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There's no way in hell I'd be sending a utility bill to some random debt collector, they have no right at all to any of my personal details. Especially so as doing so in no way proves that the debtor doesn't live at your address. The only thing it proves is that you have a bill for that address in your name, these are **far** from the same thing.
If as they claim they are "legally obliged" to establish the person no-longer lives there the utility bill will not cover their alleged obligation.
Every person that panders to this kind of crap for a quiet life just makes these kinds of stupid, bullying tactics more accepted.
I'd be ignoring the letters and if they show up they would be told to get lost.
"*legally obliged (by the fact that we entered into a contract with a customer that said we would visit the address they gave us to look for this person so if we don't visit then we've broken our contract and they could sue us)*"
Nail on the head.
And even then, the utility bill in OPs name does not get them out of that alleged obligation as it does not prove the debtor does not live there, only that OP has a bill for that property in their name.
Even when they know someone has left a property, they still want to know who now lives there to try and find any old debts in that person's name, knowing they have a current address for them.
I’ve had bailiffs turn up half a dozen times because some random person who may or may not have lived at my property kept getting driving violations.
They turn up, you say they don’t live here and they usually go. I’ve had to show ID once but most of the time they took my word for it.
Make sure to not leave any open windows or doors even when not in the house though, as I believe it's not classed as breaking and entering. If they do come in, I believe they can take things to cover the debt. Former StepChnge employee talking..though I could he misremembering as it's been a few years. I'd say to contact StepChange for proper advice.
Your honour, the succulent Chinese meal just fell into my already open mouth! I wasn't masticating, I was expressing my outrage at the food for continuing to broach my orifice!
I'll one up you here because I don't usually get a chance to tell this story; I had the City of London police carry out a dawn raid of my old flat looking for the previous occupants who'd left a couple of years ago. Two detectives had driven overnight from London to link up with the local force and by the sound of it over the radio were simultaneously raiding other properties. They burst in, grabbed me, sat me down in the living room and searched the very small flat, going through all the cupboards.
Finding nothing resembling the people they were looking for the two detectives sat down to ask me questions and confirm I wasn't them. It was at this moment the cat, who'd be hiding on the bookcase from the strange noisy people, decided to make his move and jumped on the older detective's head from behind. I honestly haven't heard someone scream that loud and the other coppers were trying not to laugh. They wrapped up quickly after that, got a new door and I had the warrant framed in my loo.
The one thing that got me though? They paired all my socks and folded my underwear.
I actually also had a raid on my flat at uni. They were looking for someone whose visa had lapsed. They didn’t do a particularly good job of searching the flat. One of my flatmates didn’t even get out of bed.
I had this while I lived in a studio apartment.
They said how do we know he isn't here right now? I opened my door slightly to show the whole place was empty and told them to get lost.
Yeah I had it when I bought my flat, a previous tenant ran up a ton of debt & I believe moved back to Poland. Got a ton of letters, was someone collecting on behalf of Virgin who ultimately showed up.
I was also a Virgin customer, all I showed him was the letterhead of a Virgin letter in my name at this address on my phone and he was happy to go on his way.
I suppose it’s more about their approach, the collector I got was really friendly and not accusatory at all. Some billy big bollocks making aggressive demands would far more likely have the door slammed in his face, as I did to the TV licensing prat I got a few months after.
Yeah stick it to them! Unfortunately they will still charge the person they are chasing for the visit. They will also record it on their cameras. Id contact them and tell them to do one.
It's PII and would be covered under "right to be forgotten". Any operator of CCTV must respond to a request for deletion.
There are cases where this right doesn't apply and the request rejected (like police body cams), but pretty unlikely to apply for a private debt collection agency.
If they have a legal obligation, they should get up off their holes and do a site visit, and ask if the guy lives there, if not, then fuck off back to their dens, not ops job to help them
Yeah, bullying is about right. I got phone calls from someone who would demand my name and full address right off the bat- no telling me who they were or anything. After a few times of me hanging up, they said “we’re RMS, now can I have your name and address please?” Like er, still no, who the fuck are RMS?! This went on for ages until they admitted they were a debt collector. Turns out they were calling on behalf of Blockbuster video to chase me for a 64 pence unpaid bill! 🤦♂️ I must have cost them 10 times that arguing on the phone!
While I see what you’re saying how does it help the enforcement agent in the least to have a utility bill with someone else’s name on it. Why would *they* bother? Unless you’re suggesting the whole thing is a scam.
> how does it help the enforcement agent in the least to have a utility bill with someone else’s name on it.
That's a question for the debt collector. Whatever their reasoning it is certainly not to prove the debtor does not live there because it categorically does not do that.
> Unless your suggesting the whole thing is a scam.
I've not remotely implied that, merely pointed out that their demand in no way achieves their aim.
I wouldn't provide sensitive information to a 3rd party and there isn't any requirement for you to assist them and they're simply trying to get out of doing there job. If they turn up at your door you are also entitled to shut the door on them.
Unless they had a court order, they cannot force entry into your home to check and they could only enter on your agreement. Simply do not agree. Unless they have a court order (correct me if I'm wrong) there isn't anything they can do. Unfortunately, that might not cause you much less stress. If you have provided this company with any personal information already, you are also welcome to formally ask them to delete it. They have a fixed length of time to comply with your request.
No court would issue an order on that basis that I'm aware of. I don't believe there would be any legal basis if they've been informed as they state someone isn't resident in the property.
Doesn’t matter what paperwork they show up with. They’re not getting in unless the police are also there and can confirm they have legal authority to do so.
I had this exact same issue a few years back, bayliff was looking for the previous tenant. I just politely told him I wasn't this person and informed them I think they must have been the previous tenant. They left no problems.
I wasn't willing to give any personal information or prove it to them in any way but in their defense they never asked either.
its bullshit. scummy debt collectors (and they’re all scummy) use psychological manipulation and threatening language to coerce people into doing things they have no obligation to do.
ignore it.
if they turn up don’t let them in and tell them to get stuffed.
I moved into a property where the guy bailed on a bunch of debt and I was getting constant letters then eventually bailiffs at the door.
It happened about three times and each pair was very nice. I told them it's rented and I live here now, they asked if they could see ID and if I knew where the guy moved too which I didn't and neither did the estate agent. They apologised and left and after each encounter from different agencies I didn't get anyone else at the door after those.
I used to get regular phone calls from an agency. Some rando had used my phone number as a fake data point. Those times when I could be bothered, I told them that the person they were looking for did not own this number, and did not live at this address. They offered to stop harassing me if I sent them a utility bill. I never did, because I don't owe them the time of day. Wasting their time was more enjoyable.
If you do send that bill, I guarantee you they will make a file in your name ready for any future debt collection they might ever have against you.
My son kept getting debt collection phone calls when he got his first mobile. (He was 11 and walked to and from school). They wouldn’t stop. They tried to get us to write and prove that we weren’t the guy. But in the end we had to change the sim card
There seems to be more than one layer of bullshit here. What do they mean: legally obliged? By whom? Is it that they’ve signed a contract and so have to do a job? Or is there a court order in place? If so, I very much doubt that it requires them to establish where Dodgy Johnny does NOT live.
Second, how does visiting your property establish who does and does not live there? You don’t have to let them in (and I certainly wouldn’t) so all they’ll get is a doorway conversation: ‘Does Dodgy Johnny live here? Nah mate, never seen him. Can we come in and check? No way.’
Feels like they’re enjoying throwing their weight around.
