Debt Collection - wrong house guv!

[BJBMK2]

Have I done the right thing here?

Had a letter from the local court, to my address, but not addressed to me, or the people I bought the house from. Bit weird, I ring up the return address, they tell me to just do the typical thing of writing on the envelope "this person dose not live here, piss off" (or something to that effect). Which I do.

Had another one pop though today. Again, my address, but with some other cunts name on the envelope. The return address upon googling, links to debt collection agencies...

I've done what I did last time and just posted it back while scrawling on the envelope, but is there further steps I need to take? I'm not worried if I get bellends knocking on my door, I know I have nothing I owe anyone, just rather not have to go through the hassle.

[Sebastian Cobb]

That's all you need to do, especially if they're not even after you in name.

I had similar a while back, it was for an outstanding gas bill (with a company I'd never been with), they'd attributed the debt to me, but had addressed the letter to the tenement address with no flat number, it was only the chance it got delivered to an old lady downstairs who bothered to go knocking rather than binning it that I got it. I told them to prove the debt, they told me to take pictures of the meters, I said no, you haven't got my address right send me proof, they sent me proof it was for downstairs, I told them they had the wrong address and they said OK, bye.

[lauraxsynthesis]

A bailiff came to my office once because the building owners hadn't been paying business rates. At one point, his mobile rang and it was the theme to The Godfather.

[Icehaven]

It's possible someone's used your address fraudulently, particularly as you're certain it's not addressed to the person you bought the house from, so just keep an eye out for any other mail addressed to someone else (and not even necessarily the same name as these letters.) When I lived in a houseshare we got literal piles of mail every month for people who'd either moved out but hadn't changed their address with places they owed money to or had never lived there at all. The letting agency would come and pick them up every now and then but I've no idea what they did with them, skip probably.

Double check this but I'm sure it's actually a myth that it's illegal to open mail addressed to someone else, particularly if you've got a reasonable cause to do so, so if you're concerned that it might be fraud related you can probably open them if you want to more detail about what the debt is. Setting up bank and mobile phone accounts etc. at false addresses is very common.

[BJBMK2]

It's possible someone's used your address fraudulently, particularly as you're certain it's not addressed to the person you bought the house from, so just keep an eye out for any other mail addressed to someone else (and not even necessarily the same name as these letters.)

I'm leaning towards that. But I mean, assuming this is a CCJ, surely it's within the power of the courts/council, to see that his name is not attached to this address?

[Icehaven]

I'm leaning towards that. But I mean, assuming this is a CCJ, surely it's within the power of the courts/council, to see that his name is not attached to this address?

Not sure but if that's the only address they've got for him then that's the one they'll use. They'd probably want more than a returned letter with "not at this address" on to convince them otherwise so if you're concerned it is a CCJ maybe call them and check.

[thr0b]

.

[thr0b]

Wouldn't worry about it. It's not in your name and it won't affect you.

Just keep returning everything unopened.

It's not for the court to check addresses; they will issue documents to the address provided to them, and the claimant should provide  (usually) the last known residential address for service of the claim.

Either the claimant has messed up, or they've been given duff info. Either way, not your problem.

Once you return things, the court will eventually forward them to the claimant to inform them of the returned mail. And if the defendant has given a duff address to the claimant, it doesn't necessarily mean they avoid a judgment - it's for them to keep their details up to date.

Qualification: I spend my days doing claims.

[BlodwynPig]

Fuck debt. Fuck it good and proper.

[Alberon]

Bought my current house fifteen years ago and the previous owners moved into rented accomodation while they finalised their move to the States. They never left a forwarding address and I thought nothing of it.

A few months after they left the country I started getting final demands in their name and eventually debt company letters. On all of them we wrote 'no longer at this address' and bunged them back in the post. It seems they skipped out on tens of thousands of pounds of debt since they weren't planning on coming back anytime soon. Did actually track them down from what they'd told us when we'd met them, but I never passed that on to the debt collection agencies.

Eventually the debt was sold on for pennies in the pound and we got a few more letters years later from other companies who had no power to enforce anything, just write threatening letters.

In the end, never had anyone call us or turn up on our doorstep.

Just keep returning the letters and remember the burden of proof is on them, not you.

[BJBMK2]

Thanks for the replies all :) There was quite a long gap between the first and second letters, so hopefully this tapers off soon-ish.

 

[shiftwork2]

Fuck debt. Fuck it good and proper.

You still owe me that fiver.

[BlodwynPig]

You still owe me that fiver.

It's in the post, boss. Literally in.the.post

[BJBMK2]

How this will all end:



FORTY EIGHT DOLLARS!

[Goldentony]

wipe your arse on it and try to feed it to any bailiffs that show up

[Gurke and Hare]

Double check this but I'm sure it's actually a myth that it's illegal to open mail addressed to someone else

It's illegal to open mail that's correctly addressed to someone else - that is, if it's someone else who lives in your house you can't open their mail, but you can open mail addressed to a name that doesn't live there.

I've had loads of these from debt collectors since I moved in here a year ago. Just send them back and I've never had anyone come round.

[Zero Gravitas]

I'm happy to report I'm now past the collection limit as of the 8th of this month on a gas bill for an old flat.

Free money innit.

[prelektric]

Had a letter from the local court, to my address, but not addressed to me, or the people I bought the house from. Bit weird, I ring up the return address, they tell me to just do the typical thing of writing on the envelope "this person dose not live here, piss off" (or something to that effect). Which I do.

If it's not in your name, and the named person doesn't live there, or isn't financially associated with you (joint accounts etc), there is precisely sweet FA they can do. I wouldn't even bother sending them back - just shred and bin them.

Just a small aside, was it definitely an official letter from the court? Certain official court letters have to be served in the correct way legally. Don't underestimate the underhand tactics that these so called "debt collection agencies" will use to try to intimidate and claw back pennies from the bad debts they've bought. But in your case I'm 100% certain you've nothing to worry about.

[BJBMK2]

Just a small aside, was it definitely an official letter from the court? Certain official court letters have to be served in the correct way legally. Don't underestimate the underhand tactics that these so called "debt collection agencies" will use to try to intimidate and claw back pennies from the bad debts they've bought. But in your case I'm 100% certain you've nothing to worry about.

I only found out it was from the local court via googling the return address. In terms of what was in said letter, couldn't say. So I guess it was official, but I had no way of knowing if it was a summons, or anything more important then that.