Letter from Debt Collection agency for previous tenant

minibreadstick

Hello

I really don't know where to post this so apologies if it's the wrong section.

I have received a letter for a previous tenant in the property I'm renting from a Debt collection agency (I have googled the return address). Two months ago we had bailiffs at our door for this previous tenant. We were able to give them the info they needed to prove that we know nothing of this person (or so they told us). So I'm guessing this is another debt.

How do I stop this matter getting to bailiffs again?

Prior to the bailiffs coming before, I was getting letters for this tenant from a debt collection agency and I just returned them to sender- it didn't stop them escalating the debt. So I'm hoping there are some other steps I can take as I don't want bailiffs around again.
Many thanks in advance

[Deleted User]

Return the letters to send - addressee unknown. They will eventually fizzle out.

sourcrates

Not a lot else you can do.

If they call for the previous tenent, you just show your ID.

Not ideal, but that’s all you can do.

minibreadstick

am i allowed to open the letter to get more precise contact details and then phone them to tell them? or is that pointless? thank you for your replies.

tenchy

sourcrates wrote: »

Not a lot else you can do.

If they call for the previous tenent, you just show your ID.

Not ideal, but that’s all you can do.

So some low life turns up on your doorstep demanding to know who you are and you show them "ID"? I think not.


Here's the correct response:


Debt collector: "We are looking for Mr Smith, is that you"?
You: "No".
Debt collector: "Can you prove that".
You: "No. He doesn't live here, now leave my property and do not come back again".

cjmillsnun

The problem with that is that the debt collector will keep coming back because the defaulter would likely say the same thing. I personally would ask for the Debt collector’s registered office address before sending them away and write to them stating that you live there now and that you don’t have any forwarding details for the previous tenants/owners and that they should not disturb you again.

StopIt

tenchy wrote: »

So some low life turns up on your doorstep demanding to know who you are and you show them "ID"? I think not.


Here's the correct response:


Debt collector: "We are looking for Mr Smith, is that you"?
You: "No".
Debt collector: "Can you prove that".
You: "No. He doesn't live here, now leave my property and do not come back again".

Change DCA to Court Bailiff and you'll have to show ID then.


The "You've got the wrong guy guv" defence is pretty transparent after all! If you're not the debtor there is no harm in showing proof to get the DCA to go away, and the chances of a DCA sending a collector to the door is pretty slim to begin with.

tenchy

StopIt wrote: »

Change DCA to Court Bailiff and you'll have to show ID then.


The "You've got the wrong guy guv" defence is pretty transparent after all! If you're not the debtor there is no harm in showing proof to get the DCA to go away, and the chances of a DCA sending a collector to the door is pretty slim to begin with.

Although the poster mentioned bailiffs it sounds more like debt collectors. And the highlighted bit above is not true. We don't have ID cards in this country. No one can demand you prove who you are. Court bailiffs need a warrant, and this should only be available if there's some evidence that the person they're looking for actually resides at the address.

StopIt

tenchy wrote: »

Although the poster mentioned bailiffs it sounds more like debt collectors. And the highlighted bit above is not true. We don't have ID cards in this country. No one can demand you prove who you are. Court bailiffs need a warrant, and this should only be available if there's some evidence that the person they're looking for actually resides at the address.

Which a court judgement will be, of course.


In the absence of proof the person named on a CCJ is not at the address on record, it is not unreasonable to assume the burden of proof is to show that to be incorrect.


It's not proving who you are technically, it's proving who you are not. I mean sure, you can push things to the letter of the law if you want as is your right, or, you could just show you're not the person who they want, say they've left the property and get them to look elsewhere.

atolaas

I had this problem when I moved into my current property in 2013. The thing is that so long as the debt is outstanding the debt can get sold from one debt collection agency to another. I've opened the letters and got in touch the debt collectors directly and explained that the tenant that they are after no longer lives here. I now get the odd letter once every 6 months or so, rather than 2/3 a week!!!

System

tenchy wrote: »

Although the poster mentioned bailiffs it sounds more like debt collectors. And the highlighted bit above is not true. We don't have ID cards in this country. No one can demand you prove who you are.

That's fine. The flip side of that is that the person asking then doesn't have to believe you are who you say they are and not the person they're looking for. For the purposes of stopping debt collectors turning up being one of those "law of the land" mental nutjobs you see making videos on Ebay doesn't get you anywhere.