Squatters' Handbook Chapter 3

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Who Owns It?
There are a number of reasons why it’s important to know who owns the building, and what he or she intends to do with it:

• Knowing the history and intended future of the building will help you evaluate the risks and benefits of squatting there. But don’t make the mistake of assuming that an approved Development Application (DA) will necessarily translate into actual development of the building. Property investors indefinitely shelve approved DAs all the time for a variety of reasons.


• Only the owner or a representative of the owner (or the person apparently in charge) is authorised to ask you to leave the building once you’ve settled in. Generally speaking, the police cannot just turn up and throw you out without prior direction from the owner. This is discussed more fully in Chapter 8, ‘Important Legal Stuff.’


• Different owners will respond to squatters in different ways. Knowing as much as possible about the owner will help you to plan your strategy if you negotiate with them to stay. A multinational corporation or a government department with a fragile public image, for example, is much more likely to be vulnerable to the threat of a negative media campaign than a small-time property investor. This is discussed in more detail in Chapter 9, Important Extra-legal Stuff.

How to Find Out Who the Owner Is
Your first step is to check the letterbox and look for old bills or letters around the building. You may also want to ask the neighbours if they know.
Failing this, you can go to the Land Titles Office (Macquarie Street, Sydney). Owner Inquiries are available through Land Titles information broker network and over the counter at its Sydney office. You will need to verify your identity before search results will be supplied. Due to increased public concern about privacy, this search facility has been withdrawn from the website. However, the staff are quite friendly and legally the information cannot be denied to you. Before you begin you will need:

• the exact address of the building you’re investigating
• the council municipality in which the building is located

Title Inquiries used to be able to be done on the Lands Titles Office website, but it seems that this service has now been removed.

Your next step is to find out what the owner intends to do with the property, if anything. Call the Development and Planning section of the local council that covers the building. Tell them you want to know whether any development applications (DAs) have been lodged for the premises within the last five years or so.

The council staff will ask you for the address and possibly the lot and DP numbers, so have these details handy. He or she can give you basic information concerning any the DAs that have been lodged, and approved or refused, for the building. Make sure you ask what the DAs (especially the most recent ones) were for, and whether or not the building is (partly or wholly) heritage-listed or registered as an item of environmental significance. This information could prove very useful later on if you are faced with eviction.

In case the council worker suspects you want to know this information for ‘illegitimate’ reasons, have a story ready, for example, that you are part of a registered housing co-op looking to acquire a building. However, don’t feel obliged to use your story: You cannot be denied access to this kind of basic planning information. Be assertive in your consumption of government services!

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