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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Mad as hell

78 replies

LemonSherbet18 · 14/07/2018 21:42

This afternoon I was having a snooze when the police broke into the house. Apparently they had been knocking for some time (I didn't hear a thing). They had come around as some neighbours said they hadn't seen me in a while, to be clear we're not close and can go months without seeing one another. When I asked the police which neighbours they said they wanted to be anonymous.
Now I have a boarded up door to pay for, replacement of the glass and a passageway covered in bits of glass...goes to get dustpan and brush

OP posts:
Iamtryingtobenicehere · 15/07/2018 15:08

Someone knocked, you didn’t answer, they broke in to see if you was lying dead or in a bloody heap and youre mad as hell!

Answer your door and none of this would have happened. I very much doubt you didn’t hear the police, I’ve heard them knocking on houses 6 or 8 doors away in the past. They knock loud, they call out, louder! No way you didn’t hear them unless you are absolutely stone deaf or you was drugged up to your eyeballs.

Be grateful your neighbour cares enough to call the police.

LuMarie · 15/07/2018 15:09

I would be grateful for neighbours looking out my my welfare and taking time to be concerned!

There was no problem and the emergency services responded quickly, as they absolutely should.

The other way around would be a reason to complain.

Count your blessings here!

sunshinewithabitofdrizzle · 15/07/2018 15:10

I had a ndn that was a young man that had mh issues (not sure what) and I almost never saw him (maybe once a month, if that) and never heard him. The day my db got married I got home in the evening to find his front door boarded up. Turns out he'd hung himself and the police had to break the door down. He'd been there a while (at least a week I think). I had no idea. As I can't hear anything from next door anyway (dont hear the neighbours who moved in after either), it never occurred to me that anything might be wrong.

funinthesun18 · 15/07/2018 15:12

The police should be paying for your door!

Kursk · 15/07/2018 15:14

I can understand why OP is mad I would be. I don’t expect anyone to check on my welfare, or really want it.

Bibesia · 15/07/2018 15:15

Wouldn't the police normally check whether the neighbour's tried knocking a few times, and whether they've seen lights on at nighttime?

HolyMountain · 15/07/2018 15:16

We had a police raid on our very first house , years ago now. The previous owner was a bit dodgy. We were doing the house up so weren't living there.

The police paid for the front door , furniture and frame repairs, they did chose the cheapest firm though which we had no say over.

CaledonianQueen · 15/07/2018 15:20

In fairness the police are likely used to finding dead bodies/ very ill people in the house.

My Mum and Dad called the police after not hearing their next door neighbour for about a week. He was an awful, bordering on evil man! He was charged with assaulting my Mother (via hitting her in the face/ head with a branch) and my husband who stepped in to protect my Mother (he tried to hit him but then threatened him with secataires). So my parents had no intention of knocking on his door!!!

The police came up, knocked on his door to no response, then knocked on neighbours doors, another neighbour though she had seen him leaving the house and thought he had perhaps gone to visit his brother. Two days later, after his brother called concerned for his welfare, they broke his door down and found him dead in bed. He had been dead for a week (which tied in with when my parents last heard him) so if they have many cases like that, they will be thinking that you could possibly be very ill or dead. I would be grateful for their concern, although I would struggle replacing the door....

Jaxhog · 15/07/2018 15:28

Nope. If the police believe they acted in good faith, they won't pay. Your household insurance should do though.

diddl · 15/07/2018 15:30

"Someone knocked, you didn’t answer, "

But Op didn't hear them!

I sometimes choose to not answer my door-but I usually get up to look to see who it is.

It does make you wonder what the neighbours were asked though.

Polly2345 · 15/07/2018 15:30

Pretty sure if the police break your door down in good faith, or even if in error, for a welfare concern, they pay to replace it.

Nope. They always say they acted in good faith. I've heard of situations where they've knocked once then broken in without giving anyone the chance to get to the door and open it. But they'll still say they knocked so it's your fault for not opening the door!

Polly2345 · 15/07/2018 15:32

Your household insurance should do though.

These circumstances aren't usually covered by insurance.

