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Squatters occupying Britain’s most expensive council house vowed today to fight attempts to evict them after it was sold for nearly £3 million.

The group moved into the four storey building near Borough Market yesterday as it went up for auction to protest against the sale of council housing stock.

A stone’s throw from the Shard and the River Thames, the Grade II listed property fetched £2.96 million, considerably more than its reserve price of £2.25 million.

Today seven protesters, mostly in their 20s and 30, including students, a roofer and an NGO worker, occupied the premises.

One woman speaking from a top floor window today said they were "taking the occupation in shifts".

They claim Southwark is in urgent need of public housing with 25,000 people on the council waiting list.

But Southwark Council said the upkeep of the buildings was prohibitively expensive and the sale of the building would pay for 20 new council homes.

Protest spokeswoman Kate Sheldon, 27, a bike mechanic, said: "It's a protest against Southwark council selling off social housing.

"The borough has massive housing needs and it's madness to sell off the public housing.

"We can't take Southwark council's word they will be build new houses in the future.

"The occupation is going to be as long as possible. We'll wait until Southwark gets a court order and then have a discussion about how to proceed."

The squatters - including members of the Housing Action Southwark & Lambeth group - claimed that police had left the building alone because it was a political protest.

The campaigners have hung banners on the building with slogans “stop social cleansing” and “homes for all.”

Ms Sheldon said : "Part of this occupation is about challenging the law that came in last year to criminalise squatting in residential properties.

"We're trying to show that people can still make use of residential buildings for community protest actions such as ours.”

The property, featuring a distinctive 19th century 'Take Courage' advertising sign, was built by the Anchor Brewery in 1820 for its managers and directors, and was owned for a time by the brewery Courage before passing to Southwark Council.

The building previously included numbers 21 and 23 Park Street but was sold as a single property.

One buyer is thought to have bought the property which was advertised as a 5,500 sq ft, six-bedroom family home in need of extensive repair and refurbishment.

The house attracted a premium value at auction because of its proximity to the Shard and fashionable Bankside and Borough Market area where house prices have risen by almost 10% over the past year.

However, there was opposition to the squat by local people.

Neighbour Brian Simmonds, 46, a Transport for London driver, said: “That building has been derelict for a while and is being held up by scaffolding. With the amount of money they would have to spend to make it inhabitable, you could use it on more families.”

Another neighbour, who did not want to be named, said : “Someone else has just bought it so it’s their property. They’re not paying rent or council tax or any of the other things that we have to do so why should they live there for free?”

Southwark Councillor Richard Livingstone, cabinet member for finance and resources, said: “These buildings have been empty for some time and need a substantial amount of work, the new owner will be able to bring them up to a good standard.

"It's a shame that it appears that some people wish to stop the building of 20 new council homes, part of our ambitious programme to build 11,000 new homes in the borough.

"These much needed, new council homes will be built for some of the 20,000 council tenants on the waiting list the group claim to represent.

“Squatting of residential property is a criminal offence and the police have been notified.”

The move came as Liberal Democrats deputy leader Simon Hughes called on the Government and London Mayor Boris Johnson to intervene to reduce the number of houses and flats being snapped up by overseas buyers.

Recent figures show there are more than 70,000 empty homes in London.