Invalid Warrant Forced Entry

molerat

TisInNeedOfHelp24 said:

i'll be contacting the police to update them re the warrant.

To what avail ?  No criminal act took place, the warrant was perfectly valid so there is nothing the police can or will do.

MattMattMattUK

TisInNeedOfHelp24 said:

MP1995 said:

The right of entry details the address so that's legal imo.

It is a shame the process could have not been stopped and the meters inspected at your convenience and that is the part which I believe you can seek some compensation from the energy supplier.

Even though it is in someone else's name? Who hasn't lived here for almost a year? They've offered me £75 which I've not accepted.

As has been said multiple times, the name is irrelevant, the address is what matters. 

TisInNeedOfHelp24 said:

i'll be contacting the police to update them re the warrant.

Why? The warrant is perfectly valid, the police have already told you they are not interested as the warrant is valid. What purpose do you think it serves to take up more police time contacting them?

MP1995

TisInNeedOfHelp24 said:

MP1995 said:

The right of entry details the address so that's legal imo.

It is a shame the process could have not been stopped and the meters inspected at your convenience and that is the part which I believe you can seek some compensation from the energy supplier.

Even though it is in someone else's name? Who hasn't lived here for almost a year? They've offered me £75 which I've not accepted.

So to add a bit of a dampener it also appears that once a warrant is issued it cannot be stayed or adjourned. 

I would accept the £75 as the electricity supplier, once a warrant is requested, could not have had it recinded.

5. Under the legislation, there is also no automatic right for an affected party to apply to the Magistrate to stay or adjourn a warrant once it has been issued by the Court. Accordingly, once a warrant has been authorised the Applicant will then have 28 days in which they can enter the property and disconnect the supply. Time starts to run from the date of the grant of the warrant and there will be no reason why a supply cannot be disconnected promptly.

Source 

https://www.no5.com/2019/10/the-problem-with-the-rights-of-entry-gas-and-electricity-boards-act-1954/

Chris_b2z

I'm not going to pretend that I understand the legal ramifications of your situation but I am shocked that something like this could happen. In my opinion, the actions taken have resulted in a serious breach of your right to privacy which is most likely due to gross incompetence on part of the energy supplier.

You could try calling LBC Legal Hour on a Saturday evening. This sounds like a perfect case for the radio show and would definitely be of public interest. The presenter may offer further suggestions on other options available to you.

Qyburn

TisInNeedOfHelp24 said:

Hadn't read this! What's the point in having a quite clear law on warrants etc if they are not followed? 

Which law are you referring to? 

MeteredOut

I'd not accept the £75 for now. I'd get a complaint raised with the Ombudsman, and they'll likely award more. 

Going down the court route is a waste of time (and probably money). The people who executed the warrant did nothing wrong. 

How did the warrant officers force entry? Did they break down the door/lock, pick the lock, get a key from somewhere?

MP1995

As much as this is a nuisance to yourself this is a set of unfortunate consequences.

The previous tenant of your property obviously did something to need a warrant but the time lapse for that process you have become the new tenant.

As has been mentioned by many complaint, ombudsman and done.

The ombudsman may not rule in your favour on this one as the law is clear, once issued the warrant cannot be stayed or adjourned so your Energy supplier could not have stopped it as you requested by law.

cannugec5

TisInNeedOfHelp24 said:

MattMattMattUK said:

TisInNeedOfHelp24 said:

MattMattMattUK said:

TisInNeedOfHelp24 said:

MP1995 said:

I feel like some youtube warrant magna carta responses is where this conversation would go if on Facebook.

In the"real" world it wasn't a warrant where they rifle through your smalls it was just a warrant to get to an internal meter. Surely if it had been tampered with you wouldn't want the risk of an electrical fire or gas leak?

Did it really affect you that much?

You should raise a complaint and get some sort of goodwill gesture through that complaint or escalating to the ombudsman service should you wish.

Still illegal. You can't go around breaking into people's homes with invalid warrants? 

I think you are making a leap in claiming that it is illegal and that the warrant was invalid, especially as you have not seen the warrant.

The warrant as issued is very unlikely to say "Only if the property is unoccupied", or similar. Most likely it grants permission to enter dwelling X between two dates, possibly with a time stipulation (eg. the access must be between 08:00-18:00). Now it may have been granted on the basis that the dwelling was unoccupied, but that does not impact the validity of the warrant. It will also usually state a purpose, eg. check supply, change meter, options relating to energy supply etc. 

I have been told on the phone that it was issued for an empty property by both the energy company and the company that forced entry. But I have yet to see the warrant. 

