What would you do? New owner and letters coming.

london21

Hi All,

looking to get your opinion. I recently purchased a property. I have not moved in yet as some works are needed.

the neighbour came to say hello and we chatted.

The old occupants left a note on the door that the postman should give letters to the neighbour, i took this down and have been recieveing letters which I have been retruning to sender and writing they no longer live here.

been 6 days since completing and today the neighbour came to tell me that I should give the letters the previous occupants receive.

I do not want letters to keep coming and I said to her to tell them to change their address or set up redirection.

Today I had a hand dropped letter from Rundles, a debt recovery company. I have informed the company that the person does not live here anymore.i gave her the letter as it had no forwarding address but even she wasn't familiar with the name.

I plan to continue returning the letters to senders so they can reduce and eventually stop. The neighbour seems nice but surely this cannot continue as variety pf people getting letters.

Redwino222

I would absolutely do what you are doing.  You are following the advice from the post office.

handing letters to neighbours only means the letters will keep coming.  The previous occupier needs to pay for a post redirect and change their contact details.  

Carrot007

Stop giving the letters to anyone. They have been fully deliverd if they are addresse to your house and yours to do with as you like (excepting the detriment of the implied recipiant).

Open them all and contact whoever if you think it will help. (many companies will just ignore you ,especially debt collectors as if you were colelctiong a debt would you except someone saying not here mate, unless of course proof is given, not that it matters anyway suince it is not you (excepting the unlikly occurance of having the same name (and or DOB)).

Then bin them. (it is there own detriment if they have them sent to the wrong address).

eddddy

Why not just give the letters to the neighbour to pass on - as a favour to the previous occupants?  It's not really causing you any inconvenience, and it's a helpful thing to do.


FWIW, if you return letters to debt collectors marked "gone away" etc, they won't believe you. Because lots of people who owe money try to trick debt collectors like that.

london21

eddddy said:

Why not just give the letters to the neighbour to pass on - as a favour to the previous occupants?  It's not really causing you any inconvenience, and it's a helpful thing to do.


FWIW, if you return letters to debt collectors marked "gone away" etc, they won't believe you. Because lots of people who owe money try to trick debt collectors like that.

The problem is when does it stop.
There are different names.

the debt management company, I called them and sent an email. I forwarded my solicitor’s  email and auction contract.
once I have the property registered can also share this with them if required. 

eddddy

london21 said:

eddddy said:

Why not just give the letters to the neighbour to pass on - as a favour to the previous occupants?  It's not really causing you any inconvenience, and it's a helpful thing to do.


FWIW, if you return letters to debt collectors marked "gone away" etc, they won't believe you. Because lots of people who owe money try to trick debt collectors like that.

The problem is when does it stop.
There are different names.

the debt management company, I called them and sent an email. I forwarded my solicitor’s  email and auction contract.
once I have the property registered can also share this with them if required. 

;

So far you say it's only been 6 days since completion.  TBH, to me it just seems unfriendly (or even nasty) to be causing hassle for the previous occupants like this.

If the previous occupants have forgotten to tell some people that they've moved, and you return the letters to the sender, the previous occupants will never realise - and the sender won't have any way of getting in touch.

It seems especially petty, as it's probably a shorter walk to give the letters to the neighbour than to walk to the post box.


And what if it doesn't stop for months? Why is that a problem? The inconvenience it's causing you is minimal.

CKhalvashi

The problem with redirection (for the previous occupier) is that they will helpfully update all creditors with the new address.

I'd continue sending all post back, and e-mailing all creditors immediately as it's obvious to me that this is the reason for not wishing to redirect.

Handing post to the neighbour will only allow the denial for the previous occupier to continue, which won't help them in the long run, but completely the opposite.

TBagpuss

Redirect just forwards the post, it doesn't tell the sender that the previous occupier has moved .

I think as it is so soon after completion I'd probably pass the letters to the neighbour for another couple of weeks, and perhaps also write a note and pass that to them to pass on, too, to say that are willing to give letters to the neighbour for a week or two to make sure that they've had time to update everyone with their new address and/or arrange proper redirections with the post office, but that you're not comfortable doing it longer term so from (say) 1st August you'll no longer be doing so.

That way, you've given them reasonable notice and time to sort out a better solution. (and, if you care, your new neighbours can see that you have tried to be reasonable) 

theartfullodger

Have you, london21, set up redirection of your mail with the Royal Mail, please?

user1977

eddddy said:

FWIW, if you return letters to debt collectors marked "gone away" etc, they won't believe you.

While they might be sceptical, they are familiar with the concept of debtors moving house and not updating them with their new address. They're only likely to take further action if they're convinced they've got the correct address (and the amount of the debt makes it worthwhile).

SevenOfNine

Ask the neighbour for the address he/she is sending it to. If they won't give it to you then I definitely wouldn't give the mail to them. They're taking the mail from you so MUST know where to send it on, or at the very least have a method of contact, but  if they don't want YOU to have it you should ask yourself why & be curious.

You've already had a hand delivered letter from a debt collecting company, do you want the unpleasant hassle of a visit from them, or any others the previous occupant of your property may have chasing them! 

Don't open the post, write no longer at this address & put it back in the post box. It's not your problem what happens to it then, it used to be illegal to open someone else's post, but have a look at the Postal Services Act 2000 & see if it still holds true.