@
meldrewreborn
I completely agree. Having lived in three rented flats where there was a high churn rate on tenancies and in each case previous tenants had done a bunk owing money, I am only too familiar with the hassle. But returning letters marked 'gone away' or 'not resident at this address' is a good first step.
My second piece of advice is to go to the local council website and get yourself on the Electoral Register at the new address pronto. Don't wait until the registration form turns up in the post.
Thirdly, there are any number of free credit checking services out there, along with paid subscriptions to Experian and Equifax. Always worth checking if there are any other names associated with the address and a very simple 'letter of dissociation' to the reference company (and templates and advice are available) will normally make sure any links to the address are broken. We as consumers should not have to do this and I agree it should be the responsibility of the creditor to make sure they have their facts right, but it is a sad fact of modern life that sometimes we have to do a bit of legwork ourselves.
In one case, a previous tenant in one of my properties turned out to be (completely randomly) someone known to me. A quick check through the Electoral Register gave me a name which was rather unusual but at the same time triggered a 'hang on a minute' moment in my head. The surname was rather rare, being of Turkish origin, but I knew a girl I had been to college with who had the same name. A phone call and a meet for a glass of wine in a local pub revealed that it was indeed her younger brother! She furnished me with his current whereabouts which was then passed on to Experian (by her, not me, I hasten to add) and all the debt collection letters dried up within a week.
