A businessman who has never set foot in Cornwall was shocked when bailiffs knocked on his door in Surrey claiming for rates on a property he doesn’t even own.

Natu Dhanji, who is a director at Century Estates, couldn’t understand why bailiffs were calling at his property so asked them what it was about.

He was told that they were there under an order from Cornwall Council regarding the non-payment of non-domestic rates – known as business rates – for a unit on Kernick Industrial Estate in Penryn. They were claiming Mr Dhanji owed £7,823.

In fact the only link that Mr Dhanji has to the property in Cornwall is that it is part of Century House – a similar name to his own, completely unrelated, company.

He said: “I said to them that I have never had a property there. I have since spoken to the council and they said that records showed that it was ours.

“I explained to the lady at the council that we had never had any property in Cornwall and they said that, according to their records, Century House is owned by Century Estates.

“They said that they had been writing to us at the property, but we don’t occupy that property or own it so how would we have got their letters?

“I have never even been to Cornwall.”

Mr Dhanji said the bailiffs had repossession orders and said he had now been threatened with court action.

He added: “Having these bailiffs on my doorstep was unbelievable. We do have commercial property but it is in London and around the M25.

“I asked the council if they had checked Land Registry records but they told me that they don’t do that.

“They were taking us to court without us knowing about it. This is a total waste of taxpayers’ money and is wholly incompetent.

“If they can spend money on bailiffs they should spend money on checking that their information is correct first.”

In a statement Cornwall Council said: “We have spoken to Mr Dhanji and have placed the account on hold while we investigate the situation.”