What to Do in the First Hour After a Burglary

Before anything else, check that everyone is accounted for and unharmed. If you arrive home and suspect someone could still be inside — a door ajar, lights or sounds that were not there before — do not go in. Stay outside, or get back in the car, and call 999 straight away.

If you are already inside when you discover the break-in and you are not sure the property is empty, leave quietly and call 999 from somewhere safe. There is nothing in the property worth the risk of confronting someone unseen.

Once you know the property is safe, resist the urge to start tidying up. Footprints, tool marks on a door frame, and the position of anything dropped or moved can all help the police understand what happened. Keep pets and children away from the immediate area around the point of entry.

It is fine to close an outer gate or move to a neighbour's if you feel safer waiting there. The aim is simply to leave the affected area as close to untouched as possible until it has been recorded.

With your phone, photograph the point of entry, any broken glass or splintered timber, and anything disturbed inside, before you clear anything away. Wide shots that show the whole door or window in context are as useful as close-ups of the damage itself.

These photographs do two jobs at once: they give the police a clear record for their report, and they become the starting point for your insurance claim. Taking them first, before any clean-up or temporary repair, means you are not relying on memory later.

If the burglary is in progress or you believe someone may still be nearby, call 999. For a burglary you have discovered after the fact, with nobody in danger, call 101, the non-emergency number. Either way, ask for and note down your crime reference number — your insurer will ask for it.

Tell the call handler what you can see: the point of entry, what has been disturbed, and roughly what has been taken, if you already know. A full inventory can follow later; the reference number and an initial report are what matter in this first hour.

Most home insurance policies ask you to report a burglary promptly, so call your insurer or check their app once the police report is logged. Have your crime reference number and your photographs ready — most insurers will want both early in the conversation.

Ask what they need from you at this stage: some want an itemised list of damage and stolen items straight away, others simply confirm the claim and tell you what happens next. Note down who you spoke to and when, in case you need to refer back to the call.

A forced door or a smashed window left open overnight is a problem in its own right — for warmth, for weather, and for peace of mind. This is where boarding up comes in: a timber carpenter can board over a broken door or window quickly, so the property is closed up and watertight while a proper repair is arranged.

Berkshire Bespoke Carpentry runs a 24-hour emergency line, 7 days a week for exactly this situation. That is a promise to answer the phone, not a promise of how quickly someone can reach you — call and we will talk through what is needed and how soon we can get there. Our emergency boarding service covers forced doors, broken windows, and damaged frames across Berkshire and South Buckinghamshire.

Worth saying plainly: Berkshire Bespoke Carpentry doesn't install alarms or CCTV, and we are not a monitoring or loss-assessing service. What we do is secure and repair the physical damage to the building — the door, the frame, the window — properly and promptly.

Boarding is a temporary measure, not the end of the job. Once the property is secure and the claim is logged, the next step is getting the door, frame, or window properly repaired or replaced. It is worth understanding why a forced door usually fails at the frame, not the lock — it affects what actually needs replacing, not just the lock itself.

Our burglary damage repair service covers everything from a single damaged door to a full frame rebuild, matched to the existing joinery wherever possible so the repair blends in rather than standing out.

Some insurers settle a straightforward repair from your photographs and a verbal quote. Others, particularly for larger claims, ask for a formal written estimate before they authorise the work. Our insurance and reinstatement estimates service provides exactly that — a detailed, itemised document your insurer can work from.

If you would like to understand what goes into one of these documents before you ask for it, our guide on how an insurance repair estimate is put together walks through it in plain terms.

The first hour after a burglary is the hardest part, mostly because everything feels urgent at once. In practice, the order is simple: safety, then evidence, then police, then insurer, then securing the property, then the proper repair. Each step supports the next.

For more on the practical side of repairs, security standards, and insurance paperwork, see the full Repairs, Security & Insurance Estimates hub.