Still receiving letter from previous owner

icon_boy

Hi -

We have moved into out new place, about a month ago, its a rented place, and it will do until we buy, so at the moment we are still saving.

We agreed to call the pervious occupiers, when they received their letters, with a view to help them out, whilst they updated their new correspondence.

My wife and Myself have made it quite clear this would be on a temporary basis, but its now going into month two, and we are still receiving their letters.

Once a week the previous occupiers will call, but now its taking the mick, Ive spoken to out landlord, who has assured us not to worry, as we have a tenancy agreement.

Some of these letter look like statements, parking changes etc...

What would you do in my situation, Ive told my wife to let the previous occupiers know that from this weekend any letter that arrives for them, we will RTS them as we have given the, plenty of time - they will be notified of this action too.

Also we have not any new occupiers gas or electric bill, and we are getting a bit worried bout this.

Im not sure who the previous supplier was, - How I do resolve this, I believe the previous occupiers have just abandoned this, and we maybe lumped with their share of the gas/electric bill.


any advice most welcome

theartfullodger

Yup,, just RTS post, you don't need to tell 'em.. If they don't like it they can pay Royal Mail to redirect their post

However, sounds like something fishy may be going on...

Do you know what all the meter readings were when you moved in?? If not read them all now. Someone will tell you the people to call who will tell you who the supply is with.

Water is usually with a particular company in that area - ask neighbours...

Council Tax??
'phone line?
TV Licence??

G_M

Re the post, just mark it 'return to sender' or 'moved away' and put back in the mail.

Did you contact the utility companies when you moved in, give them your details and meter readings and set up accounts with them? If not, why not? If so, what is your concern?

You cannot be held liable for previous occupiers bills - the bills are in their names, not yours. But you should of course have made sure you took meter readings when you moved in.

icon_boy

We have set up the council tax and tv license, when we moved in the inventry clerk, did take meter readings, so we have proof of that, i must admit I have not got round to sorting out the gas/electric, as I've been busy with work etc..

I dont know who to call, as I dont know who the prevous supplier was, how would I go about finding out?

I will from now on RTS the letters

Meatballs

If you wanna stay nice, you can just cross out the current address and rewrite the new one on and stick it in post. Ask them to get some sticky labels printed for you. But say you'll only do it for another week or so unless the mail volume drops by them sorting it out.

That or they can pay for royal mail redirection.

After 2 months they have had plenty of time to get majority of accounts sorted, there will normally still be a few things people always forget.

Previous tenant here didn't do any redirection, I'm too lazy to get to post box to RTS, since i noticed some are from the BNP, so they go in the recycling now. Probably a bit naughty. :cool:


You should sort out council tax, water, electricity, gas, phone, internet yourself as soon as you move in.

Gas - 0870 608 1524 for national grid they will tell you current supplier.

Electricity - Ring your regional supplier: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Electricity_Suppliers

Water- http://www.water-guide.org.uk/companies.html

icon_boy

thanks for the comments, everything else is sorted eg: telephone, internet, tv license and council tax

The only thing Im worried about is, if there are debts the previous occupiers left behind? not sure my wife knows where they live, as they have always popped down to pick up letters,

What happens if debt collectors come to the door etc?

theartfullodger

icon_boy wrote: »

The only thing Im worried about is, if there are debts the previous occupiers left behind? not sure my wife knows where they live, as they have always popped down to pick up letters,

Nope, debts relate to the person, to the individual, not to the property.. If wife/you don't know where they live now don't worry...

What happens if debt collectors come to the door etc?

Tell them to f*** off!!. The polite, calm, recommended way of doing it is
a) (If worried - you really don't need to be..) Don't let them in the place - keep windows & doors closed - in case they think you are "them" and start trying to take your stuff (very very unlikely - if they did it would make an amusing &, to you, profitable court case..).
b) Keep a copy of tenancy agreement (copy...) by door showing you have a valid right to be there and your names.. show this to the little money-grabbing toe-rag evil stealing little bailiffs and tell 'em to f*** off!!
c) If they don't, call the police & report trespassers/harassment...



- but it is VERY VERY VERY unlikely to happen.. I have lived in 2 old (ex-council) properties which got loads & loads & loads of letters from creditors of various prior occupants... I'm retired, 6ft 2in, "large", argumentative, have spare time & quite like a fight against the forces of evil & was always (over 4-5 years??) waiting for someone to call.. Nobody ever did... And these previous occupants got letters, initially, 3-4 times a week from debt collectors/creditors demanding money with menaces... The letters frequently said (apparently, obviously I never opened them as that's illegal,,.so I've only been told this, aye, right.... ) that the creditor was "about to call"... etc. etc. etc..

Shame really, my plan was to see how long I could keep the little evil b*****ds talking before the Police turned up...

Cheers!

Artful

BitterAndTwisted

If debt-collectors come to the door I expect you'll need to provide evidence that you are not the named individuals they are chasing the recovery of debts from. A copy of your tenancy agreement showing when you took possession of the property would be handy, too. Don't forget that you should not allow them inside: just get them to wait outside the closed front door while you get your documents.

icon_boy

thanks guys!

dizziblonde

Just return to sender - usually gets the message with the stuff that matters pretty fast (although you'll end up with junk mail for anyone who once walked in the door there in most cases still).

With regards debts and things - keep your tenancy agreement to hand (ie not the 45 minute "where the heck did I put it in a safe place this time" fest that always ensues when I need either that or documents to do my car tax in this house), it's your proof of when you moved in and the fact that they're not there anymore. We had problems while students with debt companies trying to get hold of previous tenants - returned their named mail for the former bods, eventually we got one to the occupier which we opened just asking if we had any clue where they'd moved to - took 2 minutes on the phone to sort it out, no hassle at all really.

We get the odd letter for the landlord here (he lived here himself in the past) which CAN get really confusing as he's got the same surname as us - so stuff addressed to Mr X without an identifying initial does occasionally get opened in error.

It's the flipping phonecalls for whoever had our number previously that are doing my head in.

theartfullodger

dizziblonde wrote: »

It's the flipping phonecalls for whoever had our number previously that are doing my head in.

Get the number changed for a fresh one.. or go mobile only...