Collection agency and Data Protection Act: is what they're asking legal?

We've been getting letters on and off addressed to the previous owner of our house.  The place was repossessed, and we bought it off the bank, so we have never met her and have no idea where she went.  The only thing we know about her is her name and the fact that she used to own this house.  For the past 2+ years I have just been sending them back marked "no longer at this address" or some such.

Recently we got a series of letters in rapid succession from one particular agency, so I held one up to a lamp so I could see what it said.  It claimed that although their letters have been returned, they knew from credit reports that she still lives here.  So my husband and I wrote them a few weeks ago, explaining that we know nothing about her and to please stop sending us mail.

Today I got a very generic form letter, addressed to "the occupier", asking us to help them out by providing any contact details for the former owner.  It has handy blanks to fill in and a pre-addressed envelope (though they expect us to pay for the stamp, of course).  Even if I did know the woman, I certainly wouldn't give them her personal details as a matter of principle.  But I am wondering if it is even legal to ask us for them in the first place. 

Wikipedia is, of course, not necessarily the most reliable source of information on such matters.  However, if their plain language summary of the Data Protection Act is at all accurate, it says that

Data must not be disclosed to other parties without the consent of the individual whom it is about, unless there is legislation or other overriding legitimate reason to share the information (for example, the prevention or detection of crime). It is an offence for Other Parties to obtain this personal data without authorisation.

If that is true, surely it would be an offense for the collection agency to ask me to violate another person's privacy and give them her personal details?

Of course, I'll be sending them another letter telling them to stuff it, but if they keep contacting us I will file a formal complaint.  If their request is a possible breach of the law then I certainly want to be sure to mention it in my complaint.

I'd suggest telling them to get in touch with the bank you bought the house from and to stop harassing you you.

As for the legality... sounds dodgy to me!

I don't think it's necessarily illegal to simply ask you for someone else's details.  I think collection agencies ask this of people a lot, and I'd think they'd know whether or not it was illegal, given how annoying they are with their tactics. 

This is funny because I was getting letters from a bank to a previous occupants of our house about an unpaid credit card bill.

I wrote to them and called them a number of times to tell them that that the person didn't live hear anymore.

They told me that because of the DPA, they couldn't remove my address from their system until that person contacted them personally.

This was not a collection agency, though.

I'd suggest telling them to get in touch with the bank you bought the house from and to stop harassing you you.

As for the legality... sounds dodgy to me!

I totally agree with this.  Tell them you bought the house from the bank and have no information on her.  If they want the info, try the bank. 

I'd say it is legal.  I'm not positive what is covered under the Data Protection Act but it's possible that name, address, telephone number and email are not.  The act has been around for over 10 years so I doubt companies would still be asking for information (it happens all the time) if it was illegal.

We had a magistrate come to our house to serve the previous owners with some kind of court notice.  He asked us if we had her forwarding address.

It's a slippery slope issue.  If they discussed the other party's debt with you as a third party, that is in breach of Fair Debt Collection Guidance as set forth by the Office of Fair Trading - worthy of a complaint, which if not taken seriously by the debt collector in question, could be elevated further to the OFT.  But that sort of complaining is usually done by the person who owes the money, IYWIM?

On the other hand, if they didn't disclose any details about the debt, but rather are sending something fairly generic trying to obtain an address (not disclosing information about the person in question) - that's not necessarily illegal, but sort of heading down the slippery slope, if you see what I mean.  Because they are a debt collection agency, you could infer the person has debts, etc.

The collector does have a right to have the address of the person who owes them money.  On the other hand, you should not feel under any obligation to provide them with any info - even if you did have it.