I think someone has been in my house

[ALittleBitWorrriedNow]

I came down this morning and a side table had been moved about a metre and a half across the room. The phone socket, tv aerial etc is behind the table.

It’s fairly heavy and was wedged into a corner so the dog couldn’t have moved it by mistake.

I initially thought it may have been one of the kids fiddling with the WiFi box but they say they haven’t moved it.

Trying not to freak out here but thinking it could be some kind of surveillance operation due to the phone socket behind it.

There have been people outside over the last few days in unmarked vans installing “community fibre”.

Am I being totally unreasonable and paranoid?

When your ex moved out, did you get the locks changed? I'd suggest you do that anyway really. As well has having the locks changed, front and back, get a chain put on. And you could always call the police on the non-emergency number and report the unusual van.

Who has keys to your property? Does your ex have a spare or your ex-mother in law?

If rented could it be the last tenants, if bought could it be the last owner?

Could one of the kids have moved the stuff or key someone in who did?

Make sure you lock your doors. I’d get a camera too. I don’t think the van is connected.

@ApolloandDaphne

I suspect something has fallen behind the table, one of the kids pulled it out to retrieve it, and completely forgot about it.

this!

Our dog is forever rolling his ball under the sofa/behind the table and then barks until it gets retrieved for him. It means furniture is quite often moved to get at the ball, and not always put back.

OP, you sound very anxious. Have you thought about talking to your GP about it?

A call to the local cop shop wouldn't go amiss

What because a tables not where its meant to be?? Really? No wonder folk struggle to get through to 101 if folk think something like this is worth reporting 🙄

Blatant place marking

My sister heard her table being dragged across the floor downstairs years ago. She assumed her dd was doing something odd and went to tell her to pack it in. When she got onto the landing, her dd was also looking to see what the noise was. They both watched the table move into the middle of the floor on its own.

I say it was ghosts.

OP I hope you are ok, it does sound like you are feeling unsettled and have a lot to deal with at the moment.

@ThesecondLEM

Blatant place marking

Good advice to put chain across door

I think we can be certain it wasn't a burglar or surveillance. Can't rule out your ex, however the children are a likely bet. You do sound anxious and paranoid, would you consider speaking to your GP for support?

Install a Ring doorbell

Bless you OP.

I remember feeling similar to you do quite some years ago, pre DC, after ending a bad relationship. My then boyfriend had MH problems like you say your ex has, and debt and the rest of it.

I came home one day to find my kitchen drawers open and spent the rest of the week on edge, terrified he'd broken in or got somebody else to. In reality it would have been the dog somehow.

I also had an innocent knock on the door one day, a bloke looking for somebody who lived there before I did, my automatic response was to pull my phone out and tell him I'm recording him so he has to leave.

I must have come across like a total nutcase but when you don't feel secure in your home everything feels sinister.

Try not to worry, my money is that it's the kids.

It's possible you had an intruder. Non-destructive entry is a thing after all. But it's probable it was the dog or the kids.

We got a Ring alarm system with a Ring doorbell and an outside camera when someone was likely messing with one of our cars in the driveway. I can now see when anyone approaches the house. The peace of mind is well worth it.

Hope you are ok. It was most likely to be something innocuous like the children but I second the recommendation to get your locks changed anyway, for peace of mind.

Hey OP can understand you must be feeling worried right now. My mum went through the exact same thing when she became unwell, she had a mental health breakdown and I suspect that you may be suffering from the same thing.

Please talk to your GP about these things, they will listen to you and give you support and advice.

Wish you all the best, your be ok.

All the other people commenting on this thread offering helpful advice about what it could be need to stop, OP needs to check in with her GP first and foremost and go from there.

Hi ALittleBitWorrriedNow,

We're just bobbing on here to say that we're so sorry to hear you're going through this right now.

If you fear you are in danger at any stage please do contact 999 and request the Police.

We hope you don't mind, but when these threads are flagged to us we like to link to our web-guides, which we hope may be helpful. If you'd like to, please do feel free to take a look at our [[https://www.mumsnet.com/webguide/domestic-violence Domestic
Violence]] page.

Our users are a supportive and sympathetic bunch and we know you'll find their words a comfort but we always encourage any of our users to seek real life help from professionals too.
We hope things look a lot brighter for you soon.

Very best wishes from all at MNHQ

Don't start with ghosts! Too late to be scared! 👻😱

I'd be taking the advice of @FlissMumsnet and contacting the police to say I was scared by the van outside.

Can you put the vehicle ref into anything see what comes up?

Can you report to your local police station?

Please get a carbon monoxide alarm if you don’t already have one! Carbon monoxide gas has no smell or taste but could cause memory loss, and breathing in enough of it is deadly!

@ALittleBitWorrriedNow

There’s no one in the van, we’ll not in the front anyway.

It wouldn’t be exDP.

Front door was locked and still locked this morning. I didn’t check the back door as I’d already let the dog out before I noticed the table.

Have been under a lot of stress with exDP etc so I could be being very paranoid.

The van is a bit odd though. It looks like a minibus with tinted windows. Never seen it before and usually only see the same cars here, especially at night.

Stress can really affect the way in which we see the world and it can make us paranoid.

You sound exactly how my mum was. Her DP asked her for a divorce, lost her house, and she had to claim universal credits. All of this stress and change caused her to have a mental breakdown and she begun experiencing paranoia such as thinking people were keeping under surveillance stalking her, moving things in her house etr. She needed help from her GP to get her back on track and she’s feeling much better now and no longer has these worrying thoughts.

Report to police. I work in control room and we would take a report and could potentially offer some advise on how to keep your home safe. I'm not sure about the surveillance aspect but it's not unusual for burglars to enter homes when people are sleeping and take things from dwellings.

Wouldn’t your dog have noticed if someone broke in over night? They are usually quite alert to any strange noises or smells.