Opening previous house owners mail

jjlandlord

lexilex wrote: »

Am I best to just stick the letters back in the postbox with 'not at this address'

Yes, just do that.

They'll then probably send further letters to "the occupier" requesting a forwarding address for the person they are looking for.
Then it'll be up to you what to do next.

Personally I'm only willing to help when they provide a free phone number or a free post envelope for the reply as I'm not prepared to pay to help then earn their fee.

Southend1

Just bin them

davidmcn

lexilex wrote: »

Am I best to just stick the letters back in the postbox with 'not at this address'

Yes.

I am very concerned some big, scary men are going to turn up at my door making demands.

Unlikely they'd bother unless they're convinced the debtor still lives there. The letters are probably being churned out because it's the last known address. I wouldn't worry, they'll stop eventually.

Audrey_Wright

It's understandable for you to receive them, as you live in the same property as their intended receiver and bare the same last name as well.

That said, it's fine if you open them, nothing illegal here. If I were you, I'd write a letter to the company sending you the mail and explain thoroughly where their confusion comes from and respectfully ask them to spot bothering you with their affairs with the said person.

TakingControl

I am still getting letters from the previous tenants where I live and after months of 'Not at this address' and sending them back, I started to open them and ring the companies to tell them the person moved out in August 2013.

This included demand letters from credit providers

Most have now stopped sending letters here, others don't get the fact so i just bin them now No one ever turned up here in person

comeandgo

Hand the letters back to the post man or post office and ask them to return to sender as the person they are addressed to does not live there anymore.

flea72

We bought a repossession 15yrs ago. We still get letters, bank statements and junk mail addressed to the previous owners. I now just bin it all

mumcoll

I had this when I moved into my first council property and just chucked them UNTIL I had a card through the door saying they were coming back with a warrant (or something) and would break in. I was so scared, living on my own with a small baby. It was sorted but it seems the previous occupiers (who had done a moonlight) were still using that address for all sorts of stuff.

bouicca21

The last flat I rented not only had a dodgy landlord but also dodgy former tenants. Neither were in the habit of paying their bills. I did indeed have bailiffs turn up at the door but it was reasonably easy to persuade them that I was not the person they were after and they just went away.

browneyedbazzi

I get loads of post for the previous owners of my house....including stuff from HMRC, companies house (relating to a business they owned), insurance documents, bank letters. I'm not convinced they bothered to tell anyone they were moving. I did have a bailiff turn up one day looking for the guy's car which was being repossessed - the car was obviously not here, I explained that we'd bought the house recently (which they could easily check) and that I didn't have a forwarding address for the previous owners (which was true, if I knew where they were I'd happily give whoever is after them the details!). The guy was quite pleasant and just went away.

The post keeps coming, but I just wait until there's a pile then mark it 'not at this address' and put it all back in a letterbox.

Some people might be interested to know that the rules that govern bailiffs have changed now, so they're not allowed to use force or come at night etc now.