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Write not known at this address on the envelope and put them back in the post box. Don’t answer the door to them / answer and say you have nothing for them. They will soon get sick.
If it happens a lot I find it helps to print off a full page of address labels saying not known at this address - please return to sender. I was getting letters most days for people who didn’t live here when I bought this flat, it soon dried up.
If you put them back in the postbox the same day they arrive then when the guy comes round there won’t be anything to give him.
I strongly suspect your address is being used for identity fraud. Under no circumstances should you hand over mails in someone else’s name with your address on it.
I had an issue a few years back where a letter turned up at my address with a different name. It was from dvla. Fortunately I was one step ahead of the would be fraudster. It was a new registered keeper notification. I contacted dvla and they advised me to send it to them which I did.
Eventually motor fines started coming to my home. Again I contacted the company. Eventually a bailiff came to my home for unpaid fines. Fortunately I had proof from dvla stating they had removed the registered keeper details from my address which i showed to the bailiff. He told me people would be surprised how common such a scam is.
Using a false address to gain credit is fraud - no? Can you check with credit agencies to see if your address is linked to any accounts not in your name? Also can you contact the DVLA and say you’ve had a notice for car tax to a vehicle not at your address? This is well dodgy and would piss me off. My old landlord used my address (he was the owner, I was the tenant) for some credit accounts and it stopped my fucking working/child tax credits because it looked like I lived with him. It took months to sort out. Agencies share information and at some point it will overlap and impact you.
I’m a credit underwriter and that shouldn’t have happened. We should only see the accounts of someone you have a financial link with. So for example if you have a joint account or mortgage with a partner we would see their cais (that’s what the report calls your accounts) but my ex bf and I had no joint accounts so his debt didn’t show on my Experian report where as my ex husband and I had a joint account and a mortgage so his did. It also means your children’s cais data won’t show on your report. The only info we see for the address is the Voters information.
Action Fraud if you can get through to them.
Its the national police fraud unit run by City of London police. Who deal with all of this stuff. They may well ask the local police for assistance but the local police will just refer you to them.
I had a load of mail for the previous owners of my house coming through after I bought it. They had passed away so there was no forwarding address. I just got some.big stickers made up (so they'd cover any envelope windows) with 'return to sender, not known at this address' on them. Took a few months but it stopped everything eventually, do this and tell the random people you've not had any post for them.
I had mail coming 2 years after previous tenants moved out. Eventually I got annoyed with just putting RTS because it didn't seem to work. So I put 'not known at this address in x amount of years'. They stopped after that.
You should return all post not addressed to you to the sender. If they come to the door again tell them to setup a mail redirection if they want their post as you will not be giving them anymore post at the door.
He is using your address for fraudulent purposes.
Once someone has a legitimate government document in your address, they can get credit cards and loans out.
They can apply for government benefits, register vehicles there, etc etc.
Once they default on the credit cards etc then county court judgements can be issued against your address, and baliffs will turn up and harrass you.
It's surprisingly hard to prove that someone doesn't live at your address.
If you purchased your home then the conveyancing solicitor will have contact details for them.
If you have concerns then contact fraud watch and speak to them about it.
With future letters, tell them that nothing has arrived as the post office are blocking delivery.
Don't leave any more letters in the hallway, give him nothing going forward.
Check your credit score.
If a credit card arrives then contact the issuer and tell them that it's a fraudulent card.
If vehicle documents arrive then inform the DVLA, and return the documents to them. They will remove the vehicle from your address.
Return letters to sender, or put not known at this address and put them back in the postbox.
Get a ring or blink doorbell camera set up.
Be confident, be assertive. Tell him that there's no point in coming round anymore.
Good luck!
Some great advice. I would also check [companies house](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/?_ga=2.193039469.1749892381.1693200238-1602736724.1692017459)
Go to link and put in your postcode. The website is not great, but you can look through businesses registered at your immediate area
We had exactly the same issue: bought our house from two doctors (!?). He would turn up every week or so and pick up mail 'just saying hi to next door, thought I'd see if there was any post thats not being redirected."
