New House, Old Tenants Debt and Item Issues

Slickjon18

Hi everybody

We moved into our new house a month ago and it turns out the previous owners were in debt to numerous company's, we are receiving lots of letters (haven't opened them, just googled the return address) they haven't even put a mail re-direction in place, however, we paid a couple of thousand more when buying the house so that they would leave things like the cooker,fridge freezer,sofa...etc

One of the letters we keep having put through our door is from DFS, the old owners left us two lovely leather sofas.

The Question is could the bailiffs take the sofas?,I have evidence that they were included in the house sale

Any Help Appreciated

Sholly

Surely the bailiffs couldn't even come into your house - you'd just have to show a council tax bill or similar to prove who you are

CIS

One of the letters we keep having put through our door is from DFS, the old owners left us two lovely leather sofas.

If they were on hire purchase and haven't been paid for in full by the previous ownets then DFS still own them ! (if it was on a credit agreement then they may in some cases be able to re-claim the goods in lieu of payment) What else hasn't been paid for...

Craig

Linky88

Hi
ive never had a run in with any debt management companys so i was basing it on car finance and if you buy a car that has finance left to pay, its not yours its the finace companys and will be repossessed

Does this not apply to the sofas and anything else i dont know about that they havent paid for

Linky88

Hi Craig
They left a few other stuff dishwasher, kitchen table, they have letters coming through from bright house, aqua card the list never ends

fatbelly

I'd start opening the letters from DFS and Brighthouse - probably send the rest back 'no longer at this address'

You do need to find out whether you own the items you 'bought'. If they were on hire purchase or lease hire then they belong to the lender. Whether they need a court order to repossess them would depend on how much has been paid and that is info you might get from the letters.

blisteringblue

Plus the previous owners have actually sold things they don't own, your solicitors will have their details so although it is a hassle it can all be sent back up the chain to them.

CIS

I bet they were keen to accept the money for the furniture...

Craig

nkkingston

If they've sold you items they don't own, Brighthouse et al are going to take a very dim view of that. Whether they take them back may depend on what they can get off the original owners. Do you have a forwarding address for the previous owners, or do your solicitors? Call your solicitors and let them know, anyway. They'll certainly have opinions about this!

Sanctioned_Parts_List

Would it be worth copying this thread to the House Buying and Selling board? I've got alarm bells ringing that, since items were included in the sale that potentially don't belong to the seller, vacant possession of the property was actually not given, and the result of that is never good... but I'm not sufficiently well-read on the subject to know whether it's a false alarm or not.

Slickjon18

Hi everybody
I have contacted the solicitor they used for the house sale. They were not willing to disclose any information regarding there new address, even when I told her I had more than a handful of mail for them, which i guessed would happen, data protection and all.They wernt willing to forward any onto them either.

I tried to trick the estate agent into disclosing there new address as we had a friendly relationship but even they didn't know where there new address was

I have a mobile number which they dont answer, even when I ring from a different phone

The surnames on the mail alters from what i presume is a maiden name to her current surname to a name that nobody not even her neighbours have heard of.

I have another debt collection company sending letters for her daughters boyfriend/husband on top of all of there mail

Im sending them all back and informing some of the company's that are coming through But when i was told by one bank that they couldn't stop sending the mail to me as they couldn't delete the current address they had listed until they had a new one to input, I blew up and told them over the recorded phone call "This conversation is me informing you that your client no longer lives here and that any further mail will be thrown in the bin", he just accepted it and didn't seem that bothered

They seemed a nice couple when we were going through one hell of a nightmare house transaction, i wont go into the problems weve had with the house since moving in.