My daughter had a family member staying with her a couple of years ago who ran up a lot of debt at her address. Now she keeps getting phone calls and letters with threats of baliffs to come to her house even though she has sent letters back saying this person has not lived here for a number of years and she has no knowledge of where they are. She no longer has contact with this ex member of the family and is at her wits end thinking the baliffs can take her belongings. Does she have any rights?
2007-11-06 03:19:54 · 15 answers · asked by kerry r 1 in Business & Finance ➔ Personal Finance
The debt is not hers. So unless you have anything helpful to suggest then dont bother answering
2007-11-06 03:28:16 · update #1
its a tough one this one,
The main problem is that your daughter will have to prove that the person does not live there and that the goods held on the property doesn't belong to the debtor...
As far as rights, she does have a lot of rights regarding this..
but it will be compromised by the specifics (I.e. did the debtor use her as a guarantor or use her name etc...)
Please get your daughter to contact her local CAB who will help with this, i would also advise your daughter to firstly DO NOT allow any baillifs into her house without a court order (As far as i can remember, no-one can enter your home wthout your consent unless a court grants access i.e. a search warrant etc.)
Secondly, If a court grants access to the baillifs them she can appeal this at the court..
Thirdly, the debt collection companies will try anything to recover the debt, your daughter should try writing to them again, requesting that they stop harrasing her, if they refuse your daughter can take them to court and be granted a restraining order against them..
Also get your daughter to check the FSO website, it'll give her a good idea of the rights she has, also it would give her a downloadable complaint form..
2007-11-06 03:47:13 · answer #1 · answered by John W 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
What people have suggested about the CAB and returning the letters is a good move.
What I would also suggest as an even better move is for her to try to find out a forwarding address for the 'owner' of the debt - I'm assuming that as a family member it should be straightforward to find out. That way every time a creditor contacts her, she can give them the new address - with this they are more likely to correct their information and leave her alone.
Debt collection agencies are licenced, and governed by the OFT, so if any company continues to contact you after they have been advised of the situation, complain. Details are on their website www.oft.gov.uk.
2007-11-06 05:22:45 · answer #2 · answered by heleni 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Go to the Citizens Advice Bureau. Tell her to change her phone number for starters and any letters that do no bear her name do not open but mark return to sender and post back. This is harrassment. Also tell her to keep all entrancies, windows, doors.gates etc securely locked, they cannot gain entrance by breaking in and inform the police and if they did turn up don't answer the door just phone the police. These are not her debts so they have no right to threaten or anything.
Hope this helps. Get some advice TODAY even if it's only telling the police.
2007-11-06 03:33:19 · answer #3 · answered by Soup Dragon 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If her name is on the bills, she is liable, regardless of who ran them up. Her only option may be to pay the debts and sue the person who ran up the bills for her money back. I know it stinks but that is just the way things are.
Creditors don't care who runs the bills up or why. The only thing they are looking at is the person who is legally responsible for those bills, which will be the one who's name is on them. The rest is left up to the judge to decide.
However, if the bills are in the other person's name, she only has to let the creditors know that this person is no longer at the address and she doesn't have a forwarding addres. Then, tell them not to call anymore. If they do, then they can be sued for harrassment.
But DO NOT record the call without letting them know (on the recording) that it is being recorded as this is illegal and won't stand up in court. Just start the recorder and then tell the caller that the call is being recorded. If they cause a fuss, just tell them that if you can't record it, you won't talk to them.
I wish you both the best.
Bonnie Ramsey
2007-11-06 03:42:20 · answer #4 · answered by bonnieram1962 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Baliffs can not take what does not belong to the debtor
When returning mail leave it un opended and just note on envelope...rreturn to sender...name unknown at this address
The only way she can stop them is either provide updated contact details for the debtor....or write to each creditor and state they no longer live there and if thier contact continues she will be seeking advice for harrassment
She should also get herself a credit check done on her property...this will provide her with all info and history of the house and she can attached a statement to it stating that she is not associated with any other names listed at her property
See citizens advice bureau
2007-11-06 05:29:53 · answer #5 · answered by stormydays 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Tell her not to worry, she needs to talk to anyone who turns up and explain the situation. She may need to show proof of ID. Once that happens, she will be taken off their records.
There is no way the bailiffs can take away her goods, so tell her not to worry about that.
She can either carry on sending the letters back and just ignoring them, or opening them and writing to the debt collections companies with a photocopy of her ID explaining the situation. If they persist in sending letters, she can complain to the trading standards office and they will put a stop to it.
Your daughter has done nothing wrong, so tell her not to worry, and she should not be harassed by debt collectors.
2007-11-06 07:38:26 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
the baliifs can not touch anything in the house as they do not belong to the person who ran up the debts..she needs to go to the citizen advice beuro and in the meantime send any letters back with the addresse crossed otu saying 'no longer living here' and not let anyone step into the house if they turn up. they muct first go to court and get a court order before entering your hosue and she will recieve a letter of it if it gets that far, then she can go to court and plea her case. as long as she has id showing she is not the person they will believe her and hopefully tell the creditors to stop hasseling her!
2007-11-06 03:24:57 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
tell her not to worry, make sure she keeps her passport or some other form of photographic id available in case they do call to the house. the ballifs probably know the person they want is not at the address and are trying to scare your daughter into paying the debt anyway. tell her to call the police immediatley if the ballifs refuse to accept her id.
2007-11-06 03:32:58 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Kerry
in USA, we have Fair Trade Commission.
given what u said the next time the creditors call have her record the calls .
retain a lawyer and sue them for their first born. What they are doing and threating is illegal and sue able . the baliffs can come all they want cause she isn't responsible for the other problems.
get a good lawyer
2007-11-06 03:26:35 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
If her name is on the bills she is legally liable unless she can produce proof that the family member promised to pay her, in which case she needs to locate that person and get them to pay or take that person to court to get the money.
If her name is not on the bills she is not liable.
2007-11-06 03:27:42 · answer #10 · answered by Dirty Dave 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