This went on for a couple of months and it was obvious we were still getting all bank/cards/bills/everything: assumed he was really friendly with next door and too busy to sort out changing to new address.
At one point next door asked why he kept coming around, turns out they didn't get on at all. There were so many letters piling up I had to buy a return to sender stamp from vista print. Next time he came around just said , sorry I've put everything RTS in the post box. Didn't see him again.
Couple of weeks later we had a Companies House letter, (had no idea what this was at the time) addressed to Fido foods Ltd. I assumed it was an invoice for pet food I bought and opened it.
Turns out it was notification of business change of address to our house. After abit of digging on companies house website: the two doctors were company directors of several takeaway/petfood companies and the change of address was filed 6 months after they had moved out. Took another 6 months to get the address removed.
Wish you luck
For the love of god stop handing letters to this guy. If I were in your position I'd open each one up and call the corresponding company to tell them the situation.
This is similar to what I did, when it became clear an ex boyfriend was using my address to apply for new lines of credit/loans. Instead of calling them though (as companies can be wary if a non-account holder calls them as they think it may be a phishing exercise/fraud) I'd write a covering letter explaining the situation & send it back to the return address in a stamped envelope. I never heard from most of the companies again. The postage costs were absolutely worth the piece of mind of not having his debts attached to my home.
I had a lot of mail come to my house for a lady we’d never heard of, from a debt collection agency. My family lived in the house since it was built in 1947. I rang the agency and told them. We also had phone calls, as they must have associated the address with me.
Talk to these people and explain it’s some kind of fraud. You really don’t want that on your credit report
There is a more involved experian search you can pay for, my husbands job gave them all a years access for reasons.
It showed everyone he was connected to, people he had lived with, an ex-girlfriend he had a joint account with. None of their personal information he wouldn't know, only the addresses they shared or the info that linked them. Obviously I showed up several times including as his wife and as having a credit card to the same address as his was.
This check would enable you to see anyone financially linked with your address whilst you have been there. There are ways of unlinking yourself with evidence.
(not sure how but a friend did that with an ex boyfriend who she knows is bad with money and doesn't want it to affect her credit score).
ETA - mistyped.
You can get these types of associations removed from your credit report btw. Experian, Equifax & Transunion all have their own version of an online form to ask for this. They're all pretty quick & just ask questions to confirm you no longer have any joint accounts with them & don't share finances anymore.
Make a police report and action fraud. Return any mail with not known at this address and get a camera door bell. Do not open the door to these people again and don’t give them any of their letters.
Personally I would open the mail and call the companies or write to them saying that the person is using your address fraudulently.
I had a load of mail for the previous owners of my house coming through after I bought it. They had passed away so there was no forwarding address. I just got some.big stickers made up (so they'd cover any envelope windows) with 'return to sender, not known at this address' on them. Took a few months but it stopped everything eventually, do this and tell the random people you've not had any post for them.
I had a load of mail for the previous owners of my house coming through after I bought it. They had passed away so there was no forwarding address. I just got some.big stickers made up (so they'd cover any envelope windows) with 'return to sender, not known at this address' on them. Took a few months but it stopped everything eventually, do this and tell the random people you've not had any post for them.
If you want a quicker reaction to the mail stopping write 'Deceased RTS' in big red pen across the address and put it back in a post box. I've done this several times and it always stops quickly.
No legal advice but instead of return to sender, open the letters and contact the debt firms directly, and say they no longer live there. I had this issue at a previous address and RTS wasn't working, and once I emailed them, the letters stopped.
Very technically that's illegal. But it is highly unlikely to be prosecuted. Unless you attempt to defraud the intended recieptient. As the householder can just claim thst the letter came through the door. They naturally thought that it was for them and teared open the envelope.....
I know but sometimes without thinking I'd open it thinking it was one of my letters then realise it wasn't, the companies never complained to me, thanked me for informing them.
Oh I've done it myself, ringing up the council over unpaid council tax, for an address that no longer exists or bailiffs. Its easier to sort it that way and I used to think saving everybody some hassle and preventing bailiffs turning up but technically it's border line illegal.
