Previous tenants debts - liability?

[wiltslulu]

My partner and I recently split and I have moved back into my previous home that I own (or at least with a mortgage). We have been renting it out for the last 8 years. The previous tenants have bought a number of new kitchen white goods appliances but they left under a bit of a cloud - without paying rent for a number of months and they had a lot of debt. It seems there are many unpaid bills from lots of places - utility bills, credit card letts - same return address as my own so I'm sure they are demands.

Where do I stand if any of these companies obtain baliff's orders to repossess? The original white goods were all bought by myself. Would I have to give them up as they had been bought by someone else or are they legally mine since they replaced other items of similar value.? If they were bought before they had debt problems can they still be repossessed.

I do not have any new address for the tenants. They just left.The deposit didn't cover the unpaid rent, let alone the cost of cleaning carpets etc.

You need to return any mail to sender, stating clearly that they are not at the address anymore. If someone should show up, do not let them in, but show them ID and your tenancy agreement. This should be enough to assure them that the tenant is not there anymore. Worth seeing the CAB if you have time though, as they can help you clear all this up.

thanks.. The thought of some 'heavy' turning up and battering the door down has been scaring me to death..!

I'm a landlord and had something similar a couple of years ago. I had a standard letter I sent back explaining the situation and that I had no forwarding address.

Sometimes these debts get passed onto baliffs and they can try all sorts of tricks, such as phoning and pretending to be an old friend who wants to get back in touch (they're paid on commission, so they don't care and will try anything). Just ask them to put it all in writing and then they tend to disappear pretty quickly. Don't feel intimidated, you're not liable.

However in 6-12 months time you might want to run a credit check on yourself to make sure you don't have their debts mistakenly linked to you. Moneysavingexpert.com is really helpful with this sort of thing.

Sorry for my late response but thank you so much for this advice. I am having a bad time at the moment travelling between where we used to live and the new house (which is my old house).. My eldest is still in her old school and I am going backwards and forwards with various combinations of children and old possessions and arguing with my ex about most things..

Also contact Experian to find out how to get the bad debt disassociated from your address - credit companies and the like tend to blacklist by address rather than by name, so this could cause you problems in the future, but there are ways to clear your address.