Police broke down my door- who pays for the damage?

Try your house insurance

Dear Kayleigh
This happened to me a few years ago and I made a complaint to the Police. They investigated it and stated it was justified and would take it no further.
The lead officer investigating the complaint was the same officer who gave his men permission to break down the door in the first place! I complained further and they gave me a small amount, (I can't remember how much), towards my costs.
Still being pretty agrieved, I found a website called Crimebodge and contacted the guy running it. He told me what to do and gave me a letter template to send to the Police solicitors. A few months later I got all my costs back.
Just keep plugging away.

Reply to the comment left by GlanACC at 17/07/2023 - 10:20
Wow people still use chip pans?!😮😆
I'm sure the landlord was happy in the long term that his property was evidently renovated to a better condition ( " new kitchen and redecorated throughout ")!
If your friends were able to return to the property following the renovation, then perhaps a win in the end for all parties 😉

Sec17 PACE gives the police the power to force entry to save life ( or protect property ) and as this incident started as a medical emergency they would have been acting in a proper manner. They don’t always come out however and they do sometimes get the wrong address,

Ask around, did the police ask the neighbours if they knew where the tenants where? Maybe they had no option, they can’t just walk away and say no one answered when they knocked on the door. Imagine some one inside had collapsed. If it was The Met you have no chance of recovering any money, other forces may be negotiated with.

Reply to the comment left by Ma'at Housing Solutions at 17/07/2023 - 10:27
Yup, still use chip pans - I can recall them even trying to have a barbeque inside once (didn't work)

Similar happened to us.Tenant was a criminal and door was broken down in a dawn raid. He wasn't there. The police said they might entertain a claim as he was not there but if he had been there it would be a justifiable entry so they would not pay.. The criminal s girl friend was still there and arranged via her "connections" to have the complete UPVC door and surround replaced within a couple of days. He was caught and got 4 years and we evicted using section 21. Nice new door though.

Reply to the comment left by northern landlord at 17/07/2023 - 11:08
My experience was drug dealers. They were dealing the money in mine and grown the weed in a posh house. Door smashed in, a call at 5:30am from the police suggesting I come and put the door back on. At least they paid on time each month...

ditto. Tenant called the police and police broke the window to get in. Tenant refused to pay so when they left (by eviction) deducted from their deposit.

Reply to the comment left by Crossed_Swords at 17/07/2023 - 10:21
I've had this twice - sadly - first time concerned a death by drugs (in the street) of my tenant, police returned later that day and broke down the flat door to check on his wife who wasn't answering because she wasn't there. Apparently it was a break down in communication during hand over, no one had checked that she was ok so they returned in a bit of a hurry. I do have a key holder and the police refused to wait the 30 seconds for her to get the key, threatening to arrest her if she stopped them gaining entry. I complained to the inspector and they paid for the door and lock and apologised.
Second time, different property, a family member alerted the police as they felt their daughter had overdosed (she had) so they broke down the front door and thankfully her flat was the first door which they accessed (they told me they would have forced entry into all flats until they found her) and she was taken away by ambulance. This one was more tricky as the police didn't notify me and I heard from another tenant that the door was now insecure - when I got there they had put a padlock on the flat door but left the front door open. Long story short I went to the police station, they had lost the key to the padlock so I had to get the padlock off, I found all the paperwork to get access inside the flat - then told that I had no right to the key as it was let to my tenant and I couldn't access it without her consent - total madness. They refused to pay any cost - even though, again there was a key holder in the property and access could have been gained in 30 seconds of breaking down the front door.
I paid for front door and flat door - I kept going and went to a complaint and had an apology. Tenants family offered to pay but they had enough on their hands - I save insurance for the big stuff.
These are rare incidents are no reflection on my tenants or properties!

Bottom line is they have the right to enter and they can be reasonable - or unreasonable.

It all sounds so familiar. I had 2 experiences of police smashing down doors. One where sadly a lady had died. They decided to wreck the door when they could have easily got my number (I’m registered and licensed) and I could have let them in quicker and quieter. The other flat occupants were terrified.

The second involved a house where there were reportedly 2 dogs abandoned by a tenant. A ravaging crowd got the police to smash down front door and porch door. The helpful crazed throng then smashed in the front window because they thought the police were taking too long. Dogs were freed, neighbours happy and police chuffed. Nobody asked about the landlord.