Unoccupied villas in a Zhejiang Province community have become the homes of thieves, tramps and garbage collectors as no one is caring for the properties, including their owners.

Each villa in the residential area in Huangyan City cost about 2 million yuan (US$290,000). However, one-third of them have become shelters for the homeless, the Qianjiang Evening News reported.

A suspected thief shows his shelter in the unoccupied villa.

The situation became public when Huangyan police caught three suspected thieves on early Monday. The three, who were identified as Tang, Liu and Li, confessed they had stolen motorcycles and bicycles on eight occasions from mid-November.

But to the officers' astonishment, the suspects said they lived in a villa. They broke a window to enter the empty, undecorated home several months ago and began to settle in. Tang told police their lives in the villa were comfortable and safe, and no one bothered them.

Most of the 20 villas in the residential area had been sold for investment, and their owners seldom visited.

With no security guards or property management agency, the place became a haven for the homeless.

Thieves were reported to occupy villas with windows and doors, while tramps and garbage collectors were left with the windowless houses.

Most of the occupants would leave in the morning and return at night, police said.

One owner told police he never worried about the situation because there was no water or power supply. The homeless could not steal the house, he said.

Each villa could hold dozens of migrant workers, according to the newspaper.

(Shanghai Daily December 25, 2008)