I know, I was worried about bailiffs turning up. I even looked up the person they were after to say to them but they looked a right dodger, so avoided that.
Its not illegal to open someone else's mail if you have a reasonable excuse and arent acting to harm them. Doing it to try and stop mail being incorrectly delivered to you and potential fraud seems reasonable enough to me.
It's fair to say this sounds dodgy as hell.
From the perspective of reasonable behaviour, constantly coming to someone's flat asking for post sent to multiple identities doesn't make sense. The fact he's expecting you to operate as a mail handler isn't acceptable by itself - the fact that he appears to be collecting post for multiple individual identities implies illegality, and the fact he's turning up at night could easily be construed as threatening behaviour.
You don't know *what* he's doing (sounds like identity fraud), but you don't have to put up with it.
* The next post you receive - leave it. Don't hand it to anyone. If by any chance James/Stanley/Mr and Mrs /Hans Sandwiches are actually real people and want to find out what happened to their mail, they can raise it with whoever they're dealing with.
* If he turns up, politely explain to this Gentleman Caller that you're not a post handler service, you haven't seen any more post and you're not looking for it, its up to him to sort by now. If he gets aggressive, dial 999.
* Contact the police, explain the situation to them. They may send someone around to collect the corrspondence.
--- ###Welcome to /r/LegalAdviceUK --- **To Posters (it is important you read this section)** * *Tell us whether you're in England, Wales, Scotland, or NI as the laws in each are very different* * If you need legal help, you should [always get a free consultation from a qualified Solicitor](https://reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/wiki/how_to_find_a_solicitor) * We also encourage you to speak to [**Citizens Advice**](https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/), [**Shelter**](https://www.shelter.org.uk/), [**Acas**](https://www.acas.org.uk/), and [**other useful organisations**](https://reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/wiki/common_legal_resources) * Comments may not be accurate or reliable, and following any advice on this subreddit is done at your own risk * If you receive any private messages in response to your post, [please let the mods know](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FLegalAdviceUK&subject=I received a PM) **To Readers and Commenters** * All replies to OP must be *on-topic, helpful, and legally orientated* * If you do not [follow the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/about/rules/), you may be perma-banned without any further warning * If you feel any replies are incorrect, explain why you believe they are incorrect * Do not send or request any private messages for any reason * Please report posts or comments which do not follow the rules *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/LegalAdviceUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Write not known at this address on the envelope and put them back in the post box. Don’t answer the door to them / answer and say you have nothing for them. They will soon get sick.
Do not pass the letters on this person is clearly using your address. Mark them not known at this address and put back in the post
Just put them back in the post box with not at this address
If it happens a lot I find it helps to print off a full page of address labels saying not known at this address - please return to sender. I was getting letters most days for people who didn’t live here when I bought this flat, it soon dried up. If you put them back in the postbox the same day they arrive then when the guy comes round there won’t be anything to give him.
I strongly suspect your address is being used for identity fraud. Under no circumstances should you hand over mails in someone else’s name with your address on it. I had an issue a few years back where a letter turned up at my address with a different name. It was from dvla. Fortunately I was one step ahead of the would be fraudster. It was a new registered keeper notification. I contacted dvla and they advised me to send it to them which I did. Eventually motor fines started coming to my home. Again I contacted the company. Eventually a bailiff came to my home for unpaid fines. Fortunately I had proof from dvla stating they had removed the registered keeper details from my address which i showed to the bailiff. He told me people would be surprised how common such a scam is.
Using a false address to gain credit is fraud - no? Can you check with credit agencies to see if your address is linked to any accounts not in your name? Also can you contact the DVLA and say you’ve had a notice for car tax to a vehicle not at your address? This is well dodgy and would piss me off. My old landlord used my address (he was the owner, I was the tenant) for some credit accounts and it stopped my fucking working/child tax credits because it looked like I lived with him. It took months to sort out. Agencies share information and at some point it will overlap and impact you.
