Father Received Letter from Council Stating Someone has Joined his Household.

adamni2006

Father lives on his own since my Mother passed 3 years ago. He now has a letter stating:

"I am writing about your Council Tax Reduction Claim

Information you need to provide:

We have been informed that Stuart Jones has joined your household.

Please confirm the date Stuart joined your household and his previous address.

Please also confirm and provide proof of Stuart's income from the date he joined your household to date and provide his national insurance number.

If Stuart is not a resident at your address, please provide an address for him.

It is important that you provide this within 21 days."

Mum and Dad bought the house in the late nineties; dad has lived on his own for the past 3 years.

We have no idea who this Stuart Jones is, and in fact never heard of him.

It is impossible to provide any of this information because we don't know who he is.

Any advice?

cymruchris

Who was the letter actually from? And is there a contact name/phone number or email on there?

I'd reply with 'I don't know who Stuart Jones is, they don't, and have never, lived at this address, whoever they are'.

adamni2006

Hi thanks for your reply. The letter is from the local council. We have spoken to the council and it is legitimate. They have stated they will put a note on the file - but that's all they say. Whether they believe us or not is another story, and are worried as he only has a small pension, and if they were to stop any of his benefits it would be a major issue as well as trying to prove that this person does not reside at dad's address.

cymruchris

adamni2006 said:

Hi thanks for your reply. The letter is from the local council. We have spoken to the council and it is legitimate. They have stated they will put a note on the file - but that's all they say. Whether they believe us or not is another story, and are worried as he only has a small pension, and if they were to stop any of his benefits it would be a major issue as well as trying to prove that this person does not reside at dad's address.

Just be up front with them and say you have no idea who it is, and that your dad (or if he's calling - that he) lives alone, and that there's not going to be anyone moving in anytime soon, so whoever Stuart Jones is, he must be living somewhere else. 

bluelad1927

As this will affect the single person occupancy rate I would be demanding that this is concluded with a letter from the council coming that this matter is closed.

If you tell them that this person does not live there then It should be for them to proove that he does. 
It may be worth contacting  your  Councillor if yo get no joy with the council

huckster

Probably a Stuart Jones has completed something noting your Dad's address in error. 

Think this needs to be resolved, otherwise if this Stuart Jones has lots of problems e.g. debts and bailiffs chasing, your Dad might start to receive unwelcome visits to his address.

So I would be cautious and start a complaint with the Council asking for this to be looked into. What data has the Council received ? Why have they noted this Stuart Jones at the address ? 

HampshireH

Make sure you have put this in writing. Do not rely on the call notes to be sufficient.

Write a letter get dad to sign it. Then confirm it has been received and put on his file.

Newcad

I have seen similar when a stranger attempts to use your adress to fraudulently insure their car.

It's a well known insurance scam, they live in an area where car insurance is high, you don't.
Usually it's big city car owners with a high value vehicle and you have a rural address.

Of course if they do manage to get such a policy then their car is not properly insured, and when they are caught it can be seized and scrapped

The insurance companies are well aware and clamp down on it.
In my last flat I twice had letters from different insurance companies about 'my' car insurance policy application, different high-value vehicles in each case.
I can't have a licence for medical reasons and have never even owned a car, so the attempted scammers were on a loser straight away.

However if someone does manage to pull the scam off then they can later show up on various records as living at your address.

You have told the council that he doesn't live there, it's now up to the council to prove that he does if they believe otherwise.

The nonsense about you providing his income/NI number, or another address for him is exactly that - nonesense.

.

TheShape

It 'could' be a genuine mistake.

I made a change to my council tax a few years ago and put the wrong door number on the form.  

My next door neighbour then got a letter asking them to confirm details of the changes.

I was rather embarassed when they told me.

gbhxu

Just wondered if there is a lane, street, etc with a similar name in the town?

kkkklinky

This happened to me 6 months ago in my old flat..my upstairs neighbour contacted the Council about a bill and the council put down my address as his and I got the "council tax reduction letter".It could just be a mistake.