Previous tenant hasn't paid bills! - What effect on my credit rating?

liverpoolguy

Hello one and all,

I have been renting an apartment for 3 months now and have had several bills and letters for her all of which I have passed on. I got another letter for her today and I decided to open it.

The letter was from LCS Civil Enforcement (A debt collection agency) and apparently she owes over £500 for the electricity. I suspect she may also owe the water board and this could be on its way to going to a debt collection agency.

My concern is that I am looking to buy a house and get a mortgage in about 5 months time. How will this affect me? And if it will affect me what can I do? It seems massively unfair if a previous tenant not paying their bills is going to affect my ability to buy my own house.

Please help!!! I am worried!!

Fran

david29dpo

Stop worrying. It will not affect you. Tell all the people who are asking for money that the person no longer lives there.

free4440273

as the person above rightly says, it's not your problem to worry about - the letters aren't even addressed to you. forget about it. this is a dispute between the debt collectors and the named individual.

liverpoolguy

But people talk about their address being blacklisted??

Surely if it goes to a CCJ it will affect MY credit rating as the letters are being sent here.

No??

sarah_elton

Addresses are no longer blacklisted, there's no such thing these days.

It will be affecting his credit rating - people have credit ratings, not residences.

A previous person at my flat had debts. I've lived here 18 months and still get threatening letters from debt collectors/bailiffs. Just phone them up and say you have no idea who the person is or how to contact them. They're well used to it and should then stop bothering you.

david29dpo

.......and if they dont stop bothering you, sue!

Saffy111

I'm in exactly the same situation as Liverpool Guy. I bought my first house in Feb 2007, and have had several bailiff visits pursuing old debts from a tenant who previously rented my new flat. I found the bailiffs to be far more reasonable than I expected, and we were able to sort it out very quickly. However I received a letter for the same tenant a couple of days ago from a company demanding immediate payment of a bill otherwise they will be taken to court. I rang them to let them know she hadn't lived here for over 2 and a half years, and cannot believe how outrageous they were. In a 20 minute call I was constantly called the tenant's name, told that to correct the situation they would need the bill settled (very carefully worded so they didn't say I had to pay it, but the tone certainly suggested otherwise), and then told that they would be taking the case to court and registering my address, stating that I would be blacklisted.

This came from both individuals I spoke to at the company and cannot believe they were so threatening. If they do not have the power to impact on my credit rating at all, then why would they be able to say they can? Now they want photocopies of my proof of ownership to prove I'm not the person owing the money.

Please, does anyone have any legal understanding of my position and rights here??

happybroker

you have to wonder they would say they can impact on your credit rating when they absolutely cannot.

As you can probably imagine they will get people spinning them all sorts of yarns to try to avoid paying but such strong arm tactics are not acceptable. If it were me I would ignore them and return any correspondence as "not known at this address for 2.5 years".

Try not to worry, there is nothing they can do to you.

Saffy111

Thanks happybroker, that's a bit more reassuring. And thanks for responding so quickly too.

What does concern me though it that I was recently turned down for a loan, despite Experian rating me with an Excellent credit rating. I'm trying not to worry about it, but for HFO to tell me they are starting litigation proceedings against the previous tenant based on her still residing at my new address, and the recent loan refusal, I can't help but wonder if this is a knock on effect...

Natty082

I went through this about 4 years ago.

I got letters for a man quite frequently and always sent them back with 'no longer at this address on'. I got more and more so I openend one (yes I know this isn't allowed) and called the company... they did not believe the man who the letters where for did not live at my address (I lived on my own), I sent lots of letters and told them to check the electrol roll and they would not give in!

I even got letter for the 'occupier' saying there was a package that was unable to be delivered, and when I called it was always a debt collection agency for him.

Turned out he rented the property before I bought it and was there a massive 6 weeks. In this time he got 2 credit cards and a loan - I have no idea how!

In the end I sent letters threatening them with legal action for harrasment and entrapment because of the 'owner' letters... one compnay stopped sending letters (I was amazed my letter worked!), the other company just passed the debt on. I moved out 4 years ago and had no problem with credit scoring when I got my new mortgage. It wasn't even mentioned abut the debts so I really don't think they are listed on the property... just the person!

Saffy111

Thanks Natty, that's really helpful to know too.

I always send the letters back to sender, but after 18 months (clearly I'm less patient than you!) I opened this one and I'm regretting it hugely now!

I'm still slightly concerned about why I was refused for a loan, but that's the least of my worries as I've managed to work around getting one at all now, which is even better.

I may speak to Citizens Advice about it as they're just next door to my flat, but I do feel a lot calmer now, so thank you everyone!