Old owner using my address?

Minky2Slice

Hi,

Sorry if this is posted in the wrong place, but i couldnt find where to ask this question.
basically we have bought a reposessed house, been living here for 1 yr, and Im beginning to think the previous owner has still got his business registered at this address and he is still using it.
I have received a few letters addressed to his business, from the contents in the letters i get the idea he is still giving people this address as his business address
Is that legal for him to do so?

BitterAndTwisted

Not illegal, I suspect but really ruddy stupid. Send all correspondence back unopened with "Gone Away. Not known at This Address" written on it. They'll soon start looking for him and you'll stop getting mail you don't need

choille

......but it is illegal for you to open mail addressed to someone else - even though it is your address they've been sent to.

Tell the postie or your local post office that he no longer lives there & return to sender unopened.

sillyvixen

choille wrote: »

......but it is illegal for you to open mail addressed to someone else - even though it is your address they've been sent to.

i kept sending stuff back 'not known at this address' for ages after buying my house - not even the people i bought off... eventually a baliff/debt collector turned up for a previous tennent (house changed hands twice since he lived here) it was a nice sunny day and i was in sorting the frount garden out as were bith my nieghbours - how embarresing - i still get mail addressed to the gob!!!!! but open everthing and contact the creditors from my work phone (not my own) to explain he no longer lives here and the property has changed ownership - i have lived here over 3 years and the previous owner 2 years - still get threatening letters - but they are now reducing!

it is illegal (as far as i am aware) to disrupt the mail in its transmition but once it has been delivered to the correct address it is no longer in transmition! i am sure others will back me up.

daska

It could be if he is deliberately using an incorrect address in order to commit fraud, but the chances are that he has suppliers/customers who haven't updated his address. The simplest way to deal with it is to speak with the postman and then mark all correspondence as 'gone away' and stick it back in the postbox next time you're passing.

BTW You CAN open postal items as long as it isn't "intending to act to a person’s detriment and without reasonable excuse". Here's the relevant bit of the Postal Services Act 2000

Interfering with the mail: general
(1)A person commits an offence if, without reasonable excuse, he—
(a)intentionally delays or opens a postal packet in the course of its transmission by post, or
(b)intentionally opens a mail-bag.
(2)Subsections (2) to (5) of section 83 apply to subsection (1) above as they apply to subsection (1) of that section.
(3)A person commits an offence if, intending to act to a person’s detriment and without reasonable excuse, he opens a postal packet which he knows or reasonably suspects has been incorrectly delivered to him.
(4)Subsections (2) and (3) of section 83 (so far as they relate to the opening of postal packets) apply to subsection (3) above as they apply to subsection (1) of that section.
(5)A person who commits an offence under subsection (1) or (3) shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both.

choille

Sorry - thought you couldn't openmail addressed to another.

How annoying to have all the stuff coming still.

We were once allocated a phone number when we moved into an empty house & they'd given us someone else's number - mental mistake by BT. We kept getting calls from debt collectors & we eventually had to insist on a new number as it was ridiculous.

I'd definately tell the PO though & the local postie so that they may start redirection before it reaches you.

Minky2Slice

Thanks for all the replies.

I have and still send back all mail which have a return address.
However, if there is no return address, can I still stick it back in the post? where will it go though?
I open all mail which dont have a return address, and if I think it is important, i will contact the sender.
(BT i couldnt be bothered with i just ignore and bin anything they send, no point contacting them, its like talking to a wall lol)

Had a letter though today and it sounded like the person was given my address recently for the old owner's company. Letter is nothing important, so i will just bin it, i was just getting a bit upset that he's still using MY address :mad:

Had a few debt collectors come in the past, i wasnt home and they left a note. they were quite good though when i called them and told them the person they are looking for no longer lives here.no problems.

I'm never home during the day, so dont ever see the postie , but thanks for that suggestion

Savvy_Sue

If there's no return address on the envelope and you put it back in the post, Royal Mail eventually get round to opening it and returning it, assuming there's an address INSIDE the envelope.

Blackpool_Saver

In my last house I got letters from all kinds of places, insurance, dvla, you name it that showed a couple were still registered as living at MY address, these were professionals, a teacher and a business man!!! They were still insuring my house

custardy

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

If there's no return address on the envelope and you put it back in the post, Royal Mail eventually get round to opening it and returning it, assuming there's an address INSIDE the envelope.

no ,no ;)that depends on the type of mail it is
eg mailsort(big M on the envelope) with no return address will be sent for destruction

floss2

Minky2Slice wrote: »

...However, if there is no return address, can I still stick it back in the post? where will it go though? ...

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

If there's no return address on the envelope and you put it back in the post, Royal Mail eventually get round to opening it and returning it, assuming there's an address INSIDE the envelope.

Returned mail goes to the returned mail centre in Belfast for "processing".