Bailffs Letter - Help required.

kai · 27 Aug 2011 at 16:02

Opened my post just now and accidently opened a letter not addressed to me but was for this house did not realise until open.

I live in a rented property and it appears the letter is for a tenant who lived here several years ago. The letter states

We are instructed by the Area Director of Her Majestry's Court Service to enforce a Distress Warrant which has been issues in respect of the above unpaid fine. (£1,640)

The warrant authorises and empowers our officers to enter your premies and seize, remove and sell your goods at public auction.

If you wish to avoid this you must pay the full sum due in full within 7 days. If it is necessary for an officer to attend the sum of £170.00 will be added to the sum due. If good are removed, the sum will increase.

not sure what to do, they are closed now till Tuesday

and the Landlord is on holiday for 2 weeks. I have found out by ringing the last tent this previous tentant still lives in the same street not sure where but i can find out!

Any Advice?

steve-h · 27 Aug 2011 at 16:08

Ignore it, they're hardly going to come and loot your place and I can't see them having a warrant.

Tican · 27 Aug 2011 at 16:09

If they do have a warrant, have your tenancy agreement handy and your ID to prove that you are not them/they do not live there

mattyfez · 27 Aug 2011 at 16:10

Sounds like a proper court appointed bailiff, rather than a debt collector.
A phone call should resolve it, as its clearly a previous tenant.

What I would do though is check you credit rating, and have any black marks removed as necessary, as your credit rating is linked to your address.

Avathar77 · 27 Aug 2011 at 16:12

Same thing happened to us at a previous place. But the letters were addressed to the Occupier!
I just contacted them and told them the situation and just had to fax or email the tenancy agreement, and all went away.

kai · 27 Aug 2011 at 16:15

DJ Binks said:
If they do have a warrant, have your tenancy agreement handy and your ID to prove that you are not them/they do not live there

I am not here during the day; im out the door from 7am and back around 8/9pm due to work etc not going to be around !!!!

bloody great bank holiday they dont open till Tuesday :rolleyes:

radderfire · 27 Aug 2011 at 16:15

This is not legal advice but ... yes, just contact the debt collection agency to say the tenant is no longer at the address. That should stop them calling round, but if they did call round, they would not enter your property without speaking to you first, and then you could tell them the previous tenant has left.

This is a debt collection trying to chase a very old debt ... to a certain extent they are "chancing their arm", i.e. hoping they can track the old tenant down.

Rgds

MrMoonX · 27 Aug 2011 at 16:16

is the letter from HMCS or is it from a debt collection company, cos if its the latter they are BSing you

edit: sounds like its court fines, just call them they won't just bust in

radderfire · 27 Aug 2011 at 16:17

Not professional legal advice but ... I don't think legally they would be able to enter your property without having verified who is living there first ... just don't leave any windows or doors open as an extra precaution. I believe if a window is left open, that gives a baliff more options.

Rgds

MrMoonX · 27 Aug 2011 at 16:18

radderfire said:
Not professional legal advice but ... I don't think legally they would be able to enter your property without having verified who is living there first ... just don't leave any windows or doors open as an extra precaution. I believe if a window is left open, that gives a baliff more options.

Rgds

trust me it has been known to happen, but you can sue them afterwards, cos a simple check would have avoided it

anyway I've had this before when I rented, if guy comes to door say so and so doesn't live here, you are under no requirement to show them ID unless they attend with police, which they won't, if they insist tell them to shove off

kai · 27 Aug 2011 at 16:34

MrMoonX said:
is the letter from HMCS or is it from a debt collection company, cos if its the latter they are BSing you

edit: sounds like its court fines, just call them they won't just bust in

The letter is from Excel Civil Enforcement

/www.excelenforcement.co.uk

its labled as HMCS South Wales Re: 6 Offences

Avathar77 · 27 Aug 2011 at 16:56

So it is not from the courts then?

Cuchulain · 27 Aug 2011 at 17:00

Avathar77 said:
So it is not from the courts then?

They're certificated court appointed bailiffs, it'd be very unwise to ignore the letter.

kai · 27 Aug 2011 at 17:03

Cuchulain said:
They're certificated court appointed bailiffs, it'd be very unwise to ignore the letter.

I have no intention to ignore just want to sort ASAP !!! and inform them that this person does not live here.

On a side note i spoke with the landylady managed to dig out a mobile number. The tenant in question lived here around 5 years ago and owns the landlord money also. Only advice they could give me was phone the number and if they require to speak to landlord provide their contact number... FFS!

lee32uk · 27 Aug 2011 at 17:57

mattyfez said:
What I would do though is check you credit rating, and have any black marks removed as necessary, as your credit rating is linked to your address.

Credit ratings are only linked to a person, not an address, unless you have an association with another individual i.e joint mortgage.

King85 · 27 Aug 2011 at 18:18

DJ Binks said:
If they do have a warrant, have your tenancy agreement handy and your ID to prove that you are not them/they do not live there

This.

FabienO · 27 Aug 2011 at 21:41

By law a bailiff can not seize any property that doesn't belong to the person that is in debt.

Proving that it's yours is up to you. But that's shouldn't be too hard.