Delamereroad · 15/07/2018 15:34

Neighbours door was battered down by police
Young children late at night all very traumatised
She was alone in house with three under 5s while her husband was on nights as on call doctor.
Wrong house!
Was a drugs raid on neighbours property and they got wrong house.
If I recall they got compensation for the door and the upset too,

(Not dodgy area by the way was in a now pretty posh area of Manchester then -20 years ago up and coming).

LanguidLobster · 15/07/2018 15:36

I wonder why the neighbours were bothered @LemonSherbet18 if you're not close? Seems a bit drastic, they could have knocked or put a note through your door. Can they see when you've got lights on?

It was a bit different in my case, I have a couple of screechy elderly relatives who phone me multiple times a week to update me on exciting news such as their electricity bill. So I told them not to and they didn't listen and I abandoned my phone for a few days. I shrugged and explained this to the policeman who turned up that I wanted some peace and quiet and wasn't up to anything and he said 'fair enough' and that he'd call them.

FrangipaniBlue · 15/07/2018 15:42

As another poster has said, if the police break down your door and it turns out that no crime has been committed they have to pay the cost of the repair.

My DH used to fit them in our area as they usually have a standing contract with a local firm and will arrange for it repaired for you (at least that's what my constabulary do).

I'd also contact your home insurance as they should also cover it if the police won't.

FrangipaniBlue · 15/07/2018 15:44

Mind you, that was almost 10years ago my DH did it so it's highly likely that with the cuts over recent years they don't pay anymore!

DGRossetti · 15/07/2018 15:54

As another poster has said, if the police break down your door and it turns out that no crime has been committed they have to pay the cost of the repair.

No. From:

researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN06627

This note looks at whether it is possible to get compensation for damage to a front door when the police have forced entry.

Constituents sometimes ask whether they can get compensation for damage (for example to a front door) following forced entry by the police. Police forces do sometimes make ex gratia payments or pay compensation following such damage, for example where the raid was at the wrong premises. However, statutory guidance states that compensation for such damage is “unlikely to be appropriate if the search was lawful, and the force used can be shown to be reasonable, proportionate and necessary to effect entry.” Where a police force refuses to make such a payment, then a constituent wishing to pursue the matter further would need to obtain specialist legal advice.

The information in this note applies in England and Wales.

bitheby · 15/07/2018 15:57

I did this once. I was concerned for an upstairs neighbour because there was a dog barking for two days and no sign of him. Police came and smashed the door in. He wasn't there.

I didn't know that the police didn't reinstate the door though. This was a council property so hopefully the council paid for it.

Redundancy1 · 15/07/2018 18:44

@LanguidLobster

"It was a bit different in my case, I have a couple of screechy elderly relatives who phone me multiple times a week to update me on exciting news such as their electricity bill. So I told them not to and they didn't listen and I abandoned my phone for a few days"

That would give me so much rage!

Redundancy1 · 15/07/2018 18:45

I mean them calling the police, sorry, left of last bit of quote.

BewareOfDragons · 15/07/2018 18:48

I think the neighbour who called it in should pay for it.

No wonder they want to be anonymous.

Imagine how vindictive neighbours could be watching someone go out and then making a call like that, just to watch a door/window get smashed in...

diddl · 15/07/2018 19:07

Could they look through the letterbox & see a build up of letters/paoers Op?

21jumpstreet · 15/07/2018 19:33

🙄 god forbid people should look out for one and other. It’s common knowledge that the Police have more money than they know what to do with so send them a bilm

Topseyt · 15/07/2018 19:44

I can understand why you are furious, as I would be too. From some parts of our house you can't hear the front door at all, even if awake. If you are in the back garden at the time is when that mainly happens.

It seems that some police forces pay for the basic repair and others don't. No harm in asking.

Redundancy1 · 15/07/2018 19:50

"🙄 god forbid people should look out for one and other"

Well a neighbour you never see is really not a person who'd know. Op could have gone to Australia for a few months but she wouldn't tell a neighbour she barely knows.

As for sleeping, my dad would sleep through that. I think he could sleep standing up in a busy street!