GPDR, police raids on my rented property, now I'm liable???

[johnnyblue122]

Hey everyone ,

I'm new to these forums so I don't know if this is in the right place.

I have a rental house in the north of England but currently live in London. I received a call from the estate agent stating that the police had raided property and the front door required repair. I told the estate agents to seek the cost of damages from the tenant and have the door repaired.

All well and good as now this was a year on I've received a letter addressed to my home in London from a police contractor who secures premises after raids saying that I owe them £180. That tenant has moved out 6 months ago and I have new tenants. I have now received a second letter with a nice sentence saying pay to prevent further action from being taken to recover the debt.

Background about the tenant, it was rented an individual who had a guarantor for the property the person arrested with the warrant wasn't a legal occupier of the property. To my knowledge and the estate agents that was the only person residing in the premises but the person who was the suspect was arrested from the premises.

I've read the forums and internet advise stating that it's not really the landlords responsibility but the tenants to recover the debt but what's the law.

If anyone could please help with some of the below questions,

1) How did this contractor get my address in London? What ways could that be obtained with my name and cross referencing with all the people with the same name in London, there's a lot with the same name 200+. Who is legally allowed to share that kind of information? As this contractor in question isn't law enforcement I feel my privacy has been breached. GPDR law on this situation.

2) They have stated that they can recover the debt, as it was tenanted. If they can't get the money from the tenant, is the owner responsible.

3) In regards to the warrant, can the landlord have access to that even though it has nothing to do with them even under the freedom of information act.

4) The person arrested allegedly released without charge, so the original forced entry was it necessary, I could see the police legal team stating something like the occupier refused to open the door so forced entry was required.

5) If this suspect arrested was linked to the property, obviously the police had been watching him. This isn't the persons last known address so can that be used a wrong address for the raid and seek compensation from the police?

6) If the letters keep arriving in the mail, at what point of these letters should I seek legal advise?


I just think it's a wanna be scare tactic but I don't exactly want to be summons to court one day for something that's nothing to do with me.

The only way I can logically argue this is that, if I got in someone else's car, killed a person and they couldn't find me would the owner of that car be convicted of murder.??


If anyone has had the same experience or know someone who has this would be amazing.


Thanks for your time, look forward any information that would be helpful in this situation.


Cheers,

Johnny.

[theartfullodger]

How did they get your address?? Either asked tenant or neighbours or spent £3 with land registry.

NB If address on land registry is not your home address, beware fraud. Someone could sell the place or re-mortgage it & you wouldn;t find out until too late.

[Hudson01]

To be totally honest for that amount of money i would just pay it, the amount of time you will invest in defending it is just not worth it. The Police can force entry for all manner of reasons and a lot of them are nothing to do with arresting someone, if there is a concern for a persons welfare then doors are forced on a regular basis, no one arrested, no one charged...... it would be for the benefit of the tenant who may have a mental health issue etc.

It is a low amount, i would pay.

[DorothyMckenzie]

Sometimes companies are just fishing. If say there are 200 other people with the same name as you there will be a few that they have the address for through online searches and may send out say 5 letters to “John smith`” at 5 different addresses. And see if they get a bite.

[Hudson01]

Sometimes companies are just fishing. If say there are 200 other people with the same name as you there will be a few that they have the address for through online searches and may send out say 5 letters to “John smith`” at 5 different addresses. And see if they get a bite.

This is true, but as far as i understand it in the OP's case his estate agent has called him to state the Police did put the door in, the Police do use a select list of contractors to complete the boarding up of properties after a raid or a burglary (if the home owner is on holiday etc) so getting a call from a contractor is perfectly plausible. I can bet they did try and get the monies from the tenant but given he seems a '' flighty '' type that has proved to be a negative...... so the next on the list is the owner of the property.

Again it all comes down to picking the right tenant, and on the whole the right tenants do not get their doors/windows etc put in by the big red key.

[jpkeates]

It's the responsibility of the landlord to get the door repaired and then to try and recover the cost from the tenant (or the police).
So I think you owe the money.

The police arrange to make the property secure and the people they use are familiar with the difficulty they often face in getting paid and charge a premium price accordingly.
Which is a bit frustrating, but part of the joys of landlording.

[hybrice]

Yeah, to clarify here - the police, when executing search and seizure (or arrest) warrant, hold no liability for costs of entry or securing the property, so long as the warrant was issued with the correct address.

It doesn't matter if he wasn't on the tenancy, otherwise, all criminals would hold up at their mate's houses because the police can't enter :P

They executed a legal warrant at the address, the costs are yours to pay and attempt to reclaim from the tenant. You will not get reimbursement from the police unless the address was incorrect, but as it sounds like he was arrested - I don't see how you could say it was.

I've also heard (not tested) that if you simply ignore the contractor, they seek the monies from the police and leave you be.

[nukecad]

Pay it, they are legally correct.

The police can force entry if they have 'good cause', any damage caused by that entry is the property owners problem, not the tenants.
You could claim the shoring-up/repair costs back off the tenant, if you can show it was their fault that the police forced entry.

The police are only responsible if they didn't have 'good cause' to force entry, good luck with trying to show that one.

As you say the arrest warrant etc. will be covered by the Data Protection Act 2018 / GDPR.
(Individual pivacy of the accused, as well as other exemptions because arrest by warrant is a legal matter).
If you request something under the Freedom of Information Act then what information can be given is restricted by the DPA 2018/GDPR, and other exemptions to FoI may apply.