Someone at your door
- When police can enter your homeEngland & Wales
The lawful routes police have into a home in England and Wales — warrant, arrest, the search that can follow an arrest, and genuine emergencies — and what a warrant must show. With the law quoted.
- Bailiffs and enforcement agents at your doorEngland & Wales
What enforcement agents can and cannot do to get into a home in England and Wales — the 14-day notice, the hours they can call, and the narrow situations where they can force entry. With the law quoted.
- TV Licensing has no right of entry without a warrantEngland & Wales
A TV Licensing enforcement officer at the door has no power to come in unless they have a warrant granted by a magistrate. What that warrant requires, and what refusing to license a receiver actually risks.
- Immigration enforcement at your doorEngland & Wales
The difference between a magistrate’s warrant and an internal Home Office letter authorising entry to business premises, and why you do not have to open the door or answer questions. With the law quoted.
- DWP fraud investigators: what they can and cannot doEngland & Wales
DWP fraud investigators can enter certain business premises to inspect records, but their entry power does not extend to an ordinary home used only as a residence, and an interview under caution is governed by the same codes as a police one.
- The RSPCA, and other callers who are not policeEngland & Wales
The RSPCA is a charity with no statutory power of entry, search or seizure in England and Wales. What real "inspector" powers exist under the Animal Welfare Act, and the separate rule for gas and electricity engineers.
- When police can enter your home in ScotlandScotland
Scotland has no PACE. The Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 governs arrest, but entry to a home is still common law, not a statutory code — and warrants can come from a sheriff, not only a justice of the peace. With the law quoted.
- Sheriff officers and diligence — there are no bailiffs in ScotlandScotland
Debt enforcement in Scotland is diligence, carried out by an officer of court — a sheriff officer or messenger-at-arms — under entirely different rules from English bailiffs: attachment, exceptional attachment orders, and diligence that never touches your door at all.
- TV Licensing in Scotland — the same UK-wide law, no separate entry powerScotland
The Communications Act 2003 is a single UK-wide statute, verified here by its own extent clause. A TV Licensing officer in Scotland has no more right to come in without a warrant than one in England or Wales.
- Immigration enforcement in Scotland — the same UK-wide ActScotland
The Immigration Act 1971 is reserved, UK-wide legislation — verified here by its own extent clause, not assumed. The warrant-versus-authorisation distinction that applies in England and Wales applies in Scotland too.
- DWP fraud investigators in Scotland — the same UK-wide ActScotland
Social security is reserved, UK-wide legislation. DWP fraud investigators have a statutory power to enter certain business premises, verified here by the Social Security Administration Act 1992’s own extent clause — but it does not extend to an ordinary home.
- The SSPCA, and other callers who are not police, in ScotlandScotland
Animal welfare is devolved: the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006, not the Animal Welfare Act 2006, governs Scotland — with its own "inspector" appointment, its own "domestic premises" wording, and a warrant route through the sheriff.