WIBU to contact the previous tenant of my house on FB (re Debt?)

[MrsV2012]

To cut a long story short, me, DP and 3 DCs moved into our quiet little house nearly a year ago. It didn't stay quiet for long- we've been bloody inundated with debt letters for the previous tenant, bills, overdue TV licensing, arrears on Council Tax, but more worrying, Bailiffs are now arriving at the door.
No forwarding address given to send mail on, and I've wrote Return to Sender on countless letters, but I'm bloody sick of it now. Our main concern is these Debt Collectors on our door- all requesting this woman by name.
They've looked sceptical when I tell them it is not my debt, one asked me to prove who I am and they would 'leave me alone'.
The woman who lived here beforehand has an unusual name, and I've found her on FB, as her profile picture has her daughter on it (We met her daughter when I came to view the home, so its definitely her).
WIBU to message her and tell her to respectfully organise her finances because we are being harassed and disturbed because of her debt, and it's causing my family a lot of upset and stress?
Or is there anyone else I can contact? Any views on this would be welcome

[UrethraFranklin1]

Thats very unusual and you should have called the police. OP hasnt mentioned any such thing though.

[Sapat]

This is terrible! The others who say you are being dramatic have no idea! Some of our friends had the same problem, they couldn't leave their house more than a week in a row as if unoccupied bailiffs apparently have the right to force entry and remove goods. It was an absolute nightmare, they eventually had to move. Apparently people do that, rent for 6 months, pay their rent but nothing else, then move on once the debt collectors start knocking. You have to be careful about your credit record, as the address will be attached to the debts, even if you have no association with the person.

[Whodathink1t]

I think there may be a bit of a misunderstanding about the sorts of people who are visiting your door, OP.

Bailiffs are court appointed. They have a strict set of guidelines that they should adhere to as a result. Identifying themselves, I'm pretty sure is one of them, and who they are chasing up the debt on the behalf of is something they need to be able to tell you.
Debt collectors are not court appointed, and I don't believe they have a set of guidelines to stick to. I suspect that these are the people who are coming to you door, given the tactics you are describing.

Like vampires, do not let bailiffs cross your threshold. Without the police present, they are not allowed to break in. An open window, or letting them in, or an open back door is an invitation to enter for a court appointed bailiff, just to warn you.
However, debt collectors do not have this power, so please do try to work out who you are talking to, and if in doubt, just call the police. You are being intimidated on your doorstep. The police will take this seriously. You are entitled to quiet enjoyment of your property, and it's not your job to track the previous tenant down.

[SelfconfessedSpoonyFucker]

What about printing out an A5 card that says Ms Blah Blah no longer lives here, she was a previous tenant. I do not accept letters for her as I do not have a forwarding address, if you leave items for her I will dispose of them or open them. My landlord's contact details are as follows.

...?

Then every time someone calls give them that and shut the door.

[IfYouWereARiverIdLearnToFloat]

I can completely sympathise OP - can you not pass this back to your landlord? We had a tenant a couple of years ago who left our property - he had been paying his rent (except one missed month) but was in arrears with gas/electricity, council tax, TV licence and child support agency. We contacted all agencies explaining we'd taken the property over again but it didn't stop gas company breaking in to change boiler to a pre-paid meter & we still got final demand letters addressed "to the occupier". I just had to keep phoning them to explain & eventually they stopped.

I'd maybe seek advice as to what to do if these men continue to show up & refuse to identify themselves as they could be anyone, it's intimidating & it does sound like harassment. But it really should be your landlord who is dealing with it surely?

[avocadotoast]

You have to be careful about your credit record, as the address will be attached to the debts, even if you have no association with the person.

That doesn't mean that the debts will be attached to anyone else's credit file though. If a previous tenant had debts it has no impact on the current tenant's credit file.

The way it works is: if you have a debt, it appears on your credit file. The address will show as whatever the creditor last held for you. It doesn't link to anyone else at the property, regardless of whether you still live there or move on.

The only time a debt will show on more than one person's credit file is if it's in joint names.

[MaggieJoyBlunt]

You have to be careful about your credit record, as the address will be attached to the debts, even if you have no association with the person.

Debts are attached to individuals, not addresses.

The others who say you are being dramatic have no idea!

ONE person said OP was being dramatic Sapat. Most other people just told her to show ID. If she calls the police they will also ask her to produce ID. She just needs to convince people that she isn't the debtor.

[Ilovecrapcrafts]

No don't contact her or do anything involving her. It's actually not particularly her problem, it's up to the debt collectors to find her.

Debt collectors-

Refuse to let them in, return the letters. So not engage in any conversation or provide any ID or similar. They are not your debt and there is nothing they can do. Ignore them, they're trying to bully you into paying them

[Ilovecrapcrafts]

It's nothing to do with the landlord either

[Mintyy]

I don't think its a great idea to contact her on Facebook but you have my sympathies op!

I had bailiffs hammering on my door and giving me the third degree about my identity when I was much younger and it was an absolutely horrible experience.

Absolutely baffled by the extraordinarily disingenuous "it's no biggie" replies on this thread.

[butterflygirl15]

If they are court bailiffs with a judgment they have powers - doorstep collectors who just turn up putting pressure on have no more right to be at your door than the pizza delivery guy.

[FuckingLiability]

I have also had numerous bailiff letters and visits for someone who never lived at my house. It went on for about six months and each time I returned the letters and informed the ones who turned up that it was nothing to do with me while showing them my driving licence.

It's not that big a deal and I have no issue with proving who I am if someone knocks on the door. Bailiffs do try to intimidate because they have heard all the excuses before but I don't see a problem with providing some ID to avoid further hassle.

[butterflygirl15]

bailiffs or debt collectors?

[sebsmummy1]

Is she still using your address to rack up debts? If so I wonder if you can stop that or if anyone on the thread knows how to stop people using an address they no longer live at, as their current address?

[cocobean2805]

We had this at a previous address. The girl owed EVERY debtor going money. We let the post pile up anticipating she would perhaps come and collect it ( her friend lived over the road so was often about). We found out she'd been evicted from the property. When bailifs/warrant officers started popping up I spent an afternoon opening her letters and ringing each company to tell them she didn't live at our address and to stop sending bailifs as I wouldn't be opening the door to them. It did stop after this.

This was after one particularly vehement bailif turned up at 7am, (we worked nights so had been in bed about an hour) tried to intimidate me, failed and then ate his hat with shame when my DH came downstairs and the bailif knew him by reputation (DH was a well known local boxer). I thought there was going to be fisticuffs.

I don't mind flashing my ID so they can see who I'm not, but won't hand it over.

[DefinitelyMaybeNo]

In my old place we had different debt collectors coming every week - normally really early or really late. It was stressful. Especially when they were trying to access the property. I showed them ID countless times, tenancy agreements Etc and it had little effect. In the end I opened some of the mail and called the customer number - gave them the details I knew of previous tenant and who LL and letting agent was and the situation resolved slowly.

[avocadotoast]

sebsmummy you can't, not really. If you think about it, whenever you apply for anything - credit card, phone contract etc - it'll ask you for your personal details and you sign to say it's correct information. I suppose technically if you provide the wrong address then it's fraud, but there's nothing that could actually stop you doing it.

[BabeRuthless]

I wouldn't engage with this woman on facebook as she's obviously got form for running from her debts with no thought for who it impacts on. You don't need her inserted into your life anymore than she already is. You're not being a drama queen either. Our old next door neighbour did a similar thing to this and I had knocks on the door from bailiffs half a dozen times asking if I knew where she was. It's very annoying and intrusive.

[FishWithABicycle]

"Return to sender" doesn't work - these companies don't open or don't change their database from rts mail. I did rts for a year after the previous owners of a house who were, it turned out, fleeing debts, left no address. Eventually I wrote a couple of dozen letters explaining that I had no association with the debtors and asking them to stop using this address to try to contact them, and sent one to each address on the back of the envelopes (I had to open a couple to get addresses if there was none on the envelope). That worked and it all stopped within a few weeks.

[19lottie82]

I don't think there's any point? What do you think she'll actually say? "Oh thank you, I'll get in touch with them immediately!" I doubt it, I'd bet my life savings on the fact she'll just ignore any message you send.

I appreciate all of this is a pain in the arse for you but that's all it is. You or the property cannot receive any negative impact because of a previous tenants debt.

If the "return to sender" trick isn't working I would open any mail and call the numbers inside, to tell them the addressee no longer lives at the address.

And before anyone says "it's illegal to open someone else's mail!", no, it's not. As long as you aren't planning anything detrimental towards the intended recipient, or for your own gain.

[AlisonBlunderland]

I've had baliffs come to my house thanks to previous owner's debts. I was seriously pissed off. Especially as we were out at the time but my brother answered the door.
He had not given me a forwarding address but had collected his mail once a week, including several that bore a franking mark of local court.

I did know where his office was, since he ran his own accountancy business (!)
So the next heap of mail was delivered by hand by me going there , handing it over in the open plan office and saying loudly to please ensure I received no further visits from baliffs

[wowfudge]

Have you had any letters addressed to The Occupier OP? We had a similar thing when we moved into our house. The tenants who were here before us hadn't paid a single utility bill in over two years. I was able to speak with the company chasing their debts and stop them from contacting us.

Never ever engage with the debtor. They will not thank you for doing so and are not trustworthy so why would you want them to know anything about you?

Get a copy of your credit file from the likes of Experian and make sure their records are correct and you are not associated with them at your address.

Anyone who calls at the house ask them for their card, request they update their records and you can then keep track of who is chasing the debts - if the same company keeps coming back you can take further action.

[LetThereBeCupcakes]

Sorry if this has been said (only had time to skim the thread) but OP have you tried posting on Money Saving Expert? I quite often see threads from people in a similiar situation to you and there are some fantastic people over there who can advise on the best course of action.

You have my sympathies - we had this when we bought our house. I did the "Not Known - Return To Sender" thing for AGES and it made no difference. Eventually I started opening the letters and ringing the companies direct.

Postal Services Act 2000, Section 84 states it is an offence to open another person mail without reasonable excuse. www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/26/section/84
Letters threatening bailiffs are a good enough excuse.

[Marynary]

I have had this problem in the past but have managed to get rid of all the debt collector pretty quickly by just opening the letters and phoning or writing to the companies to tell them the previous tenant had moved on. Give them the FB profile or anything else you have.
Whatever you do don't engage or get involved with the debtor yourself. You don't want to be involved with the situation in any way.
The debt collectors will go away soon.