Mail from Companies House not for me 8 September 2021 at 6:19PM in Small biz MoneySaving 27 replies 1.1K views

longwalks1

Over the last 3 weeks I’ve had several letters from Companies House/HMRC come through for a new clothing company, in the name of one of the sons of my houses previous owners.  I bought the house in November 2014, 7 years ago from this persons parents.  I emailed Companies House and explained, they said they don’t have the power to change it etc.

The new company was registered last month, so him using my home address is a concern.  What can I do, as I’m worried he may use this address for loans or credit etc 

Ive returned several letters for the new company back to the sender, with ‘no longer at this address’ over the front.  But don’t understand why he’s using my home address.  Any advice please? 

Thrugelmir

Keep returning the mail. Not known at this address. 

longwalks1

Thanks Thrugelmir, have been doing that but it still comes.

is there any reason a new company would use my address as their registered office?  Doesn’t make sense, I am thinking only for fraudulent reasons?

Grumpy_chap

britishboy said:

is there any reason a new company would use my address as their registered office?  Doesn’t make sense, I am thinking only for fraudulent reasons?

I can't think of any good reason for this, but it could be a genuine mistake.  For example, he used an Accountant to do the admin and the Accountant inadvertently entered the old address.  I agree, after 7 years, that seems remote but stranger things have happened I'm sure.

Is the son in contact with the parents and aware they moved?  Is it possible the son used the address thinking it would be able to receive mail via his parents?  Maybe the son is abroad or something.

So, these are long-shots, but there could be (absurd) reasons that don't mean the worst.

I think you have to keep returning the mail as mentioned above - eventually Companies House will do something.  Are the letters addressed to the individual, or to the company, or a mix of both?

Have you looked on the Companies House website and checked all the information for the company and individuals?  Check all the information tabs and all the documents available as there may be something with another address somewhere - either an Accountant or the individual's home address.  Failing that, once you have the details of the individual, try using one of the Director Search functions online to see if there are any other associated companies that give you a route of contact.

Finally, although I could not actually come up with a robustly plausible good reason for using a 7-year old address, the fact there is some link between the individual and the address may well be a good thing.  If things were some kind of fraud by the individual, why would they use any address to which they can be linked?  Surely, in that case, it would make far more sense to use an entirely random address.

Thrugelmir

britishboy said:

Thanks Thrugelmir, have been doing that but it still comes.

is there any reason a new company would use my address as their registered office?  Doesn’t make sense, I am thinking only for fraudulent reasons?

Have you looked the company up on the Companies House website? 

longwalks1

Hello again

yes have looked the company up on CH website, and it lists the son who used to live here as new director, dated 21 Aug 2021.  It also gives a home address for him.

replying to Grumpy Chap, yes the son will of known his parents moved, he lived here until the day they moved out.  The letters come through in the post as a mixture addressed to him himself, and also just to the new clothing company name.  Your comment on why would he use an old address linked to him for some kind of fraud makes sense, so I’m wondering if a random is using his old details for some ulterior motive.

I think I’ll write to him at the address listed on Companies House website and ask him to reply to me at his old home address perhaps? 

lincroft1710

Why not ask CH to ask the son why he is using a "false" address for his company?

Savvy_Sue

britishboy said:

Hello again

yes have looked the company up on CH website, and it lists the son who used to live here as new director, dated 21 Aug 2021.  It also gives a home address for him.

replying to Grumpy Chap, yes the son will of known his parents moved, he lived here until the day they moved out.  The letters come through in the post as a mixture addressed to him himself, and also just to the new clothing company name.  Your comment on why would he use an old address linked to him for some kind of fraud makes sense, so I’m wondering if a random is using his old details for some ulterior motive.

I think I’ll write to him at the address listed on Companies House website and ask him to reply to me at his old home address perhaps? 

I wouldn't ask him for a reply. I would tell him that if he does not sort this out, you will be doing this:

lincroft1710 said:

Why not ask CH to ask the son why he is using a "false" address for his company?

Which I think should force CH to take action. 

Another option: does he have a website / social media for the company? I'd ask very publicly why he is using an out of date address. 

I don't know if this would help, might depend on what's coming, if 'just' companies house then probably not, but ... We were continually receiving post from a variety of official sources - utility bills etc - which should have been going to a nearby government dept whose building name is very similar to our house name, but which has a completely different postcode. I felt I'd tried everything: forwarding, RTS etc. I opened a few letters (and no, that is not illegal) and returned them to the sender with a letter pointing out that if they wanted Government Department to pay their bills, they needed to get the address right, which was ... and I included an invoice for £10 for my time in dealing with this matter. Astonishingly, one of those invoices was paid, and an apology sent! 

lincroft1710

Savvy_Sue said:

I opened a few letters (and no, that is not illegal) and returned them to the sender with a letter pointing out that if they wanted Government Department to pay their bills, they needed to get the address right, which was ... and I included an invoice for £10 for my time in dealing with this matter. Astonishingly, one of those invoices was paid, and an apology sent! 

I like!!!

longwalks1

lincroft1710 said:

Why not ask CH to ask the son why he is using a "false" address for his company?

Hi Lincroft1710 - Ive had a few back and forth emails to CH and asked them to ask why he's using my home address, they arent interested and say the company directors need to complete 2 forms to update the address.  I actually stated in my last email to them that I was 'formally advising them that my home address was potentially fraudulently being used for a company I have no links with' but again, they had no interest in helping.

longwalks1

Update - I was worried about my address being used to get company credit, loans or other activities so I reported it on actionfraud.police website, as I'm trying to get at least someone to do something about it.  They logged it, gave it a crime reference number (which I've emailed CH with, no reply) but since got back to me and said (as i was expecting) no crime has been commited so it isnt a police matter

I cant find anything at all online for this company, I've tried all social media sites, eBay, online searches etc - am a little confused as to what to do next??