London:
An NRI hotelier, who had gone out of his house for a week, was in for a rude shock when he found Italian squatters occupying his property.
Forty-year-old Hotelier Connan Gupta stayed with his sister while his 7,00,000 pound five-bedroom home in Camberwell was being refurbished but when he returned to check on the progress he found his property overrun with students.
The students from Italy claimed they were unable to pay living costs in London and had changed the locks, preventing Gupta from entering his home.
Four men and six women were accompanied by two pet dogs and five more squatters are understood to have joined them.
The squatters told Gupta they were not going to move out as the property had been unoccupied and they had not broken in. One of them said they were studying English, adding: "We have no money to pay for rent."
Gupta who runs a hotel with his parents in Paddington, is now paying for solicitors to try to force the squatters out.
In the meantime he is also having to cover the domestic bills.
Gupta said, "All my worldly possessions, from medication to my skin down to all my valuables and everything in between is there. I'm profoundly shocked that this can happen.
"It is hellish. I always triple-lock the house - when I went away I made sure everything was locked. It is really scary that you can go on holiday and come back and your house has been taken."
Squatting is a civil offence, although it is against the law to damage property by gaining entry. If squatters manage to stay in a home for 12 years, it effectively becomes theirs.
Gupta had to move in with his sister in Isleworth while his solicitor tries to obtain an eviction order through the civil courts.