[Finance] Advice: Someone else’s debt being chased at our address

[wellquickwoody]

They have to prove that it is her if they want to take legal action. I am a bit confused about whether they are satisfied, or whether they are still threatening you with a CCJ.

If it bothers you, get legal advice; threatening to sue them for emotional distress is probably the route I'd go.

Why not just write/email explaining the situation and refuting any link to the debt? Only if they come chasing does the ante need to upped.

 

[Braggfan]

I would also suggest contacting Southern Water and explain the error. But tell them that under GDPR they have a legal duty to keep accurate records, and that anyone collecting the debt on their behalf is working as a data handler for which Southern Water are legally responsible. Ask them to correct their records and ensure that you're not contacted by the debt collecting agency again. Ask them to give you a written response confirming that they have done this.

Obviously keep a record of their response. But if they fail to respond or you continue to receive communications regarding the debt, report them to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO), providing a copy of your letter, any response you get from them, or make a note of a lack of a response.

Southern Water will legally have to respond to the ICO about that, and if they have made a mistake will be forced to amend it. A lot of times the pressure of having to deal with the ICO will compel them to sort things out. But as its obviously is a mistake, if they don't correct it and continue to harass you, they could leave themselves open to not only being fined by the ICO, but if they did something silly like take you to court and you had a letter from the ICO telling them to correct their records, they wouldn't have a leg to stand on.

 

[Saladpack Seagull]

Our son and his partner have recently moved into a property where final demands kept arriving, addressed to people who, according to the letting agents, have never lived there! The previous tenant was a real con artist, using a variety of fictitious names, including the characters from Cluedo! The penny on that one finally dropped when a letter addressed to the Reverend Green turned up! The downside to all this is that, although the utility companies and the bailiffs have accepted the debts run up at the property have nothing to do with our son, he has been put on a pre-payment scheme for gas and electric, which he didn't want to have. If and when the previous tenant is found, he'll be several grand in the hole and presumably looking at doing time.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Our son and his partner have recently moved into a property where final demands kept arriving, addressed to people who, according to the letting agents, have never lived there! The previous tenant was a real con artist, using a variety of fictitious names, including the characters from Cluedo! The penny on that one finally dropped when a letter addressed to the Reverend Green turned up! The downside to all this is that, although the utility companies and the bailiffs have accepted the debts run up at the property have nothing to do with our son, he has been put on a pre-payment scheme for gas and electric, which he didn't want to have. If and when the previous tenant is found, he'll be several grand in the hole and presumably looking at doing time.

Colonel mustard wouldn’t be too difficult to find around the Hove area I suspect