What "verified by a private investigator" means: how an address is checked before you act on it

An address and a verified address are different things

A database holds entries. Each entry was true, or at least recorded, at some point: a form filled in, a registration, a bill, a listing. None of them updates itself when the person moves out. A lookup returns whatever matches the name you typed, ranked by whatever the software thinks is relevant, and presents it with the same confidence whether it is last month's or last decade's. That is a record, not a fact about where someone lives today.

The failure modes are well known to anyone who has done this work for a living:

• Stale entries. The person lived there, then moved. The entry stays.
• Namesakes. Two people with the same name and a similar age, one of whom is yours. A database does not know which.
• Registered but not resident. A parent's or partner's address used for post and paperwork while the person lives somewhere else.
• Copied data. One wrong entry that has been sold and resold until it appears in six places, which looks like six sources agreeing when it is one error repeated.
• Deliberate noise. Someone who does not want to be found and has left a trail that points the wrong way.

A verified address is one where a person has asked whether each of those is happening here, and has satisfied themselves it is not.

What a private investigator actually checks

We do not publish our sources or our method, for the same reason a good locksmith does not. What can be said is what the investigator is trying to establish before an address is released, because the questions are the same whoever asks them:

This is judgement, built on experience of what false positives look like. Software can gather; it cannot be suspicious. The result of that judgement is a confidence rating and a date, which is what you receive.

Why it matters before you act

An address is rarely wanted for its own sake. It is wanted so that something can be done at it, and most of those things go wrong, expensively, at a wrong one.

The cheapest address is the one that is right first time. Checking an address is current before a letter before action covers the pre-action case in detail.

How Trace Bureau rates what it finds

Every report states the address at which the person is currently registered according to the records checked, the date it was verified, and one of three ratings:

• Confirmed: two or more independent current sources agree on the address.
• Probable: strong evidence from one current source with supporting indicators.
• Possible: the best available lead, which we say plainly rather than dress up, and which is never charged at the full fee unless you choose to take it.

The rating is the investigator's verdict on the evidence, not a score produced by software. It tells you how much weight the address can bear. A Confirmed address is one to serve at. A Possible one is a place to start a conversation with us about what else you know. Both are honest, which is the point of having them.

Who does the verifying

Trace Bureau was founded and is run by Kris Koos, a professional investigator with ten years in UK private investigation who has spent them locating people for solicitors, creditors, landlords and executors. Every instruction is read by a private investigator before any work starts, to check it has a lawful basis, and every address is verified by a private investigator before the report is released. It is the same service you would get by instructing a private investigator to find someone, because a private investigator runs it. What differs is the delivery: online instruction in five minutes, a fixed price, a dated and rated report within the time you chose, and nothing charged unless we deliver.

Tracing does not require a licence in the UK. It requires registration with the Information Commissioner's Office, a recorded lawful basis for every instruction, and the skill to tell a real address from a plausible one. The first two are on the company details page at the foot of every page. The third is what you are paying for.

What verification cannot do

Honesty about the limits is part of the service. A verified address is the address a person is currently registered at. In the great majority of cases that is where they live. Occasionally someone is registered at a family member's or a partner's address they do not sleep at, which is why the report carries a rating rather than a promise, and why organisations and professionals get a free re-check within 60 days. If the evidence shows the person has left the UK, we say so, and a UK trace that ends that way is not charged. If the evidence does not reach a current address at all, we say that too, and nothing is charged.

What to ask any tracing service

Whoever you use, these questions separate a verified address from a lookup:

1. Who checks the result before it is sent, and what are they qualified to judge?
2. Is the report dated, and does it say how strong the evidence is?
3. What happens if the address is wrong? Is there a re-check, and who pays for it?
4. Is anything charged if the person is not found?
5. Is a lawful basis recorded for the instruction, and is the service registered with the ICO?

Trace Bureau's answers are: a private investigator; yes, Confirmed, Probable or Possible with the date; a free re-check within 60 days for organisations and professionals, and we look again for anyone; nothing; and yes to both. How to choose a tracing agent has the longer version.

When to instruct a verified trace

Whenever the next step costs money or carries risk if the address is wrong: before service, before enforcement, before a letter that sets out a debt, before a distribution. A Standard trace is £150, delivered within 3 to 5 working days, and Priority is £200, delivered within 2 to 3 working days. Firms instructing ten or more a month pay £120 per trace on a firm account. Nothing is paid at instruction; your card is only held, and it is charged only when a private investigator has verified the address. Instruct a trace.