Neighbour kicked my door down/broke in

[Sparklfairy]

AIBU to expect the police to arrest/remove him...?

I live alone in a flat in a block of 4. I have met this neighbour just once, and introduced myself. A few weeks ago he knocked on my door, not threateningly, but persistently - consistent knocking for 3-4 minutes... at 1.30am. I was awake as I WFH but nights, and just ignored it.

He went away, and there's been nothing since. Until yesterday at 6-something in the morning. Again, I was working but the flat was in total silence. No tv or any noise that would disturb him, I was literally just sitting on my bed.

Suddenly I heard a bang and froze. I was confused and didn't know what it was and was trying to work out where it was coming from. 3 or 4 further bangs and my front door burst open and he was stood there, swaying, glassy eyed.

I screamed. It's a studio, tiny flat, like one of those micro flats that you see advertised but yes, this is my life and I had no escape, no room to hide in, not even a bathroom with a lock on the door (as there is no lock, and the bathroom is opposite the front door).

I screamed at him, he said I was 'in' his head, fucking with his head (when I've done absolutely nothing), and when he tried to step towards me I screamed again and he suddenly 'clicked', became lucid and said ok and left. I was shaking.

My other neighbour (upstairs, but next door to him), texted me saying he heard screaming, and let me take refuge in his flat. Before I did, I obviously called 999. The police seemed non committal, that someone would come out at some point. 36 hours later I've had no visit.

But here is the kicker. When hiding in my neighbours flat, my friend/neighbour had the bright idea of just knocking on his door and talking to crazy tenant. He has recorded the conversation where crazy tenant admits I did nothing wrong but I just 'remind him' of someone and that's why he broke my door down

I rang 101 with the crime ref to update. The lady was so helpful and checked with her supervisor as she was astonished no one had come out to me yet. She reassured me that someone would attend and it had been miscategorised/recategorised now.

It's now nearly 9pm on Sunday and STILL nothing. I can't go home. The lock has been 'fixed' but obviously Crazy Tenant has proven that he can break it whenever he likes. I live alone. I have stressed every single detail which should have escalated this, but nothing is being done. I have chased with the letting agent but basically they're saying I have to wait until Monday for any action to be done. And even then, they were non committal as to WHAT would happen.

So I'm stuck, and cannot go home, and my rent is due today. I have no idea what to do.

This is appalling and the police should have been out to you by now. I'd keep calling them on the hour every hour until they respond.

Get onto your MP (google them and their office email will be right there) and put
URGENT in the email heading. Basically turn your post above into the email. It's their job to put pressure on the police chief to find out why nobody's responded to you. Also copy in your police and crime commissioner for the area.

Is there any way you can make the front door temporarily safe so that he can't kick it in again?

Sending hugs.

How on earth does it sound like she has paranoia? The arm chair detectives on this thread are astounding.

I don't think she sounds paranoid at all, I think she as very sensibly removed herself from a dangerous and volatile situation and alerted the appropriate people who have subsequently responded in quite a dismissive fashion.

Good luck with everything @Sparklfairy

This is absolutely excellent advice. There should be multi-agency working between the police and the mental health social work team to stage an urgent intervention.

@blessedday the op is in a meeting with police now, she made arrangements to meet at 11am today

ok - OP, you need to move. Now. You wont win.

I am absolutely on your side but i have seen up close, how there is little protection in the community for people against those with serious and enduring violent MH issues.

I have a family member - lets call him 'Bob', (vulnerable adult) who was in this situation - in a small block of flats with a schizophrenic upstairs neighbor who honed in on Bobs vulnerabilities within a month of Bob moving in there

The neighbour broke into Bobs flat three times - whilst Bob was at home. He smashed Bobs nose, and cheekbone and Bob dare not leave his home as had to share a communal doorway

This mentally unwell neighbor would scream at kids in the street asking if they had seen bodies etc

The nottingham attacker ,this neighbor was another one who you could see had the real potential to go that way

The police and housing association were useless. THe police told Bob that he might as well drop the charges as it would not go anywhere, and visited him four times over a period of 24 hours to pressure him in to doing so

The housing association said their hands were tied as this neighbor had 'capacity' to choose where he lived. Three times this neighbour was sectioned and three times he returned getting more violent each time

I was trying to assist and trying to get bob moved became a full time job as each day there were calls and emails to social services, mps, counsellors, solicitors, police, housing association, mental health professionals etc etc. There were recordings, even a video of the neighbour screaming in Bobs face that he was going to kill bob. The police refused to even visit that time...sent the mental health team round to section him again

No one could help. Everyone involved said that this neighbour had the very real threat of seriously harming bob....but all agencies hands were tied

the police were appauling - they almost seemed to want to save themselves the paperwwork of dealing with it

Eventually Bob walked away from the flat and made himself intentionally homeless and left the city that all his family lived in.

Heartbreaking

I know this is well meaning advice, but you haven't read past the opening post, have you?

You've misread it. The OP has stated that 3 of the flats, hers included are private rents. The other one is temporary - i.e. the guy that has barged into her flat.

Not defending the statement but I think OP said "I don't trust the police so I won't tell them where I'm staying" then later clarified she meant "I think the police will (accidentally or not) tell the violent man where I am staying" which makes much more sense. Obviously not her fault people interpreted what she was saying in a broader sense but you can see why MNers who don't really read the thread carefully latched on it.

Yes, apologies. In that case the council need to be moving the tenant on. It's still not her landlord's responsibility though.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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. 🌺

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.

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.

Quite right.

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

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🤷🏻‍♀️

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.

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.