove said yesterday: "Seizing homes of the recently deceased is particularly disturbing. I doubt that state officials will always recognise the delays that can result from complex wills or appreciate the traumatic ordeal that families face with the task of clearing a home of personal possessions." He added: "I fear this is a stealthy new form of inheritance tax."

Housing experts called the confiscation of property 'outrageous'. Robert Whelan of the Civitas think-tank said: "This runs right against the ancient common law principle of private property, which is as fundamental as habeas corpus.

"The right to private property is the Englishman’s right to his castle. This looks to me like the point where Labour has overstepped the mark into behaving more like a dictatorship than a democratic government."

Mr Whelan added: "I think anybody whose property is seized under this law should go straight to court to see if a judge thinks it should stand."

Henry Stuart, head of property at the City law firm Withers, said: "Many families decide to sell inherited property – but they often wait for the right time. For example, you do not sell a country cottage in November, you wait until the spring. But by then the local council could have put a tenant in."

The right for councils to impose 'Empty Dwelling Management Orders' was included in a 2004 Housing Act pushed through by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

Miss Kelly, his successor in charge of housing policy, published guidance on how the orders will work last Friday afternoon, without informing MPs or the media.

When the law was pushed through Parliament, it was said that target homes would be in crime-affected streets in inner cities. However, the details now made public show that the orders will apply to any home. The guidance on the new powers said: "The property does not have to be run down or uninhabitable. The fact it has not been lived in for more than six months may be enough to allow an EDMO to be made."

Exceptions cover second and holiday homes and homes of those working 'temporarily' away. In the case of inherited property, exemption applies for six months after grant of probate. An EDMO can last for seven years, but owners can apply to get their house back earlier. No home can be seized if its owner can show it is 'genuinely' on the market.

The seizure of homes must also be approved by a Residential Property Tribunal. These are the panels that have until now been confined to settling disputes between private landlords and tenants.

Those who are the first to lose control of property to a council may also challenge the new law in the courts through the process of judicial review.

A spokesman for Miss Kelly’s department said: "The owner retains ownership rights and can dispose of their dwelling at any time or seek revocation of an order to enable sale or to otherwise secure occupation."

Yes, England slides further towards bondage.

And the populace increasingly avoids involving itself in fighting crime, since the State has made it plain that they're not qualified and will be punished for doing the State's job:

Pensioner brutally attacked at seafront - yet no one came to his aid

When pensioner Derek Gull was targeted by two vicious muggers he was not walking through a tough housing estate or along some dark alley.

The 76-year-old was sitting on a bench in broad daylight on a busy sea front.

But as the thugs smashed a brick into his face and broke both his wrists as they tried to wrench his watch off his arm, not a single person stepped in to help.

The grandfather told yesterday how more than a dozen people carried on walking as he struggled against his attackers with blood streaming down his face.

He fought bravely to stop them taking the watch - which was a present from his wife on their golden wedding anniversary - and they eventually fled after pushing him down an 8ft embankment.

And as he staggered through the town covered in blood, still no-one stopped to help.

"I couldn't see properly because my eyes were watering," Mr Gull said yesterday as he recovered from his injuries at home.

"I was covered with blood from my nose. At least a dozen people walked past and did not bother to do anything, they just ignored me.

"It's disgusting, my whole family is upset about it. I suppose people just don't want to get involved any more, they don't seem to care.

"But if I saw someone like that I would see if I could help, I wouldn't just walk past and ignore it."

Mr Gull's ordeal earlier this month came just days after motorists ignored a girl of eight as she dragged herself to the pavement with a broken leg after being mowed down by a hit and run driver.

Cait Atkins was walking near her home in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, when she was run over. Up to 12 motorists drove past her without stopping to help.

Mr Gull, a retired electrician from Rainham, Essex, had been visiting Clacton-on-Sea on a day trip with his local working men's club.

During the day, he separated from the others to visit a friend at the town's bowling club.

As he walked back to meet the rest of the group in a restaurant he decided to sit on a bench for a while and watch some youngsters playing football on the beach.

"Suddenly I felt an arm come round from behind and grab me and a voice demanded that I hand over my watch," the father of three said.

'He would have had to kill me for the watch'

"It was a golden wedding anniversary present from my wife so he would have had to kill me to get it.

"Another arm came round and started tugging at the watch and trying to get it off. I clenched my fist so he couldn't get it off me.

"Then he pulled my arm through the slats and twisted it until it broke.

"I heard him say to someone else "hit him" and the next thing I knew half a brick hit me in the face breaking my nose.

"There was blood everywhere and my eyes were watering, I couldn't see a thing."

Mr Gull, who is registered disabled as he suffers from curvature of the spine, managed to struggle to his feet and his attackers - aged in their late teens - pushed him down an 8ft bank onto a concrete path before fleeing.

"I got my faculties together and tried to make my way back to the restaurant but I was covered in blood and it was pouring out of my nose.

"I couldn't see a thing because my eyes were watering so much.

"I must have passed about half a dozen people but no one asked me what had happened or offered to help me.

"At the time I was so upset that people just ignored me but looking back I suppose they just didn't want to get involved or maybe they thought I was a drunk.

"If it was me though, I would have gone out of my way to help someone in that situation."

Eventually Mr Gull met some members of his group who guided him back to the restaurant where he was cleaned up and the police were called.

After showing them where the incident took place he insisted on taking the hour and a half long journey back to Rainham with the working men's club on the coach.

It was only when he got home that he agreed to go to hospital where he collapsed in casualty.

Doctors were so concerned about the amount of blood he had swallowed that they gave him a lung scan and he was kept in hospital for more than a week before being allowed back home on Wednesday. He is unable to drive his car or play his regular game of bowls.

Mr Gull, who served in the Army for two and a half years after joining in 1947, suggested bringing back national service to deal with antisocial youths.

"That would sort out all the young thugs of today. Like the old saying goes, you go in as a boy and come out as a man."

Mr Gull's 75-year-old wife, Violet, said she was pleased that her husband clung on the the gold Ellesse watch she had bought him.

She added: "He was very brave, but it's disgusting that no-one helped him.

"I don't know what the world is coming to."

Essex Police are appealing for witnesses.

What's the world coming to? Well, apparently it's coming to shit.

Damn, it pains me to see what the Mother Country has become.