Stopping debt collector letters - previous homeowner

rog2

Hi tameruk

It would appear that it IS a Six year period for Northern Ireland, as defined in the 'Limitation Northern Ireland) Order 1989, which can be viewed on the following link:

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1989/Uksi_19891339_en_3.htm

Hope this helps.

tameruk

Thanks rog and msmicawber, that's great info!

Her son has moved out a while ago (into rented accomodation) but i'm not sure what address they would use to bring about a CCJ - he has not left a forwarding address and doesn't have the new address in his name. I think he still gets all his mobile phone bills sent to his mums address, but does this mean that's his "home" address?

I would imagine that your home address is the address registered in the electoral roll?

In saying that, when i recently did a credit check on myself it came up with all my addresses as recorded by banks and any direct debits i have had over the years with the respective addresses at that time.


I found this website which seems to be the route to take for companies trying to retrieve debts in NI: http://www.courtsni.gov.uk/en-GB/Services/Enforcement+of+Judgments+Office/

The "Enforcement Orders" section details what measures they can take to recover the money, but am i right in assuming they need to obtain a CCJ before this happens?

Sorry for hijacking the thread, btw - maybe i should take this into the NI forum!?

rog2

tameruk wrote: »

I found this website which seems to be the route to take for companies trying to retrieve debts in NI: http://www.courtsni.gov.uk/en-GB/Services/Enforcement+of+Judgments+Office/

The "Enforcement Orders" section details what measures they can take to recover the money, but am i right in assuming they need to obtain a CCJ before this happens?

Sorry for hijacking the thread, btw - maybe i should take this into the NI forum!?

A good website, tameruk. Yes they can ONLY take action after a Court Judgement Order has been obtained.

I didn't even know there was a Northern Ireland Forum. You are most welcome here.

bjblackmore

Hi,

I've just read this thread with much interest.

We moved into our house in Dec 03, and we've had numerous letters from Debt Collectors for a previous owner. There were missed payments for sky, a car, and other items. At first we opened some of them and got in contact with the DCAs to let them know the previous owner had moved away, as we were worried bailiffs might suddenly appear. But they kept sending the letters, and after a while we just started sticking the letters back in the post with 'Return to sender - addressee no longer lives at this address' on the front.

However we had one today, and for some reason I decided to hold it up to the light, and try to read the letter, I could see that it said something along the lines of 'trace confirmed - we have confirmation that you are resident at the above address, and we are in the process of aquiring a court order' or something along those lines. This is surprising, because even I know how to use different sites on the web to look up an address, so I would have expected them to be able to do this!

So I'm now wondering what I should do? Ignore it, and stick it back in the post, or open it, and phone them telling them the addressee no longer lives here? To be honest, I don't see why I should spend any time or money running around trying to sort out someone elses problem. But I don't want to find that the bailiffs have arrived while we've been out to work, and tried to get in. Especially as my other halfs lilttle sister sometimes pops over to ours to visit our dogs while we're out. I don't know how she would handle a bailiff arriving on the door step and demanding to take stuff away! She might let them in, or they might try and push their way in.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Ben

bjblackmore

I decided to phone the DCA and tell them the addressee was no longer resident. I said I thought it was odd that the letter said they 'had confirmation that the addressee lived at the address' the DCA guy said that it might be a case of the previous owner STILL using our address to get credit. How is this possible? Surely there are proper checks inplace? Is there anyway to block, or make it harder for a previous owners to use our address?