Neighbour kicked my door down/broke in

From her rent? Why? Why do you think her landlord is responsible for immediately safeguarding her?

I hope IF you stay you will be subtracting all the hotel fees etc you've paid? Even eating out if you've been unable to safely be in your flat to prepare your own food, I'd deduct that also.

I'm so sorry this is happening to you and hope things are resolved so you can live w/o fear of this man.

The police didn't come out when there was a man breaking into her flat when she was present. Why should she have felt confident that they would come out after the fact?
Much better IMO to make an appointment to go to them; she knows SHE'S going to turn up.

Refusing to tell the police where she was and not giving a reasoned answer when people repeatedly questioned her. Though I did go on to RTFT and though I still don't understand her reasoning, I understand she was tired and stressed.

Have you put in an official complaint to the police about their pathetic response time ?

What a dreadful experience for you. I haven’t read the full thread but if the council is paying the rent for the man who broke in to your flat and he sounds mentally unstable I would suggest you try phoning them today. We had a tenant ( only rent out one small flat) and she was using crack cocaine and making all sorts of problems. The council housing people were very helpful. I also agree with the suggestion that the local mental health team show be involved..they also might have an all hours emergency contact number should he kick off again. I had an alcoholic colleague who when she met my husband, after drinking , suddenly attacked him. She suddenly thought he was her apparently abusive ex. She leapt at him, then fairly quickly realised what she was doing and snapped back to normal but the attack was frightening and could have injured my husband. Please keep yourself safe. Good luck.

I think it is the principle of having a mortice lock - a thumb lock is a variety of this - rather than just a yale lock.

I interpreted OP's comment as being that the police had tried to force entry to her old home, but struggled because it had a mortice lock. Therefore OP for additional security - understandably - would like a mortice lock on her current home. And for fire safety - as this is the only entry/exit point, it should be a thumb turn version.

No I do get that but the OP said she was out when the police battered down the door, so how could it have been locked from the inside?

Or are you saying you can leave the house and still turn the thumb lock from the outside?

@YaCannyKickYaGrannyInTheShin
"From my limited knowledge, thumb locks are inside locks only?"

nope - I have one on my front door. Thumb lock inside Key access outside. It does mean that you can't block entry to a key holder by leaving the key in the door inside - but was recommended by my locksmith as it means my neighbour or DDs can easily gain access with their keys if I'm not answering phone and they are concerned about me.

I'm not sure about that but I was thinking about the thumb lock making the door more secure.

Surely that would only be the case if it was locked from the inside when they were battering down the door?

From my limited knowledge, thumb locks are inside locks only?

I just had a quick Google. Seems the crime ref number is provided after acknowledgement that an alleged crime has taken place, and is issued after the alleged victim makes a statement. The examples I found were people having things stolen and needing the ref for insurance. So I would think OP would be given this after her meeting today, or if she had allowed them to see her last night at the hotel. But, not before a formal statement has been taken.

Seems you can be issued a Computer Aided Despatch number during a 999 call. I don’t ever remember being given one of those myself in previous emergency situations but I’m in a different area.

Maybe the OP meant the CAD, not crime reference.

Sorry, replying to @Domainedor here.

Really sorry to hear this but I'm afraid I'm not at all surprised. A shop local to me was robbed at knife point - lady cashier absolutely terrified. Police failed to attend or follow up. I witnessed a serious accident with a young man with serious facio-cranial injuries and signs of internal bleeding/shock. Ambulance said earliest they could get to us was 90 minutes.

Our public services are utterly broken.

A few years ago I went out, just for two hours or so on a bank holiday. When I got back, the door to the building was wide open and I looked up the stairs and could see men's boots. It was the police.
They had broken into my flat with one of those battering rams (it also had a thumb lock). They remarked that it was really secure and took them ages.
The shop below me had called them because of water dripping through the ceiling.
That seems very peculiar, it sounds as if the people in the shop have a grudge against you and are in cahoots with the police.
Even with that theory none of what you've said really adds up I can't see how that could happen . . .in the space of two hours because of water dripping🤷🏻‍♀️

Quite right.

Although still, surely the council wouldn't do anything without even a determination that a crime has occurred?

No, she must have been given the crime reference number when she phoned 999. As when she called 101 back with her update, she was able to quote it. She mentions it in her first post.

I understand why you thought she didn’t have a reference yet. I hadn’t realised they issue them during a 999 call either, seems a lot to expect someone to make notes in an emergency situation really.

Actually if he's been placed there by the council under a licence agreement then the council can move him. The landlord needs to liaise with the council to have him moved as he's breached his licence agreement.

Had a very similar issue with a neighbour. I rented, he owned. He tried coming through my door one day, I was home with my young daughter at the time. The police did eventually turn up. They weren't going to arrest him, in fact they were leaving, when he verbally abused them. That bought them back quickly enough! He was removed, his home assessed as uninhabitable (he was using kitchen sink as a toilet 🤮) and by court order not allowed to return.
@Sparklfairy you have been shoddily treated by the police so far. The lack of concern from the landlord isn't great either. Did the locksmith feed back to whoever booked him/her that the door and therefore you, were still not safe?
I hope you have had a successful meeting with the police and you are able to move if possible, if you want to. 🌺

This is absolutely terrifying and unfortunately becoming more and more common. I worry for the future. I don't think we are far off an essentially lawless society.

The OP won't have a crime reference number yet as she's yet to speak with the police. I dont know at what point the council might withdraw accommodation but its not going to happen at this stage.

Hope this all gets sorted for you OP. I understand not wanting to tell the police where you are, sounds like a trauma response where you go into 'lockdown' for self-preservation. Ignore anyone who is snippy about this, fear can make us all act strangely, and your ordeal sounded terrifying!

This is just awful. It's awful for you feeling unsafe to go back to your own home, but it's also awful for the man who did this, as it sounds like he's severely mentally unwell and also needs help. The police are failing both of you by not dealing with it.

I don't think it's the landlord or their agent's responsibility (beyond replacing the lock, which they have promptly done). They won't be able to turf the Tenant out based on the OP's account. It's a police matter or one for other appropriate local authorities. Honestly, I don't think the OP is going to get a satisfactory outcome anytime soon and is probably best advised to start looking for a new place to live.

If your neighbour is in temporary accomodation, he may just be there on licence which will make it much easier for him to be evicted. In theory they could withdraw the accomodation from today. Personally I would call the council and update them without waiting for the landlord or the police, just give them the crime reference.

Good luck @Sparklfairy I hope you’re finding a resolution. The violent tenant needs immediate removal and your LL needs to give your door much stronger security plus reimbursement of your hotel. If you were my tenant, I’d give you at least a month of rent free.

your experience is very different from mine when my door was almost kicked in one night by a drunk drug addict who thought my house was his girlfriend’s house. The police attended as soon as they’d got the guy in custody (he had form and got a short prison sentence) and while one of them took my statement the other mended my door frame! Different county and almost rural.

I always have the mortise lock (long key) locked while I’m in the house now. Not just the Yale lock.

OP says that it is the same landlord for both flats, the only difference is that he/she lets one via the council which is where the other tenant lives, and lets privately to OP. So landlord does have at least partial responsibility in this scenario.