Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to be absolutely fuming that the previous owner just walked into my house?!

51 replies

splodgybloom · 19/12/2013 13:00

That's it really. I'm shaking with anger/shock right now. We moved in last week after spending a little while decorating. She has previously opened the front door and shouted hello up the stairs. I was a little surprised, but not too concerned since we weren't living there and were using loud tools upstairs so couldn't hear her knocking. She only stuck her head around the door that time and had come to collect her post. I'm guessing that she knocked the door again today but I didn't hear it. I was sitting in the living room when the door kind of moved in the frame. I didn't know why it happened, so got up to investigate and saw her walking off up the drive. I was so shocked that I didn't run out and ask what the hell she thought she was doing. I'm guessing that she actually opened the front door and came into the hall rather than just opening the porch door, since the living room door wouldn't have moved if only the porch had been opened. I have no idea why she thinks this is ok and don't really know what to do about it. I have no way of contacting her but know that she lives nearby. I'm worried that this may have happened before but I've only just noticed it. What on earth do I do in this sitaution? Is it enough to just start keeping the door locked (porch- we had a new lock fitted onto that dor and i don't trust that she no longer has a front door key after this) or would you do more? I'm so shocked and angry right now!

OP posts:
AngelaDaviesHair · 19/12/2013 13:21

Wow. That's seriously ill-mannered!.

I suggest: doors kept locked, note on the porch saying 'All post for previous owners has been returned to sender'.

Caitlin17 · 19/12/2013 13:22

Change locks and ask your solicitor to write to her solicitor pointing out all keys should have been handed over at settlement, could she please comply. Your solicitor should not charge for this, it's just final tidying up of what you paid for. Will take 2 minutes to send an e-mail.

I don't know about English law but that's a standard clause in Scottish contracts.

Should she turn up again politely ask for the keys as they are not hers. You bought them as part of the house sale.

thebody · 19/12/2013 13:23

You should have your door locked at all times anyway really but yes change the locks.

sewingandcakes · 19/12/2013 13:26

Change the locks.

We had a similar problem with the previous owner of our house; following a traumatic move (after completion, she was still in the house and hadn't moved anything out) we were away for christmas, and when we got home again, we we're told that she had turned up with bags of shopping, trying to get in to the house. The police were called as she was confused.

I worried for a while that I'd wake up to find her stood at the end of my bed!

RenterNomad · 19/12/2013 13:29

What a rude woman, thinking only of her own convenience.

splodgybloom · 19/12/2013 13:31

Hi all, thanks for the responses. She let herself in through an unlocked door. I will definitely be keeping the door locked from now on. I never considered it necessary when I was in in the past but this has definitely changed my mind! She gave us quite a few keys for the front door, but none for the porch, so it couldn't be locked. She said her daughter thought she still had one (as she'd apparently lost a big bunch earlier that year) and they'd pop it over if they found it. I got the lock on the porch changed so she can't get into that door anyway. It's a difficult one because I think she's tried to sort of befriend us and thinks she's done us favours in some ways. She still lives in this street (it's very long so I don't know exactly where) and only had to leave this house due to some sad circumstances. So I do think she's sort of struggling to let go and I do feel sorry for her. I'm really angry at myself, to be honest. I wish I'd gone and confronted her straight away, but I'm such a wimp that I just stood there in shock. I'm even thinking that I'll just pretend I don't know so that I don't have to deal with the awkwardness of the situation. I see her on buses and around quite a bit and I'm just dreading having to say something to her about it. I hate that I'm always such a pushover :(

OP posts:
NotAnotherStuffedTurkey · 19/12/2013 13:31

Yes to changing the locks and keeping the doors locked even when you're at home.
I'd be tempted to stick her post to a window inside where she can see it, but not get it and then go away for the weekend.

splodgybloom · 19/12/2013 13:34

And no, she didn't take any post with her. There are only a few letters for somebody else who lived here - not her name on them, and they're mixed in with mine. I get the feeling she might've had a look on the hall windowsill to see if we'd left them for her!

OP posts:
RevoltingPeasant · 19/12/2013 13:37

OP say nothing, call a locksmith TODAY. Get a Yale lock on the porch.

It is good practice anyhow. How do you know she didn't have cleaner who had a key, that her DD's 'lost' keys are actually in the possession of DD's ex-BF who is also a local drug dealer (etc etc).

Just get the locks changed - I did it the first couple of days we were in the house - and then you don't need to say anything, just next time she tries the door she won't be able to get in. And if she rings to get her post, fine, just brightly ask if she wanted to start redirecting stuff now. Give her 2-3 weeks' grace then starting returning evrythign to sender.

Job done, no guilt.

kungfupannda · 19/12/2013 13:45

We used to rent a cottage which had once been part of a 3-property set-up: main house, housekeeper's cottage, and another cottage. We were in the middle of the three.

The previous owner sold the main house and our cottage and kept the other cottage. The gardens were all linked by gates. The old owner used to wander through our garden fairly regularly, and we later found out that we was just walking into his old house to see what the new owners were doing with it - they had builders in. The builders thought he had permission. On one occasion he walked into the kitchen when one of the new owners was there, and just sat down and started chatting to her!

They put a lock on their gate and I tied ours off with wire and put pots in front of it. He cut the wire and climbed over the pots to ask if we had any post for him. When I pointed out that I'd tied the gate shut, he just smiled and said "oh yes, I saw that." This was despite the fact that it would have been about 10 feet further to just go the front way.

He was a bloody nightmare. Completely oblivious to hints and direct comments. His son and his friends used to park across our gate, blocking us in, despite there being no parking restrictions on our road whatsoever, and their drive holding 3 cars with room for another 3 outside their gate. When I pointed this out to someone, he just beamed at me and said "oh yes, but [friend] used to own this house. I always parked here."

