The house I'm buying is listed as the London address for a random company

[msfreud]

So, basically just that. Googling the address of the house I'm buying brought up the website of a Nigerian company that lists ig it as their London office. The vendor says they know nothing of it. More Google searching shows some of the company's now resigned directors listed the house as their home address a few years ago. I have not had a response from the vendor to my inquiry about whether they knew these people (i.e. previous tenants).

I feel uneasy about this but obviously want to buy the house as I really like it and spent months looking before finding it.

Can anyone think of any risk related to this company? AFAIK, they seem legit although their London phone number doesn't work.

I don't see a problem. Representatives of a perfectly legitimate Nigerian company used to live in the house you want to buy right? So what could be an issue? Are you worried about debt collectors or credit scoring? it should be perfectly obvious you are not a Nigerian company but a domestic resident and credit reference agencies have an obligation to update their records if they are giving prejudicial results. I really wouldn't worry about this.

that's weird, but your solicitor will know if the deeds are good.

I'd be more concerned if there was actually a company with the address listed as their registered office.

You can have a look on the Companies House website to see whether the company was UK registered and giving the address as their trading at or registered office address. It's the 'webcheck' tab and free to find out the basic information.

If there is, then your solicitor can contact Companies House because the directors of a UK company are responsible for ensuring the details held at Cos House are up to date.

You should conduit consult legal advice definitely. We aren't in a position to properly advise.

If you ring Companies House customer service contact you'll find them extremely helpful. I've also emailed them and they're responded very quickly and efficiently.

Instruct your Solicitor to be especially careful researching any charges on the company and a credit check against the address.

Credit references are held against people, not buildings.

I was presuming that you could search the company directors' names together with the address to see if there was anything outstanding and if they're still using the address in current activity.

This is perfectly normal for some small businesses if that's any help. My home address is also the registered company address for my limited company. this is because I am also the company secretary and want all the HMRC documents etc to go there. you can pay a company to use their address as your registered company address and many companies use their accountants offices, but they charge and I am too tight :)

I would imagine that someone similar lived there before the vendors and haven't would up their company or transferred the registered address yet?

was the company registered in the UK? I wouldn't worry if so. If its registered in Nigeria you might need specialist advice.

if I search my normal domestic road I get 4 addresses coming up as registered companies - my own. the bloke next door who's an electrician, couple further up who run a property company and guy across the road who's a mobile AV installation engineer.