Damage caused by Police forced entry
Damage caused by Police forced entry
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Nigel_O

Original Poster:

3,854 posts

248 months

Friday 12th April 2019
quotequote all
Can anyone confirm whether damage to a door / frame caused by forced entry by the Police is subsequently paid for by the Police?

Not my house, but someone I know. The door was damaged beyond repair and needs to be replaced, complete with the frame. Guesstimated cost is c. £750

vonhosen

40,597 posts

246 months

Friday 12th April 2019
quotequote all
Nigel_O said:
Can anyone confirm whether damage to a door / frame caused by forced entry by the Police is subsequently paid for by the Police?

Not my house, but someone I know. The door was damaged beyond repair and needs to be replaced, complete with the frame. Guesstimated cost is c. £750
Depends on circumstances etc.

Sheepshanks

41,044 posts

148 months

Friday 12th April 2019
quotequote all
Depends....

Beaten to it!

DaveH23

3,355 posts

199 months

Friday 12th April 2019
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At a guess.....

You were the person they wanted and were arrested and charged. No

They wanted your neighbour. Yes.

They wanted you but you were not charged. Maybe.

Boosted LS1

21,200 posts

289 months

Friday 12th April 2019
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Next time your 'friend' should leave his pies in the shed.

MiniMan64

19,398 posts

219 months

Friday 12th April 2019
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Rental property?

anonymous-user

83 months

Friday 12th April 2019
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We have a BTL that we rented out to a met copper.

The Essex constabulary kicked the door in to arrest him.

We got nothing off them as it was a legal entry.

Cost £300 to fix.

Not happy but had to take it on the chin. Just won't be helpful in future.


Sheepshanks

41,044 posts

148 months

Friday 12th April 2019
quotequote all
keirik said:
We have a BTL that we rented out to a met copper.

The Essex constabulary kicked the door in to arrest him.

We got nothing off them as it was a legal entry.

Cost £300 to fix.

Not happy but had to take it on the chin. Just won't be helpful in future.
Couldn't you deduct it from his deposit?

Earthdweller

19,409 posts

155 months

Friday 12th April 2019
quotequote all
Nigel_O said:
Can anyone confirm whether damage to a door / frame caused by forced entry by the Police is subsequently paid for by the Police?

Not my house, but someone I know. The door was damaged beyond repair and needs to be replaced, complete with the frame. Guesstimated cost is c. £750
They should have left you ( your friend ) a premises search record and an incident log number which details powers/reasons etc

If you ring the relevant force and ask for their Solicitors/legal claims department and give them the ref numbers they should be able to give you a definitive answer

anonymous-user

83 months

Friday 12th April 2019
quotequote all
Sheepshanks said:
keirik said:
We have a BTL that we rented out to a met copper.

The Essex constabulary kicked the door in to arrest him.

We got nothing off them as it was a legal entry.

Cost £300 to fix.

Not happy but had to take it on the chin. Just won't be helpful in future.
Couldn't you deduct it from his deposit?
Apparently not as he "didn't cause the damage"

You couldn't make this st up!

Munter

31,331 posts

270 months

Friday 12th April 2019
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Plod went into the wrong house in my street. They did not pay for the damage. Something about should have answered the door sooner I think was the excuse given. I'm not sure how hard the occupant pushed Plod. But they were quite heated about having to pick up the cost.

Turns out if your street is a square and therefore adjacent houses are numbered 1,2,3,4,5 etc (rather than 2,4,6,8), this is enough to confuse your average copper.

CoolHands

23,461 posts

224 months

Friday 12th April 2019
quotequote all
We got nothing. In our case the muppets put the door in on the wrong flat. Good eh



Edited by CoolHands on Friday 12th April 13:34

Wings

5,967 posts

244 months

Friday 12th April 2019
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Several years ago police forced entry into a rental property I owned. Apparently neighbour had reported that they had not seen the tenant for several days. The police rather than contacting the LL/me, or looking up possible relatives via telephone directory, tenant having unusual surname, trashed the main entrance door.

