Former tenants' debts

hubris

I have recently taken back my property after renting it out for a few years. Problem is, I discovered that the person I originally rented it to had been subletting each room, thereby making a pretty penny for themselves. I had no idea who these people were - I'm just glad to have them all gone now...

Anyways, clearing out the stacks of post, writing 'return to sender on most of them', I came across some without a return address. So opening them, I discovered that they are from HFO - a debt recovery service, chasing up a large debt on behalf of a credit card company. Chasing it from a person who may (or may not) have been living in my property while it was being rented.

The gist of this letter is that they (HFO) are preparing to visit the property to assess this (indebted) person's situation. Am I in trouble? What should I do?

As I intend to move into my property, I am a bit anxious about looking at my credit score, as I know they are tied to the property you live in, and I don't know who has been in my property, and what they have done. Any guidance?

Many thanks,

H.

Rikki

I would contact them.
Tell them you are the landlord and the person they are looking for was not the tenent whom you rented the property to.
See what they have to say and then decide what to do.

Doozergirl

Credit score is not tied to the property at all.

You contact these people and tell them that you have no idea who this person is and that you are the owner of the property. They might ask you for as much information as you can give them, but once you have spoken to them, they do go away.

I've never had anyone actually turn up at the door, but silvercar has I think, and she just showed ID to show that the person they were looking for was not the person residing at the house.

They might not have been subletting, they might have been applying for credit in different names. After I'd let a house, there was post for all sorts of people and it was only my tenants and the previous owners that had ever lived there.

hubris

Thanks for your help. I called the finance company, informed them of the situation, and they thanked me for letting them know.

$$$_12

We get mail for random people who've never lived at our place (mobile phone bills etc). We always send them back but still they keep coming.

I think some dodgy people will put down other people's addresses.

scat

Parr for the course with rental properties. We've never had an issue with credit because of it. Have had several baliff's come knocking for previous tenants but have never given us any grief, usually just ask if we have a forwarding address.