Previous resident of house claiming they still live here

[pips23]

I bought my house last summer. Prior to that it was rented out and the girl who lived here had to go into emergency accommodation with the council. I have no further information about her as obviously I didn't buy from her.

Since then I get weekly debt collection letters for her. Some of them are threatening action if she doesn't pay. Numerous companies and lots of debt.

I originally sent them back to sender with 'no longer at this address' then rang the companies to tell them when they continued.
Now the companies are saying that they have confirmed she still lives here but she obviously doesn't. I don't know what to do or how they are confirming she is living here. Would she be telling them or has she not changed her address at the bank or something?
I'm obviously concerned about this debt being connected to my house. Is there anything I can do?

I had this at a previous address, kept sending the letters back but they kept coming then one day a bailiff turned up at more door. I just said she doesn’t live here and I’ve been sending the letters back, showed him my tenancy agreement and never heard from them again.

I have had this as well, just keep your council tax letter and ID to hand, if they do come round,

I had this, endless letters about debt for someone else,which I returned 'not know at this address', then bailiffs arrived at the door.

I showed them my lease, and my passport. That was the end of it. They went away.

Stop opening the post and engaging with these companies!

If anybody turns up - and that's a big if - you tell them you're the new owner and show them ID if necessary.

In the meantime write "not at this address" on the envelopes and put back in postbox.

DS had similar when he bought his house which was previously rented. He sent a copy of the solicitors closing statement for completion of the purchase and never heard anything after that.

It’s not illegal if you can show you have a reason

Along with that send all other mail back to sender that you may be getting on her behalf.

IMO it may be one collector selling the debt to another.

What else have you done op other to resend these letters back?

Could you stick a note on your door saying that Xxx no longer lives there and you will not accept mail addressed to her? That ought to cause the letters to be returned to sender with an official post office stamp confirming that they believe she no longer lives there

Actually you want bailiffs to come as then they won't bother you again once you show ID - without them coming you may literally get letters for years

Don't forget, they can't do anything to you - it's not your debt and you're not her

I had this years ago. In my experience, if you open the letters and ring the debt agencies to say she doesn't live there they will not believe you and will keep sending them.

If you leave them unopened, write 'no longer at this address, return to sender' and pop them in the postbox they will stop.

Things could have changed though.

@Kennykenkencat why wouldn't you want to stop it before it gets to that? I would much rather do a phone call than have debt collectors at the door- lot of people would find that very stressful and would be upset about it.

We had the same thing for a couple of years after we moved here. Again our house was rented out before we bought it. We had debt collectors at the door a few times but once we showed them our id they left very quickly. We kept returning to sender and eventually they have stopped coming.

My response to persistent unwanted communication is to write back clearly stating that any further communication will be regarded by me as harassment and reported to the police accordingly.

Don’t engage with debt collection agencies, I was the victim of fraud years ago and contacted them to sort it out. As others have said they don’t believe anyone - they became extremely aggressive with me. I ended up calling the original company who sold the debt sobbing who were v apologetic and sorted it all but it was an eye opener to how agencies work.

Mark every letter return to sender and post them back. Eventually the previous tenant will pop up somewhere else or they’ll send a bailiff who will confirm they don’t live there anymore.

But what would the reason be.

Just put not at this address and send back to sender.

There is no reason to open someone else’s mail. All it does is suggest the person does live at your address as you have opened the post which isn’t addressed to you

I would of thought they could get the account up with name and address. Yes, it is easier with the account number but I would wonder if this would be a valid reason to open mail that isn’t address to you.

I hope you get it sorted. It sounds like a right pain.

Easy answer to that!

The reason is to phone the company up, tell them the name and account number, and inform them that the person no longer lives there.
They then update their records and look elsewhere.
This means you don't get irritating or stressful letters for other people any more.
I always do it after I've done 'return to sender' a few times with the same company.

Op, as you have bought the house I really wouldn't worry. They mainly chase tenants with this stuff as they are more likely to be lying about a name change for example, or multiple tenants in one house. It soon goes away. I've never had anyone turn up at the door once I have phoned and explained I bought the property. Sometimes the letters are automated so you still get them for sux weeks or so after last contact.

Given you shouldn’t be opening other peoples post, the debt collection agency would assume that the person their letter was addressed to had opened the post and still lived at the address.

Opening someone else’s post is illegal. There is no reason to do anymore than to send the letters back in the post and let the post office open the letter to return to sender.

So the day after you move in if anything comes for the previous owners you open their mail and call the sender to let them know you live at the address now and not the person they wrote to?

We had this happen when we moved into our house. Apparently they have to keep sending the letters to the last known address.
We had one bailiff turn up but we were able to prove our residency and no connection to previous homeowner. It was all very amicable no one forced entry.

@Kennykenkencat - why are you so insistent in quoting incorrect information? The Postal Services Act 2000 states:

84 Interfering with the mail: general.
(3) A person commits an offence if, intending to act to a person's detriment and without reasonable excuse, he opens a postal packet which he knows or reasonably suspects has been incorrectly delivered to him.

The OP is neither trying to act to the sender or receivers detriment (unless you class having to pay debts a detriment) and has a reasonable excuse (OP is trying to stop bailiffs contacting her erroneously).

Why would you find it stressful? It’s just people asking about someone else.

You aren’t this person and you don’t owe them anything.

I find sitting on a phone stressful.

I once had a dca address a letter to the home owner and it said that if I wasn’t the person in question could I call them.

I wasn’t.

I called.

They didn’t pick up.

So as far as I was concerned I had done my bit.

Life is too short to sit waiting for someone to pick up the phone.

@Kennykenkencat - Good for you, bailiffs can be intimidating and nasty. They are on their best behaviour on those shows on TV and yet many of them still act like twats. I had an awful experience with them as a teenager looking for previous tenants. If you have only got wrong and unhelpful information to add why not find a different thread.

I had this when I moved into my new house many years ago. As others have said the fact you own your house does make it easier with utility firms etc. they were much more willing to accept it wasn’t my debt over the phone

i did have a few bailiffs from sold debt keep coming round. I kept a copy of ID, Council tax (showing my name single occupancy) and more importantly proof of ownership, receipt not V5, for my car on the drive. I got a couple of them hovering with a clamp

it was relentless and went on for 18 months plus but did stop in the end

i was told I did exactly the right thing opening the letters after return to sender clearly wasnt working

I think you can safely ignore - debt collectors will always assume people are lying about debtor not living somewhere but once they've seen you're not them they can't make you pay it/take your stuff, as others have said.

But the whole point is a letter hasn’t been incorrectly delivered. If you opened a letter addressed to someone else

Incorrectly delivered would cover the situation I found myself in earlier in the year.
I have a flat and because it is a conversion the flat numbers are a bit skewed.

I opened a letter addressed to the homeowner, with my flat number and my address.

It was a repossession notice for my neighbour.
Whilst the name and address showing through the window in the envelope was The homeowner with my address the letter started with Dear Mr xxxxx

That is incorrectly delivered post

Opening someone else’s post is just opening someone else’s post and there is no excuse