On hearing of the above, using the directory enquiries, I was able to contact a relative of the tenant, who then informed me that their relative/tenant, was on holiday in Canada.

When the police were informed of the above, they not only admitted that they didn't think of either contacting me, or checking directory enquires. The police subsequently paid full financial compensation for the replacement and installation of a new door.

eybic

9,212 posts

203 months

Friday 12th April 2019
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I was under the impression that if they break in and there has been a crime committed then they don't pay, if however they were wrong to break the door in (no crime or mistaken identity) then they cover the cost of repair?????

Flumpo

4,024 posts

102 months

Friday 12th April 2019
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They are not particularly helpful in these situations and it undoes a lot of their actual good work. They should have insurance or funds to cover it if it’s the wrong house.

A few years back at about 12am I heard a right racket at the door. Went down and it was two very angry officers who stormed i the second I unlocked the key.

After they calmed down and realised they had the wrong house I still got a telling off for not answering the door and they were about to kick it down and why had I left them knocking for 10 mins.

I asked what I thought was quite a reasonable question, in why didn’t they ring the door bell but that seemed to wind them up again.

Anyway i suspect if they had kicked the door down they would firmly have been in the view of it being my fault. They also point blank refused to apologise even after they knew that had the wrong house.

On reflection they were probably full of adrenaline and dealing with scum bags a lot they probably have a bit of a front they have to adopt. But it wasn’t a very nice experience and did hugely put me off the police. Luckily I have met a few good ones since.



Black_S3

2,814 posts

217 months

Friday 12th April 2019
quotequote all
eybic said:
I was under the impression that if they break in and there has been a crime committed then they don't pay, if however they were wrong to break the door in (no crime or mistaken identity) then they cover the cost of repair?????
Pretty sure when they get the wrong house completly, like kicking in number 8 when they were meant to be going for 18 it’s quite costly for them. I remember a policeman telling a story a few years back when he’d just done it. The first thing his superior said was along the lines of do you know how much this is going to cost.

Nigel_O

Original Poster:

3,854 posts

248 months

Friday 12th April 2019
quotequote all
Yes - rental property.

The tenant and the boyfriend of the tenant were both arrested - not sure of the charge, but it will be something around possession of a Class B

The cost of the door might be recoverable from the tenant's deposit, but surely the Police have some liability?

Munter

31,331 posts

270 months

Friday 12th April 2019
quotequote all
Nigel_O said:
Yes - rental property.

The tenant and the boyfriend of the tenant were both arrested - not sure of the charge, but it will be something around possession of a Class B

The cost of the door might be recoverable from the tenant's deposit, but surely the Police have some liability?
I wouldn't have thought so if the warrant was for that house and it turns out to be justified. E.g. Class B stuff within.

Don't rent houses to criminals would be the slightly harsh line I'd have thought. It's just part of the cost of running that business.

eybic

9,212 posts

203 months

Friday 12th April 2019
quotequote all
Nigel_O said:
Yes - rental property.

The tenant and the boyfriend of the tenant were both arrested - not sure of the charge, but it will be something around possession of a Class B

The cost of the door might be recoverable from the tenant's deposit, but surely the Police have some liability?
No, why should they have liability? They gained entry to arrest a criminal which it seems they have done, not their fault the door wasn't answered.

Black_S3

2,814 posts

217 months

Friday 12th April 2019
quotequote all
Nigel_O said:
Yes - rental property.

The tenant and the boyfriend of the tenant were both arrested - not sure of the charge, but it will be something around possession of a Class B

The cost of the door might be recoverable from the tenant's deposit, but surely the Police have some liability?
Without a doubt recoverable from the deposit.

I’m pretty sure, at least here in Scotland, that when you register as a landlord it mentions something about not knowingly allowing the property to be used for criminal activity... As doors rarely get kicked in for possession maybe you need to be evicting and tenancies I’ve seen have terms that allow it.