Bailiffs letter for previous owner

[DwarfPalmetto]

I have been here for about 6 weeks. I never met the previous owner. I gave the council the address for him that was on the memorandum of sale.

The letter says 24 hours notice. What, if anything, should I do about this?

The letter says, you must contact me to resolve this. If not, I will be required to return without notice to complete my actions. You may be subject to additional costs as per the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014.

I don't want any hassle from the bailiffs. What does 'complete my actions' mean?

We had similar - Contact them and explain the person they're chasing has moved out - They'll want a council tax bill and/or proof it's your place. In our case we gave our tenancy agreement so not sure what the equivelent is as you've bought rather than renting!

That should be the end of it, but in my case they kept coming back as the debt kept getting sold to new collection agencies. We kept the documents and our ID handy and just sent it out each time.

I got those letters when we moved and kept opening them and ringing to explain we’d just moved in. It was fine but you need to respond immediately to each one.

Send it back to the bailiffs with a copy of your completion statement from the purchase of the property. If you have a forwarding address for the person named on the letter then inform them. If not then give them details of their solicitor used in the conveyancing.

I had similar for an ex boyfriend, it was quite stressful. I had provided proof (utility bill) to the debt collection company but they didn't respond. I texted the number on the letter to say I'd provided proof to their company along with contact details for the person named.
I couldn't find a way to get in touch with the council so sent an email through Resolver with the information, proof I was the only person on the bills and contact details for the debter. They responded very quickly and called off the bailiff, never heard anything further

They can only take goods which belong to the debtor anyway. Even if someone turned up, you could just show ID to say who you are and they should go away. It's not "YOUR CASE" as it says in the letter, it's someone else's. They have no cause of action against you and you do not have to contact them except for your own convenience in stopping them turning up. If they do turn up, give them short shrift as above.

We had similar when we purchased this property. In my experience you won't get trouble from the bailiffs, they are doing a job and all the ones I dealt with were decent and understanding. Just keep a copy of paperwork showing who now resides at the property e.g a contract/solicitor documents if its a purchase by the door and show it them when they turn up.

Thanks everyone, all good ideas.

The previous owner was an annoying person to buy from, his solicitor was slow and not always responsive to my solicitor. I guess I shouldn't be surprised he is still annoying me now.

Ring them,

If they turn up then you can show ID to show the previous person has gone.

Passport or driving license is fine.

The ones that came to me were very polite.

We had this for ages after moving into our old house as the previous owner owed money to everyone.

On letters that can I either called them or returned to sender with dates when they left.

We kept ID and a council tax bill handy so we could show them when they turned up.

@DwarfPalmetto

Check with your local Electoral registration office (via www.gov.uk) that only you (and your partner if you have one) are correctly listed for your address on the electoral register, (also known as the ‘electoral roll’) which enables you to vote,

Credit reference agencies such as Experian, Equifax etc. plus banks, mortgage companies and even mobile phone companies use the register for compiling credit scores.

It’s possible that the previous occupant is still listed at your address, which is perhaps why the bailiffs are still sending letters there.