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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Loft hatch wifi burglar/poo leaver? Help me through the night please.

358 replies

Thattwatoverthere · 05/04/2018 22:43

There was a thread similar to this a while back that I can't find now but I promise I'm not a copy cat troll!

Last night i noticed that the loft hatch was open in the babies room. I definitely didn't do it, OH says he didn't do it. The cupboard under the TV where the electric and wifi box are was open yesterday, again, neither of us had opened it.
I called the police to report this last night and explained that I'm often alone with an 8 week old baby and that the house is really not secure (rental). Their next steps were to raise with their team manager and to contact me within 24 hours if they felt they needed to take it further, put it on record if not. Presumably this would be useful when I've been murdered in my sleep but whatever.
I've called the lettings agent who would get someone round to look at the locks that aren't locking.
I've heard nothing back from either. My life has no value clearly.

I've been blamed twice in the last fortnight for leaving a poo in the toilet by OH when I definitely, definitely haven't. Clothes have gone missing presumed lost somewhere and the wifi speed has dropped significantly over the last few weeks.

I'm concerned.

I have a CCTV style baby monitor that wasn't being used that I've set up in the living room to monitor anyone getting in which I thought was a pretty genius idea but forgot that you can talk the other way too. Tonight I'm pretty sure someone was talking through it. OH is working away but swears that it wasn't him. I need to be brave enough to get close enough to unplug it now.

There is access through the lofts from the other houses and only one key was given from the lettings agent so presumably another key is somewhere else out there. I can always hear footsteps from the houses either side of me which used to be reassuring when I was by myself. NOT ANY MORE!

Tomorrow I'm permanently closing both loft hatches, changing all locks and learning self defence. In the meantime help me get through the night. What can I do to make it as safe as I can? or channel Kevin from Home Alone And can I do anything on the wifi to see if someone else has signed up to mine?

I was a lot braver in the daylight...

I've got my baby asleep on me and I don't think she'll be much use if I'm confronted.

OP posts:
PancakeBum · 06/04/2018 12:19

Just looked up that Dear David wish I hadn't put the shivers into me don't think it's real?

Of course it isn't.

ShopoholicIn · 06/04/2018 12:20

Just read the whole Dear David saga... spooky but clearly a made up story.. how can this guy live in the haunted flat for almost 8-10 months with little or no Sleep n still function that too when he has not had a new born baby... this would make a new mom zombie leave apart a guy

DGRossetti · 06/04/2018 12:40

.

NotSuchASmugMarriedNow1 · 06/04/2018 12:42

Op did you manage to get in and see who was logged on to your WiFi? I'd be checking that regularly.

Watch your OH very carefully for a couple of months

NWQM · 06/04/2018 13:10

Thank-you Smile

EasterBunBun · 06/04/2018 13:22

We once had a long term rental of a very old village house which was at right angles to the terraced row behind. Had no idea, until there was a rat problem, that our loft joined onto the row and that it was open all the way through the village and to the river Shock If there had been a fire anywhere along the row it would have been a disaster.

IsItThatTimeAlready131 · 06/04/2018 13:42

I don't want to worry you unnecessarily, OP, but if there is someone accessing your house from the loft could there be a chance they have a copy of your keys? It would be easy to come down at night\during the day when no one is around, find keys, go out and get more cut, returning originals before you notice. (Even during the night you can get keys cut in some places, our local 24hr Asda do them.)

If this is even just a possibility then, for peace of mind, I would recommend changing all locks as soon as the rest of the house is secured, also check you can account for all window lock keys and car keys, spares included. (Windows can be unlocked from the inside, pushed to but not completely closed, and reentered later)

Your 'local' police station might have someone (or know someone in a particular department) who can come out and do a check on your home security, particularly if there are signs someone might have been in your home. I would suggest they go up and have a look through the loft space, check with neighbours (they might have had keys copied), and make sure everyone's houses are secure.

You never know, it could be someone casing all the houses, looking to burgle them all in one night and you might prevent it. (Neighbours might have noticed similar things in their houses, but unsure if they'd done it and not realised). Or it could just be you\your OH sleepwalking\doing things while half asleep and not realising\remembering. Or it could be your LL sneaking in and nosing around (do you trust them?)

There could be may different reasons for what you have experienced, some innocent, some not so innocent, but I suggest changing locks and getting your house checked,even if it turns out not to be needed, just for your own peace of mind.