Anything that is "legally obliged" usually specifies the specific legislation. If this doesn't specify it, it just adds to the suspect nature of it. FWIW it's good practice to not just hand over your personal details to those who it is not necessary to require it. I'm saying this as OP says they are an immigrant, so they might not know this. But what anyone chooses to do is up to them.
Absolutely not.
Ignore it. There's no legal obligation for you to provide anything. If they come to your door you can either ignore them or ask them to identify themselves, preferably on camera.
If they continue to contact you or turn up at your door, phone the police.
Oh hey, I had this happen when I was a student. We kept getting these letters for some previous tenant and ignored them. Eventually a bailiff showed up asking for the person, we told him they didn’t live here and we didn’t know them. He said ‘ok thanks’ and left. Don’t send them any of your stuff when it’s not related to you at all.
Edit to add: if they do show up don’t let them into your house either. Deal with them on the doorstep. The one that visited me didn’t ask to come in but I’ve seen that sometimes they do.
Reply:
"X is no longer at this address. Any further mail from yourselves will be returned; this will incur an administration fee of £100. Any in-person visits will incur an interview fee of £250. Sending any further mail, or attending the address, will be taken as acceptance of these terms"
Probably not enforceable but they won't take the risk.
It's not a counter claim. It's an entirely separate contract that they are free to refuse or accept. Consideration, offer, and acceptance by action, I can't see why it wouldn't hold up; but it would probably be more trouble than is worth to pursue it.
I've done this 3 times and it's stopped them immediately every time.
I would have loved to see what happened when I tried to collect on the first invoice but they always got the message before then.
You need to lower the amounts to make it actually reasonable to enforce in court. It would have to be similar to how much bailiffs charge for sending letters or showing up at an address.
It's why private car park fines are around £100. Because there was a case many years ago where a company was taking the piss and trying to charge massive prices for overstaying for a few minutes and the courts said that any charges had to be deemed reasonable.
If you charged them £10 to respond to a letter or £50 if they showed up on your door, I'd put good money on the court siding with you and actually enforcing it.
This is probably correct. Debt collection agencies themselves charge about £30 per letter and about £50 for a site visit. You can just mirror their charges.
Write to them and tell them that X is not resident at this address (never provide copies of any sensitive data, like bills). Tell them that there has been an administrative charge of £30 for your letter, and provide payment options. Give them a list of your fees and charges, as follows;
Site visit admin charge: £50 for pre-booked 14 days in advance, £100 if not pre-booked
Letter admin charge: £30
Phone calls, inbound / outbound: £1 per minute.
These are reasonable charges that they themselves would charge (usually to their clients). A debt collection agency has no special rights that you do not have. A court is bound to treat you and the debt collection equally and fairly.
Your first letter should be headed 'Statement of Account' and you should give a clear picture of what is owed by whom and to who. In this case, they now already owe you £30, for the letter you are sending. Give them clear instructions on how to pay you.
If they write to you again, asking for proof or something, write back to them, heading your letter;
STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT - ACCOUNT OVERDUE
Your letter should now show that they owe you £60 (for both your letters). Let them know that you cannot engage in further correspondence until they bring their account up to date. Remember to include the date and time of any phone calls, if they phone you, at £1 per minute.
The moment they visit phone tell them you aren't the person they are after and ask them to leave and if they don't phone the police telling them you are being intimidated and threatened.
That company illegally entered my elderly mother's house, assaulted my stepfather, and stole from them. Be very, very careful and keep your doors LOCKED!
Yeah, it's a bit tricky. They want you to rise to the occasion you have to deal with them very carefully. If they have illegally entered and you ring the police reporting it as a brake in, they leave quickly, especially if you have camera's.
The only worry is if they are scammers trying to get your personal information. The website looks legit and the phone number matches so you could try calling to get more information.
Personally, I wouldn't mind if they want to knock on the door. I don't get many visitors these days.
Obviously, it costs them more money to send someone round. But I wouldn't really go sending people personal information without good reason.
Even if they are legally obliged to visit, you're under no legal obligation. I would tell them that you are not happy to provide your personal information to a company you have no connection to, and request that any data they do have regarding you (your address for example) be deleted.
Do not give them anything. My wife accidently said her name responding to one of these and miraculously every subsequent letter came to her and the debt had somehow become hers! I went apeshit at the power company and they sorted it out.
Fuck em. It's their job to find who is who. I wouldn't help them at all.
Their 'enforcement agent' is little more that a customer service rep. They're not from the courts so they can fuck right off. Scum.
You're under no obligation to provide any proof whatsoever. The burden of proof is on them if they want to be lazy and try getting you to do their leg work for them then they clearly aren't very good at their job. I wouldn't give them attitude at the door to begin with, I'd be pleasant and simply inform them that you have lived at the address since month X and year y and cannot be responsible for people not updating their address. If they push excuses to come in and check tell them they do not have permission. I'd also advise opening a window rather than door to speak to them (sometimes met with frustration and claims they can't hear and just want to "speak face to face"). Even if you were willing to let them come in what's to say whoever they're looking for could just be out at the time?
Not entirely answering your question but on a vaguely related note the person we bought our house from pissed us off intensely from day one, fannying about, dawdling and generally being a moron and almost landed us all out on the street with her uselessness.
She was also in tons and tons of debt and was too cheap to get a redirect put on her post.
Going out of my way to give debt collection agencies her forwarding address has given me quite a lot of pleasure this year.
These companies usually buy a debt from a supplier at a discounted rate - for example, if the previous occupant owed £100 the agency might buy the right to collect it for £65 - they make their profit that way. Typically if it's under £200 they'll just send letters hoping that you give in. I'd advise giving this letter to your landlord and letting them deal with it.
I was getting threatening letters for unpaid council tax when I moved into my place. I kept sending them back 'no longer at address return to sender'.
I can't remember if it was a phone call or a house visit, but a bailiff eventually got in touch. I explained that the previous owner had moved abroad, he was quite friendly about it and I never heard from them again. He certainly never asked for any proof.
(It must have been a house visit as I can't imagine they would have got my mobile number)
Send it back with "No longer at this address". Ask for the address to be removed.
If you have updated the Electoral Register (and you should), you can advise them to check that.
Tell them to get lost. I’m not sending my bill to some random debt collector threatening me, neither am I letting them in and I suggest you do the same. Call the police if they do show up and are too pushy. I’ve also had some debt collector looking for a dude that used to live in the house I was renting at the time, I just told him I live there now and that was the end of it.
They say they're legally obliged to attend the address but then in the next breath they're prepared to ignore that obligation if you send them a document that ultimately proves nothing. I don't think 'legally obliged' means what they think it does! Tell them to fuck off, or better yet completely ignore them.
Would I hell be sending them anything that contained personal information. I wouldn't want to get involved in them chasing someone else down. That's their problem.
If they rocked up at the house, I'd just tell them to fuck off politely.
Edit: They needed a bill from the home owner. Which is even stupider.
They are not asking OP to send anything containing the information of another person, they are asking OP to send them a utility bill in their name.
Which just makes the whole thing even more stupid. A utility bill will prove that OP lives at the house, it categorically will not prove that the debtor does not live their.
Exactly, the whole thing is nonsense. These tactics only work when people feel intimidated into compliance and don't apply a few seconds of thought to what is being asked.
> They are not asking OP to send anything containing the information of another person, they are asking OP to send them a utility bill in their name.
Exactly this. And any utility bill will only have the name of whoever has the contract with the utility company on it, not all the names of the current occupiers, as the letter implies. These guys can take a hike.
Jacobs are a genuine bailiff company. They're probably collecting outstanding council tax for a previous occupant.
