Tweet
Good morning all.
i hope I can find someone who can answer some questions about the situation I find myself in.
My partner and I returned from holiday yesterday morning to find a "Form 55 - Notice of Seizure" in our porch from "The Sheriff's Office".
The notice is addressed to a former lodger of ours who moved out in August last year. After a couple of months he stopped collecting his mail and I began marking any post to him as "return to sender", I do not have a forwarding address for him.
I attempted to call the number given on the form yesterday to explain this but it will not connect, and I'm not sure anyone would believe me anyway- I'm sure bailiffs are lied to all the time.
There are a few things that I was hoping to find advice on as they make the situation unusual:
We are currently in the process of moving; the business we run has obtained work away from home so we are renting out our home to friends while we are away, we were planning on a moving date of this weekend, but I don't want our friends to have to deal with this. The form 55 also states it is an offence to remove anything from the property, but surely that doesn't apply to our own possessions, just to his- of which there are none...
As we've been staying with family while the move takes place, many of our papers are with my parents, such as council tax statements that would show he n longer lives with us, so if they do call again this week I have no way to prove he's not at the house.
We have a SORN-registered car in the front garden, which (as we are renting the house to friends) we were planning on leaving there until we can sort it out- could an unscrupulous/overenthusiastic bailiff seize the vehicle then leave us to prove that it doesn't belong to the former lodger?
The former lodger shared a surname with my partner (and thus my son and the baby we're expecting next month), which is fairly common in my partner's country of origin, although quite unusual here, will this pose any issues- other than making it look like we're lying, which they're going to assume anyway, or that he's somehow related to us?
Will our address obtain some sort of black mark against it from these actions?
The amount owed is quite substantial and I'm worried about the horror stories you often hear about bailiffs, can anyone advise on the best course of action for me to take?
thank you very much for any help or advice you can offer.
i hope I can find someone who can answer some questions about the situation I find myself in.
My partner and I returned from holiday yesterday morning to find a "Form 55 - Notice of Seizure" in our porch from "The Sheriff's Office".
The notice is addressed to a former lodger of ours who moved out in August last year. After a couple of months he stopped collecting his mail and I began marking any post to him as "return to sender", I do not have a forwarding address for him.
I attempted to call the number given on the form yesterday to explain this but it will not connect, and I'm not sure anyone would believe me anyway- I'm sure bailiffs are lied to all the time.
There are a few things that I was hoping to find advice on as they make the situation unusual:
We are currently in the process of moving; the business we run has obtained work away from home so we are renting out our home to friends while we are away, we were planning on a moving date of this weekend, but I don't want our friends to have to deal with this. The form 55 also states it is an offence to remove anything from the property, but surely that doesn't apply to our own possessions, just to his- of which there are none...
As we've been staying with family while the move takes place, many of our papers are with my parents, such as council tax statements that would show he n longer lives with us, so if they do call again this week I have no way to prove he's not at the house.
We have a SORN-registered car in the front garden, which (as we are renting the house to friends) we were planning on leaving there until we can sort it out- could an unscrupulous/overenthusiastic bailiff seize the vehicle then leave us to prove that it doesn't belong to the former lodger?
The former lodger shared a surname with my partner (and thus my son and the baby we're expecting next month), which is fairly common in my partner's country of origin, although quite unusual here, will this pose any issues- other than making it look like we're lying, which they're going to assume anyway, or that he's somehow related to us?
Will our address obtain some sort of black mark against it from these actions?
The amount owed is quite substantial and I'm worried about the horror stories you often hear about bailiffs, can anyone advise on the best course of action for me to take?
thank you very much for any help or advice you can offer.
Comment