Living abroad and registered UK house?

[question2222]

Not sure if I am BU to query this or if the answer is totally obvious?

If you are publicly visible on 192.com for 2023 as being registered living at a UK address, but in reality you are living and working abroad (public Linkedin profile too) with your child enrolled in school abroad - is this legal?

Yes, it is.

Yes my relative did it. She ran a business in Spain. All school holidays the whole family were out there, then on other occasions, just her or her DH. At one point her children were schooled in both countries. Her children are bilingual, it's been a great experience for all of them.

It’s a fineable offence to report incorrect information to the annual canvas for electoral registration. I’ve no idea how often in practice it’s actually followed up. In the grand scheme of things, it’s a reasonably benign offence. It also relies on the new occupant of the property completing and returning the annual canvas correctly: if they don’t bother then former occupants will continue to show as registered at that address, so the fact this individual is showing on 192 doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve made a false statement.

Yes its legal.

Registered in what sense?

By registered I meant that I can see on 192.com that for '2023' their name is listed as living at a UK address, when I know that they have been living abroad since before 2023.

They also have a family member listed twice at different addresses with slightly different spelling of first name - eg Thomas Green and Tom Green. But it is absolutely the same person.

I know they are renting at least one house out under the radar, had previously racked up lots of debt with bailiff involvement and owed £££ to HMRC but suddenly disappeared and then reappeared owning more property than before. All very weird.

So I have just noticed a couple of other things that didn't add up but wanted to know what was actually legal or not, as I know some things can seem fishy but are actually above board.

I don't think 192.com is regarded as definitive. It might be taken from a number of sources like land registry ie. Not proof of residency. If they are a non resident landlord there is a specific area of hmrc .