Threatening letters for old tenant

catkins

I have lived in a rented house for a year now. The previous tenants separated in October 2004 when the husband moved out. The wife left last year when I moved in. I do not have forwarding addresses for either of them and nor does my landlord.

I have received quite a few letters about money he owes and have sent them back with a covering letter explaining the situation. Have also had Bailiffs and the police here looking for him. In the last couple of weeks I have had a number of letters threatening Court action and/or Bailiffs. I am fed up with returning letters, sending e-mails and also telephoning companies. I had to prove to the Bailiffs and the police who I am (okay I can understand that as I could just be lying about him not living here) but have had some pretty heated telephone conversations when the companies obviously do not believe me.

Is there anything I can do to stop his post coming here? After all this time the situation is ridiculous and as he obviously has money problems and is not letting people know his new address (as if since October 2004 is new!) I can only see the situation getting worse. There have been letters about parking fines, monies owed on his car insurance, Court fines etc etc and I am sick of it

LookingAhead

I can understand why you would be thoroughly miffed! Has your landlord also written to them? Perhaps that would help a little.

If I were in your shoes I'd be onto the Cit Advice Bureau to find out what rights I had/they had (I doubt that they have any at all but you know what I mean) and then tell the people who are sending the leters etc you know what your rights are and if they keep on harassing you, you will take legal action to get it stopped (maybe look in to that as well). Maybe that will shut them up!

catkins

Landlord isn't interested unfortunately. Good idea to get on to CAB I will try them tomorrow - just hope they can be of some help

LookingAhead

Nice landlord! Maybe if you typed up the letter that says "I don't know where he went" sort of thing & just get him to sign it, it is minimal effort on his part? If he refuses to sign it, maybe you could tell the people chasing the ex tenant exactly that and suggest they chase him in case he's hiding anything.

I guess that depends on how it will affect your "relationship" with the landlord but if he has nothing to hide then signing the letter won't be a problem.

Just a thought anyway..

Good luck I hope you can get them off your back.

CLAPTON

worth checking your own credit record to make sure you are not linked to the previous tenants

amosworks

It might be worth seeing if you can get the council to give you a list of all people on the electoral roll at the address, sending a copy of that might help. I'd also include the relevant page of your tenancy agreement showing name, address and start of lease. It might also be worth compiling a list of all creditors looking for him and sending that round to them all so they can see that you're being transparent with them all about the situation?

What a bit of a crappy situation it sounds like. My main concern would be being able to prove it to bailiffs on the spot, so sounds like it might be worth keeping any relevant paperwork near the front door or at the very least, filed in a quick to get at place!

I suppose some photo ID with your name on also might help, not that I'm suggesting you look like a bloke but then at least they can match the name with the face so they can see it's actually you that has the tenancy agreement and you're not posing as someone?

Good luck

black-saturn

How do you know they are letters about debt? Have you been opening them?

If you get any in future just write on them "not known at this address" and put them back in the post box unopened.

If anyone turns up at the door have ID on you like a passport or driving licence so that you can prove who you are.

fatbelly

I'd suggest:

Changing your phone number so it's diferent to the one the previous tenant used

Not opening and replying to letters sent to the previous tenant.

Not e-mailing his creditors

Not phoning his creditors

Can't you see why the creditors and debt collectors might be suspicious of your behaviour?

LookingAhead

fatbelly wrote:

I'd suggest:

Changing your phone number so it's diferent to the one the previous tenant used

Not opening and replying to letters sent to the previous tenant.

Not e-mailing his creditors

Not phoning his creditors

Can't you see why the creditors and debt collectors might be suspicious of your behaviour?

I would agree with changing phone number if possible & would now cease to open any more letters and not communicating with them anymore but I have to say I find that last comment a bit unfair.

I have opened a letter by mistake as it was from the same bank as I use but addressed to previous owner who had debt problems. I honestly did not look at the address when I was opening post/making cup of tea etc as you do when you get home but when I read it obviously I realised. My first instinct was to panic a bit thinking about it is now my address and (to quote the League of Gentlemen) "I don't want any trouble here" so I phoned them and explained the situation. They were great (though admittedly I did have a forwarding address).

I wouldn't have ever thought I was acting suspiciously though by sticking up for myself if my home was being threatened by bailiffs.

Catkins: get advice as soon as you can and cease to communicate with them as they are obviously not listening. If you suspect bailiffs at the door, don't open it - just show your id through the window if you can, surely it would be highly illegal for them to attempt to get in. But your legal advice would fill you in on that.

Good luck - let us know how you get on.

GreyPilgrim

We had a lot of mail coming for a previous tenant at our house. Made no bones about opening them...I'm sorry about violating privacy laws, but when I've moved house in the past I've been responsible enough to tell all the important agencies where I'm going (apart from the student loan company, ahem...but thats a different story). So I assumed the mails were either junk mail, in which case it didn't matter, or debt agencies, in which case I don't want it being associated with my house.

In each case I've called the debt agency involved and explained the situation, have offered to provide tenancy agreements / ID to prove I am who I say I am and that I moved in after this person and every single one has been fine. Only ever had one chap call at the door looking for this person and he was fine once I explained that he was one of many debt collectors hunting this person. He was fine about it. Over the past year the letters have ceased.

I did feel awkward about opening someone elses mail. But at the end of the day I've got my own families credit profile to consider. If this person had given a damn, he would have sent them all a change of address card?

GreyPilgrim

LookingAhead wrote:

and (to quote the League of Gentlemen) "I don't want any trouble here"

hahah - "we're local people with local debt collectors...."