I never mentioned TV Inspectors. You are very wrong when you say no one can enter your property without a warrant. As i pointed out the police can, the gas and electric services can, custom and excise can, and that is just off the top of my head.
I think there is a cased of crossed wires here.
I am aware that the emergency services can enter your house without a warrant - in the case of an emergency·
Same goes with Gas and Electric. I am aware of this.
The police do need probable cause, or a warrant to enter your property. They cannot just walk in once you open the door.
A baliff can - as you correctly state. As soon as you open the door, the baliff can legally walk straight in and does not have to be invited, and it does not have to be in the case of an emergency.
THAT is what I am trying to explain to you - a baliff can simply walk in to your house once you have opened the door. Other people cannot, unless under certain circumstances.
I moved into a rented house about six weeks ago, and this morning I got a card through the door addressed to one of the previous tennants. It says:
Certainly very vague, and a search on google tells me they are a debt collection agency.
Now, since it's all about one of the previous tennants then I know I should have nothing to worry about, but I've heard lots of scare stories about things like this.
Any advice on what to do? Things I should/shouldn't say? There's a (geographical) phone number on the front which I could phone, but I very much doubt that they'd forget about it all after a phone call telling them that the person they want doesn't live here! I've found a goldmine of advice for if the debt was actually mine, but nothing (other than more scare stories!) about what to do about debt that isn't mine.
Already some good advice on this thread, but an additional thing you should do is inform the landlord/letting agents. They may have a new address for the tenant concerned.
In fact the letting agent may contact the company on your behalf.
Just to clear up the
If you have any credit, for example a loan or credit card, the monthly conduct of that is reported to the credit reference agencies and then if you apply for more credit, lenders can see this information and then make an informed decision about whether they want to lend you any more money.
Just out of curiosty, would having your name on a monthly utilty bill count in the same way? My other half has had credit problems in the past but now pays half our bills, as well as his own credit card. I'd like to think his credit score's slowly beginning to improve!
Just phone the company up and tell them that this person no longer lives at your address if they still insist on sending letters just keep phoning them up.
BTW if a collection agency can't get money out of you they will send it back to the orignal debtors who will then apply for a county court judgement and its only when you don't pay a county court judgement will the court send round a baliff.
You do not have to let them in and even by them placing there foot in your door way they are braking the law which you can then phone the police and have them moved on,if you invite them in and they make a list of all your property then they can gain entry any time they like as long as its through summat that is open they are not allowed to break any thing to gain entry.
If they can't gain entry this way they will then go back to the courts and will have to get a warrent which will let them legally enter your property by force.
A baliff also has to be on a register to be legit just like a corgi person
I used to work for a collection agency, (I was at college and needed the money!!) and this kind of threat is fairly typical fair.
We were encouraged to make people think that we were likley to call at their home, the standard letters were also written to imply this as well. It is just a simple numbers game for them, X amount of people will pay because they think debt collector = baliff, even people who don't owe the debt and are scared of people calling at their homes
We sent a postcard not too different from the OP's correspondence, it read along the lines of ' I will calling between 0800 and 2000 - regards P Brown'. P Brown didn't exist and we never sent anyone to a home address, but it did have a powerfull effect on people especially if it was a small debt.
The company did send a card to an expat in Australia who rang to say he will meet P Brown off the plane!!:eek:
I used to work for a collection agency, (I was at college and needed the money!!) and this kind of threat is fairly typical fair.
We were encouraged to make people think that we were likley to call at their home, the standard letters were also written to imply this as well. It is just a simple numbers game for them, X amount of people will pay because they think debt collector = baliff, even people who don't owe the debt and are scared of people calling at their homes
We sent a postcard not too different from the OP's correspondence, it read along the lines of ' I will calling between 0800 and 2000 - regards P Brown'. P Brown didn't exist and we never sent anyone to a home address, but it did have a powerfull effect on people especially if it was a small debt.
