Landlord opened bank statement

flowergirl2009

Hi all,


I'd appreciate thoughts on my dilemma. I have a fairly amicable relationship with my landlord and have rented a flat from them for six years. He lives in the flat below me and all our post (together with the three neighbouring flats' post) goes through one letterbox.

Once in the past he accidentially opened a phone bill of mine by mistake - we have the same phone provider so the mistake was perfectly understandable on my part (he apologised). Last week he opened my bank statement (he wrote apology on envelope). I'm less understanding this time. We have different banks and our bank statements look very different. Our names are very different. I do know, however, he was going away on holiday so would have been in a rush.

On the one hand I think it's a perfectly innocent mistake. On the other, I've never been careless enough to open any of his bills by mistake. There's also a small part of me that wonders if it's deliberate. My kitchen needs to be redone (problem wasn't not caused by me!) and I wonder if he could be trying to establish if I can pay more rent.

The statement had been pulled right out of the envelope so had been looked at and I do feel my privacy has been invaded. A smal part of me wants to open one of his bank statements down the line so things feel more equal. But that is probably the morally wrong thing to do. Thoughts please!

Thanks ever so much.

fubar4164

So in 6 yrs your landlord has accidentally opened 2 pieces of your post, and has apologised both times and had what appears to be reasonable excuses both times. I don't see what the issue is here - this is simply the risk of living somewhere where multiple addresses receive their post together. It seems rather unlikely that your landlord was going to conduct some sort of disposable income calculation on 1 month's statements for you to increase the rent to pay for a new kitchen.

wildbreed100

I remember my landlord over a period of about 7 months opened two of my bank statements (by accident). The second time I got a bit paranoid. However after that a couple months later I accidentally opened his bank statement. It was a relief that he had done it to me before so I did not feel so guilty. But I never thought I would be the guy who accidentally opens other peoples mail. Then a couple of weeks later I accidentally opened one his his bills again. I never thought it could happen again. Since then I have been SUPER careful with mail and it has not happened for months now. I assume he is being supercareful as well.
So flowergirl2009Hopefully twice is your landlords breaking / guilt point and he will make all efforts to ensure it does not happen again.

Jowo_2

I have accidentally opened a colleague's payslip and my partner's mail a couple of times over the last few years simply because in haste I haven't fully read the front or that I thought I'd filtered out everything that was mine into one pile and opening them means they are face down.

If your landlord wanted to snoop, as you suspect, they could have simply taken the mail away without even returning it, or have steamed it open, then returned it. He doesn't need to fess up to his mistake. There are plenty of ways he could snoop without making you suspicious as to his motivation.

If you are concerned that your privacy is getting compromised, many banks have paperless statements where you view your statements online and can download electronic copies.

JanCee

flowergirl2009 wrote: »

Hi all,

The statement had been pulled right out of the envelope so had been looked at and I do feel my privacy has been invaded. A smal part of me wants to open one of his bank statements down the line so things feel more equal. But that is probably the morally wrong thing to do. Thoughts please!

Thanks ever so much.

I have to say that this is probably what I would do whilst saying sheepishly to the LL "we will both have to be more careful in future with each others mail".

I agree with the other poster who has suggested stopping paper statements and just having bank stuff online only, that is probably the more mature response.

flowergirl2009

Thanks, all. Great to get some perspective on this. Glad I'm not on my own, JanCee!

keith969

Quite honestly its probably a mistake. Only the other day I opened my son's bank statement by mistake, I blame it on the fact that it was early and without glasses I can't read as well as I should!

Opening one of his in retaliation is childish and inflammatory, don't do it. If he was planning on putting up the rent I hardly think he'd be vetting your finances first...