Can council departments trace address using name?

[Incognito991]

Not wanting to give too many details, but basically I spoke to someone from the Planning Department but not about a Planning Enquiry, she said if I wanted to I could open my enquiry as a "formal enquiry" and did I want to do this. My issue related to something which can be solved using indemnity insurance, so I said not at that time, and I would call back next week.

I did not give my property address - but at the time on my phone gave my first and second name! So folks using my name do we think she could trace my address? (do they have access to Council tax records?)

Work colleagues have advised that councils are up against it at the moment and most likely not - they only have time to look into actual enquiries and I shouldnt worry. What are your thoughts.....

If you said you will phone back next week then i bet she just put the phone down and didn’t give it a second thought. I doubt she will want to create work for herself when she doesn’t need to.

She is not going to trace your address. No-one in the planning department will have access to Council Tax records.

I'm going to guess that this is about an extension that doesn't have a certificate of completion. In my experience, if the address was not flagged up in the conversation, there will be no useable record of the enquiry. (When I say "useable" I'm just acknowledging the fact that any phone call will probably leave a data trail, but not one that would ever be accessed under normal circumstances). So unless you follow up more formally, e.g. by requesting a list of outstanding works needing completion before it can be signed off, any indemnity policy should still be valid (I asume that was your concern).

Proceed with care though, because you're not the only one who can make a formal enquiry - your buyers might, or - as happened to me once - their idiot surveyor, though conveyancers won't be so daft. Once that happens, an indemnity stops being a possible solution.

Thank you all for your reassurance : )
@DepartureLounge spot on, thank you!