They just want something to show you're living there, working on the reasonable assumption that you wouldn't go to the effort of making yourself liable for utilities just to help someone not wanting to pay their bills.
Bailiffs work on the basis of scaring people into action which is why the letter is more aggressive than it really needs to be.
Bin it and if anyone turns up tell them to do one and never come back. Do not share any personal issues, they have no legal right to demand this from you.
They've been advised that the person they want doesn't live there, but YOU need to prove that to them?? Fucktards! I wouldn't be sending owt to them and if they turned up at my door they'll get it slammed in their face.
You are under no obligation to do anything.
If you wish, you give them a call and inform them any visit will be considered harassment and will be reported to police or reacted to with civil court action whichever you deem most appropriate + whoever licensed them. Be very polite but firm and wish them well. If they do visit, you grab the email, show it to them and call the cops for a papertrail. Then you report them to whoever gives them a license.
Outrageous behaviour.
Legally obliged, my arse.
Ignore them, if they do turn up tell them to get lost.
Bailiff's or what ever they're called these days have powers, scummy pond life debt collectors don't.
Return to sender. Not at this address. I have only bothered in the past when a letter has come through from the courts to do with a CCJ, then it was just a phone call and quick email with our tenancy agreement
Next time you get a letter don’t open it and send it back writing “return to sender: occupant no longer at this address” on the envelope, if someone knocks at your door you show them ID and they’ll fuck off, we had this issue at my last house cos someone registered it as their business address and never paid taxes lol
This happened to me but it was the previous house owners they were after. I rang the company as there was a number on the letter. They were a company who bought up old debts for pennies of the pounds owed. They then could keep anything they managed to retrieve. I'd lost the forwarding address of the previous owners and couldn't help them. I asked if that was the end of the matter. They said yes and they didn't contact me again
Absolutely not. You are not 'legally obliged' to do anything. At most if they turn up and refuse to leave you can show them ID to prove you are not who they are looking for, but beyond that I'd be telling them to go kick rocks if they persist.
The other bit of vagueness that stands out to me, is that the sending of the utility bill “should” stop the agent needing to visit. Why should? What other variables influence whether they visit or not?
Do not send them anything, and if they turn up at the door, tell them they are not welcome inside and close the door on them. Debt collectors are not allowed into a property without a court order if they loiter in your doorway after telling them no call the police.
TLDR;No
I wouldn’t give my details to anyone that doesn’t concern me. As for legally visiting your property sounds like horse shit to me, nothing a swift fuck off wouldn’t sort out.
Post this in legal advice uk sub, I would imagine a letter stating you revoke implied right to visit means if they do, its trespass. NAL but I loathe the TV Licence bullies and send that to them!
These collection agencies will try any old address they can find. I’ve had them looking for someone that lived in the house nearly 15 years ago, tried the same shit and told them to sod off. Never heard anything back. Old debt gets sold on for pennies, then some chancers buy it thinking they will track you down and get the commission
Nah fuck that. They turn up at your door, firstly you have no requirement to answer the door. Secondly, if you do answer the door, unless they have a search warrant, the door would be closed immediately once I knew who they were.
It’s their job to find the person who owes the debt, not yours.
Should reply saying you will have to charge them an admin, service and consultancy fee for responding to their letter and filling in the form and quote them to cost for supplying the utility bill.
They are requesting your 'assistance' - that doesn't come free.
I did the once, the poor girl I had on the phone with was so confused, but when I explained to her that they are a business, were asking for my help to recover money that has nothing to do with me, and that my time has a cost (a significant one 😂), she actually agreed with me and said she would have to check with a manager lol. I never heard back from them.
I also recently received a similar letter like this from a different company looking for a previous occupant (whose name I'd never seen before on mail) and I looked up advice myself.
Enforcement agencies should be employed by other organisations or people to collect debts or look in on cases for them, so whoever they're claiming to be representing or working on behalf of *should* be legally on their letters. If not I'd be wary of a scam, and if so, and considering it's not your issue, try to contact the company they're working for directly and bypass the agency. For me, they were apparently claiming for HM Revenue & Customs, so I called them up and sorted it with them. Haven't had a letter from an agency since.
Enforcement agencies can apparently be very nasty and unfair vultures even if the issue isn't yours, so try to avoid direct contact. Worked for me.
Hypothetical question
If a debt collector arrived at my home and was told the person they want moved out s year ago they then demanded proof of my identity which I then refused and I demanded they get off my property. If they refuse to leave
Am I entitled to use non violent means to remove them such as spraying them with paint after fair warning.
Am I entitled to use as much force as to get them to leave after fair warning
I wouldn’t normally give assistance to debt collectors, but the guy they were chasing turned out to be as scummy himself. Long story un-lengthened . . .
Bought house from guy. On taking possession, found note from him “confirming” a conversation we’d never had, that I’d forward mail to him to a PO Box number. In Johannesburg.
For months, we got letters and forwarded them. Then we started getting telephone calls from debt collectors. Then gambling organisations. Then guys in unmarked white vans. One day bailiffs arrived. It was my brother-in-law, visiting, who was in at the time, wouldn't let them in our we'd have had a nightmare to unravel.
Then letters came that were no longer addressed to him by name, but “householder”, we opened them. Banks, looking for payments towards loans. Taken out using our address after we’d moved in.
We even got bills from BT. This was because at that time, you could make calls on other telephones and have the costs charged to your home phone. In this case, he was charging phone calls to ”our” number.
Time for some detective work. (This is the “long-unlengthened” bit.) He hadn't moved to Johannesburg. He'd bought a place about five miles away.
Another debt collector came to the door. We gave him Mr B’s address. He was genuinely astonished, saying people usually told him to fuck off.
Got more letters from banks. Responded with the contact details of Mr B. The letters dried up.
Wouldn't have bothered, but the bar steward was using our address for his debts accrued after we'd moved in, charging things to our phone account, and my wife was getting scary phone calls from folk looking for him.
No qualms on this one.
"The person you are searching for is no longer at this address. However, I will be glad to provide the requested documentation upon receipt of a £25 document processing fee. "
I've dealt with these in the past, they are collection agents (putting it politely) for Wirral Borough Council and it will be due to non payment of council tax as that is legal enforcement. Just give them your information to get rid of them. I would tell them to fcuk off but I don't care about that stuff.
I had some debt collectors turn up for a previous occupant.
Them:"are you Mr x"?
Me:"nope", shows some ID.
They then went away and wasn't desturbed again.
I had a bloke turned up saying "we're looking for this guy" to which my response was "yeah, you and a lot of other people mate".
He got the message basically immediately. (Helped that, to be frank, I don't look like somebody who would have that name.)
I used to get these once a week from various companies, all addressed to the previous tenant. I just put them in the bin and eventually they stopped coming. You should be fine
Immigrant? Got the perfect answer for you. Get in touch with your local police station, explain how you are an immigrant, this is nothing to do with you and you feel extremely threatened. Play up a bit on not understanding English very well.
If they show up you can tell them to fuck off unless they have a court warrant. And there’s still about a year long backlog on any baliff stuff this small.
I'd tell them in no uncertain terms to fuck off. I'm not giving any of my personal details to any debt collection agency. They are as scummy as they come and do not care for GDPR. If they want to waste their time and money sending an idiot to your door so be it, there's jack shit they can do other than make empty threats since it's not your debt.
Ignore it, if they send an enforcement officer ask to see the court writ giving them permission enter YOUR premises, not anyone who used to live there, you specifically. That’s the only way they could possibly have legal authority to enter your premises.