These kinds of warrants are for access to a particular address, eg. "221B Baker Street, London", not "The home of Mr Sherlock Holmes". The warrant would have been issued when the premises was known or expected to be empty, however it subsequently being occupied does not invalidate the warrant. 

TisInNeedOfHelp24 said:

@MattMattMattUK
They can't force entry into a property in my name with a warrant that is not in my name? That would be bonkers surely?

The warrant is not in your name. They can exercise their legal right to entry using the warrant regardless of who is in occupation. 

TisInNeedOfHelp24 said:

MP1995 said:

They wont know it's changed hands so the warrant will supposedly be for the address as well as the person but probably either is fine for entry. Address is correct....in they go.

This has happened with some of our tenants over the years and we have had to deal with irate tenants and when checked the energy supplier does have the right to enter the property to read and inspect their property (the meters)

It really us jot worth hithering fighting this after the fact except to get yourself a little compensation.

The energy company knew - they just didn't remove the warrant that was on the property when they signed me up.

They may not have, or they may have made the request and it did not get processed in time, however that is a customer service issue, not a legal issue.

TisInNeedOfHelp24 said:
The company that forced entry knew it was occupied and the warrant was for an empty property - they even said to the neighbour, ' this property is supposed to be empty'...

They may have expected it to be empty, for a potentially occupied property they may attend with more people, they may attend with police presence, but the warrant is not issued "for an empty property" as you seem to think it is, it is issued to access and address. 

I have just been sent a copy of the warrant. It names a tenant that left in October 2013 and was issued on August 9 2024. The energy company signed me up at this address on July 1 2024. They say they will call me shortly...

Really? Empty for nearly 11 years? 

If the property was believed to be empty why did the landlord not just grant access anyway? 

I don’t understand, even if you mean October 2023, why the landlord has allowed this situation to happen. 

TisInNeedOfHelp24

molerat said:

The warrant clearly states it is to enter the premises, it does not mention the premises rented by, the respondent at the top is pretty much irrelevant.  The entry to the premises was perfectly legal and there is no point going down that route.  Your beef is with the supplier who gained a warrant of entry over a month after they were aware a new tenant had moved in.  Unfortunately with these incompetent energy suppliers the left hand does not talk to the right.  You need to raise a complaint with them and take it to the ombudsman if necessary, they will likely give you £200 to go away.  The newspapers may also like the story, no mentions of illegal though, just incompetent.

Thanks for that. The application was brought by the company that forced entry, presumably on behalf of the energy company. Does that change anything? The energy company are now saying it's all a bit strange and they have finding it difficult to get to the bottom of it.  The person I spoke to last almost suggested the company who forced entry went off on their own bat with this. They offered £100 that phone call.

BarelySentientAI

TisInNeedOfHelp24 said:

molerat said:

The warrant clearly states it is to enter the premises, it does not mention the premises rented by, the respondent at the top is pretty much irrelevant.  The entry to the premises was perfectly legal and there is no point going down that route.  Your beef is with the supplier who gained a warrant of entry over a month after they were aware a new tenant had moved in.  Unfortunately with these incompetent energy suppliers the left hand does not talk to the right.  You need to raise a complaint with them and take it to the ombudsman if necessary, they will likely give you £200 to go away.  The newspapers may also like the story, no mentions of illegal though, just incompetent.

Thanks for that. The application was brought by the company that forced entry, presumably on behalf of the energy company. Does that change anything? The energy company are now saying it's all a bit strange and they have finding it difficult to get to the bottom of it.  The person I spoke to last almost suggested the company who forced entry went off on their own bat with this. They offered £100 that phone call.

It does - and treat the 'almost suggestion' from a random CS person as meaning nothing.

Supplier had an unrecovered debt or concern of tampering etc. and could not gain access, told a 3rd party to obtain warrant and proceed with necessary works/inspections.  Now it's off the suppliers list, they have nothing more to do with it.  Change of tenant doesn't necessarily overwrite their concerns or previous debt, so would not be an automatic trigger to change the instructions to the 3rd party.

3rd party goes through the legal process, gets warrant, acts on warrant.  They do not (and many would say should not) have contact with the tenant, occupant, landlord, homeowner etc.  They have no idea if someone has moved out or moved in, and it is essentially irrelevant to them anyway.  Only if their instructions changed would they fail to proceed.

Both parts perfectly legal, supported by the Electricity Act and the Licence Conditions.  Ombudsman might chuck you a few quid, but there are no massive errors here and you haven't suffered a significant loss that needs to be put right, so no precedent for an award over the usual £50 - £150 "shut up and go away" payment.