RE: Tenants old Mail

PierremontQuaker03

HI all, thanks for looking. I am selling my house, which has previously been rented. The sale is going through and the house is empty. I have noticed I am getting lots of mail from Santander from a previous tenant - she must have left the house over 3 years ago. Anyway I opened one of the letters and it was a loan - only a small amount - but it had recently been taken out.  I have email the lady (with the email address I had for her at the time), I also have a forwarding address but I am not, after 3 years, going to forward the the mail, it should have been sorted out. Anyway, she has not responded to the email (I was not surprised, due to the sort of person she is - she left the house with issues, which I did not charge her for, because I was too soft). 
What are my options here? I could go to her forwarding address and speak to her, or is there an alternative - say contact Santander (I have been returning the mail back to Santander saying "No longer at this address", but that has not worked).  I know its only a minor issue, but I want it sorting out before the new home owner moves in.

SecondStar

I used to cross out the address, write ‘not known at this address’ and pop them back into the post, in the spirit of good citizenship.

Can’t say it made a blind bit of difference though - still get letters through after 2 years. For right or wrong, they just go in the recycling bin, unopened, now.

If I were you, I’d do the same - don’t go harassing random women with potential mental health problems. Your buyer won’t care if they occasionally get mail for a person who isn’t them.

Van_Girl

You can't really do anything unfortunately. I'm still getting mail 2 years on, and keep returning it marked either "no longer at this address" or "addressee deceased" depending on who it's addressed to... and they're still coming. In fact I get around 25% of the marked letters back, even with the address crossed out 

It has happened everywhere I've ever lived, so I think most people are used to it, annoying though it is 

eddddy

If you mark the letter "Gone Away" or similar, and re-post it - it will go back to Santander and they will mark the account as 'suspicious'.

If it was an ordinary bank account, Santander might just block the account, and wait for the account holder to phone them to explain what's happened.

But Santander need to consider the possibility that it's a 'prankster' or 'angry partner' who's written "Gone Away", in order to cause hassle for the account owner.


However, as it's letters about a loan - Santander will also consider the possibility that the borrower is writing "Gone Away", in an attempt to avoid paying back the loan. So they might continue to send 'threatening letters'.


But overall, perhaps the best advice is to keep marking them "Gone Away" or similar and re-posting them - or just ignore them.

newsgroupmonkey_

"Gone Away" is a weird thing to write. It implies someone's on holiday, or spending some time at His Majesty's Pleasure.

"No longer at this address" is the norm.

user1977

newsgroupmonkey_ said:

"Gone Away" is a weird thing to write. It implies someone's on holiday, or spending some time at His Majesty's Pleasure.

"No longer at this address" is the norm.

No, "gone away" is what I use, and is also what the Royal Mail calls it:

newsgroupmonkey_

user1977 said:

newsgroupmonkey_ said:

user1977 said:

theartfullodger said:

It is unlawful to open someone else's mail.

No it is not. It might be unlawful to open mail which has been incorrectly delivered - but this example hasn't, as it has been delivered to the correct address (the name is irrelevant). OP can open it if they want.

There is, however, another line in the same law talking about opening mail not in your name.

"(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"

No, that doesn't say anything about opening mail not in your name. It's about opening mail which has been incorrectly delivered - that is defined in the Act, and means by reference to the address i.e. whether or not the postie has put it through the correct door. In this case, they have, so it's been correctly delivered. An incorrectly delivered item would be, say, something for your neighbour.

Royal Mail themselves say....

"If you receive mail intended for another person, such as a previous owner, it should be returned by marking the envelope ‘Return to Sender’ and placing it in any postbox."

As above though, is it to the detriment? It's a very grey area. I would very much doubt anyone would be prosecuted unless they were applying for loans or whatever

sevenhills

theartfullodger said:

It is unlawful to open someone else's mail.

My experience of these matters is that the quality of glue on envelopes these days is terrible and it's amazing how many "fall open on the mat".  😇

If you cut a very thin line along the side of the envelope and reglue to seal it up.
I am sure it can be seen if inspected, but not noticeable if you are just going to put it back in a post box. Nothing wrong with opening mail, you will not get locked up.

theartfullodger

user1977 said:

theartfullodger said:

It is unlawful to open someone else's mail.

No it is not. It might be unlawful to open mail which has been incorrectly delivered - but this example hasn't, as it has been delivered to the correct address (the name is irrelevant). OP can open it if they want.

My point is it's imho wiser to talk about envelopes "falling open" rather than "I opened ms Smith's mail....".

Others may hold alternative views.

Ditzy_Mitzy

SecondStar said:

I used to cross out the address, write ‘not known at this address’ and pop them back into the post, in the spirit of good citizenship.

Can’t say it made a blind bit of difference though - still get letters through after 2 years. For right or wrong, they just go in the recycling bin, unopened, now.

If I were you, I’d do the same - don’t go harassing random women with potential mental health problems. Your buyer won’t care if they occasionally get mail for a person who isn’t them.

On the contrary, the buyer may very much care if the former tenant is continuing to use the address for correspondence from parties she prefers to keep ignorant of her present whereabouts.  Whilst the legal implications for the new owner may be small to non-existent, it is an annoyance.  Letting the previous occupant know that you know, if you see what I mean, isn't necessarily a bad idea.  One might, if one was minded, contact the bank too.  

Incidentally, I was plagued with junk mail addressed to the previous owner when I bought my flat.  The couple seemed to have signed up to every nonsense catalogue and mailing list known to man, and didn't bother telling any of them.  I started by sending things back, but eventually grew tired and took to throwing the stuff away unopened.  It went on for years.  

Section62

newsgroupmonkey_ said:

user1977 said:

newsgroupmonkey_ said:

user1977 said:

theartfullodger said:

It is unlawful to open someone else's mail.

No it is not. It might be unlawful to open mail which has been incorrectly delivered - but this example hasn't, as it has been delivered to the correct address (the name is irrelevant). OP can open it if they want.

There is, however, another line in the same law talking about opening mail not in your name.

"(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"

No, that doesn't say anything about opening mail not in your name. It's about opening mail which has been incorrectly delivered - that is defined in the Act, and means by reference to the address i.e. whether or not the postie has put it through the correct door. In this case, they have, so it's been correctly delivered. An incorrectly delivered item would be, say, something for your neighbour.

Royal Mail themselves say....

"If you receive mail intended for another person, such as a previous owner, it should be returned by marking the envelope ‘Return to Sender’ and placing it in any postbox."

As above though, is it to the detriment? It's a very grey area. I would very much doubt anyone would be prosecuted unless they were applying for loans or whatever

That's Royal Mail guidance though, not the law.

There is no legal requirement for the occupier of a property to do what RM suggest.  If it has been delivered to the correct address, there is nothing unlawful about simply opening items of mail addressed to a person who no longer lives there.