Letter from UKSearch Ltd. Southern water debt

[Pickles18]

Hello there,

 

I have received a letter today from a company called UK Search Ltd. referring to a property I lived in 8 years ago saying I have an outstanding debt of about £300. There was a fire in the flat (which I shared with 2 other people) and we were all made homeless as the flat was gutted.

 

I am not aware of their being anything outstanding to Southern Water but surely if there was a small amount (nowhere near £300) then this should have been written off by now.

 

Also the address they have sent the letter to has my address plus the old address in the address box so I'mm not really sure how it was delivered to me anyway.

 

Can anyone please advise me whether to send a "prove it" letter to this debt collection agency or just tell them I lived there 8 years ago so this is now out of date.

 

Thank you in advance for any help you guys can give me with this.

 

Pickles18

[BankFodder]

Searh this forum for the Limitation Act and what it means for a debt to be statute barred

[Pickles18]

Searh this forum for the Limitation Act and what it means for a debt to be statute barred

 

Thank you for your help. I cannot find the Limitation Act but have discovered that a debt is statute barred after 6 years anyway. I have just realized I got a letter from this exact same company 3 years ago and sent the "prove it" letter and never heard another word. I am going to send the same letter and see what happens.

 

Thank you againg for your help.

 

P

[Pickles18]

Hi everyone - can you please help. I sent the "prove it" letter to UK Search ages ago and have now had a letter back saying "Please find enclosed a copy of your bill enclosed from Souther Water". It is a bill with 3 names on it and has now gone up to £430.

 

I got out out of that flat in November 2004 due to a fire and wan't allowed to go back to take meter readings as the place was gutted and unsafe. It was down to the Lanlord to sort all this and I'm pretty annoyd that 8 years later they are still chasing me for this. This bill is actually for water used bewteen 2006 and 2008 - long after I had left the property so it is NOT my bill anyway.

 

Should I write back again stating that this is not my bill and unless they can prove I lived in that property at the that period in time (which they cannot of course becasue I didn't) then this is now harassment and I will be informing trading standards etc?

 

Any help anyone can give for me to finally be able to put an end to this woul be much appreciated.

 

Kind regards all,

 

Px

[ims21]

Thread moved to debt collection forum

[cerberusalert]

Send them this; http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/content.php?408-Letter-sent-when-debt-is-statute-barred

[Pickles18]

Hi - thank you for moving my letter to the right area but when I click on the link I cannot find my letter anywhere now? Px

[ims21]

If by your letter you mean your posts i.e. questions etc, you are already here!

[Pickles18]

Thank you for this but as the date on the bill says 26th Novemeber 2008 - 4 years after I had left the property - this bill definitely isn't mine so I don't think the statute barre letter is sufficient.

 

Do you guys think I ought to admint I lived there for less that six months and there was a fire which gutted the property in November 2004 and I had to move out or is that opening a whole new can of worms as there may be an outstanding bill from that time that I am not aware of? I suppose if the then wrote with a preceeding bill I could send the Statute Barred letter then.

 

Px

[Pickles18]

Thank you - I have realised that now - it's not easy to think straight when you're worrying. Thank you so much for all your help. Px

[cerberusalert]

Hi - thank you for moving my letter to the right area but when I click on the link I cannot find my letter anywhere now? Px

 

The link opens directly to the letter, you will need to copy & paste it into Word or similar office program & then edit.

[Pickles18]

Thank you for this but I don't think the Statute Barred letter is sufficient as the date on the bill says 26th Novemeber 2008 - 4 years after I had left the property - this bill definitely isn't mine.

 

Do you think I ought to admit I lived there for less that six months and there was a fire which gutted the property in November 2004 and I had to move out or is that opening a whole new can of worms as there may be an outstanding bill from that time that I am not aware of? I suppose if the then wrote with a preceeding bill I could send the statute barred letter then.

 

Thank you for your help with this - it's very much appreciated

 

Px

[cerberusalert]

Just add a paragraph in the letter that you vacated the property in Nov 2004 & that any alleged debt from that period is SB + you are not responsible for any after that time.

[Pickles18]

Just add a paragraph in the letter that you vacated the property in Nov 2004 & that any alleged debt from that period is SB + you are not responsible for any after that time.

 

I am still not sure about sending the statute barred letter as they did write to me years ago too and I sent the prove it letter as that bill too was for after the time I left the flat.

 

Do you think I should go back with the prove it letter as I actually had a tenancy in a property in another county at the time of this bill they have sent me and they shouldn't really be sensing me someone elses bill - I would recommend thay find out who lives there now. I heard throught the grapevine that a big developer was working on the building after it was gutted so this is obviously an error on their part as they ought to have been billing the developer.

 

Also if I send them a statute barred letter can they put this on my credit file which is what I am most worried about. I feel to admit I lived there is going to open a whole can of worms.

 

HELP! I am very confused now.

 

Px

[Stigman]

Hi Pickles,

 

The prove it letter is not an admission to the debt so do as advised above and send the statute barred letter with the added paragraph that you vacated the property due to fire in November 2004.

 

The onus is on them to prove that you resided at the property at that time and was responsible for paying the utilities (which you were not).

 

Water bills do not go onto your credit file.

 

Stigman

[Pickles18]

Cool - thank you Stigman - I will do that and let everyone know how I get on - hopefully I won't hear from them again now.

 

Px

[Pickles18]

Hey everyone,

 

I have received a letter back from UK Search today stating.

 

"Your letter refers the debt is statute barred but the debt is with the 6 year period.

 

The period the debt is for is as follows:

 

Prior to Arpil 2007 £147.15

April 2007 - March 2008 £130.93

 

We will accept payment blah blah blah"

 

They have completely ignored the section I wrote about having moved out of the property in Nov 2004 and any debt prior to that is statute barred and any debt since that time I am not liable for.

 

What should I do next I am really fed up with these muppets now!

 

Px

[cerberusalert]

Send the SB letter again highlighting the fact that you were not resident on those dates & request a copy of their complaints procedure.

 

If they have stated in their letter that it is their final response you can go straight to FOS with a complaint.

[Lapchien66]

Typical of these morons to ignore anything you've said in your letter and sent a response that only suits them!