Squatters leave £1.75m Regency home (From The Argus)

Squatters leave £1.75m Regency home

5:55pm Thursday 15th January 2009 in Search By Andy Whelan

MIDDLE class squatters who took over a former Royal holiday home have disappeared - leaving only a few empty beer cans to show they were there.

Up to a dozen people moved in to the lavishly-furnished £1.75 million Fife House in Lewes crescent, Kemp Town, Brighton, in December.

The palatial four-storey Regency house was used as a seaside retreat by dukes and princes in the 19th century and still boasts a "King's toilet", installed for the visit of Edward VII, among its priceless fixtures and fittings.

Conservationists feared the squatters would trash the Grade 1-listed mansion before the mystery owners - who bought the building for a bargain £1.75 million after it was repossessed - could kick them out through the courts.

Yesterday, a decorator working in the house said: "They vacated of their own accord and all they left was a few beer cans. They didn't damage anything."

Police said they had not had any reports of trouble during the squatters' stay.