Enforcement officer for previous tenants

[Gilmoregirly]

We bought our new house in last October and after renovations moved in last December. Previously our house was rented for several years. We used to receive lot of letters for previous tenants which we returned with ‘return to sender, does not live here’. Last week an enforcement officer turned up with a court service warrant asking for previous tenant. I told him that we own the house now and presented a council tax letter as proof. He noted it down and left saying he will inform that person does not live in our address anymore. Today I received another letter from the same agency saying since an enforcement officer visited once, the next time they may come with a locksmith to force entry to our house to execute the court service warrant to cover debts he owed. I am very worried now. Please can anyone help with advice? Do we need to go to local police station and log an entry, etc.

Was the subsequent letter addressed to you as the homeowner or the previous tenant? Think CAB can advise on this one.

We had similar when we moved here.

Advice here under "if it's someone else's debt" section.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/action-your-creditor-can-take/bailiffs/stopping-bailiffs/stopping-bailiffs-if-you-dont-owe-the-debt/

When I had to escalate it, I sent some of the solicitors' correspondence from the house purchase (completion document? Something like that) along with ID and so on.

@Goodadvice1980 it was addressed to the previous tenant but to our address. I opened this letter as I could remember his name from the enforcement office who came for the first time.

@JeandeServiette thank you

Ring the agency and explain that he doesn’t live at the address anymore and that you informed the enforcement officer showing the council tax letter. They may ask you send a copy over to show this is the case. When my niece moved out of our house we had this for a while and I just used to ring the agency/debt collectors and explain

Write back to them Op setting out what you told the previous caller. The debt is against the person, not the address, so you aren't obliged to let them in

Thank you but the second letter is saying that they can force entry with a locksmith to enforce the court’s services warrant? What if they come when we are not at home.

I had this with my ex. Somehow the debt agency linked him to my parents address. I told the Agent that he had no connection and followed up via email. It helped that I could give his new details.

Enforcement Officers aren’t allowed to break into property. They can only gain entry via an unlocked door or window, or if you let them in.
I had something similar with an escalated council parking fine for a former tenant. Enforcement Officers called when no one was home and left a letter stating they would return on a specified day. I phoned them ( not easy to find anything other than payment line number) and the court and council. They didn’t call on the specified day. I heard nothing more.
In your case they are either being awkward or incompetent, as you showed them your Council Tax bill. It would cost them £3 to check ownership of you home with Land Registry. It stands to reason that if you purchased the property last October the former occupant wouldn’t still be there. ( there are a few limited exceptions of course, but it’s a good rule of thumb).

It's probably an automatically generated letter. Debt agencies tend to overstate the powers that they have to threaten people into paying. It would be the enforcement agent who would attend with a locksmith but since he knows he can't actually take anything he won't do so. I would phone the company and explain the situation so it is officially on record but I do think you can relax.

We’ve had this with former owners of our current house.
We keep a council tax letter at the front door now, as four years on it still happens. At first I was rather accepting of it but after so long I get cross at their lack basic checks.
I’ve called all agencies etc when a letter comes through.
My husband had to make a complaint after one let themselves into our home (teen ds had left door open) and my ds was the only person in.
So yeah I get angry at them now, how can they not do even the most basic of checks (we’re on open electoral roll) before they go to court for a warrant.

Link to Gov.U.K.

https://www.gov.uk/your-rights-bailiffs

I've heard houses are taking a long time (sometimes over a year) to reflect change in ownership.

@Brilliantbushel what happened after they came in please as we don’t normally lock our doors if we are at home. I am so angry that these warrants issuing magistrates courts are not confirming the address beforehand. As stated above it costs £3.50 to obtain the title deeds from the land registry and I already checked all are updated with our names as the owners. We are also in the open electoral register. It shouldn’t be up to us to prove that this house belongs to us and the person they are looking for is not here. Update: I called the agency with a reference number and they gave me an email address to send our council tax letter. again why should I send my details to a debt collectors to prove I am not the person they are looking for . Where is data protection for my details. I am so angry.

You don't have to send them a copy of your council tax letter.

You could just email them and inform them in writing that you have been living in the property since you bought it in <month/year>, that you have no connection with the previous resident and no contact with them, that nothing inside the property belongs to that person, and advising me them that if they can easily verify this information themselves by paying for a Land Registry check. Putting the onus on them to do some work to trace the debtor.

You could also print out (or write out) a notice for your front door, explaining that <name of debtor> is no longer living at this address, and has not been doing so since at least <date you know they'd moved out by> and nothing inside belongs to them. It would be a very stupid bailiff who'd ignore a notice like that and barge in anyway, leaving themselves open to legal trouble.