Fraud - previous tenant using my address - what can I do?

Stuck_NeedHelp

I bought a house to live out my retirement in, we planned to move in after renting it out for a year as mortgages were low at the time and rental was good so it would help towards renovation costs. It was a big mistake, the tenants that looked fine on paper were terrible and knew exactly how to work the system to maximise their stay without paying their rent on time or in full. It took almost a year to get them to leave; I didn't even care about the rent arrears in the end (though it was a lot) but was just so happy they were gone and we could finally start the renovations and move in.
Sadly that has not been the end of it, the next stage of the nightmare began - a steady flow of letters from debt collectors, banks, credit card companies, DVLA, insurance companies all chasing missed payments or fines from the tenant. The ex-tenant seems to have a lot of variations to his name and each bill is slightly different (e.g Mohammed vs Mahamed vs Mohamed). I don't even know if the name he gave our agent was right but it passed all the checks.

Additionally it feels like he's shared or sold our address details to people. One example is a woman's name that we've never heard of has registered her car with the DVLA under my address. She is consistently going through toll roads and getting parking fines - often the same route. The person who lived here before I bought the house was the only owner and lived here until she was 90, I know she didn't get this type of fraud as we checked with her family so it's only started since the tenant moved out. 

I'm at my wits ends explaining to debt collectors that this is fraud (which of course they don't believe until I have to send my personal records to prove it which also makes me uncomfortable). I have had so many calls with the DVLA asking them to remove this other woman's name and car from my address yet it still keeps coming. No one seems to listen or update their records and just leave us alone!

Is there anything I can do to stop my address being used?
Can the DVLA remove the car and woman's name from my house?
Can I get support from the police to track the tenant down somehow and hold him accountable for at least the fraud that is in his name(s)?
He is certainly a "professional" fraudster and I feel like he'll just continue doing the same to the next victim. We don't even want to live in this house anymore; the stress and anxiety about who will turn up next to our door demanding repayments is not how I saw the retirement years to be like. 

I would kindly take any suggestions or advice you may have to help stop any of this. 
So far I have set up the HM Land Registry monitoring my address just in case he gets really brave and tries to sell my house! I have read on these forums about signing up to Experian so will take a look here too. 
Thanks

Mark_d

Have you made a report to ActionFraud ?

eskbanker

Not sure any of that is actually fraud as such, but the label doesn't really matter - I'd have thought that the most appropriate action is simply to return all letters (unopened) to senders, marked 'no longer at this address' or similar, which should eventually stop them from coming.

DVLA aren't going to change the address for the motorist on your say so though, and it seems unlikely that the police would get involved, unless there genuinely is any sign of a crime such as actual fraud.

GrumpyDil

And the difficulty with getting the police involved is that the person/company that has been defrauded (not the OP) needs to make the complaint. 

fatbelly

We get this a lot. Debt letters arriving for a previous tenant.

'Not at this address. Return to sender' is the correct response.

It's not illegal for you to be opening their mail and phoning people but it's a waste of time and probably going to have the opposite effect from the one you want

penners324

Stop worrying about it.

As said above, put the mail in the post as Gone Away

OutdoorQueen

As well as the above, make sure the Electoral Roll is correct and up to date, and the tenants are no longer listed.  

Also register previous tenants here: https://www.mpsonline.org.uk/consumer/register.   It is free.   I know this is for direct marketing letters, but in my experience there is not one single cure, just lots of smaller ones that work together to show organisations the named person is not at the address.   

There is no quick fix.  

glennevis

fatbelly said:

We get this a lot. Debt letters arriving for a previous tenant.

'Not at this address. Return to sender' is the correct response.

It's not illegal for you to be opening their mail and phoning people but it's a waste of time and probably going to have the opposite effect from the one you want

My postie says just put

NATA RTS

on the envelopes. It's quicker if you have a lot of letters to return.

Emmia

glennevis said:

fatbelly said:

We get this a lot. Debt letters arriving for a previous tenant.

'Not at this address. Return to sender' is the correct response.

It's not illegal for you to be opening their mail and phoning people but it's a waste of time and probably going to have the opposite effect from the one you want

My postie says just put

NATA RTS

on the envelopes. It's quicker if you have a lot of letters to return.

We have an ink stamp made up with "Return to sender, not known at this address" and just stamp and return the letters.

I happened to have a 'make your own stamp kit', but you can also buy personalised self inking stamps - which is what I'd do if I didn't have a kit.

Edit: Amazon have them ready made! 
Self Inking Rubber Stamp, Refillable Red Ink Preinstalled - 1.4" x 0.51" X (35 x 8mm) (Return to Sender NOT at This Address)

 https://amzn.eu/d/cDkifuB

Stuck_NeedHelp

Thank you all for your replies, I appreciate the time you have all taken. 
I think the rubber stamp is probably the best way to go with this then as even scribbling NATA RTS would flare up my RSI!  
True, it may not be considered fraud though they have been opening up new credit cards and memeberships to places after they left so they are deliberately using my address. 
I won't bother going to the police then as it'll just be a lot of faff that result to anything. 

Thanks for sharing the link on mpsonline; I'm also going to add this. If there's any other useful links where I can flag mis-use of my address, please do share. 
 

greyteam1959

Just print up some labels with Return To Sender Not Know At This Address on them.
Stick one on the front of each letter & make sure you cross out your address.
Bung them back in a post box.