"Tax it or lose it" - previous owner

NBLondon

Car_54 said:

Manxman_in_exile said:

I don't think I'd particularly like the idea of possibly having a car that I know absolutely nothing about registered to my address.  

What do you imagine might happen?

Like the OP said - parking tickets and the like, debt collectors turning up.  Yes - you can get rid but that's a disruption.

Manxman_in_exile

Car_54 said:

Manxman_in_exile said:

I don't think I'd particularly like the idea of possibly having a car that I know absolutely nothing about registered to my address.  

What do you imagine might happen?

Rather than wait and and keeping my fingers crossed that I won't end up receiving further correspondence relating either to multiple parking tickets and/or multiple NIPs and/or other letters from the DVLA and the subsequent hassle of returning or binning them or ending up on pepipoo, I'd prefer to put a little effort into at least trying to sort out the error now, before it possibly grows.  There's obviously a mistake and it's obviously still current so why not draw it to the DVLAs attention?

If you wouldn't be at all bothered that the previous owner of your house still had their car registered to your address 30 months after they'd moved out, and you had no inclination to try to correct the matter, then fair enough.  

But I generally feel uneasy about allowing any state of affairs to continue where my address is being used for purposes that I know nothing about.  So when I do find out it, I prefer to at least try to put them right.

jimjames

Manxman_in_exile said:

Car_54 said:

Manxman_in_exile said:

I don't think I'd particularly like the idea of possibly having a car that I know absolutely nothing about registered to my address.  

What do you imagine might happen?

There's obviously a mistake and it's obviously still current so why not draw it to the DVLAs attention?

Putting it back in the postbox with gone away WILL draw it to the DVLAs attention. You could even take a photo to prove you did that if you're worried and need proof.

Manxman_in_exile

I prefer to try to avoid unnecessary possible future complications and hassle by taking positive steps to do so.

If you would prefer to just send it back to the DVLA without any explanation and you like engaging in letter tennis, nobody will stop you. 

sheramber

I received several penalty notices / debt collector letters for unpaid tolls. parking tickets for the previous owner of my house although I  had lived here for 2 years .

Returning the envelopes marked not know or gone away made no difference . the return addresses were po box numbers.

So I opened the letters and returned then direct to the address on the letters.

I also sent an email to the DVLA to advise that the keeper of car registration X no longer lived at this address.

I haven't received anything for a few months now so hopefully the records have been updated.

Sine_Nomine

sheramber said:

I received several penalty notices / debt collector letters for unpaid tolls. parking tickets for the previous owner of my house although I  had lived here for 2 years .

Returning the envelopes marked not know or gone away made no difference . the return addresses were po box numbers.

So I opened the letters and returned then direct to the address on the letters.

I also sent an email to the DVLA to advise that the keeper of car registration X no longer lived at this address.

I haven't received anything for a few months now so hopefully the records have been updated.

I had exactly the same thing happen - lots of letters from debt collectors/parking companies/DVLA - sent them all back unopened and marked "Gone Away", and they kept coming.  So I carried on ignoring them, and, as in your case, finally they stopped.

The only difference is I didn't send an email to the DVLA or open any of the letters to contact the senders, so I reject your conclusion that your interventions made any difference.

I am pretty sure that DVLA would take no notice of a 3rd party contacting them to advise them the address for a RK is not correct, and certainly wouldn't lead to any 'records being updated'.  Otherwise the scope for malicious mischief would be immense. 

The advice already given to just return all letters unopened and marked 'Gone Away' is the wisest. 

Flugelhorn

Has now occurred to me that this may not have been a car tax letter. I have just received letter in same style envelope  with "tax it or lose it" on the front, this was a letter telling me it was time to renew my driving licence.
Would explain why there had been no other letters re cars etc to my address in 2.5 years, looks like previous owner might changed the address for the car but not her licence

Slinky

We started getting letters from BMW about a recall notice for a car supposedly registered to our address. The name wasn't any of the previous occupants. I contacted BMW who said the info came from the DVLA and they couldn't do anything about stopping the letters. The second time the same recall came through, I phoned again and they transferred me to somebody at the DVLA who asked me some questions and said they would investigate. Several months later they wrote to me and said they'd removed the record from our address but told me to keep the letter to show to anybody if other correspondence turned up.  That was last year, nothing else as yet. I suspect the vehicle had long been scrapped as I checked the MOT records and it was last MOT'd years ago

olgadapolga

The previous owner of my house moved out in 2018 and still hasn't updated his address with DVLA. We still get letters from them for him, which I  used to return but now throw away.

I'm not worried about the possibility of debt collectors, etc., as I can prove it's not me they want and I can prove when I purchased my house.

Grey_Critic

Bought my house in 1975 and for the next 30 years I got an annual statement from a pension company for the previous owner. I returned it every year with *No Longer at This Address*

As others have said just return endorsed *No Longer at This Address*Anything else and you are simply creating problems for yourself.