police broke door down and won't pay for it

Britwife

In the original post, you said he was a tenant and had gone on holiday. Seems odd to not inform your company that you're not coming into work today. Then a few posts later, he has left the country to go back home and was given his deposit back. Again, seems odd that he would up and leave the country for good and not inform his boss.

None of it truly makes any sense. It sounds to me as though you have been given lots of second hand information and none of it adds up. Shouldn't there be a police report of exactly what happened? That's where I would start.

BitterAndTwisted

maggied wrote: »

BAT- just from another point of view - I let a house out. I don't make any money on it but it was the only was I could move area when I needed to.

That's very unfortunate and I appreciate that there are rather a lot of people who appear to have been forced into becoming accidental landlords but the principle remains the same: expenses of some type are inevitable eventually. Some cushion of savings needs to be found. What on earth would happen for instance if the central-heating boiler broke down and needed to be replaced in the middle of winter? It's an offence not to supply tenants with adequate heating and hot water and a landlord's circumstance are not a mitigating factor. This is why being a landlord is definitely not a sensible route for the amateur if it can be avoided.

It's going to be a bloodbath for some when interest rates rise, which they shall eventually.

maggied_2

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

That's very unfortunate and I appreciate that there are rather a lot of people who appear to have been forced into becoming accidental landlords but the principle remains the same: expenses of some type are inevitable eventually. Some cushion of savings needs to be found. What on earth would happen for instance if the central-heating boiler broke down and needed to be replaced in the middle of winter? It's an offence not to supply tenants with adequate heating and hot water and a landlord's circumstance are not a mitigating factor. This is why being a landlord is definitely not a sensible route for the amateur if it can be avoided.

It's going to be a bloodbath for some when interest rates rise, which they shall eventually.

Agreed on all counts!

nadnad

Britwife wrote: »

In the original post, you said he was a tenant and had gone on holiday. Seems odd to not inform your company that you're not coming into work today. Then a few posts later, he has left the country to go back home and was given his deposit back. Again, seems odd that he would up and leave the country for good and not inform his boss.

None of it truly makes any sense. It sounds to me as though you have been given lots of second hand information and none of it adds up. Shouldn't there be a police report of exactly what happened? That's where I would start.

i shall clarify - the tenent was Lithuanian - and at this point in time he had been left alone as his friend had went back to Lithuania. He told my mother that he was going on holiday back to Lithuania. However it turned out that he stayed there - we assume because he had no one here.

I do not have "lots of second hand information" that is exactly what happened.

With regards saying its a business and all the rest - maybe so - not intentionally - we used to live in it - my mum then bought it, then got married and moved in with her husband but kept the flat on. Times are hard at the minute and this is £600 not expected - obviously she will find the money - but thats not the point.

Take out of the equasion the fact that it is a rental property - what if in this time the flat had been sold on and others moved in - would everyone still be saying its their responsibility?

nadnad

Britwife wrote: »

In the original post, you said he was a tenant and had gone on holiday. Seems odd to not inform your company that you're not coming into work today.

its not really that odd - there are lots of Lithuanian people in that area some with extremely poor english and no ties to anything - many just up and leave jobs/homes without informing anyone.

nadnad

ifstar wrote: »

Still don't believe for a second that the police didn't try and contact the guy or your mum prior to putting the door in. Trust me when I say I'm talking from experience, doors will not be put in unless deemed necessary. Perhaps they tried to contact the guy and your mum and didn't get any response.

the police are well known for breaking doors down in that area - the place where my mum got her new door was very amused as this was the 3rd one in the space of 2 weeks they had replaced for that reason. bearing in mind this is a small town of 20,000 thats rather a lot.

the maintenance man who temporarily boarded the doorway up said that they used far too much force and the door could have been easily opened without quite so much damage caused. therefore the door would not have needed replaced. his exact words were "the police seem to think its a bit of craic".

bristol_pilot

The LL will have to pay - however, it is probably tax-deductable as a business expense.

nadnad

My mother has spoken to our MP today and she is going to investigate further - she said the police are not a law unto themselves and must be made accountable for their actions. So we'll see what happens.

ifstar

nadnad wrote: »

the police are well known for breaking doors down in that area - the place where my mum got her new door was very amused as this was the 3rd one in the space of 2 weeks they had replaced for that reason. bearing in mind this is a small town of 20,000 thats rather a lot.

the maintenance man who temporarily boarded the doorway up said that they used far too much force and the door could have been easily opened without quite so much damage caused. therefore the door would not have needed replaced. his exact words were "the police seem to think its a bit of craic".

Well certainly in my area (Lothian and Borders) its not common practice but fair enough another force might be very different.

The regular beat cops also don't have the special equipment that specialist ones do for breaking down doors and if the specialists aren't available or nearby then it will just be the ram getting used. I've been at places where the lock is carefully broken out using the specialist gear and it's doesn't leave any damage and just gets a new lock fitted but thats probably only going to happen with something planned in advance.

meritaten

around here the doors are broken in using the battering ram - usually dawn raids on drug dealers. as for people worried about someone not turning up for work - scuse me while i laff myself silly! the cops dont do anything!
the landlady didnt do anything wrong - if the police had contacted her they would have known that no-one was in the property. so why should she have to take the monetary hit? no - the police didnt have a reason to think someone was in danger. no screams or loud noises from the property reported within the last few hours. so why break the door down?
I think the police should pay up!