debt collectors for earlier tenant

Glitterpix

I don't know if I'm putting this in the right section, so sorry if it's wrong

We moved into our rented house last January, everything's gone lovely and smoothly, the landlord is nice but always pretty busy as he lets out a lot of properties.

Every now and then we get letters for past tenants. We just put on the front 'return to sender, does not live at this address' and post them.

But these letters dont seem to lessen!
There's been a few for a woman, and recently we even got her kids school reports sent to our home - so she's clearly not really told anyone that she's moved house for some reason. I sent the reports back but the school keep sending them for all of her children..

Anyway, the problem is, after accidently opening two letters without checking the name on front, it seems she was in debt with different companies, and has moved without letting them know.

One is for a car hire that they never paid for, that they apparently rented only 6 months ago and put this as their billing address. The other is for E:on electricity & gas.

Someone did randomly come round a few months ago asking to read my meter, and I told them I'd lived here over a year, we've always had british gas, which is what was here when we moved in. They looked confused, said there was no name on their system to check etc and left. now they've sent this letter which says they're now sending people around to 'collect money owed' as they've had no correspondence from this woman...

Another thing is that we got Virgin Media installed before Christmas, and were told it'd be easy as the house was already set up for it... But it turned out the same woman had severed all the connecting cables outside of the house, the technician told me this happens regularly when people dont want to pay their debts then have 'a hissy fit, severe the cables, and say well we cant get it now anyway'....

So yeah, im guessing she got into a mess, panicked, and moved off...but it seems she may still be using this address, as like I said with the car hire, that was taken out AFTER she'd moved to wherever, but billed to here...

So what do I do? Landlord has no forewarding addresss or contact with this family, and I'm guessing I cant call these companies myself as its not my accounts...

I dont want to have to regularly prove that I'm not her!

vax2002

Then Dont, ignore the letters and if anyone turns up ask them to leave or you will call the police, if they dont, do it.

Beckyy

For a start I would call the school, if you know the name of it, and tell them that the family no longer live at that address. It may have been an admin error on their part.

As for all the other mail, I would just keep returning it to sender and saying that the addressee doesn't live there and hasn't since X date. If you can see company names on the envelopes and they keep sending them, then check for a number and call to explain.

Did you take meter readings when you moved in and notify the utility companies?

Glitterpix

yeah we changed it all over correctly, but like I said, her electricity debt was with eon, and then it'd been changed over to british gas before we moved in,so im guessing she never told eon she'd moved... and us sending back their letters doesnt seem to work...

I guess if they send anyone around i'll just show tenancy aggreement etc...

Its just so annoying how these people just move on and dont let people know or use old address for the debts!

Glitterpix

i dont know name of the school, it just says on front 'school report for X' (with her surname so thats how i know its her kids) i could open it i guess but that seems wrong as its someones mail!

Werdnal

Sadly this happens a lot, and there is very little you can do about it, as debt recovery companies are very tenancious and will not give up easily.

Continue returning letters to sender, but you may eventually get someone turn up on the doorstep. Just keep a copy of your tenancy agreement handy, with some proof of ID. The debts belong to the person, not the property, so as long as you can prove who you are, then there is nothing that will blacklist you. They will get the message eventually.

Even if you start ringing the companies concerned, they will not take you word for anything. Persevere and it will stop in the end!

DominicJ_2

5 years on I still get the occaisional letter or phone call.
I've not a had a visit since I was actualy in for one and I told them they didnt live at the address and hadnt for years.

Anyone asking to see ID or paperwork will be escorted to the property line

FTBFun

I still get letters despite buying my property in July 2010 (they don't even bother checking the land registry it seems).

I had one sent to "The Occupier" asking for one old tenant/owner's forwarding address! My phone call back saying "I have no idea who this person is - please stop sending letters".

pinkteapot

I've had this happen at a few addresses. For any debt collection letters I call and tell them the person has moved and I've no forwarding address. They accept this - the letters have always stopped. Made me wonder how easy it would be to get out of debt if I had any myself!

Shelldean

when we moved into our flat we had tons of mail for previous tenant.
We also sent them back not known at this address. Didn't stop or even slow them down. We started opening them, as it isn't an offence to open correctly delivered mail. It only becomes an offence if you plan to use the information inside to commit fraud ( or something along those lines)
We was only opening to get the names of debt collectors.
We did call them and explain. It did stop most but not all.

Worse problem was when i was pregnant with twins, and left my sis babysitting DD. Police knocked on the door, sis almost had heart attack as she thought something had happened to me!!!
They was jsut there with the bailiffs!!!!
Sis was able to prove who she was, and the bailiffs agreed to come back when i was home, so I could show my tenancy agreement. Which I did. Things did slowly die down, but took about 2 yrs for them to stop totally.

BitterAndTwisted

People or companies who are owed money never take any notice of "return to sender: recipient no longer at this address". The person who owes the money could be returning their own mail. Once the bills remain unpaid the debts will be sold on to Debt Recovery firm s who are altogether more tenacious and persistent about collecting money owed. Once that happens expect debt collectors or even bailiffs at your door. There is little you can do to avoid this, even phoning the companies will not deter them.

Have some ID, your tenancy agreement and a copy of a Council Tax bill with your name on it somewhere handy for when they turn up because turn up they will, eventually. Do not ever invite them in. Keep the door on the safety-chain if you have to. And then, once they are satisfied that the person or persons they are looking for is no longer resident they will go away and leave you in peace. All of this could take some time. Some debts are sold on a number of times before they will accept the inevitable.