Old tenants debt collection letters - What to do!

[just_jue]

Hi,

 

As the title says I am still getting letters regarding the old tenants 18 months after moving in.

 

I have sent them back to sender 'no longer at this address' etc but they still come.

 

I was thinking of sending them with a strong letter saying they don't live etc and want confirmation that they have taken my address off any links with previous tenants.

 

Any other advice would be helpful.

 

JJ

[LaughingGirl]

I really wouldn't worry about it too much. It's highly unlikely that you've been financially linked with any previous tenants, and a quick credit check through Experian et al will confirm this. Just keep sending the letters back marked 'Not At This Address'. From personal experience, the letters will still come, but they'll have zero impact on you personally (apart from the inconvenience of re-posting them all the time!).

[gingertrucker]

Hi,

 

As the title says I am still getting letters regarding the old tenants 18 months after moving in.

 

I have sent them back to sender 'no longer at this address' etc but they still come.

 

I was thinking of sending them with a strong letter saying they don't live etc and want confirmation that they have taken my address off any links with previous tenants.

 

Any other advice would be helpful.

 

JJ

 

I have also had this before but there was no return address on the envelope so I opened it to read the company were going to send the Bailiffs to my flat. So I rang them direct and explained I was the new tenant and could prove that if anyone came they appologised and took my address of their records.

[LaughingGirl]

I don't think that opening post addressed to anyone other than yourself is to be recommended - in fact, it's illegal.

[dpick]

Hi fill the letters with all the bumff and rubbish that comes through your letter box and send that back with the no longer at this address.

 

dpick

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Just mark the unopened letters ''gone away'' hand to your postie with a signed note to the po not to deliver any mail in the ex tenants name.

[just_jue]

I don't believe it.

 

Just been reading all the comments (thanks for the replies). Heard the postman put some letters through and another bloody letter for the old tenants.

This one is from PO BOX 487 Brighton, by the looks of a google search it seems to be LLoyds or Black Horse.

It does seem to be they ran up quite a bit of debt and done a runner.

 

JJ

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Post #6 will stop this it's the 'aprooved' method.

[leigh04]

I have the same problem re old tenants and dca's, i also know its illegal to open other peoples mail but we had no choice but to,

 

before any one quotes the 'we had no choice ' part let me explain the letters were addressed to a MR. -. ---- which happens to be the same initial and surname. ....Yes u read that right as my 21 year old son,

after we realised it was for the old tenants we phoned the companies and explained the situation and they updated their systems as we were given the debtors new address from a dca collector (naughty i know but hey ) we passed that on.

 

Since then we have had hardly any letters for the old tenant.

Still get the occasional phone call for them but i just say sorry wrong number and they then apologise and remove from system.

 

Do as brig says about the letter to postman that should cut unwanted post for the old tenant.

[LaughingGirl]

It's not as uncommon as you might think - at our last address, we constantly got mail for a previous tenant with the same initial and surname (occasionally with a slightly different spelling). Several of his letters were opened, not because we had any interest in them, but because until they were opened we didn't know if they were for him or my partner.

 

I still don't advocate opening anything in any other circumstances - and I don't advise engaging with DCA's regarding previous tenants debts either, beyond returning things marked 'not at this address'. I once had a particularly bad experience with a doorstep agent who transferred my name onto a telecoms debt after I stupidly showed him my tenancy agreement to prove that we'd only just moved in, and it was hell's own job sorting it out.

 

There's no need to do anything beyond returning the post, and you definitely don't want to be giving them any of your own details!

[leigh04]

I was careful that i never told them who i was even tho they asked i just said if your here regarding a mr? ???? He moved months ago it was at this point the dca gave me their new address and any mail i get now either gets returned or forwarded to their address.

 

I dont advocate in helping dcas or the like but when you constantly get letters or visits i will pass on address,, its not up to me to keep the dcas of their back i got my own to deal with but this person is proliffick in running up large amounts of debt then doing abunk. Even my landlord is chading them cos they owe hundreds in rent and damage.

[LaughingGirl]

It's not about helping DCA's - it's about protecting yourself. You've just said yourself that the DCA supplied you with the previous tenants forwarding address (which is obviously not legal), but you also have to wonder what they were doing at your house when they apparently already knew where he was. There are DCA's out there who think that they can trick and intimidate people into giving them money that they don't owe - I have to ask myself, given the circumstances that you've mentioned, if he'd detected the slightest hint of naivety or vulnerability you wouldn't have found yourself getting someone else's bill with your name on it!

[leigh04]

Sorry my mistake the dca actually turned up looking for someone else who lived at my address for a couple of months after mr? ???? .

We got talking and mr? ???? Was brought up by me and the dca laughed and said he knowso him well as hes a prollifick debtor and said hes been to his house loads to collect thats when he gave me the address. I never asked for it he just gave me it.

 

I am not nieve when it comes to dcas and nor am i vulnerable but when so called ex tenants continue to use my now address as their address to cover their tracks i am not going to sit back and do nothing if dcas call looking for them they get given the address that i got given.

[LaughingGirl]

Ah, I see. Just to be clear, I'm not criticising you in any way, nor I am advocating debt avoidance - just making the point that we've the sharp practices that DCA's are capable of time and time again on these boards. If it's not your problem, it's better to give them the widest berth possible in my opinion.

[leigh04]

Ah, I see. Just to be clear, I'm not criticising you in any way, nor I am advocating debt avoidance - just making the point that we've the sharp practices that DCA's are capable of time and time again on these boards. If it's not your problem, it's better to give them the widest berth possible in my opinion.

 

I understand what your saying and i agree i dont usually entertain dcas but the amount that was turning up and letters that were received for previous tenants i got sick off it, luckily i have both addresses for previous tenants so i pass them on. I know that makes it easier for the dcas but it stops them from attending here and also i dont get lumbered with their debts, if i didnt have addresses god nows how much debt the dcas would try n pin on me lol

[LaughingGirl]

If it works, more power to you. The only way I could see you having any problems is if the person in question does another runner, and the incoming tenant objects to having the DCA's sent in their direction.

 

I completely agree that's it's irritating, especially when you've got problems of your own to deal with. We only get dodgy looking letters for one previous tenant at this address, but our previous home used to be a 'house of multiple occupancy', and it was like those guys were going for some kind of world record for unpaid debts. Some mornings it sounded like the postie had just chucked the Yellow Pages through the letter box, and some of the doorsteppers that pitched up were really intimidating and aggressive. It's not nice at all having to deal with that through no fault of your own.