Why would someone not redirect their post?

MaryNB

diego_94 said:

How do you know what the letter says? Hope you didn't open it as its illegal - Postal Services Act 2000.

No it's not. 

It was not incorrectly delivered if the OP's address is on it. The OP did not interfere with it during transmission. Even if it was incorrectly delivered it's only an offence if the OP did it for the purpose of acting to the addressee's detriment.

(1)A person commits an offence if, without reasonable excuse, he—

(a)intentionally delays or opens a postal packet in the course of its transmission by post, or

(b)intentionally opens a mail-bag.

(2)Subsections (2) to (5) of section 83 apply to subsection (1) above as they apply to subsection (1) of that section.

(3)A person commits an offence if, intending to act to a person’s detriment and without reasonable excuse, he opens a postal packet which he knows or reasonably suspects has been incorrectly delivered to him.

TripleH

It's only illegal if the letter has not been correctly and successfully delivered.

If the letter says 34 Skid Row and you are 32, then no, you shouldn't open it and should pop it next door. If it says no. 34 but a different name on the envelope you can open it but cannot use the contents to gain an advantage (ie use to commit ID theft or fraud). The envelope may have no return address so opening it means you can inform the sender of the error. 

user1977

diego_94 said:

How do you know what the letter says? Hope you didn't open it as its illegal - Postal Services Act 2000.

We've already been through this at some length - please read the thread.

sheramber

One house we lived in we got a Christmas card every year for someone at our address- not the person we bought from.

There was no information  about the sender inside the card  but each year there was a request for this person to contact someone else to sort out a problem this  sender had about them. 

I always puzzled if they didn't wonder why nothing ever happened.

In my current house the previous owners redirected post for the minimum period to cover Christmas. Since then I receive post for them and for 4 other names I have never heard of.

I do not have a post box conveniently near nor on any route I normally travel so it can get put back in the post box when I happen to passing a post box, which is  often once every 6 weeks.

MissRMB

I am moving out of rented and I have purchaded my 6 months redirect ready for Monday. I still receive mail for the last occupant of the property (I commenced renting January 2016!) I have always stuck it back in a post box marked RTS but it does get frustrating. The return address is a bank so I would assume its important, but perhaps the person it relates to died etc. I have no idea. I think personally, most people update their important places like council, bills etc and leave the clutter (club cards etc.) to just be sent on as they don't care for them. 

p00hsticks

flyingv said:

 but the funniest thing is the tenant before him (who moved out around 2 years ago) keeps sending all her parking fines and congestion charge notices here. 

Going by posts over on the motoring / parking fines boards, that's not uncommon. People change the address on their driving licence but don't realise they also need to notify DVLA separately to change the address on the V5 document, They're then surprised a couple of years later when they suddenly check their credit file and find they have a CCJ for an unpaid parking fine they weren't aware of.

TBagpuss

p00hsticks said:

flyingv said:

 but the funniest thing is the tenant before him (who moved out around 2 years ago) keeps sending all her parking fines and congestion charge notices here. 

Going by posts over on the motoring / parking fines boards, that's not uncommon. People change the address on their driving licence but don't realise they also need to notify DVLA separately to change the address on the V5 document, They're then surprised a couple of years later when they suddenly check their credit file and find they have a CCJ for an unpaid parking fine they weren't aware of.

I am now trying to think whether that's something I did when I moved  or not. I get my reminders for road fund tax so possibly having all that online means they know where my car lives anyway? 

TBagpuss

lookstraightahead said:

Ms_Chocaholic said:

I dread to think of the poor people that moved into my MIL's (rented) house after she died, she was up to her eyeballs in debt and had no money in the bank, after she died I did try and call one finance company to explain that she had passed but they wanted too much info about me so I didn't call the umpteen others. 

This is why new occupiers need to not get their knickers in a twist. They have no idea of the circumstances as to why post isn't being redirected and can only look at things from their (blinkered) perspective.

im not talking about those who get bombarded with baliff letters etc, but those that get the occasional letter or card for someone.

not everyone is lucky enough to have such an organised life.

Well, having an organised life isn't solely, or even mostly,  about luck. In the vast majority of cases, if you are lmnoving home you know that and can plan ahead. Even if someone left the property at short notice or due to things beyond their control, or couldn't afford to pay for redirection, it's not unreasonable to expect them to then take steps to tell people they have accounts etc. with that they have moved.  Unless the previous occupant is dead or hospitalised then it's not unreasonable to expect them to take steps to update their details or to redirect their post, and in most cases, if someone is dead or hospitalised there will be someone dealing with their affairs on their behalf - so while of course there are exceptions, in the majority of cases it is mostly down to people choosing not to take basic, obvious steps.

Also, while it is not going to be the case where the property is / was rented, when someone buys a house, very often people will have some idea about the people they have just bought a house from - they will typically know if they are buying  a house where the previous occupant has died or had to go into a care home, for example, or if the property has been repossessed, and in most cases they will know if the property is being sold due to a divorce.

I'm not seeing a lot of people 'getting their knickers in a twist', mostly people who are legitimately irritated at being left to deal with someone else's mess.  And a certain amount of bafflement about how cavalier people are about their own private affairs and data , they they don't make sure that important stuff is not going to some random stranger! 

rexmedorum

firebubble said:

It can lead to confusion around who is actually at the address - potentially impacting credit records if it goes on for a while and you become linked because it appears you both share an address. It's easy enough to separate out by contacting the credit reference agencies. I've had this happen before because I RTS the post and it either didn't get there or the companies did nothing.

For post sent from companies, open it, phone up the sender and say that the person no longer lives there. Because of data protection, the company won't send anything else out to your address, so the problem is sorted.

Christmas cards and handwritten post can still be forwarded if you have an address for the recipient although it's more effective to return to sender if possible, but there often isn't a return address.

For companies I've had a couple of times them arguing that unless I was the adressee and could identify myself they wouldn't let me cancel it "because of data protection". 

Slithery

rexmedorum said:

firebubble said:

It can lead to confusion around who is actually at the address - potentially impacting credit records if it goes on for a while and you become linked because it appears you both share an address. It's easy enough to separate out by contacting the credit reference agencies. I've had this happen before because I RTS the post and it either didn't get there or the companies did nothing.

For post sent from companies, open it, phone up the sender and say that the person no longer lives there. Because of data protection, the company won't send anything else out to your address, so the problem is sorted.

Christmas cards and handwritten post can still be forwarded if you have an address for the recipient although it's more effective to return to sender if possible, but there often isn't a return address.

For companies I've had a couple of times them arguing that unless I was the adressee and could identify myself they wouldn't let me cancel it "because of data protection". 

Perfectly understandable. If it was that easy then anyone attempting to escape a debt could just claim they were a different person and get the address removed.