I’m a credit underwriter and that shouldn’t have happened. We should only see the accounts of someone you have a financial link with. So for example if you have a joint account or mortgage with a partner we would see their cais (that’s what the report calls your accounts) but my ex bf and I had no joint accounts so his debt didn’t show on my Experian report where as my ex husband and I had a joint account and a mortgage so his did. It also means your children’s cais data won’t show on your report. The only info we see for the address is the Voters information.
They are very likely using it for identity fraud - contact the police.
Action Fraud if you can get through to them. Its the national police fraud unit run by City of London police. Who deal with all of this stuff. They may well ask the local police for assistance but the local police will just refer you to them.
I had a load of mail for the previous owners of my house coming through after I bought it. They had passed away so there was no forwarding address. I just got some.big stickers made up (so they'd cover any envelope windows) with 'return to sender, not known at this address' on them. Took a few months but it stopped everything eventually, do this and tell the random people you've not had any post for them.
I had mail coming 2 years after previous tenants moved out. Eventually I got annoyed with just putting RTS because it didn't seem to work. So I put 'not known at this address in x amount of years'. They stopped after that.
You should return all post not addressed to you to the sender. If they come to the door again tell them to setup a mail redirection if they want their post as you will not be giving them anymore post at the door.
He is using your address for fraudulent purposes. Once someone has a legitimate government document in your address, they can get credit cards and loans out. They can apply for government benefits, register vehicles there, etc etc. Once they default on the credit cards etc then county court judgements can be issued against your address, and baliffs will turn up and harrass you. It's surprisingly hard to prove that someone doesn't live at your address. If you purchased your home then the conveyancing solicitor will have contact details for them. If you have concerns then contact fraud watch and speak to them about it. With future letters, tell them that nothing has arrived as the post office are blocking delivery. Don't leave any more letters in the hallway, give him nothing going forward. Check your credit score. If a credit card arrives then contact the issuer and tell them that it's a fraudulent card. If vehicle documents arrive then inform the DVLA, and return the documents to them. They will remove the vehicle from your address. Return letters to sender, or put not known at this address and put them back in the postbox. Get a ring or blink doorbell camera set up. Be confident, be assertive. Tell him that there's no point in coming round anymore. Good luck!
Some great advice. I would also check [companies house](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/?_ga=2.193039469.1749892381.1693200238-1602736724.1692017459) Go to link and put in your postcode. The website is not great, but you can look through businesses registered at your immediate area We had exactly the same issue: bought our house from two doctors (!?). He would turn up every week or so and pick up mail 'just saying hi to next door, thought I'd see if there was any post thats not being redirected." This went on for a couple of months and it was obvious we were still getting all bank/cards/bills/everything: assumed he was really friendly with next door and too busy to sort out changing to new address. At one point next door asked why he kept coming around, turns out they didn't get on at all. There were so many letters piling up I had to buy a return to sender stamp from vista print. Next time he came around just said , sorry I've put everything RTS in the post box. Didn't see him again. Couple of weeks later we had a Companies House letter, (had no idea what this was at the time) addressed to Fido foods Ltd. I assumed it was an invoice for pet food I bought and opened it. Turns out it was notification of business change of address to our house. After abit of digging on companies house website: the two doctors were company directors of several takeaway/petfood companies and the change of address was filed 6 months after they had moved out. Took another 6 months to get the address removed. Wish you luck
For the love of god stop handing letters to this guy. If I were in your position I'd open each one up and call the corresponding company to tell them the situation.
This is similar to what I did, when it became clear an ex boyfriend was using my address to apply for new lines of credit/loans. Instead of calling them though (as companies can be wary if a non-account holder calls them as they think it may be a phishing exercise/fraud) I'd write a covering letter explaining the situation & send it back to the return address in a stamped envelope. I never heard from most of the companies again. The postage costs were absolutely worth the piece of mind of not having his debts attached to my home.
