last occupant problem debt

beranabus

have received mail for last occupant relating to a debt they owe have had a few letters about this debt and have always phoned the no. on the letters to let them know that the person no longer lives here been told many times that the records would be marked with this info and yesterday received an instruction to summons no contact no. am now worried I will get a visit from a bailiff for a debt that is not mine what can I do if anything to avoid such a visit

any suggestions welcome thanks :beer:

**Amy**

Hi

I would send a letter to the debt collectors stating what you have said above.

I would also send a letter to the court (if it is a court summons) and let them know exactly the same thing.

Its better to have it in writing. Is there any way you can forward the letters to the previous occupier?

x

RAS

Hi

First off, if the bailiffs do turn up, then just show then your ID and rental agreement and they will go away. if not, call the police.

What I would recommend is that you write to the address on the letters you have been sewnt previously outlining the above.

Advise them that they have been informed x times about this already. That under OFT Guidelines they are pursuing repeatedly contacting the wrong person and this now constitutes haressment.

Under the Data Protection Act, they are in breech becuase they have reapeatedly failed to update their records and continued to apps information to you about someone elses debt.

Advise them that unless you receive confirmation in writing within 14 days that they have removed all reference to you, your address (and telephone number) from their database and confirm that you will not receive any further correspondenece, nor will they sell the inforation to any other DCA, you will be in touch with Trading Standards, The OFt and the Information Commisioner.

Cleosmum

You really need to stop opening the post and just keep returning to sender, not known at this address.

beranabus

thanks everyone :T

McKneff

You maybe dont realise that is actually a criminal offence to open any
post that bears someone elses name.

beranabus

I used the wrong quote only just noticed I was tryin to quote what anniehanlon had said


I do know about this but have received a lot of mail for these people over the course of 19 months and considered that some of the post may relate to debts owed by them and so opened them with a veiw to contacting the companys involved because I was concerned about debt collection agents and the hassle of dealing with them I thought I was being proactive in alerting the companys about the situation I have shredded all the letters after contact with the companys involved and have no interest in what is contained within the letters my intension is only to stop the mail and any action being considered by the companys involved
thanks

Incisor

anniehanlon wrote: »

You maybe dont realise that is actually a criminal offence to open any
post that bears someone elses name.

That old chestnut. Time and time again. The only laws people quote refer to post in transmission. Once it is through the letterbox, as long as the address is correct, it has been delivered, so the laws relating to post in transmission don't apply.

amiijoanne

I have had a similar problem with the previous tenants of our flat. We were lucky that the landlord warned us (they owed him thousands in rent!) about them so we had a fair idea that any post for them would be chasing debts. We just return any post for the previous tenants to it's sender.

We have had a couple of cards through the door in the past couple of years from debt collection agencies, but usually a phone call to them is enough. On one occasion we were asked to fax them a copy of our tenancy agreement to prove we were the new tenants. We haven't heard from that agency again.

The letters are now much fewer.

beranabus

Incisor wrote: »

That old chestnut. Time and time again. The only laws people quote refer to post in transmission. Once it is through the letterbox, as long as the address is correct, it has been delivered, so the laws relating to post in transmission don't apply.

thanks for that its something to remember :beer:

TotallyBroke

I had a similar problem. What I did was blutack my council tax bill to the front door. So when the baliffs did arrive I showed them the bill. I didn't have to go and find it and therefore they couldn't get their foot in the door. As once they do it's very hard to stop them from doing it again.