Martin Lewis warns that you risk a £1000 fine if you don't complete a Household Enquiry Form

You could be risking a fine of £1000 for forgetting to complete a Household Enquiry Form warns Martin Lewis. The Money Saving Expert warned that your home could be slapped with a £1000 fine if you don’t fill out one of these forms.

The form is sent from the council across the country between July and November and asks you to check if the right people in your household are registered to vote. Unfortunately, since it often looks like junk mail many people mistakenly throw the Household Enquiry Form out.

Household enquiry form fine

Martin warned that doing this could lead to a fine if there are changes in the household that haven’t been communicated.

martin lewis english journalist and broadcaster

‘If you don’t deal with that properly – check and tell them the difference – there can be a thousand pound fine,’ the money expert explains. ‘It’s rare, but the problem with this form is that I always think it looks like junk mail.’

‘This is just a note that if you get the Household Enquiry form or you’ve got it or you’ve had it and you’ve thrown it away, you do need to check that it’s right,’ he adds.

However, if you’re drowning in junk mail we won’t blame you for having accidentally overlooked this important form.

I’m sure we’re not the only ones sick of brown paper envelopes littering the lovely hallway that we've painstakingly decorated. But, Martin has come to the rescue with a handy tip to cut down on the junk mail sneaking through your letterbox.

‘People often get confused and think that they get junk mail because they’re on the electoral register,’ Martin explains. ‘Now there’s a separate thing called The Open Register, where companies can market to you.’

‘You can opt-out of the Open Register,’ he says. ‘It will not affect your credit file and you won’t get the junk mail, but you will still be registered to vote.’

But before you opt-out of the Open Register, and dump what you think is your last batch of junk mail in the kitchen bin be sure to have a look through.

You don’t want risk dumping something that could cost you £1000 in your bin.

Rebecca Knight has been the Editor on the Ideal Home Website since 2025; previously, she was the Deputy Digital Editor from 2022. She has a Master's degree in magazine journalism from City, University of London and has been writing about homes and interiors for 7 years. Her expertise lies in DIY projects, home decor trends and spotting the latest high street homeware buys that are about to go viral. She bought her first home in London last year and is currently renovating it (on a budget).