Company has been registered at my address

Jenniefour

Not sure I've posted  in the right section. Would the mods move it please if not.

I have just received a letter from Companies House (name of Companies House on the envelope) which I haven't opened but checked online to see that this company has actually been registered with Companies House at my home address. I received another letter about 6 days ago addressed to a named individual and this company, using my address, which I opened and it is a promotional letter from a bank called Counting Up. I have done a general online search about what, if anything, I need to do and came up with the following - report to the police, Action Fraud, fraud section of Companies House and do all this now rather than waiting to see if something happens. I will do all that in the morning. My property has been registered for several years with the Land Registry for notification if any activity takes place.

Possibly connected to this is that five months ago I got a new lodger who is the same nationality as the person who's name is on the letters and Companies House details. I am satisfied the new lodger is not up to anything untoward, I know her well now. Her and/or her family will have supplied her new address at this house, as is perfectly normal, and somehow someone in the country she came from (as a child) has taken the opportunity to set this up. The person named on both letters and Companies House records lives in the country she came from. I am going to have a chat with her tomorrow about this and I imagine she will be horrified. 

Is there anything else I should be doing to head off any potential fraudulent activities connected to my address? Many thanks. 

canaldumidi

It may be that your lodger is responsible. If so, she may come clean, or may deny it.

It may be a friend/relative of the lodger, and the lodger may, or may not, be aware. But if so the lodger will surely recognise the name I imagine.

It may be unrelated to the lodger (though that seems unlikely).

Was the letter actually from Companies House itself? I'd certainly open it. There is nothig illegal about opening mail addressed to someone else once it has been correctly delivered by Royal Mail (other mail services are available!).

I doubt Action Fraud will do anything. They collate data to monitor numbers and types of fraud, and they take action on major frauds or where repeated frauds by the same individual/group are involved. They don't investigate individual frauds.

Police are likewise hard to pursuade to do anything, especially as here before any fraud has occurred. They may refer you to Action Fraud!

Companies House may do something- I've no idea.

What kind of company is it? Have you googled them? Is there a marketig contact number you can contact to investigate yourself further?

eddddy

Jenniefour said:

Is there anything else I should be doing to head off any potential fraudulent activities connected to my address? Many thanks. 

You can 'Report Suspicious Company Activity' to Companies House using the form on this page:  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/report-suspicious-company-activity


There's a tick-box on the form for "Registered office or officer’s service address being used without consent".

Then leave Companies house to take whatever action they choose.

Jenniefour

Canaldumidi and Eddddy - have now spoken with lodger and it's clear she had nothing to do with this. She doesn't recognise the company or the individual who registered the company. If there is a connection it is entirely accidental.

I called Action Fraud, they were very helpful and gave me a crime reference number even though it won't be investigated until/unless something more substantive takes place. I also downloaded a Companies House form for disputed registered addresses and sent that off with proof of my ownership of the property and a utility bill so hopefully they will now remove my address. I have opened the letter - thanks for the info on this - and it is an authentification code for filing online. I have also sent off the form you found, Eddddy, to report suspicious activity. 

I have googled the company - nothing at all except for the registration at Companies House. I also googled the individuals name and there is an entry on both LinkedIn and Facebook. I don't have an account with either and don't intend to open one either but I might get a friend to take a look for me. 

Just have to wait now and see what Companies House do about this.

Many thanks for both your replies, much appreciated.

Jenniefour

Just to add in answer to what kind of company - the Companies House records say it is retail clothing.

elsien

Similar saga here - also clothing, oddly enough. OP had to complete a form for company house and provide proof it was them living there.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6295700/mail-from-companies-house-not-for-me/p1

eddddy

Jenniefour said:

Just to add in answer to what kind of company - the Companies House records say it is retail clothing.

I guess it's possible that it's part of a plan (scam) to sell clothes online - from a dodgy website, Instagram marketplace, Facebook marketplace etc.

They might want a UK company and address to make it look like they are a British company. But in reality, they have no UK presence, clothes are dispatched from another country (often from China and often poor quality) - or not dispatched at all.

MysteryMe

Companies House will use their default Cardiff address for this company and remove your address as the registered office. There is no legitimate reason for some unknown random to use your address, there are plenty of options for companies with directors residing overseas.  Might be worth doing an occasional search to make sure that any website set up does not show your address. If it does report it to the hosting site and request that the website is taken down and if it is a UK registered domain name, you can also report to Nominet.  

Jenniefour

Thank you all for your helpful responses. I looked at the other link too - thank you Elsien. It's worrying that someone can set up a company without being obliged to provide some kind of proof of address but folks like me on the receiving end of this kind of action are the ones that have to provide evidence. Wrong way round, surely. 

eddddy

Jenniefour said:

Thank you all for your helpful responses. I looked at the other link too - thank you Elsien. It's worrying that someone can set up a company without being obliged to provide some kind of proof of address but folks like me on the receiving end of this kind of action are the ones that have to provide evidence. Wrong way round, surely. 

The "Registered Office Address" is simply a physical address where letters and documents for a company can be sent.

There's no requirement for the company (or directors) to own the property, rent the property, live at the property etc - so it's difficult to know what "proof of address" could be provided.

Often a Registered Office Address is just a mailing address. Somebody at that address just forwards any mail that's addressed to the company.

Perhaps if there's an increase in abuse/fraud, the government will change the rules about registered addresses.

gingercordial

eddddy said:

Jenniefour said:

Thank you all for your helpful responses. I looked at the other link too - thank you Elsien. It's worrying that someone can set up a company without being obliged to provide some kind of proof of address but folks like me on the receiving end of this kind of action are the ones that have to provide evidence. Wrong way round, surely. 

The "Registered Office Address" is simply a physical address where letters and documents for a company can be sent.

There's no requirement for the company (or directors) to own the property, rent the property, live at the property etc - so it's difficult to know what "proof of address" could be provided.

Often a Registered Office Address is just a mailing address. Somebody at that address just forwards any mail that's addressed to the company.

Perhaps if there's an increase in abuse/fraud, the government will change the rules about registered addresses.

Indeed so.  For example I work for a large group of companies with our head office in England.  Most of our companies are registered there and if you turned up you would find all of us employees.  But we also have a subsidiary company in Scotland (in order to have a permit for the kind of business we do there) and that company is required to have a Scottish registered office address.  For that, we use a firm that specialises in providing a registered office service.  It isn't our premises and you would not find any of our company's directors or employees at that address.  That is perfectly legitimate.

However I assume the rules could be updated so that the owner of the registered address (eg the company we use) has to provide a letter of consent during the company set up process, which wouldn't be too much more trouble.

The activation code that the OP has received is supposed to counteract this sort of thing anyway - the company won't be able to file accounts/tax returns online without that code, so they will run into problems unless they intercept the post.  Silly of them to try it really.