Bailiffs coming for old homeowner

muhandis

Hi,

Apologies if this is the wrong thread.

We bought our house from the Jones (not the real name) family about 3 years ago. They never redirected their mail so for the next few months we got many letters in the names of the parents and their sons. We religiously RTS’d all these letters, they thinned down over time and after a year we were only getting letters addressed to one of the sons (say Mike). We kept getting 1-2 letters a week in his name inspite of sending everything back to the sender.

One fine day when I got back from work, my car had a bailiff notice on it in Mike’s name saying it might be taken away. After a difficult phone call with the bailiff where he was asking me to send all sorts of personal stuff to prove Mike no longer lived there, he finally accepted what I said.

I opened the next few letters addressed to Mike (I know, that’s probably an offence but I didn’t have any choice) and as expected they were all to do with unpaid debt, fines, business loans, etc. It looks like he owes money to councils, banks and a government firm and all the letters I saw were from debt collectors so they were all probably old debts.

Over the next few months, the number of Bailiffs knocking on our doors, putting letters through the door and sticking things on cars on the driveway has gone up and this is leading to lots of stress for the rest of my family. The letters keep coming.

What can I do? Can I open letters and call the numbers contained therein to explain that Mike no longer lives here? I’m worried because of any legal ramifications of opening letters addressed to someone else. I’m hoping if I do this I can stop it before it gets to a bailiff at my door.

And will this affect the credit rating of me and my family who now live at this address?

I emailed the family a while ago but they never responded.

Any advice would be helpful.

Just to be clear, I’m not judging Mike on his unpaid debts, I don’t know the background to why they got to this stage. I never saw or interacted with him during the purchase process so he might not be living with the family (who were very nice).

D_M_E

Not your problem, not your debt.

Do not let anyone in unless you know who it is.

Put "Not known nor ever lived at this address return to sender" on every envelope and put back in post.

Had this problem years ago until finally bailiffs turned up at the door - showed them proof of purchase and proof of ID and they went away never to be seen again.

Mojisola

muhandis wrote: »

I opened the next few letters addressed to Mike (I know, that’s probably an offence but I didn’t have any choice)

Don't worry - it isn't.

Over the next few months, the number of Bailiffs knocking on our doors, putting letters through the door and sticking things on cars on the driveway has gone up and this is leading to lots of stress for the rest of my family. The letters keep coming.

What can I do? Can I open letters and call the numbers contained therein to explain that Mike no longer lives here?

As sending the letters back hasn't stopped the demands, it's worth a try.

muhandis

Unfortunately, it isn't just the odd 1-2 debts being collected so the bailiffs keep coming. I myself wouldn't be too bothered but I'm away on work often and their visits can be really stressful to others in the family who don't know why they're coming.

D_M_E wrote: »

Not your problem, not your debt.

Do not let anyone in unless you know who it is.

Put "Not known nor ever lived at this address return to sender" on every envelope and put back in post.

Had this problem years ago until finally bailiffs turned up at the door - showed them proof of purchase and proof of ID and they went away never to be seen again.

elsien

It's ok to open letters as long as you're not planning to do anything fraudulent with them.
In the past I have opened letters and contacted the sender. Clearly they can't give you any information about the person at all but they can decide what you tell them about no longer living there for future reference.

The postal services act says: “A person commits an offence if, intending to act to a person’s detriment and without reasonable excuse, he opens a postal packet which he knows or reasonably suspects has been incorrectly delivered to him.”

I'd say in the circumstances you have reasonable excuse.

sourcrates

muhandis wrote: »

What can I do? Can I open letters and call the numbers contained therein to explain that Mike no longer lives here? I’m worried because of any legal ramifications of opening letters addressed to someone else.

And will this affect the credit rating of me and my family who now live at this address?

Any advice would be helpful.

Hi,


I would certainly take a "proactive approach" to this, open the letters, write to the companies concerned, explain the debtor has moved, and that they are to consider your letter as legal notice of such.

Ask for written conformation that your address will be removed from there records permanently.

If they fail to do so, report them to the FOS, the ICO, and the FCA, and confirm you will seek substantial recompense for your trouble.

As for credit files, this will only affect the named person, ie, the debtor, debt is not tied to any particular address, only to the named individual.