If you come home to a forced door or a smashed window, don't go in. A burglar may still be inside, and nothing in the house is worth meeting one. Step back to your car, a neighbour's doorstep, or anywhere with a locked door between you and the property, and take a breath before you do anything else.
If you think the intruder is still there, call 999. If you can't speak safely, dial 999, stay on the line and press 55 when prompted — the silent signal that tells the operator you need help but can't talk. If the break-in has clearly already happened and nobody is around, use 101 or report online, which is the non-emergency route. Either way, account for everyone in the household first.
For a little while, your home is a crime scene. As hard as it is, try not to touch or tidy anything until the police have been: the doors and windows the burglar handled, the drawers they opened, even a wet footprint can carry the fingerprints, footwear marks or DNA that turn a report into an arrest.
When you report it, you'll be given a crime reference number. Write it down and keep it safe — your insurer will ask for it, and a claim is far harder without one. Ask the officers what they advise about making the property secure, and whether they need anything from you before you start clearing up.
Once the police are happy for you to move around, document everything before you tidy. Photograph the entry point, the damage and each affected room while it's still untouched. Then build a written list of what's missing, with makes, models, serial numbers and proof of purchase wherever you have them.
Check sheds, garages and outbuildings too — bikes and tools are among the most commonly taken items and the easiest to miss on a first sweep. Keep a copy of your photos and list somewhere off the property, such as your phone's cloud backup or an email to yourself, so the evidence survives even if a device was taken.
Call your home insurer as soon as you reasonably can — many policies expect to hear within 24 hours — and quote the crime reference number. If cards, a chequebook or anything carrying your details were taken, cancel the cards, change your online passwords and ask the bank to add a fraud marker to the account.
One thing worth knowing: insurers expect repairs to be done properly. Boarding up with whatever's to hand is fine as a stopgap, but a permanent repair by an unqualified, uninsured person can complicate a future claim — so keep your receipts and use accredited tradespeople for the actual work.
Until the damage is repaired, the property is still exposed — and so is your peace of mind. The immediate job is to board up broken glass and get any forced door closing and locking again, even temporarily. The proper job follows: damaged locks and mechanisms replaced, and the locks changed if keys were taken or the burglar reached a key cabinet.
If your cylinders were snapped to get in, treat that as the prompt to fit anti-snap locks on the way back together — the same weakness will still be there otherwise. A 24-hour local locksmith can usually secure a property the same day and return for any ordered parts, so you're never left waiting overnight on an open door.
A named, vetted master locksmith covers your area — no call-out fee.
A break-in is an invasion, not just a loss, and it's normal to feel shaken, angry or unsettled for a while afterwards — including by ordinary noises at night. That usually eases with time, routine and a little support. Victim Support is a free, independent UK charity that helps people after crime whether or not it was reported, and your GP is worth a visit if the feelings linger.
When you're ready to look forward rather than back, our 10-minute security check is a calm place to start, and the guides on preventing burglary and how burglars actually get in turn a bad night into a properly secured home.
A stiff door is an early warning, not a quirk. The 30-second test, the seasonal damp-cloth trick, the dropped-door gap check, the right lubricant, and the moment it becomes a security problem.
Forcing a jammed key is how it snaps. The calm, in-order fix: resetting the key position, the right dry lubricant, frozen locks, and the line where it becomes a locksmith's job.
Two different problems wear the same words. How to tell a door-and-mechanism fault (a garage-door engineer's job) from a lock fault (ours) — and why the springs are the one thing never to touch.