Failing to notify DVLA of change of keeper / ownership

The DVLA deals with the majority of issues relating to the licensing and registration of the millions of vehicles on the UK roads today. The DVLA is entitled to carry out, and frequently does, criminal prosecutions in the Magistrates Court for certain offences. The most common of these offences is failing to notify the DVLA of a change of keeper for a vehicle.

The law confirms that when a vehicle is sold or scrapped or written off after an accident or even seized by an insurance company the onus is on the registered keeper to inform the DVLA of the change of keeper. This duty is ongoing until the paperwork is returned to the DVLA and their records are updated. It is worth noting at this point that, in our experience, the DVLA are not the most efficient of organisations. This means that enquiries by phone are not always recorded and sometimes post from people, informing them of a change in keeper, goes missing. If the DVLA has no record of your reply to them then they will continue to chase the keeper for the correct form and also ask for a fine to be paid for not keeping them updated, when often the person has clearly returned the correct paperwork.