... to think that my address is being used in some sort of scam

[muffinmonster]

Today I received the third letter in, maybe, six months from Companies House, correctly addressed except for the name. Each of the three letters has been addressed to a different person, but in every case it's someone I've never heard of. We've been living in the house for 17 years and we know the names of the previous owners, and it's not them.

Do you think someone is registering dodgy companies at my address? Will Companies House tell me if I call them?

What are the letters about?

I haven't opened them. Does that sound ridiculous? I never open people's letters. I marked the last two 'return to sender' and posted them.

Are the letters addressed to a company name or an individual? Do they mention a company number?

I'd send them back.

Mark the next "return to sender - not known at this address". They probably wrongly have a director registered at your address. RTS tells them only that nobody wanted to open it, not why.

Addressed to an individual and a company name. I will send it back, but I think three is becoming suspicious.

I would be suspicious too after 3! I'd open it to see what it's about then ring CH and mention your concerns.

open the next one and check on here, you can write open in error and put back in the post, if there is nothing to worry about

ring them and ask if there has been a company registered at your address

I was about to suggest the same as quoteunquote. If its addressed to a company then that would normally mean the company's registered office is your address. The basic free webcheck can confirm this and will tell you when the company was set up, the helpline should be able to give you further info if you are concerned. Or PM me the company name and I can get a full report for you.

Yes open it and phone the number on the letter.

Have opened the letter and done a search on the Companies House webcheck (thanks, quoteunquote). The business was set up in September 2011 and has filed no accounts. Its registered address is not mine (good?), but an address less than 5 miles from me. The postcode has some characters in common with mine, so it's just possible there has been a genuine mistake (someone with terrible handwriting?) but why are Companies House sending letters here when the company is registered elsewhere?

I still think three letters is more than coincidence. I'll phone them tomorrow.

Forgot to say, the letter is chasing them for the unfiled accounts.

You can't open mail not addressed to yourself. We had still get mail for a guy who lived in our house over 11 years ago, who ran a dodgy charity we think from debt collecting agencies, I got advice over it was was told to mark 'return to sender' but I couldn't open and contact sender myself which I'm sure would be more effective as it is we still get the bloody letters and the occasional bailiff!!

*had...Why did I put that in?...proof read fail!

Yes you can open mail not to you..once it is delivered to the correct address it is yours. The offense is to interfere with the delivery of the mail - delivery means to the address not the name!

You can open mail not in your name if it has been delivered. You only can't open it while it is still being delivered IYSWIM.

I think going back to Companies House is the best plan.

I didnt think you were allowed to open letters not addressed to you.
However my mum did once coz my ex hub got his debt letters sent to my mums. My ex has never lived at that address. My mum wrote them a letter telling them that & they stopped sending letters.

I would phone Companies House & tell them they have the wrong address.

It does sound that when the address has been input onto the Companies House admin database someone has missed typed and your details are on there rather than the intended details due to a mistype on the postcode (maybe a drop down

I don't think it's a scam sounds more like an admin cock up.

and I open letters that come through my door on auto pilot...I always assume they are for me

My mums friend who divorced her husband and went bankrupt kept sending letters back that kept arriving in her husbands name. They kept coming though so eventually she opened one and it was statements of interest on thousands and thousands of pounds of investments that she never knew he had and he hadn't declared in the divorce.

The not opening post thing is actually a not intercepting post thing. Once it lands on your doormat you can open it.

There's probably an innocent explanation. After 15 years living in a house that no one lived in previously, my dp started receiving letters all correctly addressed including postcode, except to a person they'd never heard of. They would get 3-4 a week plus, important stuff like payslips, bankcards, statements

Turned out there was a new build on the other side of the county which had the same road name as them. For some reason somone had given the people at the same number as dp their postcode. Put it in a computer like the bank and it autocorrected the town from looking at the postcode.

Took a lot of chasing, but eventually they tracked the poor person down who couldn't understand why most of his post was disappearing. He'd go into the bank and they'd check his postcode and that they'd got the streed number/address right, but didn't think about checking the town.

Well, I phoned Companies House. They were completely uninterested in the fact that this is the third time it's happened. They told me to mark the letter 'Return to sender' and put it in the post, so that's what I've done. At least if it happens again I've got a record of this one.

Make sure you write 'return to sender, not known at this address' :)