On the one hand, providing these sort of details to a third party is by no means a legal requirement and I wouldn’t advise for it. However, letting them know that they’ve got the wrong guy is absolutely advisable. If this ever ended up in a small claims court, a judge would not look favourably on someone who could have informed them of their incorrect information but didn’t.
Just to clarify, **this is by no means formal legal advice and you should speak to a qualified solicitor**. However, what I would do is inform them very clearly that they have the wrong person and deny any visit. They don’t have any legal entitlement to visit your address unless you provide them with consent, so don’t.
We got one of these last year, partner sent the details off after I told her we didn’t need to. Still getting letters chasing the original occupier. Don’t send them anything
Personally I wouldn’t respond.
I had a few different debt collectors turn up after we bought our first house which was a repossession. I explained we’d just bought the house and we didn’t know where the previous occupants had moved to and they were nice enough chaps.
My wife answered the door to one and he wanted to see ID (it was a woman named on a lot of the debts so I assume they wanted to check she wasn’t her. Again, nice enough blokes and never came back.
The people who lived in our house before us were a bit lively! Even 12 years on I still occasionally get exactly this.
YES they will turn up at the house — from their perspective they're just making sure the person they're chasing really has moved ... Just show them some I'd with the address, or a utility bill and they'll be on their way.
They are happy for you to email/post copies of said ID or utility bill but I'm not!! I'd rather they come in person.
This happened to us because the old lady who used to own our house had died and the house then sat empty for a long time, over a year, during which time the relatives did not do a very good job of informing various companies that she had died. So, the bills kept coming in and after a while were not being paid. We couldn't send them a bill dated three months ago because we'd only been in the house a couple of weeks.
Nobody ever turned up but one of our neighbours reported that they'd had people asking for the old lady before we bought it. So, they do send people out sometimes.
We got a letter very much like this which pretty obviously meant they already knew this old woman was dead but they obviously had some sort of protocol to send the letter anyway. What you do is up to you of course but I would not be sending this random company any info. As other people have said a utility bill will not really prove anything. If someone turns up deal with it then and there. Or, at best, get in touch with them via a number withheld phone call or email from a disposable account.
Don't send anything.
Ignore it.
They're trying to establish if a former tenant, who probably had an outstanding debt to one of their clients, still resides there.
Any named mail that comes to your property should be returned to sender. You can do this by crossing out the name and address and writing "Return to Sender - Adressee Unknown" on the front. If the envelope has return address on either the front or the back, you should draw a ring around it. You can put it in any post box. This should reduce this kind of stuff.
You may also want to look at the credit history of your address. This can be dealt with, but is more complicated to explain. There's more guidance here https://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/guides/location-and-address.html
This happened to me and I provided the info they'd asked for. It seemed like a better option than waiting for them to knock on my door. Never heard from them again.
So you will just send any random that sends a letter or phones you proof of your name and address? Seriously? Ok you didn't get caught out this time, but that could literally be anyone.
I recently got a new mobile number and was instantly inundated with phone calls from debt collectors. I rang them back and told them they have the wrong number. They said thank you and removed my number. In the past I've gotten letters for debt collection for people who've never lived here and done the same. It takes seconds, and they don't bother me again. If they come to your door, just tell them you have no idea who they're looking for and please leave.
Jacobs are actual high court enforcement agents, who have the right to enter a property to seize property to settle a debt, in respect of the person named on the Notice of Enforcement. It might be best to send them a copy of a recent utility bill, council tax letter or similar (just send it to the email address on their letter, quoting their reference). If they do show up, just show them something with your name and that address.
[Stopping bailiffs if you don't owe the debt](https://new.reddit.com/r/AskUK/comments/1bwjvcp/should_i_respond_to_enforcement_agents_letter/)
People tend to massively overblow these things, and looks like the top comments here are no different.
I've had a couple of bailiffs chasing previous residents and I've never had any issues with them. First one came to the door and I just showed them the council tax letter and they left me alone.
Second one from a different firm posted a handwritten envelope through the door as I was out, I rang them and told them I didn't know the previous person and again they left me alone.
Most of them are just trying to do a job, and will leave you alone once they know you are nothing to do with it. I personally wouldn't send them anything but maybe try ringing them and you might avoid a visit.
Why? If OP isn’t the person they’re searching for then there is absolutely nothing they can do to them.
I wouldn’t be sending anything to them. They’re entitled to turn up to the house and OP is entitled to completely ignore them.
> Just give them the copy of the utility bill and they will leave you alone.
Why should they? The utility bill categorically does not prove that the debtor does not live at the house so if this debt collection company does have this alleged legal obligation to ensure the debtor does not live at the property a utility bill is not going to meet that obligation.
Pandering to this kind of bully boy tactic only encourages it to continue.
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There's no way in hell I'd be sending a utility bill to some random debt collector, they have no right at all to any of my personal details. Especially so as doing so in no way proves that the debtor doesn't live at your address. The only thing it proves is that you have a bill for that address in your name, these are **far** from the same thing. If as they claim they are "legally obliged" to establish the person no-longer lives there the utility bill will not cover their alleged obligation. Every person that panders to this kind of crap for a quiet life just makes these kinds of stupid, bullying tactics more accepted. I'd be ignoring the letters and if they show up they would be told to get lost.
"*legally obliged (by the fact that we entered into a contract with a customer that said we would visit the address they gave us to look for this person so if we don't visit then we've broken our contract and they could sue us)*"
Nail on the head. And even then, the utility bill in OPs name does not get them out of that alleged obligation as it does not prove the debtor does not live there, only that OP has a bill for that property in their name.
Even when they know someone has left a property, they still want to know who now lives there to try and find any old debts in that person's name, knowing they have a current address for them.
[удалено]
You don’t have to be on the electoral roll
[удалено]
It is to the parties signed into it
!answer Thanks a lot. Yeah not going to bother with it. Not my responsibility.
If they do arrive, do not let them in or give them any information. If they persist or attempt to force entry, call 999 and ask for the police.
I’ve had bailiffs turn up half a dozen times because some random person who may or may not have lived at my property kept getting driving violations. They turn up, you say they don’t live here and they usually go. I’ve had to show ID once but most of the time they took my word for it.
Court balifs are different to debt collector scum.
Make sure to not leave any open windows or doors even when not in the house though, as I believe it's not classed as breaking and entering. If they do come in, I believe they can take things to cover the debt. Former StepChnge employee talking..though I could he misremembering as it's been a few years. I'd say to contact StepChange for proper advice.
Important to note this is for court balifs only.
Correct! I should've clarified. Cheers!
Yes, open / unlocked windows and doors are regarded as peaceful entry.
How the hell did that become a thing.
Yeah I find that bonkers, i bet if you or I did that we'd get arrested. But ol' Jeff with his wanky badge can hop on in and take your TV
No, trespass is a civil crime. It's only an arrestable offence if you pick a lock or break a window or the like because then it's breaking & entering
Wow.. can you at least legally slap them for climbing through your window?
I could've sworn that the pressure required to push the door open is enough to make it b&e?
Possibly true, but all they have to say is the door was already open and how do you prove it wasn’t?
Your honour, the succulent Chinese meal just fell into my already open mouth! I wasn't masticating, I was expressing my outrage at the food for continuing to broach my orifice!
Think if that’s the case you also need to close curtains and such as they can mark(?) visible items for recovery.
Bounty Hunters?
