debt collector letters for previous tenant

michilin27

NickX wrote: »

I think if you write a strongly worded letter saying the following :

(a) The debt is not yours and belongs to a previous tenant

(b) You have no legal responsibility whatsoever for this debt.

(c) You do not wish to be contacted by them again under any circumstances.

(d) Should they not adhere to your request in (c) above, then they will be deemed to be harrassing you with no valid reason and will be reported to Trading Standards, The Office of Fair Trading and the local police.

Then they will not trouble you again.

i was considering doing this- i assume i dont sign it with my name?!

NickX

michilin27 wrote: »

i was considering doing this- i assume i dont sign it with my name?!

Yep, good thinking, you can print your name but don't sign it.

There have been reports of these underhand Debt Collection Agencies forging CCA's and adding the debtor's signature from correspondence sent in, although I would think this is a rare occurrance.

jscalow

michilin27 wrote: »

i have been returning these for the last 11 months- its really frustrating! im not worried about the debt affecting me- i know it doesnt

can u adv a bit more of what happens when items are returned to yourselves?how long do you persist in sending the letters?

The letters are sent automatically until the customer contacts. we are very aware that the cust is probably not at the addr- however eventually (hopefully) a letter will be passed on to the cust and when contct is made any addr detials will be updated. third parties will often call in response to a letter they've opened to adv the cust is no longer at an address, and in some instancies may even offer a forwarding address. Due to data protection we can not alter a/c details without the customers say so. hence you carry on recieving the letters. If I owed you £10K wouldn't you carry on sending out 35p letters to every known addr I had? Its just fishing, the more hooks and lines the more you catch.

brightonman123

would the bad debt of previous tenant be linked in anyway to current tenant's credit rating?

gomer

jscalow wrote: »

If I owed you £10K wouldn't you carry on sending out 35p letters to every known addr I had? Its just fishing, the more hooks and lines the more you catch.

Not if i knew it was causing upset to a new tennant who had been returning them for a year with 'Not at this address' written on them & phonong me up 7 times to tell me i had the wrong address, and i think that's the point here.

They KNOW the person they are looking for no longer lives at that address but still continue harassing the new resident regardless inspite of numerous phone calls & returned letters.

NickX

gomer wrote: »

They KNOW the person they are looking for no longer lives at that address but still continue harassing the new resident regardless inspite of numerous phone calls & returned letters.

This is actually illegal behaviour. You can report them to Trading Standards or the police for harrassment.

Glitzkiss

brightonman123 wrote: »

would the bad debt of previous tenant be linked in anyway to current tenant's credit rating?

no. debt is linked to the person not the address therefore this will not appear on the current tenants credit record.

btw, some helpful advice I received when I rented a property where the previous tenant had done a bunk owing lots of money was to have a utility bill with my name on it and/or some other form of identification in a convenient location. Therefore if a DCA turned up at the door I could quickly prove I wasn't who they were looking for and they would leave. They never did turn up and the letters kept coming for the full year I was living there.

nzseries1

NickX wrote: »

This is actually illegal behaviour. You can report them to Trading Standards or the police for harrassment.

Are you sure? They're not actually contacting the OP, they're contacting the previous tenant. Unless the letters are addressed to the OP, then I would say it's not illegal.

Penelopa.Pitstop

I live in a house converted to 4 flats and the post is coming for 10 different people who used to live at this address. I put all these letters straight to the bin.

We even get magazines for previous tenants who never thought about changing subscription address.

NickX

nzseries1 wrote: »

Are you sure? They're not actually contacting the OP, they're contacting the previous tenant. Unless the letters are addressed to the OP, then I would say it's not illegal.

Well if they are telephoning after being told that the previous tenant has been moved on then that is harassment.

Letters alone probably wouldn't be deemed harassment, but if they have been told that they have the wrong address then they should stop sending them. Trading Standards or even CAB (Citizen's Advice Bureau) should be able to advise.