Squatting is to become illegal after a ban was rubber stamped yesterday.

The move follows some notable squatting incidents in the South West recently – including the occupation of one of the region’s most exclusive homes. Last month a group was evicted from Grade Two-listed Clifton Wood House, once Bristol’s most expensive property.

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   Squatters being evicted from the £3million Clifton Wood House in Bristol last month

The new legislation received Royal Assent that will make it a crime to occupy people’s homes. Measures contained in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act will be implemented in stages over the next year and ministers are understood to want to bring in the squatting ban within two months.

The law change means squatters in residential buildings can be criminalised, fined and even sent to prison if they are repeat offenders. Currently squatting is a civil offence, and homeowners often face lengthy legal battles to evict people who occupy their houses.

Justice Minister Crispin Blunt said “criminals” would no longer be able to “steal people’s homes by squatting in them.”

He added: “For too long squatters have had the justice system on the run,” he said.

“Not any more. Hard working homeowners need and deserve a justice system where their rights come first, this new offence will ensure the police and other agencies can take quick and decisive action to deal with the misery of squatting.”

Clifton Wood House, a ten-bedroom mansion, was once on the market for £4.2 million but became home to 14 – and later more – squatters.

Residents opposite complained their lives had been made a misery by all-night parties held at the squat and some said they felt intimidated by squatters’ behaviour.

Under the new law, squatters face fines of up to £5,000 and could be jailed for up to six months. The new legislation contains other changes intended to make easier for homeowners to prove that their home is being occupied unlawfully. There will, for example, no longer be a requirement to show that a squatter has displaced a resident and that the victim has nowhere else to live in.

Charities and campaigners have complained that the measure will criminalise the homeless and add to the numbers living on the streets.