What would you do? New owner and letters coming.

tripled

It would have been courteous for the previous occupier to ask you directly. At the very least, any note should have been left inside the property, anyone can stick a note on a door.

You are perfectly in your rights to return to sender. If receiving their post is important, the previous occupier should update important contacts and set up a redirect. However, these can take a few days to take effect, and in the case of a redirect, Royal Mail do occasionally miss a letter, so if I was confident the request was made the previous occupier, then personally I would extend a little flexibility for a short period.

london21

Section62 said:

london21 said:

When I completed and went to the property. I saw an hand written note posted on the door that the post man should give letters to the neighbour. I took this down. 

But you don't know for sure the note was put there by the vendor, even if it is on the inside of the door.

There's sufficient doubt about the vendor's wishes that you can quite reasonably say 'no' to what the neighbour is saying unless the vendor themselves gets in touch with you - without it looking like you are being unkind or selfish. You are, after all, looking out for the vendor's interests in making sure they are aware of what the neighbour is suggesting.

That creates the opportunity for you to communicate directly with the vendor - and let them know you don't intend to provide a permanent (and free) post forwarding and debt management service.

Was an auction property. I did not have any contact with the vendor.
Today i spoke to the neighbour and informed her about the note, she stated she put it there. I am not sure why she is so invested in this. I have informed her that I will bring their letter for another week and for my sanity, further letters will be returned to sender.

Section62

london21 said:

Was an auction property. I did not have any contact with the vendor.
Today i spoke to the neighbour and informed her about the note, she stated she put it there. I am not sure why she is so invested in this. I have informed her that I will bring their letter for another week and for my sanity, further letters will be returned to sender.

As I suggested, if the vendor hasn't asked you to do this (and you are unsure of the neighbour's motives) then it is possible by handing the post to the neighbour you are enabling the neighbour to attempt some kind of fraud against the vendor (or against the creditors)

Was the vendor living in the property up to the completion date? If not, what was happening to their post up to then? Is it possible the neighbour has(/had) a key and was letting themselves in to collect the mail?

london21

lookstraightahead said:

london21 said:

Thanks all for the responses. I will give a grace period of a week for them to change their address and set up redirection. I will inform the neighbour that after 1 week all letters will be returned to sender. 

Harsh! 

I hope you've changed all your addresses as you shouldn't have your bank statements going to an old address, even if you can pick them up.

Off course, done easily.

How am i sure the address not been used for fraud etc if we just keep taking letters to the neighbour?

The property was used by various people. The debt company, Rundles letter, neigbour telling me the previous occupant said it's her sister's. 

Sunsaru

6 days. Is that all? I'd give it at least a few weeks before starting to get stroppy.
I moved into my house in April this year. The previous tenants moved out in Nov 2020. Despite that I am still getting NHS, debt and all sorts of letters. Last month I've even had an attempted delivery of a new pair of trainers (which I refused) only for a neighbour to pop round asking if they had been delivered so she could pass them over along with any post. Thats 3 months since I moved in and 7 months since they moved out.
I'm only just starting to get narked.

Marvel1

I would do this also, if the previous  occupant can't be bothered with Royal Mail re-direction, that's their problem.

lookstraightahead

london21 said:

lookstraightahead said:

london21 said:

Thanks all for the responses. I will give a grace period of a week for them to change their address and set up redirection. I will inform the neighbour that after 1 week all letters will be returned to sender. 

Harsh! 

I hope you've changed all your addresses as you shouldn't have your bank statements going to an old address, even if you can pick them up.

Off course, done easily.

How am i sure the address not been used for fraud etc if we just keep taking letters to the neighbour?

The property was used by various people. The debt company, Rundles letter, neigbour telling me the previous occupant said it's her sister's. 

Fair enough if you think it's all a bit dodgy then I understand.

PRAISETHESUN

In the last rental place I lived in I was getting mail from the last 2 sets of tenants for about 18 months - not much you can do apart from keep returning to sender and eventually they get the hint. Ultimately it's the previous occupant's job to get a redirection if they want/need it, so I wouldn't go out of my way to sort their mail for them. Returning them to sender is the fastest way to get organisations to stop sending them in the first place but I'd only do that if it was convenient, otherwise I'd just bin them.

I also had an issue with a debt collector at my current place - they sent a few letters and tried to visit a few times whilst I was at work a few weeks after I moved in. Eventually I just sent them a nasty email alongside a letter from my letting agent on headed paper stating that the owner of the debt doesn't live there (and in fact has never lived there as far as they are aware, having managed the property for the last 10 years!) and they stopped getting in touch after that - it'll probably depend on the company though how much effort they'll put into it though. You're not legally obliged to provide any proof that you own/live at the property of course, but practically I've found it helps get them off your back faster.

london21

Section62 said

Was the vendor living in the property up to the completion date? If not, what was happening to their post up to then? Is it possible the neighbour has(/had) a key and was letting themselves in to collect the mail?

No the vendor wasn't.
The property was an auction property, there were tenants here before.

might have to change the locks, dont think the neighbour has access in just left a note at the door for the post man previously which i took down upon completion.

purplebutterfly

london21 said:

Thanks all for the responses. I will give a grace period of a week for them to change their address and set up redirection. I will inform the neighbour that after 1 week all letters will be returned to sender. 

1 week is nowhere near enough time to set up a re-direct with Royal Mail.   They suggest at least 1 week's notice on their website but advise 3 weeks where possible.