police broke door down and won't pay for it

nadnad

Background to the story is: My mum owns a flat that she rents out. Back in February her tenant gave her notice and moved out. 2 weeks later she went to the flat to tidy up and the door had been put in with a note from the police to contact them.

To make a long story short it turned out that the tenants workplace had reported him missing as he hadnt turned into work on the monday and tuesday and they had reported him missing on the wednesday. on the wednesday the police had then battered the flat door in to see if he was there.

within 1 hr of putting the door in they were able to contact him by phone. and he was fine. he had in fact previously told my mum that he was going on holiday.

she put a claim form into the police and today heard back that they would not be paying as it was "to save life".

i rang the police solicitor dealing with the case and she said they rarely pay in cases such as these and it was basically the responsibility of the landlord.

my mum had to replace the door - like for like it was £590 which was a lot of money.

anyone any experience of this?

matimage

multiple threads?? please remove...

Errata

anyone any experience of this?

Yes, and what the police have said is correct. Put in an insurace claim.

peachyprice

Has she tried to claim on her insurance?

nadnad

the insurance said to go through the police. i don't understand how the police can break someones door down and not have to pay?! the guy didn't live there, there was nothing wrong with him - if they had telephoned my mum they would have found out quickly there was nothing wrong, and she could have opened the door for them if they wanted to check.

nadnad

matimage wrote: »

multiple threads?? please remove...

i have put this thread in two places - one for general knowledge and one for more local knowledge - ie Northern Ireland board. i'm sure thats allowed. if its not then i apologise.

Errata

nadnad wrote: »

the insurance said to go through the police. i don't understand how the police can break someones door down and not have to pay?! the guy didn't live there, there was nothing wrong with him - if they had telephoned my mum they would have found out quickly there was nothing wrong, and she could have opened the door for them if they wanted to check.

Clearly the police were told by someone that the man lived there and hadn't been heard from.
The police gain emergency access to premises any way they can in an emergency which this was, in the same way as the Fire Service cut someone's car open in an emeregency and aren't liable for the damage.

Caroline73_2

So the police broke in as the tenant failed to turn up to work so was reported missing. If the tenant had called his work to say he wasn't going in, it wouldn't have happened. The tenant is at fault, make him pay.

BitterAndTwisted

nadnad wrote: »

If they had telephoned my mum they would have found out quickly there was nothing wrong, and she could have opened the door for them if they wanted to check.

By what means or method do you think that the Police might have been able to find out who this person's landlord/landlady may have been? In an emergency?

I'd try to reclaim the monies in the small claims court if the ex-tenant didn't cough up.

nadnad

to answer some of the points raised:-

tenent is a foreign national who has returned to Lithuania - he left the flat 2 weeks before this happened and so got his deposit back.

the Police had the tenents phone number and were able to contact him within 30 mins of breaking the door in.

the neighbours told the police my mums details and a quick phone call could have sorted it out.

the man was supposedly missing for 2 days before the police broke the door down - 5 mins more to make a phone call would surely not have made much difference?

the maintenance man who came out to repair the door temporarily for the police spoke to my mum and told her unneccesary force was used to break the door down - they would have been able to open it without causing quite so much damage and so the door would not have needed to be replaced.

the police have told my mum that they do not pay legal fees - so even if my mum took them to small claims court and won she would have to pay the fees - and she does not have that money available to her.

nadnad

Errata wrote: »

Clearly the police were told by someone that the man lived there and hadn't been heard from.
The police gain emergency access to premises any way they can in an emergency which this was, in the same way as the Fire Service cut someone's car open in an emeregency and aren't liable for the damage.

the point is that they caused damage to my mothers property for reasons nothing to do with her - surely they cannot hold her responsible for this?