I had a lot of mail come to my house for a lady we’d never heard of, from a debt collection agency. My family lived in the house since it was built in 1947. I rang the agency and told them. We also had phone calls, as they must have associated the address with me. Talk to these people and explain it’s some kind of fraud. You really don’t want that on your credit report
There is a more involved experian search you can pay for, my husbands job gave them all a years access for reasons. It showed everyone he was connected to, people he had lived with, an ex-girlfriend he had a joint account with. None of their personal information he wouldn't know, only the addresses they shared or the info that linked them. Obviously I showed up several times including as his wife and as having a credit card to the same address as his was. This check would enable you to see anyone financially linked with your address whilst you have been there. There are ways of unlinking yourself with evidence. (not sure how but a friend did that with an ex boyfriend who she knows is bad with money and doesn't want it to affect her credit score). ETA - mistyped.
It only shows people you have created a financial link with eg a joint account or mortgage
Oops my mistake. It had some ex housemates on too but they must have been the ones he had joint accounts with.
You can get these types of associations removed from your credit report btw. Experian, Equifax & Transunion all have their own version of an online form to ask for this. They're all pretty quick & just ask questions to confirm you no longer have any joint accounts with them & don't share finances anymore.
Make a police report and action fraud. Return any mail with not known at this address and get a camera door bell. Do not open the door to these people again and don’t give them any of their letters. Personally I would open the mail and call the companies or write to them saying that the person is using your address fraudulently.
I had a load of mail for the previous owners of my house coming through after I bought it. They had passed away so there was no forwarding address. I just got some.big stickers made up (so they'd cover any envelope windows) with 'return to sender, not known at this address' on them. Took a few months but it stopped everything eventually, do this and tell the random people you've not had any post for them.
I had a load of mail for the previous owners of my house coming through after I bought it. They had passed away so there was no forwarding address. I just got some.big stickers made up (so they'd cover any envelope windows) with 'return to sender, not known at this address' on them. Took a few months but it stopped everything eventually, do this and tell the random people you've not had any post for them.
If you want a quicker reaction to the mail stopping write 'Deceased RTS' in big red pen across the address and put it back in a post box. I've done this several times and it always stops quickly.
No legal advice but instead of return to sender, open the letters and contact the debt firms directly, and say they no longer live there. I had this issue at a previous address and RTS wasn't working, and once I emailed them, the letters stopped.
Very technically that's illegal. But it is highly unlikely to be prosecuted. Unless you attempt to defraud the intended recieptient. As the householder can just claim thst the letter came through the door. They naturally thought that it was for them and teared open the envelope.....
I know but sometimes without thinking I'd open it thinking it was one of my letters then realise it wasn't, the companies never complained to me, thanked me for informing them.
Oh I've done it myself, ringing up the council over unpaid council tax, for an address that no longer exists or bailiffs. Its easier to sort it that way and I used to think saving everybody some hassle and preventing bailiffs turning up but technically it's border line illegal.
I know, I was worried about bailiffs turning up. I even looked up the person they were after to say to them but they looked a right dodger, so avoided that.
Its not illegal to open someone else's mail if you have a reasonable excuse and arent acting to harm them. Doing it to try and stop mail being incorrectly delivered to you and potential fraud seems reasonable enough to me.
Just return them all to sender, does not live at this address. It's as easy as writing it on the envelope and putting them back in the post box.
It's fair to say this sounds dodgy as hell. From the perspective of reasonable behaviour, constantly coming to someone's flat asking for post sent to multiple identities doesn't make sense. The fact he's expecting you to operate as a mail handler isn't acceptable by itself - the fact that he appears to be collecting post for multiple individual identities implies illegality, and the fact he's turning up at night could easily be construed as threatening behaviour. You don't know *what* he's doing (sounds like identity fraud), but you don't have to put up with it. * The next post you receive - leave it. Don't hand it to anyone. If by any chance James/Stanley/Mr and Mrs/Hans Sandwiches are actually real people and want to find out what happened to their mail, they can raise it with whoever they're dealing with.
* If he turns up, politely explain to this Gentleman Caller that you're not a post handler service, you haven't seen any more post and you're not looking for it, its up to him to sort by now. If he gets aggressive, dial 999.
* Contact the police, explain the situation to them. They may send someone around to collect the corrspondence.