Help! The baillifs been round!

Sofa_Sogood

Xbigman wrote:

Never, ever invite them in. Shut the door and make them wait outside whilst you get any paperwork you need.

If you know a bailif might call then have your driving licence or utility bills handy to show them and it will be all over.
Regards

X

Can I just second Xbigman's post?

Let them in once and it's 'open door' time in my experience. As far as I know, once you've let them in, you can't refuse to let them in a 2nd time etc etc.

But good luck too_many_details ... it sounds like a real headache.

too_many_details

Looking over the hand-delivered letter last night it stated that the bailiff could come to the house and take away the car!!!

I guess my anger at having to sort out this mess that i did not create will back fire on me unless i swallow my pride and deal with it.

Thanks for your advice guys,

Rakesh

Maisie

bernardh wrote:

We had this problem too when we moved into one flat.It seems the previous bloke was a builder who took deposits for work and never did it.Took ages before collectors/police stopped calling.
Later,I saw him and his family on Watchdog or similar moaning that his holiday in the canaries wasn`t good enough.

Hope you reported who he was when you saw him on Watchdog bernardH.

These kind of people shouldn't be able to get away with their dirty dealings and defrauding innocent people.

withabix

too_many_details wrote:

Looking over the hand-delivered letter last night it stated that the bailiff could come to the house and take away the car!!!

I guess my anger at having to sort out this mess that i did not create will back fire on me unless i swallow my pride and deal with it.

Thanks for your advice guys,

Rakesh

I'd tell him to swivel when he comes to take your car. Then get him arrested for theft and aggravated vehicle taking. That should sort it out very quickly.

There is NO reason why you should have to prove ANYTHING to a bailiff if they're not actually looking for you.

Sofa_Sogood

too_many_details wrote:

Looking over the hand-delivered letter last night it stated that the bailiff could come to the house and take away the car!!!

I guess my anger at having to sort out this mess that i did not create will back fire on me unless i swallow my pride and deal with it.

Thanks for your advice guys,

Rakesh

Until it's sorted out, and the bailiffs are satisfied that they've made a mistake, I'd seriously think about parking your car somewhere else.

Some of these fools act first and think later.

Good luck.

gingercordial

I've had this at two different flats (that's the trouble with living in a different "student" flat every year in London!).

The first time I let them come in and showed them my tenancy agreement. Didn't realise back then that you weren't supposed to let them in! They never came back.

The second time I didn't answer the door (because I could see from the window that it was a man I didn't know and I was alone, and don't think he could hear me on the intercom) but I called the mobile number on the letter he left and told him to go to my letting agent's office round the corner. They told me later he'd called them and they'd confirmed that the person they were after had never lived in the flat.

At that last place we had loads of letters for previous residents, not sure what they'd been up to but we literally had a big cardboard box in the hall for mail that wasn't for anyone who still lived in the 3 flats and it was FULL of baliff letters. Quite worrying but the sheer volume meant there was nothing we could do except occasionally give the letting agent a carrier bag full! Thankfully it never seemed to impact my credit rating but I'm glad we've left now.

Mind you, we get the occasional letter at our new place addressed to a company, must do something about that soon!

newfoundglory

too_many_details wrote:

...and I don't have any debt!!!

I just bought a house a month ago. Turns out the bailiffs are after a previous occupant for non payment of traffic charges.

Spoke to the bailiff just now by phone but he says its down to me to prove who i am and so not the person he's looking for (which is weird becuase he's not looking for a person but a company).

He says he will come around at some point - he left a letter through the door today and my wife saw it and was really upset. I don't want him to come round - we arent even there much as we are living between two houses.

What can I do? Whay is the onus on me to sort it out? Can't the bailliff just ask for the electrol register or something and find out the property has changed hands?

I don't know which has the responsibilty to prove what is and what isn't, but I do believe they are breaking the law... and again, like most campanies you can get them under the Data Protection Act on this I think. When pointing out to them you are not connected to the people they are looking for you should mention a few things.

You need to write them a letter - you should point out to them that you believe they are in breach of the Data Protection Act, principles 3 and 4 (basically says data must be relevant and data must also be accurate). If the data they hold is not accurate then they are in breach of the DPA (this is bad!)

You should ask them to (basically) get thier act together (its THEIR problem to fix this, and ensure their data is correct - not yours!), and say that unless they do by a specified date you will ask the Information Comissioner (http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk/) to make a ruling on this. Any letters about data protection should be addressed to the data protection manager of the company, and definitely send them by recorded delivery!

If they KEEP bothering you, then also point out in the letter that the DPA actually covers for compensation in these cases, and that you will be in contact with them to seek suitable conpensation for any worry, trouble/inconvenience they have caused.

A theat of getting the Information Comissioner to investigate this company would usually be enough to make them stand up and take notice rather than ignore you. If they ignore you, then report them!