Previous owners have lots of unpaid debts !!! -Really !!!!ed OFF

Lavendyr

MABLE wrote: »

You really are being a drame queen over this. It was not your mail and all you had to do is write on it *return to sender addressee gone away*.

End of story.

Not everyone is aware that credit is linked to person, not address, and honestly having been in a situation where bailiffs and debt collectors were coming around every fortnight after the previous occupant of a home I lived in recently, it can be scary. Nor do all debt collection agencies pay attention to letters returned marked "gone away", sadly enough. There was absolutely no need for such an impolite post.

To the OP, I would recommend you open the letters (as others point out, it is only illegal if you are planning to do something naughty with them), then contact each sender by phone and follow up with letter to tell them that the person they are writing to no longer resides at your address. If you have a forwarding address or any contact details for the previous occupant, you may like to give this as well.

Should a debt collector or bailiff turn up, even though it is not your debt, do not let them in, as some less scrupulous types may try to have you believe they can take your things in place of the debtor (which they CANNOT, for reference). Your council tax bill is good enough proof that you are the new and only occupant/s, so you can wave that at them if they want to see proof. But no debt collector has any power in this situation, you are not the debtor and they cannot take anything from you, so don't worry!

As an aside, if you're really worried about any financial link with your address (though there should not be one) you can always get a copy of your credit reports (Experian, Equifax, CreditCall) to be on the very safe side - anything odd will show up on one of these.

withabix

You don't need to prove anything to a debt collector or bailiff who calls at your door.

It's up to them to prove that you are the person they are looking for.

If they keep coming back, report them to the Police for harrassment.

If a bailiff calls at your door looking for a previous occupant, they haven't done theirt research properly in the first place.

Canucklehead

Good morning: From the Postal Services Act 2000 ... http://www.opsi.gov.uk/ACTS/acts2000/ukpga_20000026_en_8#pt5-pb1-l1g84

...whether this has ever been enforced in regard to the OP's type of situtation is unknown.

We've gone through the same as OP at a previous home plus in our current property the added bonus of debt collectors' phonecalls, all hours of the day, for 2 years...had the misfortune to inherit our phone number from a dodgy/skanky family who hadn't lived at this address. BT couldn't do anything other than change our phone number...problem was this number appeared on all my OH's business related registrations, stationery etc. We thought the debt collectors finally got the message by Christmas 2007 but have 2 phonecalls this week from the latest crew.:mad: We're moving in the summer and getting a new number in the process, hopefully not another one with a murky past;)

HTH

Canucklehead

sillyvixen

please open these letters and contact the agencies (i have been doing this for 18 months for letters for a mr p who lived at my address over 4 years ago and i've yet to be arrested!) as sending them back 'gone away' wont work. if you are hiding from debt you are likely to pretend your not at the address and send letters back! if you dont contact the companies the previous people owe money to they will eventually send baliffs!

Doozergirl

We'd have a terrible credit rating if it were linked to the addresses we've owned. In fact it's quite the opposite

Don't worry about that.

benb76

withabix wrote: »

You don't need to prove anything to a debt collector or bailiff who calls at your door.

It's up to them to prove that you are the person they are looking for.

If they keep coming back, report them to the Police for harrassment.

or save yourself (and the police) the hassle and just show the bailiff your passport to prove you're not the person they want

msmicawber

Try not to worry about it, OP. As other posters have said, where possible, open the letters and contact the credit agencies. If anyone turns up, just tell them that the debtor no longer lives there and you don't know where they do live. I moved into a house where the previous tenants had been evicted and had loads of debts so I kept returning mail with 'Gone away' written on it. Most mail stopped, but some creditors were more persistent so I rang them up and told them I was the current tenant and they apologised and stopped hassling me. The same with the phone calls and the bailiffs. I must say everyone was very polite and reasonable.

Zebedee69

Just send back the letters "return to sender not at this address"..... Simple they will soon realise the person they are looking for just aint there.

clutton_2

"""return to sender not at this address" - but this is what debtors do - so when the Creditors get letters back with this on the envelope they invariably assume it is the debtor themselves who has sent them back "pretending" to have moved. open them and ring up - and if there are 0870 numbers look on https://www.saynoto0870.co.uk to see if you can find a normal landline number.

gemma.zhang

Thank you guys all.. really appreciate your advice and help.. i can now have piece of mind.. :-D.. well for now.. hopefully.