Interesting stuff! Yeah, on mine it says "J White" or something. I searched for a line of text from my card on google and somebody had the EXACT same card through their door. Same "name", same day and time of calling.
And you're certainly right about people not wanting debt collectors wanting to come round, even if it isn't their debts. If I'd not managed to sort it yesterday I'd have been terrified until Wednesday!
Already some good advice on this thread, but an additional thing you should do is inform the landlord/letting agents. They may have a new address for the tenant concerned.
In fact the letting agent may contact the company on your behalf.
I've just moved into a rented house and I had a letter from Powergen addressed to 'The Occupier' ... so I opened it. It was a bill demand for £307 leading up to the day before I moved in (I had informed Powergen of the day I moved in and the metre reading) I contacted the letting agency and they told me to forward to them... which I did. Another letter arrived on Friday, again to ' the occupier' this time saying they had 7 days to pay or it would be handed to a debt collecting agency. I contacted Powergen and gave them the info that I had just moved in and the info of the letting agency. They seemed fine with that and the demand has again been forwarded to the letting agency.
Comments
I think there is a cased of crossed wires here.
I am aware that the emergency services can enter your house without a warrant - in the case of an emergency·
Same goes with Gas and Electric. I am aware of this.
The police do need probable cause, or a warrant to enter your property. They cannot just walk in once you open the door.
A baliff can - as you correctly state. As soon as you open the door, the baliff can legally walk straight in and does not have to be invited, and it does not have to be in the case of an emergency.
THAT is what I am trying to explain to you - a baliff can simply walk in to your house once you have opened the door. Other people cannot, unless under certain circumstances.
Already some good advice on this thread, but an additional thing you should do is inform the landlord/letting agents. They may have a new address for the tenant concerned.
In fact the letting agent may contact the company on your behalf.
Just out of curiosty, would having your name on a monthly utilty bill count in the same way? My other half has had credit problems in the past but now pays half our bills, as well as his own credit card. I'd like to think his credit score's slowly beginning to improve!
BTW if a collection agency can't get money out of you they will send it back to the orignal debtors who will then apply for a county court judgement and its only when you don't pay a county court judgement will the court send round a baliff.
You do not have to let them in and even by them placing there foot in your door way they are braking the law which you can then phone the police and have them moved on,if you invite them in and they make a list of all your property then they can gain entry any time they like as long as its through summat that is open they are not allowed to break any thing to gain entry.
If they can't gain entry this way they will then go back to the courts and will have to get a warrent which will let them legally enter your property by force.
A baliff also has to be on a register to be legit just like a corgi person
We were encouraged to make people think that we were likley to call at their home, the standard letters were also written to imply this as well. It is just a simple numbers game for them, X amount of people will pay because they think debt collector = baliff, even people who don't owe the debt and are scared of people calling at their homes
We sent a postcard not too different from the OP's correspondence, it read along the lines of ' I will calling between 0800 and 2000 - regards P Brown'. P Brown didn't exist and we never sent anyone to a home address, but it did have a powerfull effect on people especially if it was a small debt.
The company did send a card to an expat in Australia who rang to say he will meet P Brown off the plane!!:eek:
Interesting stuff! Yeah, on mine it says "J White" or something. I searched for a line of text from my card on google and somebody had the EXACT same card through their door. Same "name", same day and time of calling.
And you're certainly right about people not wanting debt collectors wanting to come round, even if it isn't their debts. If I'd not managed to sort it yesterday I'd have been terrified until Wednesday!
I've just moved into a rented house and I had a letter from Powergen addressed to 'The Occupier' ... so I opened it. It was a bill demand for £307 leading up to the day before I moved in (I had informed Powergen of the day I moved in and the metre reading) I contacted the letting agency and they told me to forward to them... which I did. Another letter arrived on Friday, again to ' the occupier' this time saying they had 7 days to pay or it would be handed to a debt collecting agency. I contacted Powergen and gave them the info that I had just moved in and the info of the letting agency. They seemed fine with that and the demand has again been forwarded to the letting agency.