is my new home blacklisted and howb do i cfind out about it.

[ianglyn]

hi,
i'v just moved to my new home with my partner but we are getting letter daily for 7 different people.
so i'v opened a few due to the amount of mail for these people.from them owing to sky-local loan companies(provident).from owing �101 to sky and �630 to the other.
iv contacted sky as we have moved from one home to this so our sky has been transfered with them,and also to the other iv asked them to come to our home and see for themselves.is has been done.but i fear there are lots more debt owing or outstanding on our new home.
MY QUESTION IS,can i get these debts clear'd.
thank you for reading my question and hope to hear from you all soon,
ian jones

[cazzz1975]

well its illegal to open someone else's post, return it to sender noting that the addresse no longer lives at your address.

the house does not get blacklisted as far as I know, the individual named does

[bednobs]

just send the letters back "not known at this address"
or if you know where the old people now live, send them onto them. I'm fairly sure that debts follow people, not houses

[Ethel]

Credit agencies are not supposed to blacklist or redline an address, only the individual.

Contact the credit reference agencies and tell them you are the new occupiers of the property and have no knowledge of previous occupiers.

The agencies are: Experian (0870 241 6212); Equifax (0870 010 0583); and Callcredit (Tel: [phone]).

You should not be opening the mail. Write 'Not known at this address' across the front of the envelopes and put the letters in the post box.

[Postdog]

Sorry, gotta disagree about the letters.

As a postman I have seen this many times over the years, with people doing flits owing money and the new owners getting letters chasing it.

If you don't know the new address of the person(s) and you are still getting mail, then an official redirection is not in place. As such, don't worry about the legalities of opening them, because there is no alternative action you could take, and, being realistic, if they owe money and have just done a runner, do they deserve any consideration?

I think "legalities" is clouded area anyway in this case - as I said, if you have no legitimate alternative, then you have to protect yourself, and I have known of situations where (if they can get away with it) an old address is used again - it is best to be on top of what might be happening.

More to the point, reposting marked unknown or gone away does very little except delay things. They can stay in the system for weeks, and assuming they get back to the sender, are they going to believe a sticker on the envelope - I think not.

The advice I always give, and it seems to work, is open the mail, advise the sender that the person they want does not live there, saying when you moved in etc.

The debts are not yours or in any way enforceable because they were incurred at the address.

Whatever you do, while there are debts trying to be collected, there is always a possibility a baliff may call. Again, you have no need to worry, but it would be an idea to have handy any official correspondence (utility bills etc) to prove you are who you say you are.

As I said, I see this all the time - once people start taking positive steps rather than hoping it will just stop, then the quicker it will stop.

[Ethel]

It is not illegal to open somebody else's post.

The Postal Services Act 2000 is clear that an offence is created if anyone intentionally delays the post or intentionally opens a mail bag. The Act goes on to say: "A person commits an offence if, intending to act to a person's detriment and without reasonable excuse, he opens a postal packet which he knows or reasonably suspects has been incorrectly delivered to him."

You have to prove that the person opening the post did so with the express intention of acting to your detriment. That is very difficult to prove, unless it is obviously a letter from the bank and you can show he used the information to get money out of your account, or get a loan in your name, for example.

The fact of opening the letter is not enough.

[ianglyn]

thank you POSTDOG,i thank you for your reply and everybodies reply to the question about me getting these letters.as postdos says in his answer,
how am i to know if anyone of these letters are debts "UNLESS I OPEN THEM"
thanks anyway to all of you.

[kira000]

I had the same problem when i moved into my last flat. Constant letters for about 5 different names, and occassional names of other people too.

At first i just stuck them back in the post with "Not known at this address", and that stopped some of it.

Then i could see through the clear address panel on some mail that it was for "OVERDUE, ACTION IMMINENT" or similar, and decided to open them. Sure enough a good number were for unpaid bills, final demands etc

I rang the numbers on the letters, gave them my name, the date i moved in, and that i had no information as to the whereabouts of the named persons. They then took my address off their system, and asked me just to reseal the letter, and write "unknown at this address for 1 year" on the envelope and send it back.

It took a few months, but eventually it all stopped. Just need to persevere.