Someone unknown using my address.

[Gloster]

I moved house last September, but haven’t yet put my old property on the market as I am still moving my belongings. I went to collect some more stuff today and found a letter from HM Revenue & Customs addressed to someone I have never heard of; I was at the address for nineteen years.

I will be contacting HMRC to advise them, checking the Council Tax Register in case it is a genuine mistake and having a word with my solicitor. The property is already registered with HM Land Registry’s Property Alert Service.

Anybody had a similar experience and have suggestions? I am thinking of putting a notice on the door saying that Mr XY does not live hear and the owner can’t help if somebody is looking for him.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Do the police look into matters such as that you report in case some criminality is involved?

 

[SargeNpton]

Putting a notice on the door may just advertise to people that the house is empty, increasing the risk of someone breaking in or vandalising it. I doubt that it would stop unwanted letters from being delivered either, as the postie is more interested on what the house number/street name is on the envelope rather than which name is on it.

A couple of years ago I had someone deliberately register their car at my address, then proceed to rack up speed camera and bus lane camera offences 60 miles away - with the requests to pay the fines coming to him at my address. First thing to do was to send the V5 back to the DVLA and get them to give me an official letter to say that the car was no longer linked to my address. Took me a few months to get the council that issued those fines to accept that the person concerned did not live here and that I was not liable.

One other thing to think about... Is there a block of flats in your street, with the person concerned living at the same flat number as your house? If so, it could simply be that HMRC is addressing the letter to xx Any Street, instead of to Flat xx, Alpha House, Any Street. Again, I speak from experience - with letters coming to me from the flat dweller's bank and the utility companies.

 

[westcoaster]

Could be a mail scam.

 

[WesternLancer]

I moved house last September, but haven’t yet put my old property on the market as I am still moving my belongings. I went to collect some more stuff today and found a letter from HM Revenue & Customs addressed to someone I have never heard of; I was at the address for nineteen years.

I will be contacting HMRC to advise them, checking the Council Tax Register in case it is a genuine mistake and having a word with my solicitor. The property is already registered with HM Land Registry’s Property Alert Service.

Anybody had a similar experience and have suggestions? I am thinking of putting a notice on the door saying that Mr XY does not live hear and the owner can’t help if somebody is looking for him.

Also check with your council electoral registration team who is registered to vote at the address (they will not exchange notes with council tax team automatically so do not assume they have done so). It's v easy to put yourself down on the electoral role at addresses so fraudsters may do this.

Ensure the council electoral registration team know the property has no one there (and thus no one should be registered) OR you can still be registered there IIRC - as property owners can be registered to vote at both addresses even if they are only living at one - you just can not vote twice in an election to the same 'legislature'.

You may then wish to make sure that your own elec reg entry(s) are on what is called the 'closed register' ie not available to sell your details to direct marketing companies.

 

[Falcon1200]

A couple of years ago I had someone deliberately register their car at my address, then proceed to rack up speed camera and bus lane camera offences 60 miles away - with the requests to pay the fines coming to him at my address. First thing to do was to send the V5 back to the DVLA and get them to give me an official letter to say that the car was no longer linked to my address.

Thanks for the info, the same thing has happened to my Mum; V5 for a car she has never owned sent to her address, although in this case the addressee's name is obviously fake, being nonsensical. So far, just one penalty charge for the Dartford Crossing.

 

[Busaholic]

I moved house last September, but haven’t yet put my old property on the market as I am still moving my belongings. I went to collect some more stuff today and found a letter from HM Revenue & Customs addressed to someone I have never heard of; I was at the address for nineteen years.

Over the thirty odd years I've lived at my current address, comprising a shop with flat over, though the shop has been closed for a while, I've had many experiences of strange letters/packages addressed to people I've never heard of. I might add that only my wife (now deceased) and I have lived here in that time. First, my experiences have taught me to attempt to nip in the bud whenever an oddity occurs. Don't be afraid to open any letters, so long as they include your complete address including post code, the only exception being to refuse to sign for anything sent by recorded delivery/registered post/courier delivery addressed to A.N.Other. The trouble, for me at least, comes when a well-meaning neighbour signs thinking it's on your behalf!

Not all these are scams or attempted scams. On occasion agencies such as HMRC, DVLA, TV Licensing, etc unilaterally alter, for no apparent reason, perfectly correct information given to them (I had my Vehicle Registration Document sent to someone with the same address at a totally different postcode!) I've had new Polish passports, Barcaycards etc sent here and had to deal with the aftermath. Now, though, given the relatively recent odious crimes involving the Land Registry's criminally negligent refusal to do proper checks on people claiming new ownership of freehold properties and succeeding in registering their interest to the detriment of the true freeholder, so I'm glad to read you're alive to this.

 

[Gloster]

A quick update. Most authorities do not seem very interested or able to help. The advice from HMRC is simply to return the letter unopened to them marked ‘Not known at this address’. Which leaves me having to hope that Royal Mail functions properly and HMRC at least take note of the situation.

 

[Busaholic]

A quick update. Most authorities do not seem very interested or able to help. The advice from HMRC is simply to return the letter unopened to them marked ‘Not known at this address’. Which leaves me having to hope that Royal Mail functions properly and HMRC at least take note of the situation.

Regrettably, 'the authorities' these days seem to take their lead from the government and take responsibility for nothing. This is especially so with anything that suggests a fraud might be perpetrated on an individual, an area where the U.K. probably has a worse record than any other First World country in protecting its citizens, and getting worse by the day. It's all just too much trouble, requiring huge investment in resources and training counter-fraud officers. We all have to look out for ourselves and try to help others, usually the most vulnerable, who are targeted by these amoral specimens of humanity.

 

[contrex]

I moved house last September, but haven’t yet put my old property on the market as I am still moving my belongings. I went to collect some more stuff today and found a letter from HM Revenue & Customs addressed to someone I have never heard of; I was at the address for nineteen years.

After living in my house for ten years, I got a letter (signed for, had to get out of bed to do this) addressed to someone I had never heard of. I put it back in the post, marked 'RTS - not known at this address'. A week later, I got another. I took the step of opening it. It was from a car insurance company advising the addressee that, as he had not paid the balance of a car insurance premium, his cover would be cancelled in 14 days. It added that they had written to him previously, but had had no reply. I took the step of posting a signed-for letter to the insurance company outlining the situation, enclosing this letter, advising that I had previously sent one back, and suggesting they try to confirm the bloke's address by some other means. The result was another letter to him advising that the cover had seven days to run. I then looked up the guy's surname in the phone book, and found someone in my road, but a slightly different number (I live at 4, this one was at 40). I knocked on their door with the letter and a copy of my earlier one. "Oh God!', said the woman who answered. 'That's my ex-husband. He's a fool'.