NEED HELP URGENT please

Slicked

Hello, I am unsure where to put this and if it the right forum but a few months ago we recieved a letter from the courts about a driving offence or something at my home address (lived here 30 years) and it was addressed to someone I never heard off, opened it and it was about missing court etc so I phoned them up and told them no one of that name lives here, they told me to write that on letter and send it back which I did. Now last week my mother tells me a baliff come over to the house and asked for this guy but she told him he does not live here, so he went away. Now I got a letter from a baliff company to this guy so I opened it and it states he owes £1000 to the courts and they have a warrant and will come into my parents home and take away goods and so on. Now I phoned them up and explained this, but the guy as soon as I phoned called me by the name of this person they want, I told them I am not him and that obviously this is !!!!ed up but it seemed like he thought I was chatting !!!!. He told me to send him a council tax bill which will name occupants, which I will do later on today however is this all serious? Like how can this happen? Is someone going around the UK with my parents address fraudulently using their address? Like seriously I never heard of this guy, this is a family home, and what I am meant to stand around and do nothing in the worst case scenerio?

All help greatly appreciated.

fatbelly

He isn't you, and you are not liable for his debts.

In future don't open his mail, just return marked 'not known at this address'

The court bailiff will be OK once he has seen the paperwork.

It is always worth getting a copy of your credit report now and again (once a year?) but credit information no longer relies on the address to link people, so there shouldn't be a problem.

Slicked

fatbelly wrote: »

He isn't you, and you are not liable for his debts.

In future don't open his mail, just return marked 'not known at this address'

The court bailiff will be OK once he has seen the paperwork.

It is always worth getting a copy of your credit report now and again (once a year?) but credit information no longer relies on the address to link people, so there shouldn't be a problem.

I know I am not liable but nobody is listening to what I am telling them which is making this worse and they are talking to me like I am lying and that it is all me. All his letters I have always marked and returned yet obviously it has still got to this stage. What a joke the UK is. Now I have to go through the hassle to prove that a family of 30 years has lived here and not taken no european !!!!er as a lodger here, what next? prove my mum owns the house?

FireWyrm

Normally, I'd tell you to tell him to stick it, but since this is a court balliff, the rules are slightly different. Unfortunately, the court balliff has the right to pretty much do as he pleases, so the best defence is to head him off at the pass. You need to write a letter to them stating that this person is not known at your address and also to include a suitably redacted council tax bill. It is not for him to know how much you pay, or any sensitive information such as account numbers etc, but your name and address on a standard council tax bill should be sufficient. Explain that you have now provided what you consider to be more than enough evidence and that you now consider any further correspondance on this matter to be tantamount to harrassment. Be polite, but to the point.

More to the point though...I would be paying the £2 to get my credit report to see what else might have been taken out against my address in his name...you could be looking at a case of identity theft and you need to begin investigations immediately.

Slicked

FireWyrm wrote: »

Normally, I'd tell you to tell him to stick it, but since this is a court balliff, the rules are slightly different. Unfortunately, the court balliff has the right to pretty much do as he pleases, so the best defence is to head him off at the pass. You need to write a letter to them stating that this person is not known at your address and also to include a suitably redacted council tax bill. It is not for him to know how much you pay, or any sensitive information such as account numbers etc, but your name and address on a standard council tax bill should be sufficient. Explain that you have now provided what you consider to be more than enough evidence and that you now consider any further correspondance on this matter to be tantamount to harrassment. Be polite, but to the point.

More to the point though...I would be paying the £2 to get my credit report to see what else might have been taken out against my address in his name...you could be looking at a case of identity theft and you need to begin investigations immediately.

Good advice, exactly with me on other baliffs if they came to my door I would remove them with force but court baliffs are a different matter and if I was at home when I came it might have got pysical, I am unsure though. Really angry about this though.

FireWyrm

Slicked wrote: »

Good advice, exactly with me on other baliffs if they came to my door I would remove them with force but court baliffs are a different matter and if I was at home when I came it might have got pysical, I am unsure though. Really angry about this though.

Angry is permissable, but the problem is, this is government beaurocracy you are dealing with and emotion has no place in that. You need too sit tight and do exactly as you have been requested to do. Dont let them walk all over you, but on the other hand, not co-operating will only cause more trouble in the long run. You didnt run up the debt, you are not liable and I assume you have been telling us the truth, in which case, you have absolutely nothing to fear. The balliff cannot force entry, they cannot assult you in your own home and you have every right to tell them to stick it after you have done what they have asked you to do.

Frankly, if I were you, I would be more concerned by the possible implications of this and you should perhaps whisper a quite thankyou to the court for bringing this to your attention. This could very well be the tip of the iceberg and you need to find out just how bad this really is. You might be lucky, but it wouldnt suprise me to find out that your name and address have been used for all sorts of fraudulent activity.

Oh, and buy yourself a shreader....today.

Slicked

FireWyrm wrote: »

Angry is permissable, but the problem is, this is government beaurocracy you are dealing with and emotion has no place in that. You need too sit tight and do exactly as you have been requested to do. Dont let them walk all over you, but on the other hand, not co-operating will only cause more trouble in the long run. You didnt run up the debt, you are not liable and I assume you have been telling us the truth, in which case, you have absolutely nothing to fear. The balliff cannot force entry, they cannot assult you in your own home and you have every right to tell them to stick it after you have done what they have asked you to do.

Frankly, if I were you, I would be more concerned by the possible implications of this and you should perhaps whisper a quite thankyou to the court for bringing this to your attention. This could very well be the tip of the iceberg and you need to find out just how bad this really is. You might be lucky, but it wouldnt suprise me to find out that your name and address have been used for all sorts of fraudulent activity.

Oh, and buy yourself a shreader....today.

It isn't my name on the letter, it is someone elses who I have no idea is.