Defrocked priest squatting in vicarage

I'm not a lawyer but ... (words to strike fear into anyone connected with law, no doubt) ... it seemed to me that this is the kind of case that perhaps the new common tenure arrangements might just help with. The full article is here: Defrocked priest squatting in vicarage given reprieve | UK news | guardian.co.uk. The short story is that a defrocked priest is squatting in his former vicarage and the defence at the moment is this: "'In law, the vicarage belongs to the incumbent, the vicar. In this case, there isn't a vicar to own it and so the judge wants to ensure that, before he gives possession of the property to the bishops, the bishops do actually have the right for that. We have been given some time to do more legal research and we will do that, and at the next hearing we'll hopefully get the possession.'"
I suspect the resolution will wind up looking at the roles of patron and bishop in appointing a new vicar. I could see there being argument that the patron of the parish, in whose gift the living lies, would be regarded as the caretaker owner in an interregnum. However, since a vicar cannot exercise a public ministry and be instituted, inducted and so forth into the living without the bishop's licence then the bishop could claim some part in the matter. In addition, since the practice is that the diocesan parsonages board maintains and acquires and disposes of vicarages, it might well be ruled that they are the de facto caretakers on behalf of the patron and bishop. We shall see.