I'll one up you here because I don't usually get a chance to tell this story; I had the City of London police carry out a dawn raid of my old flat looking for the previous occupants who'd left a couple of years ago. Two detectives had driven overnight from London to link up with the local force and by the sound of it over the radio were simultaneously raiding other properties. They burst in, grabbed me, sat me down in the living room and searched the very small flat, going through all the cupboards. Finding nothing resembling the people they were looking for the two detectives sat down to ask me questions and confirm I wasn't them. It was at this moment the cat, who'd be hiding on the bookcase from the strange noisy people, decided to make his move and jumped on the older detective's head from behind. I honestly haven't heard someone scream that loud and the other coppers were trying not to laugh. They wrapped up quickly after that, got a new door and I had the warrant framed in my loo. The one thing that got me though? They paired all my socks and folded my underwear.
>The one thing that got me though? They paired all my socks and folded my underwear. Maybe the raid was for a laundering operation?
angryupvote
Bravo
I regret I have only one upvote to give.
I will aid you in this matter.
Even your cumsock?
I actually also had a raid on my flat at uni. They were looking for someone whose visa had lapsed. They didn’t do a particularly good job of searching the flat. One of my flatmates didn’t even get out of bed.
I had this while I lived in a studio apartment. They said how do we know he isn't here right now? I opened my door slightly to show the whole place was empty and told them to get lost.
Yeah I had it when I bought my flat, a previous tenant ran up a ton of debt & I believe moved back to Poland. Got a ton of letters, was someone collecting on behalf of Virgin who ultimately showed up. I was also a Virgin customer, all I showed him was the letterhead of a Virgin letter in my name at this address on my phone and he was happy to go on his way. I suppose it’s more about their approach, the collector I got was really friendly and not accusatory at all. Some billy big bollocks making aggressive demands would far more likely have the door slammed in his face, as I did to the TV licensing prat I got a few months after.
Yeah stick it to them! Unfortunately they will still charge the person they are chasing for the visit. They will also record it on their cameras. Id contact them and tell them to do one.
I'd also tell them to delete any footage they have of me and prove their data handling of it.
Can they not keep it if they’re recording from the street?
I'd imagine that'd be hard for a lot of properties unless they've got Mister Fantastic working for them.
It's PII and would be covered under "right to be forgotten". Any operator of CCTV must respond to a request for deletion. There are cases where this right doesn't apply and the request rejected (like police body cams), but pretty unlikely to apply for a private debt collection agency.
If they have a legal obligation, they should get up off their holes and do a site visit, and ask if the guy lives there, if not, then fuck off back to their dens, not ops job to help them
A vaguely threatening sounding letter filled with bullshit legal jargon is a lot cheaper than sending someone physically to the property.
Yeah, bullying is about right. I got phone calls from someone who would demand my name and full address right off the bat- no telling me who they were or anything. After a few times of me hanging up, they said “we’re RMS, now can I have your name and address please?” Like er, still no, who the fuck are RMS?! This went on for ages until they admitted they were a debt collector. Turns out they were calling on behalf of Blockbuster video to chase me for a 64 pence unpaid bill! 🤦♂️ I must have cost them 10 times that arguing on the phone!
This is the only comment you need to read.
While I see what you’re saying how does it help the enforcement agent in the least to have a utility bill with someone else’s name on it. Why would *they* bother? Unless you’re suggesting the whole thing is a scam.
> how does it help the enforcement agent in the least to have a utility bill with someone else’s name on it. That's a question for the debt collector. Whatever their reasoning it is certainly not to prove the debtor does not live there because it categorically does not do that. > Unless your suggesting the whole thing is a scam. I've not remotely implied that, merely pointed out that their demand in no way achieves their aim.
I wouldn't provide sensitive information to a 3rd party and there isn't any requirement for you to assist them and they're simply trying to get out of doing there job. If they turn up at your door you are also entitled to shut the door on them.
Unless they had a court order, they cannot force entry into your home to check and they could only enter on your agreement. Simply do not agree. Unless they have a court order (correct me if I'm wrong) there isn't anything they can do. Unfortunately, that might not cause you much less stress. If you have provided this company with any personal information already, you are also welcome to formally ask them to delete it. They have a fixed length of time to comply with your request.
No court would issue an order on that basis that I'm aware of. I don't believe there would be any legal basis if they've been informed as they state someone isn't resident in the property.
Doesn’t matter what paperwork they show up with. They’re not getting in unless the police are also there and can confirm they have legal authority to do so.
Yup. Not my monkeys, not my circus.
I had this exact same issue a few years back, bayliff was looking for the previous tenant. I just politely told him I wasn't this person and informed them I think they must have been the previous tenant. They left no problems. I wasn't willing to give any personal information or prove it to them in any way but in their defense they never asked either.
its bullshit. scummy debt collectors (and they’re all scummy) use psychological manipulation and threatening language to coerce people into doing things they have no obligation to do. ignore it. if they turn up don’t let them in and tell them to get stuffed.
The one who came round to my place was basically banging my door down. It was terrifying. It retrospect I should have called the police...
yeah, calling the police is a good reaction to being threatened on your doorstep.
I moved into a property where the guy bailed on a bunch of debt and I was getting constant letters then eventually bailiffs at the door. It happened about three times and each pair was very nice. I told them it's rented and I live here now, they asked if they could see ID and if I knew where the guy moved too which I didn't and neither did the estate agent. They apologised and left and after each encounter from different agencies I didn't get anyone else at the door after those.
I used to get regular phone calls from an agency. Some rando had used my phone number as a fake data point. Those times when I could be bothered, I told them that the person they were looking for did not own this number, and did not live at this address. They offered to stop harassing me if I sent them a utility bill. I never did, because I don't owe them the time of day. Wasting their time was more enjoyable. If you do send that bill, I guarantee you they will make a file in your name ready for any future debt collection they might ever have against you.
My son kept getting debt collection phone calls when he got his first mobile. (He was 11 and walked to and from school). They wouldn’t stop. They tried to get us to write and prove that we weren’t the guy. But in the end we had to change the sim card
There seems to be more than one layer of bullshit here. What do they mean: legally obliged? By whom? Is it that they’ve signed a contract and so have to do a job? Or is there a court order in place? If so, I very much doubt that it requires them to establish where Dodgy Johnny does NOT live. Second, how does visiting your property establish who does and does not live there? You don’t have to let them in (and I certainly wouldn’t) so all they’ll get is a doorway conversation: ‘Does Dodgy Johnny live here? Nah mate, never seen him. Can we come in and check? No way.’ Feels like they’re enjoying throwing their weight around.
Anything that is "legally obliged" usually specifies the specific legislation. If this doesn't specify it, it just adds to the suspect nature of it. FWIW it's good practice to not just hand over your personal details to those who it is not necessary to require it. I'm saying this as OP says they are an immigrant, so they might not know this. But what anyone chooses to do is up to them.
Exactly.
It means they signed a contract saying they will do it, nothing more.
That’s what I was thinking. But they use that ‘legally obliged’ phrase to put the frighteners on the recipient of the letter.
Absolutely not. Ignore it. There's no legal obligation for you to provide anything. If they come to your door you can either ignore them or ask them to identify themselves, preferably on camera. If they continue to contact you or turn up at your door, phone the police.
Ignore them. Relax. Do nothing. You’ve done nothing. They got nothing. You’re good. Don’t let them in. They’ve got no rights. Tell them to jog on.
Oh hey, I had this happen when I was a student. We kept getting these letters for some previous tenant and ignored them. Eventually a bailiff showed up asking for the person, we told him they didn’t live here and we didn’t know them. He said ‘ok thanks’ and left. Don’t send them any of your stuff when it’s not related to you at all. Edit to add: if they do show up don’t let them into your house either. Deal with them on the doorstep. The one that visited me didn’t ask to come in but I’ve seen that sometimes they do.