He seemed bemused when I pointed out that [friend] didn't own it now, that I had a right to get in and out of my front gate and that I would, if necessary, get all my friends round to move his large, shiny jag into the very muddy patch of grass across the road.

CrohnicallySick · 19/12/2013 15:54

Time for a stark warning- please keep your doors locked at all times!

I lady I know through work didn't, and went out into the back garden to hang out her washing. Wen she came back in, she disturbed a burglar who then stabbed her. She survived, but obviously was very shaken, as was her son (7 at the time).

FyreFly · 19/12/2013 17:16

I remember trying to get back into my old flat a week after I moved. Was driving home from work and brain went into autopilot. I couldn't work out why my keys wouldn't fit. It was only when the new tenant opened the door I realised that I didn't live there anymore Blush the shame! And to add insult to injury I'd moved to the other side of town so had a fraught drive in rush hour through the town centre.

However, in your situation I'd recommend changing the locks!

WhenSarahAndStuckUpTheChimney · 19/12/2013 17:17

Cronhically was she stabbed by someone who had a key then Shock

My friend recently rented a house, which was first built and lived in by some people who then sold it and moved to another house across the road. The people who bought it from those original owners had lived their for a while and then moved and rented it out.

None of the renters stayed there very long. Neither did my friend. The original owners were constantly at the door, complaining or offering 'advice' about everything.

Friend was parking her car on the wrong spot on the drive, friends husband wasn't using the garage door properly, friend's car was leaking fluid onto the drive and spoiling the block paving (it was only condensation water, not a leak or anything that would stain the drive).

Then it got weirder. Friend had put her Christmas tree up in the wrong place in the living room. They always had their tree in the window, and they usually put lights up around the door. It was a shame my friend hadn't thought about how the house would look when she put her tree up, and it looked so sad without lights around the door.

They didn't like the way they shut the front door, they thought she ought to keep the upstairs lamps on because it made the windows look cosier, they thought she ought to put some plants in pots outside by the door.

They started to ring the landlord with complaints along the same lines, saying they had damaged the gate, stained the driveway, spoilt the garden, broken the garage door etc. My friends car skidded on ice one day and she clipped the gate post. The original owners came running over the road, she thought to see if she was alright, and they shouted at her and said they'd already called the landlord to report her dangerous driving.

OP you might have unwittingly bought a house from someone like this!

Fairylea · 19/12/2013 17:28

Everyone should always keep their doors locked. Why wouldn't you? Takes two seconds. My mum is awful for being in and leaving the front door unlocked. I always lock it and she's always annoyed with me saying what am I doing... etc!

My aunt used to leave the doors unlocked. She was up in the loo one day when she heard a noise downstairs. She came out and peeked over the bannister to see a man wandering about downstairs. She screamed and locked herself in the bathroom. This was before mobile phones etc so she just waited for my uncle to come home from work before she came out - the man ran off pretty sharpish but obviously she was traumatised. He came in through the unlocked front door.

Generally burglars will find a way to get in regardless but you don't want to make it even easier for them.

penguinplease · 19/12/2013 17:30

Send all post back as 'not known at this address, return to sender'
We had exactly this with our previous owner and he kept commenting on things we were doing to the house. I told him to fuck off and either arrange redirection or it would go in the bin.

CrohnicallySick · 19/12/2013 17:32

WhenSarah- no, I said in the post to keep your doors locked as this lady didn't meaning didn't keep her doors locked.

CrohnicallySick · 19/12/2013 17:35

FyreFly- I know a similar story, my friend was sitting in her sofa at home- they lived in a block of flats with a few floors- and someone just walked in the front door while talking on his mobile phone. He stopped, looked around and fled.

My friend received a bunch of flowers and a card the next day- the man lived on the floor above and had got off on the wrong floor (due to being distracted on his phone)

Beastofburden · 19/12/2013 18:04

Just change the locks. If she mentions it, just say your insurers insisted. And get her address "for redirection"

Topseyt · 19/12/2013 18:45

It would be very easy to keep her out. Just change the locks and always ensure doors are locked behind you, whether you are in or out.

She sounds like an oddball, and as the house is now yours she no longer has any legal right to enter it without your permission.

greenbananas · 19/12/2013 18:57

Maybe she just had a mad moment, forgot she didn't live there, realised what she had done and then legged it hoping you wouldn't notice?

Unlikely, but I'm trying to look on the bright side. Still, she should not have had a key. ..

Must have been very unsettling for you. Changing the locks should sort this out though.

FortyDoorsToNowhere · 19/12/2013 19:08

I wouldn't give post to her.

God knows what kind of credit she may be applying for. I wouldn't fancy having baliffs at my door.

Wibblypiglikesbananas · 19/12/2013 19:17

So - change the locks that haven't been changed to date, lock doors at all times, report the two intrusions you know about to 101 so you have a paper trail, just in case. And the post - return to sender. She should have organised redirection the minute she knew the completion date as it takes approx. 3 weeks to set up. If she didn't, well, tough luck really.

43percentburnt · 19/12/2013 19:21

Phone your solicitor and explain the situation ask her/him to email the other sides solicitor. Also call the estate agent and ask them to call the old owner and explain this is not allowed get the agent to ring you back to confirm they have had the conversation.

RosesOnTheWane · 19/12/2013 19:22

We had to change all the locks as the previous owner / tenants (we never found out which) came in and stole stuff and also used the loo ( and left it filthy) a month after we had completed.

Blondeshavemorefun · 19/12/2013 19:32

how scary and very stalkerish

ALWAYS change door locks when move into a new place and make sure you lock your door anyway

tech she is trespassing and has no rights in your house

Swipe left for the next trending thread