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Receiving debt collection letters for previous owner

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Comments

  • badmemory said:
    They pay very little attention to return to sender gone away etc, because the people who owe the debts do that too.  It is only when someone turns up & you prove your identity that they seem to pay any attention.
    That’s very true.   I worked in lettings for many years and we came across this problem occasionally.  One tenant came in the office and complained that his phone calls and returned letters were having no effect on the bailiffs.  I phone them myself and faxed them a letter with our headed paper.  This seemed to do the trick.  
  • TheJP
    TheJP Posts: 1,880 Forumite
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    GrumpyDil said:
    TheJP said:
    Hoenir said:
    Keep returning to sender as soon as the post is received. Will take some time for the mail to finally stop.
    No such thing as return to sender, Royal Mail just bin these. They can barely deliver letters as is. Nothing to worry about and yes its an annoyance but at some point they will flag the new correspondence for the previous owner.
    Not true as we get quite large volumes of returned mail where I work. 
    Unless it has a return address then its in the bin. Looking at RM website they state that a small percentage of mail is returned to sender. 
  • TheJP
    TheJP Posts: 1,880 Forumite
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    Hoenir said:
    TheJP said:
    Hoenir said:
    Keep returning to sender as soon as the post is received. Will take some time for the mail to finally stop.
    No such thing as return to sender, Royal Mail just bin these. They can barely deliver letters as is. Nothing to worry about and yes its an annoyance but at some point they will flag the new correspondence for the previous owner.
    Envelopes have a return address for a reason. 
    Not all do.
  • theartfullodger
    theartfullodger Posts: 15,417 Forumite
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    edited 17 December 2023 pm31 4:47PM
    user1977 said:
    ....... Nobody's going to be entering your property. ....
    Don't you believe it.  Had gas company threaten to come and change meter - and they do break in.

    Not to mention the police or burglars, both groups break in. (some say there are other similarities.....)
  • robatwork
    robatwork Posts: 7,235 Forumite
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    Not exactly advice but something I learnt having moved into the previous house of some interesting characters 5 years ago. One of them still gets letters today from the debt agency regarding a Barclaycard debt of a few thousand pounds. Dire warnings of "next step is legal action", then a letter with an offer to halve the debt. Then another threat. Ad infinitum. 

    There used to be loads of letters, all of which were dutifully RTS, a few were called. But this one wastes postage - must have sent 50 letters over the years threatening legal action or discounts. Guess it's easier than actually trying to find the debtor or taking him to court.

    The only entity that actually followed through on their legal threats was the local council, who got a judgement, hence the bailiff. He was pleasant and reasonable once situation was explained, and sauntered off with just a clipboard in his hand.
  • As said above I also had this issue with unpaid parking fines for the previous owner along with a lot of other debts. The bailiffs eventually turned up I didn't answer the door but showed my council tax bill through the window and they left. This was about 12 months ago and I've not had anything since.
  • robatwork
    robatwork Posts: 7,235 Forumite
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    Bailiffs don't seem to be anything to worry about if you genuinely don't owe money. Seems all the noise about "don't let the buggers get their foot in the door else they'll rob ya blind" comes from those who do.
  • theartfullodger
    theartfullodger Posts: 15,417 Forumite
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    edited 20 December 2023 pm31 4:45PM
    I had a couple of (my) houses I lived in after tenants moved out.  Loads of such letters.  I wasn't bothered and was looking forward to some clown turning up demanding money with menaces.: My (childish) plan was to see how long I could keep them arguing (would have 'phoned the Police if it ever got out of hand). Never happened, sadly.
  • macman
    macman Posts: 53,128 Forumite
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    user1977 said:
    ....... Nobody's going to be entering your property. ....
    Don't you believe it.  Had gas company threaten to come and change meter - and they do break in.

    Not to mention the police or burglars, both groups break in. (some say there are other similarities.....)
    An energy supplier is not a bailiff. They can apply for a warrant of entry, which is not 'breaking in'. It's lawful forced entry.
    But a bailiff armed with a CCJ cannot force entry to a residential property to seize goods. They can only enter if invited, or through an unlocked door or window.
    Totally different scenarios.
    No free lunch, and no free laptop ;)
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