MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Smartly-dressed, respectable guy in his 50's rings the doorbell 3pm on a Sunday afternoon asking if xxx lives here. Didn't catch the name but it wasn't the name of the previous tenant, who I believe was here for 6 years...
I said no and asked why he was asking 'County Court' was the response but didn't offer any papers or proof of who he was representing. Reflecting on it, I should have asked...
I said he should speak to the Landlord and gave him their name. He seemed entirely disinterested - he had a piece of paper but didn't write this down and there was no spark is his eyes which you get when people are interested in what you tell them. Asked if anyone else lived here, to which I said no. He apologised for taking my time on a Sunday and left.
Now the street I live in isn't crap per se but it's one of the tattiest for the area and I'd guess incomes are relatively low. No doubt my bikes have been seen going in and out and the fact I go to work in a suit means I stand out in the street... not trying to be a snob, just conscious I stand out a bit and anyone watching will know I've stuff worth nicking.
The bikes are locked in the hallway with proper D-locks and you'd need proper kit to get them off. I'm insured and there are window locks on all the front windows + it's mid-terrace which means getting in the back would be tricky - let alone with arms full of stuff.
As it happens I'm going to be in all week next week so if anyone tries anything, they'll not find an empty house.
Assuming I'm right he was casing the joint I guess there's not a lot I can except hope no-one tries anything?
I've been collecting the previous tenant's post and passing it back to the Landlord. Just had a look at some of the stuff which has arrived in the last couple of weeks and there's £16k's worth of outstanding debt being chased by debt collectors...
Anyone know whether the County Court can verify to me that they did send debt collection around?
Sounds like it was a bailiff sniffing around. If there's 16k of debt being chased and letters are still coming to your address, it's no surprise someone would be popping round to ask.
I've had similar, over a year after I moved it, wouldn't worry too much TBH.
If you've opened the mail and know the debt collection company give them a call. They haven't got time to be chasing dead ends. Worked for me a few years ago.
watch out for chalk markings 😉
best to ask for id before you start discussions and make a note of who he is
We had a similar experience when we bought our first house many years ago. A relatively smart person and a comedy thug in a suit three sizes too small asking about the previous occupant - who rented from the people we bought he house from.
A bit unnerving, but I told them what the score was and they went away and there wasn't any follow up.
But I understand the slight paranoia - I try my best to make sure that my bikes aren't on show when I'm going in an out of my garage and have them locked to a ground anchor (and they are insured). Beyond that not much I can do so tend to try not to worry.
I've never come across suited gents casing premises for burglary in 28 years as a police officer.
The scrotes are not that selective, they will just turn up, break in and take what they can.
They will follow people home with bikes on odd occasions, but that is unusual, they are too lazy
Wouldent worry at all
If you've opened the mail
..that is not addressed to you, then you might be comitting a criminal offence, although undr the circumstances, you might be ok. To be on the safe side, best just to write 'not known at this address' or similar, and rts.
I used to house share with a lad who had the bailiffs come after him for a previous unpaid council tax bill. As i had insisted all bills were paid up i had no problem with letting the bailiff in, the lad in question always used to hide at his girlfriends & let me take the heat.
Bailiff threatened to come round 'with the van boys' and break in to collect stuff but I'd done my homework. As it was a shared, rented property in my name they couldn't prove who owned what in the living area of the house (& they aren't allowed in the bedrooms) so i told them that if one single item of mine was taken i would drag him personally and his company through every court in the land til i had satisfaction.
They knew i could stand on the law so never came with 'The van boys'.
Idiot did a runner soon after & as i was in the process of buying a house I didn't want my name associated with a debt, so took great pleasure in informing his creditors of every address he moved to 🙂
Bailiff threatened...
you could have had him straight in court for that alone (or the CPS could).
Is opening other peoples mail still a crime?
Yeah people do not understand what balifs are. If there has not been a court case then there can not be a bailiff, what you probs had was a debt collector, who has no right to anything or any power over anyone.
what you probs had was a debt collector
hence his reluctance to reveal who he was?
I figured he was when he first asked if xxx lived here, hence giving the name of the Letting Agent, who I would have thought would be legally obliged to give him the new address of previous tenants, no?
If there has not been a court case then there can not be a bailiff, what you probs had was a debt collector
Aye, this is true. That's what I meant in my original post, just had my terminology arseways.
hence his reluctance to reveal who he was?
Probs, they function on intimidation only, without a court order they have zero power. The court appointed actual bailiffs are very well behaved. So just tell these geezers to eff or you'll call the cops. Personally I would answer the door with phone in hand and start dialling as soon as they get cagey. Or answer the door with a camera in hand. Or both.
(Caveat: the local council can issue a bailiff for council tax arrears without needing court-I think..)
Bailiff threatened to come round 'with the van boys' and break in to collect stuff but I'd done my homework.
This is why you need a camera-that kind of statement is called demanding money with menaces and leads to prison.
Administration of Justice Act 1970"Punishment for unlawful harassment of debtors.â€
1. A person commits an offence if, with the object of coercing a person to pay money claimed from the other as a debt due under a contract he:
harasses the other with demands for payment which, in respect of their frequency, the manner or occasion of making any such demand, or of any threat or publicity by which any demand is accompanied, are calculated to subject him or his family or household to alarm, distress or humiliation
falsely represents, in relation to the money claimed, that criminal proceedings lie for failure to pay for it
utters a document falsely represented by him to have some official character, or purporting to have some official character which he knows it has not
2. A person may be guilty of an offence by virtue of sub-section (1)(a) above if he concerts with others in the taking of such actions as is described in that paragraph, notwithstanding that his own course of conduct does not by itself amount to harassment.
or blackmail
Theft Act 1978"21. Blackmail". —
(1) A person is guilty of blackmail if, with a view to gain for himself or another or with intent to cause loss to another, he makes any unwarranted demand with menaces; and for this purpose a demand with menaces is unwarranted unless the person making it does so in the belief—
(a)that he has reasonable grounds for making the demand; and
(b)that the use of the menaces is a proper means of reinforcing the demand.
(2) The nature of the act or omission demanded is immaterial, and it is also immaterial whether the menaces relate to action to be taken by the person making the demand.
(3) A person guilty of blackmail shall on conviction on indictment be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.
If people are using your address and can't be bothered to redirect their mail then its fair game for me. Lots of things in life are illegal but live a little! ID theft is a huge problem as is using false addresses.