Royal Mail redirection without permission

merlinthehappypig

Hi

A bit of an odd one. We have been 'selling' our house to a couple for almost 5 months now. I won't bore you with the details, but we still haven't exchanged contracts and the last information we had is that exchange is at least 3 weeks away, if it happens at all.

Last Thursday we got a letter from Royal Mail addressed to them which, according to our postman was a re-direction being set up. He asked us when we were moving so we had to explain that we weren't.

A couple of days later our estate agents informed us that the 'buyers' had set up a re-direction for 6 months starting on 18 August and that we were to 'put the post in a safe place for them to collect on completion'!

We have moved house over 10 times and have never had any redirected mail prior to completion. I know it's not a massive deal and we can stick it in the drawer, but it does seem unreasonable, especially as they are now going away on holiday with things still unresolved. At best guess it will be the end of September at the earliest before completion and there is still a real chance that it won't happen because of mortgage difficulties further down the chain.

I can't find anything on the internet about it which shows how unusual this must be. Do we have accept the re-direction? We cannot contact the buyers direct and at no time did anyone ask our permission - it was simply a done deal. There are 4 people named on the redirection so the post is starting to mount up. We also have concerns about signing for anything.

Thanks

Guest101

merlinthehappypig wrote: »

Hi

A bit of an odd one. We have been 'selling' our house to a couple for almost 5 months now. I won't bore you with the details, but we still haven't exchanged contracts and the last information we had is that exchange is at least 3 weeks away, if it happens at all.

Last Thursday we got a letter from Royal Mail addressed to them which, according to our postman was a re-direction being set up. He asked us when we were moving so we had to explain that we weren't.

A couple of days later our estate agents informed us that the 'buyers' had set up a re-direction for 6 months starting on 18 August and that we were to 'put the post in a safe place for them to collect on completion'!

We have moved house over 10 times and have never had any redirected mail prior to completion. I know it's not a massive deal and we can stick it in the drawer, but it does seem unreasonable, especially as they are now going away on holiday with things still unresolved. At best guess it will be the end of September at the earliest before completion and there is still a real chance that it won't happen because of mortgage difficulties further down the chain.

I can't find anything on the internet about it which shows how unusual this must be. Do we have accept the re-direction? We cannot contact the buyers direct and at no time did anyone ask our permission - it was simply a done deal. There are 4 people named on the redirection so the post is starting to mount up. We also have concerns about signing for anything.

Thanks

Probably not worth the hassle but you can say that when they become owners they can receive their mail here, until then it is being sent back as not at this address.

Probably not worth it, but polite to ask first.

davidmcn

merlinthehappypig wrote: »

We cannot contact the buyers direct

Then do so via the estate agents.

You don't have to accept, or sign for, any mail. If you're on speaking terms with your postie then maybe ask him if it can be held at the sorting office instead (which is probably the service which your purchasers ought to have requested in the first place).

merlinthehappypig

davidmcn wrote: »

Then do so via the estate agents.

Did that earlier this week, but the agents won't pass it on in case it upsets the buyers!

davidmcn

merlinthehappypig wrote: »

Did that earlier this week, but the agents won't pass it on in case it upsets the buyers!

They're your agents - you tell them what to do (or ask them for the info from your file).

SplanK

To be honest, its not a great thing to do, but seems positive that they want the house that they have redirected their mail to your current address.


Personally, I would be a little upset that the didn't ask first, but I would just get on with it in the interest in keeping things happy to get the sale to completion. Will take less than a minute to read the envelope and dump it into a pile for them.

TBagpuss

This is bizarre. I know the guidelines from the post office suggest that you send them the request 5 days before the move and that you can do it up to 3 months before (stating the date you want it to start on) so it sounds as though they have got confused and done it in advance without specifying a start date.

It seems like an incredibly stupid thing to do as potentially there may be letters from the lender / solicitor / agents which they won't get.

I would be inclined to get your solicitor to send a letter saying that you will not sign for anything, take no responsibility the safety of any post and would prefer that they arrange to have it redirected to their own solicitor or agents if they do not want to continue to receive mail at their current property.

It does seem very unreasonable to me. Quite apart from anything else, it creates a situation where you have something you have to keep safe and remember not to pack or throw away. If tit weren't for the fact that you probably don't want to antagonise your buyer, I would be inclined to simply mark it all 'return to sender' and hand it straight back .

(I have the opposite situation. MY sellers announced (as I was moving in) that they had left a folder for their post and would 'pop by' to pick it up from time to time. I told them that I was not comfortable with them turning up on the doorstep but that if they gave me a forwarding address I was willing to redirect it for a month to give them time to arrange redirection or let people know they have moved, or alternatively that I was willing to drop the post off at their estate agents for a couple of weeks to give them time to arrange redirection. It's obvious (4.5 months on) that they haven't bothered, and now I just mark everything 'Return to Sender' and send it back. )

PasturesNew

This is odd behaviour ... from when you hand the form in at the Post Office it takes 7-8 days for them to receive it and set it up (form says 5 days, but that's 5 working days from when they receive it), so there's no good reason why the buyer's couldn't have just had the form ready to hand in on the day they exchanged, writing in the completion date on the form.

I'd be annoyed as now you're going out of your way to have to worry about post that's arriving for people who might not een buy the house and, as you say, signing for things is a worrying nuisance.

merlinthehappypig

davidmcn wrote: »

They're your agents - you tell them what to do (or ask them for the info from your file).

Actually they sort of aren't. We finished with them back in June, but have had to deal with them since they introduced the buyers back in February. We aren't on great terms with them unfortunately, mainly due to all the lies they have been telling. Guess we will just keep the post for now and see what happens. We can always give it back to the postman if everything falls through. I know it's not a big deal, but on top of everything else it just seemed a real cheek

Herbalus

Apply for a credit card in their name at their old address. Should pass the credit check, and the card comes straight to you.

That'll teach them.

Imagine the look on their faces when you tell them a credit card in their name has turned up.

merlinthehappypig

TBagpuss wrote: »

This is bizarre. I know the guidelines from the post office suggest that you send them the request 5 days before the move and that you can do it up to 3 months before (stating the date you want it to start on) so it sounds as though they have got confused and done it in advance without specifying a start date.

Actually no, they wanted re-direction from the 15th, but Royal Mail weren't able to start it from then. According to our agents it's quite deliberate, we simply don't understand why. I certainly wouldn't want my post going to strangers for over a month, especially if those strangers got mightily upset if the sale didn't reach exchange after all these months :mad:

Luckily we are neither dishonest nor vindictive.