Someone just tried to open my door

Barney_Rubble_0403

I've done it. Instead of calling in to my aunt and uncle's, managed to make an unannounced visit on neighbours four doors up. I just opened the door and walked straight in. Slightly embarrassing to say the least.

The op's visitor may have been visiting the floor above (if one exists) and got the wrong floor hence the lack of knocking. A bit daft trying anything else as they would have been on camera.

Just keep your door locked and don't worry.

Norman_Castle

Johndole25 wrote: »

It is not illegal fro someone to try and walk into your home uninvited? Pretty sure it is

Depends on the intent, doing it by mistake isn't illegal.
I've had friends who rarely visit walk into a neighbours flat. I often go back into another flat if I'm visiting them and have just nipped out for something. It is easy to get the wrong door if you don't live there. When viewing my flat my landlord spent a lot of time trying to open a flat door before realising it was the wrong one.
Assume it was innocent unless you can find a reason otherwise.

rach_k

It would unnerve me but I think you're over-reacting. If you know you have some issues, is it possible that they're making you worry more than necessary? If it was somebody up to no good and you know they walked into another flat, you would have heard from the neighbours by now. That you haven't suggests it was just the wrong door and they went to the right flat with an embarrassing story to tell.


I've not walked into the wrong house but I have taken wrong turns inside my own house! We recently had our attic converted. A couple of times, I've come down the stairs from the attic and walked to the kitchen, only to find myself in a first floor bedroom. My feet know that to go to the kitchen, I walk down the stairs, turn left and keep going. They haven't quite adjusted to the extra flight of stairs yet! And that's my own home... so I think it reasonable that somebody could get the wrong door in flats.

The majority of people on here have said not to worry so much, so I think it would be a good idea to focus on that - on how you are reacting to this, rather than concentrating so much on the event itself.

Shaun_of_the_Dead

Norman_Castle wrote: »

Depends on the intent, doing it by mistake isn't illegal.
I've had friends who rarely visit walk into a neighbours flat. I often go back into another flat if I'm visiting them and have just nipped out for something. It is easy to get the wrong door if you don't live there. When viewing my flat my landlord spent a lot of time trying to open a flat door before realising it was the wrong one.
Assume it was innocent unless you can find a reason otherwise.

There's no evidence of any intent in this case and certainly no evidence of an attempt to break in.

NewShadow

Johndole25 wrote: »

It is not illegal fro someone to try and walk into your home uninvited? Pretty sure it is

Not that I think it really matters, but someone might be interested...

'Trespass' - other than specifically 'Trespass with intent to reside' aka squatting - is a civil, not criminal, offence.

Trespass would only occur if they entered the property knowing it was the wrong property and refused to leave when asked/it became apparent they'd made a mistake - the term is 'unjustifiable intrusion'.

If you feel intimidated, or threatened, or if you think they're going to steal from you - you can phone the police; but the police are not going to get involved if it's a case of someone walking in through an unlocked door if there's no evidence to suggest it's anything other than a mistake and there is no evidence of criminal intent...

You have a lock - you can ask your landlord to fit a chain if you think it would help - you and your property were not harmed - nothing bad actually happened.

Johndole25

NewShadow wrote: »

Not that I think it really matters, but someone might be interested...

'Trespass' - other than specifically 'Trespass with intent to reside' aka squatting - is a civil, not criminal, offence.

Trespass would only occur if they entered the property knowing it was the wrong property and refused to leave when asked/it became apparent they'd made a mistake - the term is 'unjustifiable intrusion'.

If you feel intimidated, or threatened, or if you think they're going to steal from you - you can phone the police; but the police are not going to get involved if it's a case of someone walking in through an unlocked door if there's no evidence to suggest it's anything other than a mistake and there is no evidence of criminal intent...

You have a lock - you can ask your landlord to fit a chain if you think it would help - you and your property were not harmed - nothing bad actually happened.

Thanks fore the help. No harm was done is all relative. (I know you mean legally since that was my question) This will hinder my ability to be mentally well inside my house. I have highly developed mental illness. Knowing that someone might want to steal from me at some point or try to is enough to trigger an episode of very intense dissociation.

May I ask why a chain may help, is that for if they get thought the first lock?

Shaun_of_the_Dead

NewShadow wrote: »

Not that I think it really matters, but someone might be interested...

'Trespass' - other than specifically 'Trespass with intent to reside' aka squatting - is a civil, not criminal, offence.

Trespass would only occur if they entered the property knowing it was the wrong property and refused to leave when asked/it became apparent they'd made a mistake - the term is 'unjustifiable intrusion'.

If you feel intimidated, or threatened, or if you think they're going to steal from you - you can phone the police; but the police are not going to get involved if it's a case of someone walking in through an unlocked door if there's no evidence to suggest it's anything other than a mistake and there is no evidence of criminal intent...

You have a lock - you can ask your landlord to fit a chain if you think it would help - you and your property were not harmed - nothing bad actually happened.

The thing is in this case the door was locked and no one entered, even less reason to involve the police.

NewShadow

Johndole25 wrote: »

May I ask why a chain may help, is that for if they get thought the first lock?

I don't know if a chain will help you feel more secure - I was simply suggesting the type of reasonable measure you might consider if it would help you.

Your anxiety seems to relate to the belief that this person could have made entry if you hadn't heard them/warned them away - apologies if I'm mistaken.

If you can rationalise/accept that the door was locked and the person was never going to be able to enter, then great - but if this is going to play on your mind, then a small physical act such as fitting a chain would be, IMO, better than a drastic act such as moving, for example, given there's no reason to believe someone wouldn't make the same mistake at your new property...

JIL

I once got into someone else's car. Genuine mistake. I was taking the trolley back after doing the food shopping. I thought my husband had driven the car round to pick me up so I opened the passenger door of the vehicle I thought had stopped to pick me up and sat in the seat. It wasn't my husband. Even worse I had driven myself to the supermarket, he was at home watching tv.

Mistakes happen.

naf123

Flats with lots of similar doors can be confusing .

Maybe hang up a sign or some brightly coloured paper on your door - that way it makes it more unlikely for someone else to mistaken it in the future - but no guarantees eg if it's dark they may not always see the sign .