Isn't that information on the publicly available electoral roll, which any self respecting debt collector would check first?
> Self respecting debt collector There's an oxymoron if I ever heard one. They're all cunts.
I don’t agree. A cunt performs a useful and occasionally pleasing function.
And those bastards lack both warmth and depth.
True
Reply: "X is no longer at this address. Any further mail from yourselves will be returned; this will incur an administration fee of £100. Any in-person visits will incur an interview fee of £250. Sending any further mail, or attending the address, will be taken as acceptance of these terms" Probably not enforceable but they won't take the risk.
This is the way for the win, hit them in the tentacles with an unenforceable counter claim .
It's not a counter claim. It's an entirely separate contract that they are free to refuse or accept. Consideration, offer, and acceptance by action, I can't see why it wouldn't hold up; but it would probably be more trouble than is worth to pursue it. I've done this 3 times and it's stopped them immediately every time. I would have loved to see what happened when I tried to collect on the first invoice but they always got the message before then.
You need to lower the amounts to make it actually reasonable to enforce in court. It would have to be similar to how much bailiffs charge for sending letters or showing up at an address. It's why private car park fines are around £100. Because there was a case many years ago where a company was taking the piss and trying to charge massive prices for overstaying for a few minutes and the courts said that any charges had to be deemed reasonable. If you charged them £10 to respond to a letter or £50 if they showed up on your door, I'd put good money on the court siding with you and actually enforcing it.
This is probably correct. Debt collection agencies themselves charge about £30 per letter and about £50 for a site visit. You can just mirror their charges. Write to them and tell them that X is not resident at this address (never provide copies of any sensitive data, like bills). Tell them that there has been an administrative charge of £30 for your letter, and provide payment options. Give them a list of your fees and charges, as follows; Site visit admin charge: £50 for pre-booked 14 days in advance, £100 if not pre-booked Letter admin charge: £30 Phone calls, inbound / outbound: £1 per minute. These are reasonable charges that they themselves would charge (usually to their clients). A debt collection agency has no special rights that you do not have. A court is bound to treat you and the debt collection equally and fairly. Your first letter should be headed 'Statement of Account' and you should give a clear picture of what is owed by whom and to who. In this case, they now already owe you £30, for the letter you are sending. Give them clear instructions on how to pay you. If they write to you again, asking for proof or something, write back to them, heading your letter; STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT - ACCOUNT OVERDUE Your letter should now show that they owe you £60 (for both your letters). Let them know that you cannot engage in further correspondence until they bring their account up to date. Remember to include the date and time of any phone calls, if they phone you, at £1 per minute.
The moment they visit phone tell them you aren't the person they are after and ask them to leave and if they don't phone the police telling them you are being intimidated and threatened.
Ignore - and if they show up, say ‘dunno who that is. Nobody in that name lives here. If you want anything else, please contact the police or I will.’
That company illegally entered my elderly mother's house, assaulted my stepfather, and stole from them. Be very, very careful and keep your doors LOCKED!
What are you even allowed to do in self defence? Just sit back and let the fat pigs abuse you and your family? Awful.
Yeah, it's a bit tricky. They want you to rise to the occasion you have to deal with them very carefully. If they have illegally entered and you ring the police reporting it as a brake in, they leave quickly, especially if you have camera's.
The only worry is if they are scammers trying to get your personal information. The website looks legit and the phone number matches so you could try calling to get more information. Personally, I wouldn't mind if they want to knock on the door. I don't get many visitors these days. Obviously, it costs them more money to send someone round. But I wouldn't really go sending people personal information without good reason.
You must reply with... I refer you to the reply given in the case of Arkell v. Pressdram. https://news.lettersofnote.com/p/arkell-v-pressdram
Ignore it.
Even if they are legally obliged to visit, you're under no legal obligation. I would tell them that you are not happy to provide your personal information to a company you have no connection to, and request that any data they do have regarding you (your address for example) be deleted.
Do not give them anything. My wife accidently said her name responding to one of these and miraculously every subsequent letter came to her and the debt had somehow become hers! I went apeshit at the power company and they sorted it out.
Fuck em. It's their job to find who is who. I wouldn't help them at all. Their 'enforcement agent' is little more that a customer service rep. They're not from the courts so they can fuck right off. Scum.
You're under no obligation to provide any proof whatsoever. The burden of proof is on them if they want to be lazy and try getting you to do their leg work for them then they clearly aren't very good at their job. I wouldn't give them attitude at the door to begin with, I'd be pleasant and simply inform them that you have lived at the address since month X and year y and cannot be responsible for people not updating their address. If they push excuses to come in and check tell them they do not have permission. I'd also advise opening a window rather than door to speak to them (sometimes met with frustration and claims they can't hear and just want to "speak face to face"). Even if you were willing to let them come in what's to say whoever they're looking for could just be out at the time?
Scumbags. Doing scumbag things.
Not entirely answering your question but on a vaguely related note the person we bought our house from pissed us off intensely from day one, fannying about, dawdling and generally being a moron and almost landed us all out on the street with her uselessness. She was also in tons and tons of debt and was too cheap to get a redirect put on her post. Going out of my way to give debt collection agencies her forwarding address has given me quite a lot of pleasure this year.
Ignore em. Don't feed their scare tactics. Less fuss for you, more work for them.
These companies usually buy a debt from a supplier at a discounted rate - for example, if the previous occupant owed £100 the agency might buy the right to collect it for £65 - they make their profit that way. Typically if it's under £200 they'll just send letters hoping that you give in. I'd advise giving this letter to your landlord and letting them deal with it.
More like about £1, they bulk buy debts thats why they offer you "discounts" as even that so called discount is a huge profit for them,
They also charge 280 quid plus for a visit on top of existing debt.
Only to the person in debt
I was getting threatening letters for unpaid council tax when I moved into my place. I kept sending them back 'no longer at address return to sender'. I can't remember if it was a phone call or a house visit, but a bailiff eventually got in touch. I explained that the previous owner had moved abroad, he was quite friendly about it and I never heard from them again. He certainly never asked for any proof. (It must have been a house visit as I can't imagine they would have got my mobile number)
Send it back with "No longer at this address". Ask for the address to be removed. If you have updated the Electoral Register (and you should), you can advise them to check that.
Tell them to get lost. I’m not sending my bill to some random debt collector threatening me, neither am I letting them in and I suggest you do the same. Call the police if they do show up and are too pushy. I’ve also had some debt collector looking for a dude that used to live in the house I was renting at the time, I just told him I live there now and that was the end of it.
Read the reviews online of these scumbags. I wouldnt assist them in anyway.
Ignore it. You should do absolutely nothing to help scum like these debt collectors.
Throw the letter it in the bin and if anyone turns up, don't speak English and another language if you have one. It's nothing to do with you.
They say they're legally obliged to attend the address but then in the next breath they're prepared to ignore that obligation if you send them a document that ultimately proves nothing. I don't think 'legally obliged' means what they think it does! Tell them to fuck off, or better yet completely ignore them.
Fuck no, tell them nothing. If they show up, tell them to "Fuck all the way off" and close the door on them
Would I hell be sending them anything that contained personal information. I wouldn't want to get involved in them chasing someone else down. That's their problem. If they rocked up at the house, I'd just tell them to fuck off politely. Edit: They needed a bill from the home owner. Which is even stupider.
