I think a business is using my address

ladymagpie

Since we moved in we keep getting mail that is addressed to the managing director of a company. One of the neighbours asked me to bring any mail over to him and he will pass it on to the previous occupants - yet they still haven't told their bank and now this business that they've moved as we keep getting confidential mail for then as well (at least I assume it's from a bank).

What can I do about the mail in general and the business? I'm worried about what might happen if people start chasing the business for money.

fairy_lights

Start putting it back in the post box marked return to sender?

lovinituk

Just cross out the (your) address, write "GONE AWAY" on the front of the envelope and put them in a letterbox or take to the post office. Eventually they will stop arriving.

If someone turns up at your address chasing the business simply tell them they are no longer located here.

We still get regular mail for the previous business at our office and I just send it back as described above. It doesn't worry me in the slightest.

TBagpuss

Even of people do start chasing them for money it shouldn't affect you - you won't owe them and they can't do anything to you.
If you have a neighbour passing stuff on to the seller then put a note in an envelope and as them to pass that on too - in the note ask them to ensure that they arrange for their post to be redirected as you will simply be marking everything 'return to sender' from now on.

If you are worried about (say) bailiffs showing up then keep something handy you can show them as proof the old owner no longer lives there - your council tax bill, for instance, or a letter from your solicitor confirming the completion date.

Some people are just careless and selfish that way. When moved in 3 years ago my sellers told me (on their way out of the door) that they would 'pop by' regularly to pick up their post. I told them I wasn't comfortable with that but that if they gave me a forwarding address I would redirect the post to them for a few months until they had told everyone their new address. They didn't give me one, and so (being nice) I dropped some post off for them with the estate agents then just started returning everything to sender. I still get occasional things for them which I either bin or RTS.

unholyangel

You can open the letters - its only an offence to open letters addressed to someone else during the course of its transmission by post or if you intend to act to the recipients detriment, dont have a reasonable excuse and you open something you know/reasonably suspect has been incorrectly delivered to you.

However if you don't feel comfortable doing that, you can always google the return addresses, hopefully that will give you contact details for the sender which you can then use to contact them and make them aware the data they hold is not accurate nor up to date (requirements of the data protection act).

System

Whilst your passing on their mail they aren't going to do anything about it. Your the easy option.

You need to stop passing on the mail and returning it to sender. They could have at least set up a redirection whilst the process of moving was being dealt with.

chesky

I would stop giving it to the neighbour. Why should the eventual recipient be bothered to change his address properly if he's still receiving his mail. Make it more inconvenient for him and he might do something.

Pop_Up_Pirate

Write NOT AT THIS ADDRESS on the envelope and put them back in the post box.

trailingspouse

We've been in our house nearly 4 years, and still occasionally get mail for the previous owners from their creditors. I always open it, and I always ring the sender and explain that they are no longer at this address. Slowly the flow is drying up, but it's a pain.

*~Zephyr~*

I'm still receiving mail 6 years after moving to this address. For the first 3 months we handed it in to the estate agent to forward on. Then after another 6 months or so we started writing "return to sender" on the envelope and putting it back in the post.

After 4 years of this I started writing "DECEASED" on the envelope and putting it back in the post. We get a lot less mail for them now :rotfl: