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AIBU?

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Original poster

Bailiffs and neighbours

94 replies

BrilliantBetty · 11/01/2021 16:08

I hate posting on AIBU but here goes.

We bought & moved in to our house a few months ago. We had letters come through for a previous occupant. From what we could make out from the envelope they were repayment letters, final demand type things. We put back in the post box with 'return to sender. Addressee not at this address'.

In the last couple of weeks we've had dept collectors knocking for this person. Two separate companies, separate debts. Very early and it's been a bit unsettling. We have no idea of forwarding address and are worried this will continue. Have given details of estate agent who we used to purchase as we know nothing else about the previous occupiers.

AIBU to go and ask neighbouring houses if they have contact details for this person?
I don't want to spread details about them being in debt / trouble with collectors but ultimately just want to stop being hassled in my home.

What would you do.

OP posts:
Belinda554 · 11/01/2021 18:03

I open all mail sent to my address. If it’s junk I bin it, if I not I send it back with opened in error.

It’s my address, if you don’t want me to open your letter, use your own address.

SchrodingersImmigrant · 11/01/2021 18:09

@Belinda554

I open all mail sent to my address. If it’s junk I bin it, if I not I send it back with opened in error.

It’s my address, if you don’t want me to open your letter, use your own address.

I arrived to this motto after about a year in my last address.

Except that I don't send them back anymore. I just don't care. If person who lived here before doesn't care, why should I. And all that not known @ this address and such did fucking nothing. The only ones i didn't open were police letters (i recognised local address so i googled it).

Camphillgirl · 11/01/2021 18:17

I worked for a charity. When we had letters returned as no longer living at address we didn’t have time or resources to follow it up so the returned letters were trashed. Open the letters and ring up the sender giving as much detail as you can. Eventually letters stop.

Tumblebugsjump · 11/01/2021 18:17

Open the letters and contact the companies so they stop turning up.

AmberItsACertainty · 11/01/2021 18:18

OP you appear naive. The previous occupants aren't going to sort this out for you. They don't want to pay their debt which is why they haven't passed on their new address. Your new neighbors could be friends with the previous occupants. If they know, or even just suspect, that you've grassed up their mates to the debt collector they could take against you. This might be as simple as ignoring you or not wanting to be friends. Or it could be actively doing things to annoy, upset or intimidate you until you get so stressed out you feel you need to move home.

Gingaaarghpussy · 11/01/2021 18:25

I had loads of letters for a previous tenant at my flat. I did return them to sender. One day I had 15 of the same letter and sent every single one back. Never heard from them again. I even had a letter for them from italy, sent that back with not known at this address in italian.
Bailiffs were happy with my tenancy agreement.
I've even had letters for people who have the same address but a different postcode, they get either a line under the code or it's written bigger, then slung back in the postbox. Followed by a trip to the local sorting office to tell them I only want post with my name on it.
Haven't had visits or post for other people for years now.

pinkstripeycat · 11/01/2021 18:30

The Postal Services Act 2000 clearly states that it is certainly illegal to open someone's post.

1forAll74 · 11/01/2021 18:34

I had lots of these types of debt letters etc, when I moved into my house about 15 years ago. They were all addressed to the woman who used to live here with her Husband,but they had split up,and gone their separate ways.There were debts of £ 3000, £5000 , £9000,and numerous unpaid amounts. In the end, I contacted all the places that the letters came from, and told them that this woman no longer lived here.

So it all got dealt with this way, and I had no more mail from then on.
I asked a few people in my village if they knew anything about this woman, and was eventually told that after she and her Husband had split up, the woman had saddled off to somewhere in Spain, but nobody knew whereabouts. The Husband sold the house, but he disappeared afterwards.

I used to wonder if any of these debt firms ever traced and caught up with this woman.

SoupDragon · 11/01/2021 18:35

@pinkstripeycat

The Postal Services Act 2000 clearly states that it is certainly illegal to open someone's post.
No it doesn't.

The relevant section has been quoted several times.

Orf1abc · 11/01/2021 18:36

@pinkstripeycat No, it doesn't. Read the thread!

AvoidingNextdoorNeighbour · 11/01/2021 18:37

I had this with my first rented house at 17. Only the bailiff forced his way into my house, put his foot in the door and pushed it back because he believed I was lying about being the tenant or not being the (middle aged when I asked him to repeat the DOB he had recorded!) debtor in question. Unfortunately I had no bills yet and no tenancy agreement to hand (was in my paperwork at my mum's). The only way he believed I wasn't just living with the person named on the debt, was him actually searching the rooms and finding only one bed and only my clothes etc. It was bloody terrifying.

These days I keep my ID and tenancy agreement easily accessible and any debt letters that arrive after a "not at this address" return are opened and the bailiff company called.

Belinda554 · 11/01/2021 18:42

Who cares if it is illegal? Do you really think someone would be prosecuted for opening a letter delivered to their home?

Protect yourself, it could never be proven that you opened it deliberately.

AlexaPlayWhiteNoise · 11/01/2021 18:44

Open the letters.
Have a copy of your council tax bill.
Spend a morning phoning round each company and emailing your council tax bill to them.
Chase it up if any more letters arrive until it's changed on their systems.

They knock on at 6am because they can start work at 6am. It means they can clamp a car and stick paperwork through before you're up and aware. (Not you personally obviously as your specific car reg won't be on the system as registered to the debtor, so they can't clamp it legally. You as in, a general you).

dadshere · 11/01/2021 18:44

Just to add. NEVER EVER let them into your house. They can (illegally) take your belongings if they were let in. You would then have to sue the company in the small claims court. You would win, but it would be an enormous PIA. This happened to DH's ds.

AlexaPlayWhiteNoise · 11/01/2021 18:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AlexaPlayWhiteNoise · 11/01/2021 18:55

But I do agree, never let them in Grin

CarrotVan · 11/01/2021 19:01

We’ve had this before. We just rang the debt management company and explained. They stopped quite quickly.

InconvenientPeg · 11/01/2021 19:04

I had this, as others have said, i phoned the company. They tried to tell me it was my responsibility to give them info about the previous residents, I pointed out that it wasn't!

Never heard from them again after that. They tried it on, didn't work and that was that.

MissConductUS · 11/01/2021 19:05

Some deadbeat woman keeps giving out my mobile number as her own. I get a few calls per year from debt collectors, who stop calling when I explain that's it's been my number for years. I guess they have some way of verifying it's mine.

Tish008 · 11/01/2021 19:16

You can get away with it if you're a she... 😊

fucknuckle · 11/01/2021 19:16

my flat was rented by albanian drug dealers before i moved here and i was inundated with post for them. i bought a stamp with ‘RETURN TO SENDER please update your records’ in red shouty ink and sent every letter back. they were using the address to lease cars and take out car insurance that they then never paid for.

i’ve had bailiffs a couple of times - just showed my Council Tax bill and they were very polite and left without incident.

it was pretty relentless for a couple of months but perseverance has paid off and i hardly get any mail for them any more. the neighbours are also happier as they don’t have a constant stream of people in and out of the place all day and night now.

AvoidingNextdoorNeighbour · 11/01/2021 19:19

@dadshere

Just to add. NEVER EVER let them into your house. They can (illegally) take your belongings if they were let in. You would then have to sue the company in the small claims court. You would win, but it would be an enormous PIA. This happened to DH's ds.
That's what almost happened at my house. The bailiff (private debt collection company) was very intimidating, pushed his way in and had logged my possessions, including opening up cupboards to look for valuables before he would accept that it was unlikely that I was the debtor or my house was filled with the debtors possessions. He told me refusal to pay would result in the van being called that day to remove my tv etc.
jessycake · 11/01/2021 19:20

keep a photocopy of all your id and evidence of when you moved in, council tax etc to show them when they come .

yulelogc · 11/01/2021 19:21

You just need to prove to them that its only you living there, so show a council tax bill, done.

CottonSock · 11/01/2021 19:24

Bailiffs will try the neighbours. They did it to me. Keep out of it.

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