england-and-wales
Giving my address to friend to collect his posts
<p>My friend's renting ran out before he can find another one, so he's sharing at some other's home (not mine). He asked if he can use my address for his posts so I agreed. Today I received a letter from UK court service, which gets me worried. I called him immediately but he said it's just very minor things.</p>

<p>My question is</p>

<ol>
<li>Suppose it's indeed minor, what liabilities do I have if he ignores it?</li>
<li>I'm a foreigner, will it affect my visa and its extension? Will it affect my credit score? Under the case if he satisfies the court and if he ignores the letter.</li>
<li>What if it's a criminal offense?</li>
</ol>

<p>Of course if the risk is not too high, I don't want to hurt the friendship. Otherwise, I still have the letter so can return it with "recipient not living here"</p>

<p>If your friend uses your address for mail, then it is his responsibility to ensure that he has ready access to the post - that is, generally, by providing the address to businesses, courts, etc, he warrants that he has access to the address and therefore the post.</p>

<p>Depending on your arrangement with your friend, you may have a duty to notify him of the arrival of the mail, and/or to deliver it to him, and/or to forward it to him. Again, depending on whether the arrangement forms a legally binding contract, your duty may or may not be legally enforceable, and your friend may be able to seek indemnity or damages from you if he suffered adverse legal consequences as a result of the mail arriving and your failure to notify/deliver/forward.</p>

<p>If he ignores it, the liability is likely to be his and his alone, subject to the above.</p>

<p>It is unlikely to affect your visa or its extension but it's best to engage a solicitor to review your circumstances and advise you on this. As far as your credit score (though my understanding is that credit scores are evaluated by individual institutions and not provided by any of the credit reporting bureaus) will be affected, it would only be affected if your friend committed fraud in your name or became a debtor in your name.</p>

<p>Letting a friend's mail be delivered to you is not a criminal offence that I've been able to identify.</p>
