Baillifs coming for previous tennant!

[Lavenderbluex]

Hi all,
Looking for advice. Moved into a rented property last month. I’ve been getting letters almost daily for who I presume is the previous tennant.
I’ve just been writing return to sender but the letters keep coming.

I opened one by accident while opening my mail this morning and it was from a bailiffs company saying he owes almost 4k in council tax arrears and they will be coming to the property within the next 7 days to ‘Take Control of Goods’.😩

I rang them up straight away and informed them I’m the new tennant of the property and he no longer lives here. The man on the phone was blasé and said he would put a note on the system.I’ve also rang the council tax to inform them.

Should I send an email with my tenancy contract and a copy of ID to prove he no longer lives here to the bailiff company?

There has been so many letters from different companies and also blank enveloped ones so I’m panicking he may owe other companies money and the bailiffs will come. Is it true they can attend with a locksmith or kick the door down? I’m a single mum with a baby and toddler so panicking they’re going to turn up.

If they do turn up do I just not open the door and speak to them from the other side? Never experienced this before so clueless how it works.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

My last tenants but one left their tenancy (and the country) and my poor new tenants had bailliffs coming to the door for unpaid speeding fines, various bills etc. The previous tenants refused to leave a forwarding address for us so we returned to sender each and every time and when the bailliffs finally did turn up our tenant had a copy of the tenancy agreement to hand plus the council tax bill showing her name and a letter (with our phone number) from us saying the previous tenants no longer lived there.

It took a while to sort out because there were all sorts of things they owed but it was okay in the end.

Just write 'no longer at this address' on the envelope and return to sender.

What about scanning them copies of the dates you moved in the tenancy agreement and a copy of your id with a letter explaining that you're not who they're looking for. That way you've a paper trail and no one can deny anything, then get onto your landlord and tell them what's happening, this can't be good for them either having debt attached to that address.

We had this not long after moving to a new house.

Bailiffs turned up on a fishing trip, out of the blue.

My DW told them we were new occupants and that we didn't have a forwarding address. They left, no further problems.

Bits of the jigsaw fitted into place - conveyancing solicitor told us that he'd 'sorted it so that there were no debts on the house'.

As we were new to house buying we just said thanks, thinking this was normal.

As others have said - have documents to hand, don't let them in. Maybe leave your contact number on the door if you are out at work and fear a visit.

May be email the company so that there is a trail if things go pear shaped. Get names of people if you do phone.

All the best.

We had to deal with a friend’s estate recently. He’d had a sort-of lodger who racked up a lot of debt before scarpering, but didn’t change his address.

I ended up making eight phone calls to debt collectors and creditors; every single one accepted what I said during the call, and took friend’s address off their records. I was amazed how helpful and co-operative they all were.

I honestly think you’ll be fine, OP, but would urge you to open any post you receive for the previous occupant. It’s not illegal, despite that line being trotted out here regularly, and it could flag any financial issues before they get to the debt collector/bailiff stage.

We had this with our house - not rented by the way!

We came back from a ten day holiday to a bailiff's notice, when they finally showed up I showed them some ID and a letter from the mortgage company.

So no, they won't force entry if you're not there. There's a hazy memory from one of those tv shows that tells me the only time they will/can force entry is if they've already let you know face to face that they'll be coming at a certain time and you deny entry. Obvs that won't be the case with you because you'll be showing that you're a new tenant if you see them.

i worked for a firm of debt collectors, it was a good day if 50% of our calls were the people we wanted to meet.
It's the job.

Bailiffs have a reputation for being very assertive in terms of doing their job. I guess that’s what comes of have a legal right to seize someone else belongings. I doubt they will argue if you explain the debts is not yours though. They will require proof but I assume you have a tenancy agreement.

Is it true they can bring a locksmith to force entry? Just worrying if I was ever out and they let themselves in. Sorry if it’s a stupid question, I’m not sure how any of this works.

Im not sure but I doubt they would be able to do this without talking to the person who lives at the address first.

We have lived here 14 years but getting threatening letters from a utilities company I’ve never signed up with as the idiot new tenants next door gave our address not theirs🙄. Taken me hours to untangle. Not happy.

I work for an enforcement agency. They can’t force entry unless they have confirmed that the person on the liability order resides at the address. All you have to do is show ID and a copy of your council tax bill to verify that you are the new occupier.

I returned everything to sender with Not Known At This Address.
That way I’m not illegally opening someone’s post any the issuing company knows they’ve moved on.

The previous tenant is not going to be complaining that you have opened his letters. Definitely do it.

Happened to my tenants, previous owner owed god knows what. I phoned the bailiffs up and told them the estate agent that also sold to the previous owner so they could find him. Sorted. Defo involve your landlord.

@HMTheQueenMuffin The idiot who runs up the bill can do that and the op used this tactic. It doesn’t work. You have to prove you didn’t live there at the time the debts were incurred. As everyone has said.

Fear not, we had this happen to us but in a house with a mortgage.
When they knock be polite, explain the situation, have your ID and tenancy agreement to hand. The debt lies with the previous tenant, not the property.
They turned up at ours due to previous owners failing to pay energy bills.
The look of delight on their faces when I told them the previous owners new address was a picture! They only moved the next street down.

We had a bailiff come to the door out of the blue, for a previous renter prior to us buying the house. Could see him eyeing up our car in the drive. He was very scary I have to say! Was wearing a body cam and was extremely suspicious of me. I showed him ID and proof that we just bought the house, and he reluctantly left. No idea what would have happened if we weren’t home though.

Did you mean to quote me? Not sure what I said that was any different?

I don’t think you’re supposed to open letters addressed to other people.

However, if you accidentally open a letter on the basis that it was put through your letter box, nobody else should be receiving mail at your address and you are the only person old enough to receive post in your household, I doubt the bailiffs will kick up a stink, especially if you save them a wasted journey. The police are not going to come knocking.

Leaving a note with your details in the window is surely not a good idea. A note giving the council number for them to contact to confirm who lives in your house would be better.

We have also had this. The bailiff didn’t even ask us for proof of who we were, I must have appeared very genuinely shocked 😂 he was really nice, we had a chat, I gave the landlords contact details and that was that.

That happened to me once while renting, I didn't see any letters but had a bailiff turn up. I believe he actually had the wrong address after some investigation as was looking for a house named similarly and was actually very close by (I established afterwards).but obviously didn't know this at the time. He was very polite and just asked for the person he was looking for I advised I didn't know who that was and he just asked for some idea to prove I wasn't her and off he went.

Just show them tenancy agreement with your name on, will be fine