Debt collectors after previous tenant

earthbound_misfit

How do I stop them?
Every week or two they send two letters to my lodger who moved out almost a year ago. I know I'm not supposed to but I read them every now and then, because I'm getting scared (having originally googled the return address).
The latest letter says "NOTICE OF INTENDED LEGAL ACTION" at the top. It says without payment/payment plan in the next two weeks, "legal action to recover the debt may be taken against you without further warning".
It's from Keynes Collections.
I am terrified bailiffs are going to turn up. Without going into details, I am really struggling with my mental health atm (have ongoing issues) and for various reasons the idea of them forcing their way in, or even trying to/being threatening is really terrifying and affecting my mental health badly.
I keep returning the letter to sender, writing "not at this address" but it doesn't work. I just tried to call them and it rings once then cuts off.

Help - how do I stop them?

McKneff

Do you know where the previous tenants have moved to. Try and find out and supply the debt collectors with it .

earthbound_misfit

No, I don't know where they are now or I'd already have done that. We did not part on good terms - he was a nightmare tenant.

BitterAndTwisted

Tenant or lodger, their debts have nothing to do with you.

If having debt-collectors or bailiffs on your doorstep is really going to have a serious effect on your mental health then you should consider writing to them. Tell them that this person lodged with you but left on X date and you don't have a forwarding address for them.

The idea of debt-collectors or bailiffs turning up on your doorstep can appear quite frightening but if you're not the person they are looking for, and you can prove it, they won't be able to harass you or threaten to enter your home. There will likely be court-documents arriving in the post before you see either at the door, so it's not likely that they will turn up without warning.

harveybobbles

"Not known at this address" wrote on the envelope and pop back in post box.

SeduLOUs

Don't ring them as tempting as it might be. I made this mistake when a bailiff note was shoved through the door of a house I'd bought in the name of the previous owner.

I phoned them to let them know he no longer lived there and gave them the new address of the person they were after but this was just used as an excuse to record the phone number I called from and I started getting 10-15 phone calls a day asking for this other person, so I had to change my phone number.

sourcrates

OP, its not your debt, hence its not your problem.
Do as advised above, post back "return to sender" and get on with your life.
The letter is just a standard template letter anyway, one of thousands send weekly to punters the length and breadth of the country.
Don`t get harassed about it.

[Deleted User]

I actually had this problem a while ago; the DCA being Lowell. I had returned the letters saying 'not known at this address'. Eventually I opened one of the letters and found a helpful address in the small print on the back for a complaints department. I wrote a leter saying they were ignoring my letters saying he no longer lived at this address. To my amazement I had a reply saying it was being investigated. Cutting a long story short I actually received an apology and a promise to remove said debtors name from my address. It might be worth trying this tactic; worked and I got an apology as well.

fatbelly

Lowell can act quite professionally at times. If the OP is having problems with MKRR/MKDP, then I have yet to hear anything positive about them.

Although they do have a complaints procedure:

http://compellogroup.co.uk/assets/pdf/MKDP-Customer-Complaints-Procedure.pdf

I am not sure I would trust this lot not to just amend their files with the details you are providing about yourself. Personally I would just keep doing as Harvey and Sourcrates have said. They will go away eventually. There's no need to open someone else's post and get stressed by it.

dktreesea

fatbelly wrote: »

They will go away eventually.

Bailiffs (sherriffs up here in Scotland) can be a real pain. We've been living at our current address over a decade. Annoyingly, when we came here, BT just assigned to us the phone number that was previously used for this flat, as the previous guy had moved out of the area.

Every now and then we get letters for this guy, which I send back "not at this address" and unopened. Then we got one "To whom it may concern", opened it, and lo and behold it was a CCJ against this guy! It seems one of the debt collection agencies had gone to court and of course, the previous tenant wasn't represented, unsurprising, considering he had never received the relevant mail, which I had sent back unopened.

