The police broke the door down and arrested a friend. Can his landlord insist he pays for it to be repaired?

Tangi56

The police are required to repair all damaged caused in making arrests, This should include the door

angler

Police are liable for any damages.

you know you love me

the landlord can do whatever he likes since it is his name on the deed. but your friend should pass the bill onto the police or even go as far as sueing them.

shitebird

in wonderful england remember on thing . the law is untouchable even when the totaly mess up, as with your friend. next: the land lord can try to collect but its up to you to prove you dont and didnt distroy the door and your not responsible. the police are liable for wrongful arrest and or dammage.. you need to get tough about it and dont cave in to bullying

poppet

The police broke my door down, and later admitted it was a mistake.I had to get the door replaced and now am looking at a Â£3,000 bill, instead of the original Â£1,000.This is due to court costs.If this had not happened to me I wouldn't think it possible.I now have no choice but to pay, other than spend another three years and instruct new solicitors.Â£3,000 just because i was asleep when the police knocked on my door!

taxed till i die,

The police should pay for the damage.They did it.

Logic316

In my opinion as a landlord, if your friend was given ample opportunity to answer the door and the cops broke it down because he refused to open it, then he should pay regardless of whether he was innocent of anything or even if the cops had the wrong house. In that case, the landlord should be free to simply take the damages out of his security deposit.

If there was a no-knock warrant (meaning the tenant had no opportunity to answer the door) and the cops goofed by picking the wrong house, then they should pay. But if the search and arrest were both valid, I think the fairest thing to do would be for the landlord to wait until there is a verdict. If the tenant is convicted of anything, then the landlord should take the damages out of his security deposit. If the tenant is found not-guilty, the landlord should then seek compensation from the city instead.

The way I see it, if one of my tenants REALLY didn't do anything illegal or negligent, then he should be no more held responsible for a bunch of cops breaking down his door than if a burglar had done the exact same thing.

Me-She

There is a fund set up to pay for things like this. Since your landlord is the property owner, then they should file the loss claim to be reimbursed. If not, then you could do the small claims double sue method, which could take years to resolve. Landlord sues tenant, then tenant sues City. It's a tedious process. If the Police had an arrest warrant & the tenant refused to open the door, then he broke the law. If there was no warrant, then the Police broke the law. They can legally break everything to get possession of the person who is named on the warrant for their arrest! That's why it's a good idea to open the door before they have to break it down themselves!

usman.2491

There is no definite yes or no answer to this question.
The police are not liable if they tried to ring the bell, bang on the door, made (what the law calls) â€˜reasonable efforts relating to the urgency of the crime being suspected,â€™ and still received no response from inside. If they then go ahead and break the door down and arrest a man inside, whether he is charged or not, it is their problem to deal with â€“ seeing as they had reasonable grounds to take that action to make the arrest.

However, if the police got the wrong house for example, or it is found that they did not have substantial grounds to believe that a man in that house needed to be arrested, they will have to pay.

Bloody cops ey!

Man_Hat_Tan

It is the police that pays. Not your friend.

Con4Life

cops should pay up

Rich n

Of course the landlord can insist he repairs the door, why should the landlord pay for it! At any rate, there is likely to be provision for such damage in the lease; however, he might be able to counterclaim against the police. However, there are gradations of "innocent" and if the police had reasonable cause to break the door down, then they are unlikely to pay; if they simply got the wrong house (which does happen from time to time) then they will pay up

stacy c

Well I think the landlord can ask his insurance to pay for it

Ian UK

The Police have to have good reason to force entry and it has to be lawful. I would suggest that in this instance they entered under section 17 of PACE,â€™ to arrest for an arrestable offence'. This would only be done if they had reasonable grounds to believe your friend was in there. Perhaps if he had opened the door when they asked him to then it wouldn't have happened! I have stood outside an address many times asking the suspect, to their face, to open the door, as they hang out of a window asking me if I have a warrant. Some people watch too much TV and as a result are misinformed as to Police powers.

As for if the Police are liable, having recently read the text on the form that my force uses when they have forced entry and a person wants to make a claim for damage caused, 'if the Police have acted negligently then a claim may be upheld'. In this instance there appears to be no negligence from the limited amount you have written so your friend will be liable. Itâ€™s not the landlordâ€™s fault he was arrested.

As for the answers that quote, apparently, from various law related books, maybe they should check the legislation again.

My advice, open the door next time.

Your friend should pay. How else will he ever learn?

P

police should pay for it, he should complain and ask for compensation.... however if he is a criminal on other fronts then he might be up a gumtree. he should get it fixed and worry about getting the money back later, lucky he hasnt been thrown out by the landlord.

sammy r

First, yes, the landlord can demand that your friend pay for the damage because as the tenant he's responsible for any damage that happens to the apartment. That's as far as the landlord is concerned.

The real question is, are the police responsible to your friend for the damages they caused to his apartment. I don't know enough about the facts to answers that. My guess is, that unless the police had the wrong address, or they were really obviously in the wrong, it will be hard to collect from them.

But, as far as the landlord in concerned, it's between your friend and the police. He gets the door paid for either way.

LEO53

Police acted in good faith, wont get a nickel from them. landlord can ask for restitution.

chill out

Yes, he can ask for it. The tenant is responsible to the landlord for the damages. I would suggest that your friend contact the police department and speak to the chief. If your friend truly is innocent as he says he is, then the police would be responsible paying his bill. If the police department doesn't pay for it, he can always take them to court. Understand that I'm sure at the time, the police had a valid reason to break down the door and there likely is more to this story than he is telling you.

Rick J

Police are not liable

mule0331

Yes he is responsible for the damage. Rarely you can convince the city to pay, but it's very rare.

cowboy

the po po do what they want to do. you freind might as well go ahead and pay up. safe a lot of hassle.

Kayt0

I had a tenant who was under warrant for stealing a bottle of cider from Asda worth £3.49 The police came round to my property- the tenant is on the first floor and claims he went upstairs to collect the main door key - in that time the police broke the door down, leaving it open to the elements all night - with no note to say they had done it is this how the protect people's property no sense of proportion - surely , yes they have a legal right of entry to arrest someone on a warrant, however this was for a very minor crime- i have been left to pay a large bill now- spent hours trying to get the police to pay - but nowhere really annoying

doctoromeo

the police made a forced entry to my property when my son was in but he wouldnt get up and answer the door it was a case of mistaken identity after all and they arrested the wrong man.same name wrong person. can i claim for damage to my door?

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