Can you be charged for breaking into your own home?

You’ve been at work all day and are eager to get back home. Upon arrival, you search for your house keys to no avail. You’re the only one to carry a set of keys, and the spares are inside. It’s dark, you’re tired and it’s beginning to get cold. You decide that your only option is to try and break in. Is this something that you could be charged for?

You can’t burgle your own property

The house is legally yours and so are all the possessions on the inside. The problem is that this can take some time to establish. A concerned neighbor may have seen what’s going on and not realized that it was you. They called the police and reported a burglary in the neighborhood. Law enforcement may not buy your story as it’s one they’ve heard several times before from real burglars. You could be arrested and detained until your story is evidenced.

You could face separate charges

You’re outraged at the prospect of facing arrest for entering your own property. As far as you’re concerned, you’ve done nothing wrong and should not be detained. You argue with law enforcement and they claim that you are resisting arrest. This in itself is a serious offense and it will be treated separately from other charges. Even if your original story is backed up later, the resisting charges could stick.

Wasting police time

Law enforcement has to attend to false alarms all the time and this is a waste of resources. To try and stamp this out, they often impose fines on people who waste their time. By breaking into your own property, they may decide to pursue such charges and you may ultimately end up out of pocket. If you’re facing criminal charges, it’s vital that you come up with the best possible defense strategy. Seeking legal guidance will help you to do this.