Bailiff threat for person no longer living here......

[JazzyJon]

Hi there,

This is a fairly long story which I think will be ongoing due to some other circumstances which I'll go through.

In December a friend of mine from Northampton decided he needed a fresh start in life so came to stay with me in Liverpool whilst he got himself back on track.

Turns out he had a debt he owed to Northampton Magistrates Court which had been passed on to Collectica. He had a couple of letters about it, I asked him about it and he said it was fine and he was dealing with it. They'd traced him to my address due to him claiming housing benefits for here.

After 2 months the housing benefit finally came through but he gambled it away so we decided it was best if he move on from here and he moved to a homeless shelter where he is currently living, we're still in contact occasionally and there's no real ill feeling on either side.

Since he left I've been opening the mail which has come for him to check that everything is ok and have had numerous letters from collectica. The first time I received one I rang them and spoke to some arrogant shit who wouldn't let me talk and told me they couldn't remove him from the address unless he contacted them. I spoke to the guy who assured me he'd done this.

I then had two more summons to him for fare dodging on the merseyrail network. I've passed these letters on to him and he says he's dealing with it.

Today I received ANOTHER letter from collectica saying that someone has been round to see him (hasn't happened, I work from home so am in 9-5 Monday to Friday) and they've still received no payment so if it's not dealt with immediately then bailiffs will come round to seize goods.

I spoke to collectica again who said they need a copy of my council tax bill to remove him (What this proves I don't know as he's never been mentioned on the council tax anyway) I tried to contact my local council, I was on hold for 30 minutes with repeated messages saying how busy they were at present so I emailed them and was told I'd be waiting up to 25 days!!! for a response.

I rang collectica back with this information and all they said was they couldn't halt procedings and when the bailiff showed up he'd tell me what he needed from me to prove I wasn't the debtor.

I'm obviously quite concerned about this and just wondered what can be done. I don't understand why collectica can't do the same check they did originally to locate him here to locate him at his new residence which I've given them.

Should a bailiff turn up what happens? There is literally nothing in this house which is owned by the debtor but obviously I don't have proof of this, for example I bought my TV over 3 years ago so don't have the receipt anymore.

Will any of this impact my credit rating, I own this property and am hoping to move on later in the year if possible.

If he hasn't dealt with the summons re. the fare dodging am I likely to get more letters asking for money just this time from Merseyside magistrates?

Any advice would be most welcome

Jon

[seduraed]

Re: Bailiff threat for person no longer living here......

It's not your Debt so it wont affect your credit raring. The Enforceent agent cannot take goods belonging to a third party. . Go to a solicitor and make a statutory declaration to the effect that X is no longer resident at your address and left on Date to become homeless. (These usually cost around £10 if you write them yourself or more if sols write them for you) . Send copies to all creditors and ask them to stop contacting you .

[enquirer]

Re: Bailiff threat for person no longer living here......

Follow the advice given by seduraed with regard to a Statutory Declaration.

You might also like to write to Collectica reminding them of their obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998. Point out that you 'are receiving confidential correspondence intended for a third party', that their 'database is obviously incorrect', and should be 'corrected immediately'.

Conduct all correspondence in writing and send key letters by Recorded Delivery. Do not rely on telephone calls or email. Don't give them access to any documents and sign any letter with a different signature to the one that you normally use.

[enquirer]

Re: Bailiff threat for person no longer living here......

Follow the advice given by seduraed with regard to a Statutory Declaration.

You might also like to write to Collectica reminding them of their obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998. Point out that you 'are receiving confidential correspondence intended for a third party', that their 'database is obviously incorrect', and should be 'corrected imemdiately'.

Conduct all correspondence in writing and send key letters by Recorded Delivery. Do not rely on telephone calls or email.

This is interesting ...

Turns out he had a debt he owed to Northampton Magistrates Court which had been passed on to Collectica. He had a couple of letters about it, I asked him about it and he said it was fine and he was dealing with it. They'd traced him to my address due to him claiming housing benefits for here.

Now quite how did they do that? What was the debt for?

[Sir Vere Brayne d'Emmidge]

Re: Bailiff threat for person no longer living here......

Hi JazzyJon,

All you need if the bailiff turns up is a photographic proof of ID (the new style driving licence will do) and your Council Tax Bill.

If the bailiff does not go away after apologizing for the inconvenience, ask him/her to see his Bailiff General Certificate and take note of their name the Court that issued it and the date of issue (these are valid for 2 years) close the door, go get you phone, return to the door and dial 999 in front of the bailiff, ask for Police and when you are put through the Control Room explain what's going on. If you have his registration number is a bonus.

[bizzybob]

Re: Bailiff threat for person no longer living here......

Good advice Sir Vere, Op is not debtor, debtor has no goods there for EA to take control of, so if refuses to go or attempts to Take Control of goods belonging to OPafter ID shown, he/she deserves all they get when the police arrive.

Just to be hoped the police are clued up and don't mistakenly support the EA.

[JazzyJon]

Re: Bailiff threat for person no longer living here......

Thanks to all for the advice, thought I'd give a quick update.

I decided I wasn't going to ring Collectica again because they were just so rude and incapable of listening so I rang the court directly.

I spoke to a woman there named Sharon and explained the situation she took my number and said she'd run some intelligence tests at her end and get back to me. (I only assume Collectica were unable to do said intelligence tests because no one there had any intelligence)

15 minutes later she phoned me back to confirm they'd traced debtor to the sheltered accommodation for which I'd given her the address and she'd contact Collectica with the updated details.

I had a slight email exchange with Collectica where they still insisted they needed the council tax bill but after my last (rather angry) email on Friday I haven't heard since but after reading the advice above I feel comfortable that neither me or my possessions are in any danger.

I am lucky that I have many friends who are police officers so there shouldn't be any possibility of the police siding with the EA but I doubt it'll come to that.

[bizzybob]

Re: Bailiff threat for person no longer living here......

Well if Collectica turn up just ring the police and tell them a potentially Bogus Official is operating. Well he is Bogus as far as you are concerned, you have no business with him

[enquirer]

Re: Bailiff threat for person no longer living here......

... I rang the court directly [...] 15 minutes later she phoned me back to confirm they'd traced debtor to the sheltered accommodation for which I'd given her the address and she'd contact Collectica with the updated details.

Get this in writing, because if you don't, you've got nothing.

I had a slight email exchange with Collectica where they still insisted they needed the council tax bill but after my last (rather angry) email on Friday I haven't heard since but after reading the advice above I feel comfortable that neither me or my possessions are in any danger.

They may still turn up.

I am lucky that I have many friends who are police officers so there shouldn't be any possibility of the police siding with the EA but I doubt it'll come to that.

You would be very unwise to rely on this.

[JazzyJon]

Re: Bailiff threat for person no longer living here......

Thanks Enquirer

If I hear anything else from Collectica, either my email or by post I'll ring the court again and get it in writing just to protect me.

I've got this year's council tax bill and obviously my own identification so can't see any problems. Certainly won't be losing any sleep over this.

[JazzyJon]

Re: Bailiff threat for person no longer living here......

I just received this email today,

'
Thank you for your email.

We have noted the account with the information you have provided.

Please note your address has been removed from our database for account 8105773, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for providing the relevant information for us to remove your address.

Kind regards

Collectica'

Winner