Being Mailed By Wescot For A Debt I Don't Owe!

[Daffy Duck]

Right, keep it short and sweet I think.

 

I've moved into a property that's owned by the council. I'm now getting red letters from Wescot that are addressed to a previous tenant because there is a debt of over £450 for the water company to the address.

 

When I contacted the water company to set a new account set up in the first week, I was informed about the debt but made clear that it was absolutely nothing to do with me.

 

Two months down the line, a red headed letter came about the debt. Phoned the water company up and the agent on the phone said I could ignore said letter.

 

Now a final notice has arrived stating in a nutshell, pay us now or we'll send a debt collector round or see you in court.

 

The previous tenant had correspondence from various companies (that I'm now receiving) for various things that should have ideally been stopped before they left - Child Fund details, Cash ISAs, even Tesco Clubcard vouchers and statements. I've sent all of this stuff back or notified the companies in question. I have no contact details for the tenant as it's a council property.

 

So basically, I owe the water company nothing. If anything, it's in credit. Everything else is in credit, rent, power, gas and council tax. Therefore how do I get Wescot out of my mailbox, so to speak, and stop mailing me for a debt that's to the previous tenant, please?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Mr lex]

Hi Daffy,

 

Welcome to the Consumer Action Group

 

Ringing Creditors/DCA's is never a good idea.

 

Best thing to do is send this letter :-

 

http://www.consumerforums.com/resources/templates-library/86-debt-collectors/573-general-debt-letter-if-you-know-nothing-of-the-debt

 

Remember to inclued the date you moved into the property.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Lex

[cerberusalert]

Return the letters unopened marked 'Not Known At This Address' you could add a note telling them to contact your Housing Officer + Tel No. for further details & let them deal with it.

[Daffy Duck]

Thanks to the two contributors, very much appreciated.

 

I will send the template letter off to Wescot and hopefully this will be the end of the issue. I will update the post as and when I have an update.

[Drexl Spivey]

Worse comes to the worse , you'lll get a letter through the door for a court summons . Naming the previous occupier . Nothing to do with you.

[fuzzybobble]

The previous tenants of where I now live did a runner owing around £35k on loans, catalogues, etc. They had had their mail held at the Royal Mail delivery office for 3 months and told me they were moving to Spain. 3 months later a huge pile of around 300 letters lands on the doormat. I used to get 4-8 DCA letters a week and in the end I just sent them back as, "Not at this address, left in october 2001."

 

9 Years later and I still get occasional letters for them, from the bottom pondlife DCA's like Lowells and Wescot, etc. (I can tell without opening them, as I have experienced most DCA's over the last 3 years, and can spot their begging letters a mile off.

 

But no hassle myself as a result of the old tenants. Just send any letters back. You could even give the letters to your postman and explain that the person it's addressed to doesn't live here anymore. Then in future they will automatically return the letters to the sender for you at the local mail sorting office.