Then we applied for credit for some purchase or another and to our surprise it was turned down. We enquired as to why and it turned out it was because there was a recent CCJ recorded against our address! Even though it wasn't in our name and had nothing to do with us, somehow it impacted on our address and therefore on us.

Then we had sheriffs (like bailiffs down south, basically they are officers of the court up here) turn up with some kind of documentation against the previous tenant, saying it gave them the right to enter the house and seize our goods. So I gave the documents back to him, saying the person in question didn't live here and hadn't lived here for some years.

The sheriff was quite unpleasant. He said he didn't believe me. I was at home with young children and he kind of forced his way in. I opened the door, and didn't give him permission to come in, but he came in anyway. I should have been scared, but I felt icy cold with rage. I said again this was nothing to do with us and asked him to leave. He refused. He was clearly power tripping. I got his ID off him, to check he was who he said he was, then called 999 in front of him, saying a man had broken into my house and was refusing to leave and he was trying to steal our stuff and he had someone else with him (who, interestingly, didn't come in). He obviously thought I was bluffing and had just pretended to make a call or was calling a mate, pretending they were the police. All the time he was talking to me like I was the debtor. I have a phone with a record button which at some point I pressed.

The police came straight away, so quickly in fact (only about 5 minutes) that I thought they must have been sitting around the corner having a cuppa. They asked the guy to come outside, but he refused saying he was an officer of the court and we had had plenty of time to comply and now he had no choice but to seize our goods. They asked him to step outside again and when he didn't move said if he didn't come outside they would have no choice but to arrest him.

He then went downstairs with one of the cops while the other one stayed behind and took a statement.

katejo

dktreesea wrote: »

Bailiffs (sherriffs up here in Scotland) can be a real pain. We've been living at our current address over a decade. Annoyingly, when we came here, BT just assigned to us the phone number that was previously used for this flat, as the previous guy had moved out of the area.

Every now and then we get letters for this guy, which I send back "not at this address" and unopened. Then we got one "To whom it may concern", opened it, and lo and behold it was a CCJ against this guy! It seems one of the debt collection agencies had gone to court and of course, the previous tenant wasn't represented, unsurprising, considering he had never received the relevant mail, which I had sent back unopened.

Then we applied for credit for some purchase or another and to our surprise it was turned down. We enquired as to why and it turned out it was because there was a recent CCJ recorded against our address! Even though it wasn't in our name and had nothing to do with us, somehow it impacted on our address and therefore on us.

Then we had sheriffs (like bailiffs down south, basically they are officers of the court up here) turn up with some kind of documentation against the previous tenant, saying it gave them the right to enter the house and seize our goods. So I gave the documents back to him, saying the person in question didn't live here and hadn't lived here for some years.

The sheriff was quite unpleasant. He said he didn't believe me. I was at home with young children and he kind of forced his way in. I opened the door, and didn't give him permission to come in, but he came in anyway. I should have been scared, but I felt icy cold with rage. I said again this was nothing to do with us and asked him to leave. He refused. He was clearly power tripping. I got his ID off him, to check he was who he said he was, then called 999 in front of him, saying a man had broken into my house and was refusing to leave and he was trying to steal our stuff and he had someone else with him (who, interestingly, didn't come in). He obviously thought I was bluffing and had just pretended to make a call or was calling a mate, pretending they were the police. All the time he was talking to me like I was the debtor. I have a phone with a record button which at some point I pressed.

The police came straight away, so quickly in fact (only about 5 minutes) that I thought they must have been sitting around the corner having a cuppa. They asked the guy to come outside, but he refused saying he was an officer of the court and we had had plenty of time to comply and now he had no choice but to seize our goods. They asked him to step outside again and when he didn't move said if he didn't come outside they would have no choice but to arrest him.

He then went downstairs with one of the cops while the other one stayed behind and took a statement.

sounds unpleasant! Did you try to show him an ID document such as driving licence or perhaps your tenancy agreement to prove that they had the wrong person? Did you hear back from the police afterwards ?