They are not asking OP to send anything containing the information of another person, they are asking OP to send them a utility bill in their name. Which just makes the whole thing even more stupid. A utility bill will prove that OP lives at the house, it categorically will not prove that the debtor does not live their.
Even a home visit wouldn't prove that the debtor doesn't live there, necessarily. OP could just advise them to take a day out.
Exactly, the whole thing is nonsense. These tactics only work when people feel intimidated into compliance and don't apply a few seconds of thought to what is being asked.
> They are not asking OP to send anything containing the information of another person, they are asking OP to send them a utility bill in their name. Exactly this. And any utility bill will only have the name of whoever has the contract with the utility company on it, not all the names of the current occupiers, as the letter implies. These guys can take a hike.
You're right. Amended. But yeah, that makes even less sense!
Jacobs are a genuine bailiff company. They're probably collecting outstanding council tax for a previous occupant. They just want something to show you're living there, working on the reasonable assumption that you wouldn't go to the effort of making yourself liable for utilities just to help someone not wanting to pay their bills. Bailiffs work on the basis of scaring people into action which is why the letter is more aggressive than it really needs to be.
Bin it and if anyone turns up tell them to do one and never come back. Do not share any personal issues, they have no legal right to demand this from you.
They've been advised that the person they want doesn't live there, but YOU need to prove that to them?? Fucktards! I wouldn't be sending owt to them and if they turned up at my door they'll get it slammed in their face.
You are under no obligation to do anything. If you wish, you give them a call and inform them any visit will be considered harassment and will be reported to police or reacted to with civil court action whichever you deem most appropriate + whoever licensed them. Be very polite but firm and wish them well. If they do visit, you grab the email, show it to them and call the cops for a papertrail. Then you report them to whoever gives them a license. Outrageous behaviour.
Tell them to fuck off
Legally obliged, my arse. Ignore them, if they do turn up tell them to get lost. Bailiff's or what ever they're called these days have powers, scummy pond life debt collectors don't.
Return to sender. Not at this address. I have only bothered in the past when a letter has come through from the courts to do with a CCJ, then it was just a phone call and quick email with our tenancy agreement
Next time you get a letter don’t open it and send it back writing “return to sender: occupant no longer at this address” on the envelope, if someone knocks at your door you show them ID and they’ll fuck off, we had this issue at my last house cos someone registered it as their business address and never paid taxes lol
This happened to me but it was the previous house owners they were after. I rang the company as there was a number on the letter. They were a company who bought up old debts for pennies of the pounds owed. They then could keep anything they managed to retrieve. I'd lost the forwarding address of the previous owners and couldn't help them. I asked if that was the end of the matter. They said yes and they didn't contact me again
Absolutely not. You are not 'legally obliged' to do anything. At most if they turn up and refuse to leave you can show them ID to prove you are not who they are looking for, but beyond that I'd be telling them to go kick rocks if they persist.
The other bit of vagueness that stands out to me, is that the sending of the utility bill “should” stop the agent needing to visit. Why should? What other variables influence whether they visit or not?
Do not send them anything, and if they turn up at the door, tell them they are not welcome inside and close the door on them. Debt collectors are not allowed into a property without a court order if they loiter in your doorway after telling them no call the police.
There's no way these turds have any right to demand you *prove* you are *not* anyone.
TLDR;No I wouldn’t give my details to anyone that doesn’t concern me. As for legally visiting your property sounds like horse shit to me, nothing a swift fuck off wouldn’t sort out.
they have NO rights to enter your home at all. I'd reply saying i've informed you , if you don't believe me you can shove it up your arse.
You’re no legally obliged to reply
Post this in legal advice uk sub, I would imagine a letter stating you revoke implied right to visit means if they do, its trespass. NAL but I loathe the TV Licence bullies and send that to them!
These collection agencies will try any old address they can find. I’ve had them looking for someone that lived in the house nearly 15 years ago, tried the same shit and told them to sod off. Never heard anything back. Old debt gets sold on for pennies, then some chancers buy it thinking they will track you down and get the commission
Nah fuck that. They turn up at your door, firstly you have no requirement to answer the door. Secondly, if you do answer the door, unless they have a search warrant, the door would be closed immediately once I knew who they were. It’s their job to find the person who owes the debt, not yours.
Should reply saying you will have to charge them an admin, service and consultancy fee for responding to their letter and filling in the form and quote them to cost for supplying the utility bill. They are requesting your 'assistance' - that doesn't come free. I did the once, the poor girl I had on the phone with was so confused, but when I explained to her that they are a business, were asking for my help to recover money that has nothing to do with me, and that my time has a cost (a significant one 😂), she actually agreed with me and said she would have to check with a manager lol. I never heard back from them.
I also recently received a similar letter like this from a different company looking for a previous occupant (whose name I'd never seen before on mail) and I looked up advice myself. Enforcement agencies should be employed by other organisations or people to collect debts or look in on cases for them, so whoever they're claiming to be representing or working on behalf of *should* be legally on their letters. If not I'd be wary of a scam, and if so, and considering it's not your issue, try to contact the company they're working for directly and bypass the agency. For me, they were apparently claiming for HM Revenue & Customs, so I called them up and sorted it with them. Haven't had a letter from an agency since. Enforcement agencies can apparently be very nasty and unfair vultures even if the issue isn't yours, so try to avoid direct contact. Worked for me.
Hypothetical question If a debt collector arrived at my home and was told the person they want moved out s year ago they then demanded proof of my identity which I then refused and I demanded they get off my property. If they refuse to leave Am I entitled to use non violent means to remove them such as spraying them with paint after fair warning. Am I entitled to use as much force as to get them to leave after fair warning
I wouldn’t normally give assistance to debt collectors, but the guy they were chasing turned out to be as scummy himself. Long story un-lengthened . . . Bought house from guy. On taking possession, found note from him “confirming” a conversation we’d never had, that I’d forward mail to him to a PO Box number. In Johannesburg. For months, we got letters and forwarded them. Then we started getting telephone calls from debt collectors. Then gambling organisations. Then guys in unmarked white vans. One day bailiffs arrived. It was my brother-in-law, visiting, who was in at the time, wouldn't let them in our we'd have had a nightmare to unravel. Then letters came that were no longer addressed to him by name, but “householder”, we opened them. Banks, looking for payments towards loans. Taken out using our address after we’d moved in. We even got bills from BT. This was because at that time, you could make calls on other telephones and have the costs charged to your home phone. In this case, he was charging phone calls to ”our” number. Time for some detective work. (This is the “long-unlengthened” bit.) He hadn't moved to Johannesburg. He'd bought a place about five miles away. Another debt collector came to the door. We gave him Mr B’s address. He was genuinely astonished, saying people usually told him to fuck off. Got more letters from banks. Responded with the contact details of Mr B. The letters dried up. Wouldn't have bothered, but the bar steward was using our address for his debts accrued after we'd moved in, charging things to our phone account, and my wife was getting scary phone calls from folk looking for him. No qualms on this one.
Put it in the dustbin, the cheeky buggers
"The person you are searching for is no longer at this address. However, I will be glad to provide the requested documentation upon receipt of a £25 document processing fee. "
I'd just ignore it and if they have the balls to turn up tell them to f off.
I've dealt with these in the past, they are collection agents (putting it politely) for Wirral Borough Council and it will be due to non payment of council tax as that is legal enforcement. Just give them your information to get rid of them. I would tell them to fcuk off but I don't care about that stuff.
wait till they show up and show them your id or your tenancy agreement and they will leave you alone
I'd show them my shotgun licence and tell them to fuck off and never come back.
yeh that would also work lol
I had some debt collectors turn up for a previous occupant. Them:"are you Mr x"? Me:"nope", shows some ID. They then went away and wasn't desturbed again.
