Some advice please, I have been reading through the forums and have repeatedly seen the name Mackenzie Hall. This rang a bell and my memory was jogged. About 2 weeks ago a letter addressed to a previous owner (not the ones we bought the property off) arrived and suffering after a heavy Friday night I opened it acidentally. It was a demand letter and so I phoned them to ask if they wanted it returned and that no such person lived at my address. By calling them as I did not want debt colectors at my door have I opened myself up for a load of S*** from this company.

Hi --- Not at all...if it is not you're debt and belongs to a previous tenant, then you have nothing at all to worry about.

Write to them and give the contact details of your local council. Tell them if they want to pursue the previous owner further, to get in touch with the council and get a forwarding address.

I forgot to mention, apparently it is standard practice for debt collectors to send letters out three times. So after you've got in touch with them, don't be surprised that they send another letter to the same fellow again. They need to tick off the box in their "to-do" list.

I once rented a property where the previous tenants had done a runner leaving unpaid utilities bills. I had to write letter after letter, giving them the address of my local council (so that they could check that I'd been paying council tax etc and when I moved in). Eventually they gave up sending those stupid letters. Don't lose heart.

Thanks both that as certainly helped put my mind at rest. Great tip about the council never would have thought of that

If you google Mackenzie Hall Ayrshire you'll get their address. But don't bother ringing them up.

Mackenzie Hall seem to have a lot of bad press.

If they ever ring you up to hassle you, tell them nicely that the person they are chasing is the previous owner, and ask for a fax number where you can fax them "some documentation" to prove this. Then fax them the letter with your council's details a few times. I did this and never heard from debt collectors again.