PictPerfect · 06/04/2018 14:27

Lofts a free for all? Wow ~ total lack of security and a fire hazard. Surely this is illegal?

ProzacAndWine · 06/04/2018 14:29

No, I don't think Dear David is real, but admit I've kept checking quite regularly that our loft is indeed still padlocked from the inside... Blush

Buxtonstill · 06/04/2018 14:56

Is it a modern house?

DianaPrincessOfThemyscira · 06/04/2018 15:14

Oh god that Dear David thing was awful! Grin

OP I personally would chalk it all up to - coincidence, plumbing and electrical issues, but I’d still bolt the hatch.

TheDishRanAwayWithTheSpoon · 06/04/2018 15:17

When I lived in student halls all the upper floor flats were connected by a loft which opened onto the kitchen in each flat, the other flats didn't know they were connected so my flatmates used to crawl through the lofts and play pranks on the other flats by moving things or putting peas in a saucepan type thing. The boys could easily haul themselves back into the loft from a chair. You don't have any students in your row? Leaving a poo in the toilet does sound like the sort of thing someone would do to creep you out as a sort of prank. We would never have done it on a random person but some students definitely would.

It probably is nothing, our current loft hatch opens up when it's very windy and it's a plank one not a latch one, it's something to do with the pressure definitely no attached lofts. Again when its been really windy our wifi cable attaches outside our house and it has half broken once of twice so that ot wifi ends up being really slow and eventually cuts off, nothing sinister just a dodgy cable.
However I wouldnt risk it and it's a good idea to get it all checked and secure. I would also change your locks just to be on the safe side.

mistermagpie · 06/04/2018 15:40

A friend of mine had a 'loft dweller', it was horrible, she had a young child too. Basically she came home one day and had been burgled, the burglar had gained access by smashing through the ceiling! There wasn't even access to the loft space from her flat but they had accessed it via it being an open space from other flats.

When the police investigated it turned out that someone had pretty much been living in the loft and was obviously monitoring my friend coming and going, so knew when to burgle her. Needless to say, she moved out shortly after!

Littlechocola · 06/04/2018 17:43

mistermagpie, that’s awful!

5plusMeAndHim · 06/04/2018 17:50

it a modern house?It has open lofts - what do you think?

Queenio24 · 06/04/2018 19:52

I really wish I hadn't read the dear david tweets 😩

2rebecca · 06/04/2018 20:37

I found the Dear David stuff more silly, but am a firm non woo and ghost believer. I got bored with the nonsense and fast forwarded to the end where it seemed as though he had got bored with the nonsense and just stopped writing too.

RunMummyRun68 · 06/04/2018 22:16

He's saying there's nothing new to report and he's not going to make something up to please his readers Hmm

stayanotherday · 06/04/2018 22:33

Thanks RunMummyRun68, the David thing sounds really weird!

Glad you're okay OP.

JustPutSomeGlitterOnIt · 06/04/2018 22:36

I found the Dear David thing quite creepy toward the end, but the last photo was HILARIOUS!
The kid body slams him! That's what you do to your 10 year old brother 😂 the little git!

ColourfulOrangex · 06/04/2018 22:49

Hope you manage to sleep well tonight OP

MyFriendGiraffrey · 06/04/2018 23:16

You can check for devices connected to your router and remove any that you don't recognise. Really straightforward to do and then change your password for peace of mind.

In Windows, hold left windows key and press R.

In the box, type "CMD" without the quotes and press return

in the black window, type "ipconfig" and press return.

A load of spew appears, look for the line that says something like:

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

Your router is your gateway to the Internet, its IP address is those four numbers separated by dots.

Type this IP address into your browser (in this case 192.168.1.1)

Look on the back of your router for the username and password.

Somewhere in the menus there will be a list of devices that are connected to your WiFi. Delete all the ones you don't recognise and change the password.

Blackbirdblue30 · 06/04/2018 23:21

Read an article some years ago about a woman who had bought her first house. Living alone etc. She had a loft dweller who drilled peepholes in the ceiling to spy on her in the shower and in her bedroom.

I'd get the whole thing checked and then sealed tbh.

MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig · 07/04/2018 00:13

So glad our house stands on it’s own. Grin

thegreatbeyond · 07/04/2018 00:23

I read the Dear David story - thought it was a little too convenient that the guy is a writer, and really - if you could ask 'it' questions, you wouldn't exactly start asking how they died, to be honest would you actually think 'Yeah, I should definitely start quizzing this freaky entity'?

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