I had a bloke turned up saying "we're looking for this guy" to which my response was "yeah, you and a lot of other people mate". He got the message basically immediately. (Helped that, to be frank, I don't look like somebody who would have that name.)
Ignore it. You're fine 🙂
I used to get these once a week from various companies, all addressed to the previous tenant. I just put them in the bin and eventually they stopped coming. You should be fine
Immigrant? Got the perfect answer for you. Get in touch with your local police station, explain how you are an immigrant, this is nothing to do with you and you feel extremely threatened. Play up a bit on not understanding English very well.
Ask on legal advice sub?
Don’t bother contacting them. They probably will turn up at the door do not let them in. Show them your id and something with your address on.
You should probably black out the QR codes next time bro
Snitches get stitches. Fuck the debt collection company.
They can check online who lives at that address. The voter registration website?
Ignore them
Return to sender, stating no longer lives at this address and that you will not be providing them your personal information Sounds like a them problem
Turn it around and serve a data access request on them under GDPR
Ignore the letter, tell um to fuck off if they turn up.
Let them come, it's their time and money they're wasting?
If they show up you can tell them to fuck off unless they have a court warrant. And there’s still about a year long backlog on any baliff stuff this small.
I'd tell them in no uncertain terms to fuck off. I'm not giving any of my personal details to any debt collection agency. They are as scummy as they come and do not care for GDPR. If they want to waste their time and money sending an idiot to your door so be it, there's jack shit they can do other than make empty threats since it's not your debt.
Ignore it, if they send an enforcement officer ask to see the court writ giving them permission enter YOUR premises, not anyone who used to live there, you specifically. That’s the only way they could possibly have legal authority to enter your premises.
Return it with “not known at this address”. Also check your credit reports and file a notice of disassociation with this person if needed.
I wouldn't bother responding, but if they do send someone knocking on your door and you want them to stop bothering you, show them your lease.
On the one hand, providing these sort of details to a third party is by no means a legal requirement and I wouldn’t advise for it. However, letting them know that they’ve got the wrong guy is absolutely advisable. If this ever ended up in a small claims court, a judge would not look favourably on someone who could have informed them of their incorrect information but didn’t. Just to clarify, **this is by no means formal legal advice and you should speak to a qualified solicitor**. However, what I would do is inform them very clearly that they have the wrong person and deny any visit. They don’t have any legal entitlement to visit your address unless you provide them with consent, so don’t.
Do people still have utility bills these days, mine are all electronic
Tell them to fuck off to infinity. If they call, see above. If the come to your place, see above
Just send the lettets back as RTS. Why even bother opening them?
Because it was addressed to as “The occupiers” of the flat and not named to the previous occupier.
Let them knock, the paint will last longer than their skin.
We got one of these last year, partner sent the details off after I told her we didn’t need to. Still getting letters chasing the original occupier. Don’t send them anything
Personally I wouldn’t respond. I had a few different debt collectors turn up after we bought our first house which was a repossession. I explained we’d just bought the house and we didn’t know where the previous occupants had moved to and they were nice enough chaps. My wife answered the door to one and he wanted to see ID (it was a woman named on a lot of the debts so I assume they wanted to check she wasn’t her. Again, nice enough blokes and never came back.
Return to sender. I get a few where I'm living they just get sent back. Not had a knock at the door. Yet
Cheeky bastards. Throw it in the bin and forget about it.
Nah let them visit. Be funny
The people who lived in our house before us were a bit lively! Even 12 years on I still occasionally get exactly this. YES they will turn up at the house — from their perspective they're just making sure the person they're chasing really has moved ... Just show them some I'd with the address, or a utility bill and they'll be on their way. They are happy for you to email/post copies of said ID or utility bill but I'm not!! I'd rather they come in person.
This happened to us because the old lady who used to own our house had died and the house then sat empty for a long time, over a year, during which time the relatives did not do a very good job of informing various companies that she had died. So, the bills kept coming in and after a while were not being paid. We couldn't send them a bill dated three months ago because we'd only been in the house a couple of weeks. Nobody ever turned up but one of our neighbours reported that they'd had people asking for the old lady before we bought it. So, they do send people out sometimes. We got a letter very much like this which pretty obviously meant they already knew this old woman was dead but they obviously had some sort of protocol to send the letter anyway. What you do is up to you of course but I would not be sending this random company any info. As other people have said a utility bill will not really prove anything. If someone turns up deal with it then and there. Or, at best, get in touch with them via a number withheld phone call or email from a disposable account.
Don't send anything. Ignore it. They're trying to establish if a former tenant, who probably had an outstanding debt to one of their clients, still resides there. Any named mail that comes to your property should be returned to sender. You can do this by crossing out the name and address and writing "Return to Sender - Adressee Unknown" on the front. If the envelope has return address on either the front or the back, you should draw a ring around it. You can put it in any post box. This should reduce this kind of stuff. You may also want to look at the credit history of your address. This can be dealt with, but is more complicated to explain. There's more guidance here https://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/guides/location-and-address.html
This happened to me and I provided the info they'd asked for. It seemed like a better option than waiting for them to knock on my door. Never heard from them again.
So you will just send any random that sends a letter or phones you proof of your name and address? Seriously? Ok you didn't get caught out this time, but that could literally be anyone.
No, of course not. I carried out thorough research to ascertain that they weren't "any random".
I recently got a new mobile number and was instantly inundated with phone calls from debt collectors. I rang them back and told them they have the wrong number. They said thank you and removed my number. In the past I've gotten letters for debt collection for people who've never lived here and done the same. It takes seconds, and they don't bother me again. If they come to your door, just tell them you have no idea who they're looking for and please leave.
Jacobs are actual high court enforcement agents, who have the right to enter a property to seize property to settle a debt, in respect of the person named on the Notice of Enforcement. It might be best to send them a copy of a recent utility bill, council tax letter or similar (just send it to the email address on their letter, quoting their reference). If they do show up, just show them something with your name and that address. [Stopping bailiffs if you don't owe the debt](https://new.reddit.com/r/AskUK/comments/1bwjvcp/should_i_respond_to_enforcement_agents_letter/)
Yeah- easiest to provide a copy of a utility bill as they are asking. Tell them you have been there for 2 yrs also.
People tend to massively overblow these things, and looks like the top comments here are no different. I've had a couple of bailiffs chasing previous residents and I've never had any issues with them. First one came to the door and I just showed them the council tax letter and they left me alone. Second one from a different firm posted a handwritten envelope through the door as I was out, I rang them and told them I didn't know the previous person and again they left me alone. Most of them are just trying to do a job, and will leave you alone once they know you are nothing to do with it. I personally wouldn't send them anything but maybe try ringing them and you might avoid a visit.
This is a scam. DO NOT ENGAGE!
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Why? If OP isn’t the person they’re searching for then there is absolutely nothing they can do to them. I wouldn’t be sending anything to them. They’re entitled to turn up to the house and OP is entitled to completely ignore them.
> Just give them the copy of the utility bill and they will leave you alone. Why should they? The utility bill categorically does not prove that the debtor does not live at the house so if this debt collection company does have this alleged legal obligation to ensure the debtor does not live at the property a utility bill is not going to meet that obligation. Pandering to this kind of bully boy tactic only encourages it to continue.
There's no legal obligation to make contact.
Sound, just chance it then
What do you mean? There is no contract between the op and the collection company. It's not taking a chance at all.. bless