How do you stop unwanted letters for someone not living at our address?

Grumpy_chap

eskbanker said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Ignore the comments from others about opening post addressed to others as being illegal.

I can't speak for anyone else, but, for the avoidance of doubt, I wasn't advocating opening the post and was simply refuting the oft-spouted nonsense about the alleged illegality of doing so!

Thanks and I agree with you - I can't see any reason to open the post.
I was simply saying that the comments about doing so being illegal can be ignored.

I recommended against contacting the senders and you'd only want to open the post if you intended to contact the senders.
There is no need to expend that amount of effort as to open the post - simply RTS (or bin).

OutdoorQueen

As others have said, there is no single cure, but these might help update all the databases that names and addresses end up on:

Make sure the electoral role is up to date (some companies may check this to see who is listed at the address)

Enter the previous occupier on to this site: https://www.mpsonline.org.uk/consumer/register -might help to break the cycle

brianposter

Open the post and if you can locate the addressee forward the letters. If you cannot locate the addressee inform the senders in any way that suits you.

Jenni_D

Slinky said:

If it's been going on for 5 years I'd open the letter and call the company. B*gger the legality or not of doing so. You can keep sending them back, but isn't a definition of insanity keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result?

I had mail for our former tenant, and a hand delivered note from a bailiff. I called and spoke to them and they stopped chasing him at our address.

I'm minded to agree.

We once received email from our bank to our address but addressed to someone never connected with this address (as we've owned this property since new). I contacted the bank about it in case it was an attempt at fraud or misuse of our address. (It wasn't as it happens). We also received a letter from HMRC to our address regarding someone entirely different. (Again an error on their side).

No idea why it has happened twice though. But if I hadn't opened those letters I'd have had serious concerns and worries.

HillStreetBlues

I spent 15 Christmas' at my last property and every year there was a posted card to the previous tenant!
There was never a return address.

pseudodox

I have been getting annual bank statements for a previous occupier for 19 years.  I keep writing "Return To Sender, no longer at this address" every year and they keep on coming.  I discovered the addressee has actually died several years ago so I now keep writing "Deceased" also on the envelope but it gets me nowhere.  Do Royal Mail ever actually deliver these or do they just bin them?

HillStreetBlues

pseudodox said:

I have been getting annual bank statements for a previous occupier for 19 years.  I keep writing "Return To Sender, no longer at this address" every year and they keep on coming.  I discovered the addressee has actually died several years ago so I now keep writing "Deceased" also on the envelope but it gets me nowhere.  Do Royal Mail ever actually deliver these or do they just bin them?

They do deliver at least some.
I forgot to update an address,  I got an e-mail saying they had my letter returned and could I supply new address.

born_again

pseudodox said:

I have been getting annual bank statements for a previous occupier for 19 years.  I keep writing "Return To Sender, no longer at this address" every year and they keep on coming.  I discovered the addressee has actually died several years ago so I now keep writing "Deceased" also on the envelope but it gets me nowhere.  Do Royal Mail ever actually deliver these or do they just bin them?

Once bank has received a few back, they should mark customer as gone away & stop sending post out to them. But given they are deceased, makes you wonder if bank was ever informed of this.  

Brie

Some organisations are very interested to know if someone has died as it can help them cut their losses.  Where they are paying money out (i.e. monthly pension etc) they will be very quick to stop those payments if they think the person has died.  Obviously if the person is still alive they are likely to also act very quickly to contact the company to find out why their income has been stopped.  And then give their new address and that bit of the problem is solved.  

Other companies (catalogues etc) won't give a monkey's who they are sending the post to as there's always a chance that the new resident will say "oh look!!  A Damart catalogue!!  Gee I'd really love some thermal knickers!!!" and thus the company gets a new customer.  Others will stop sending after X years if no one from the address purchases anything.  

It's the Christmas cards that bug me though - presumably the former owners of our place are still mailing cards to all their old friends (without a return address) otherwise their friends wouldn't keep sending them cards to our house (also without a return address).  

CliveOfIndia

Brie said:

It's the Christmas cards that bug me though - presumably the former owners of our place are still mailing cards to all their old friends (without a return address) otherwise their friends wouldn't keep sending them cards to our house (also without a return address).  

This gets me as well.  The previous occupants of our house were, I think, pretty good at updating their address, as we've never really had "important" stuff coming through for them.  But every Christmas there's just one card that comes for them.  No return address or anything.  After about 9 or ten years or so, I opened the card that came, on the offchance that there might be a message or address inside.  Sadly, nothing apart from "Love from Aunty Doris" or some-such.

It doesn't bother me in the slightest, but it makes me sad to think that some long-lost relative is wondering why they don't get a card from their nephew/niece, when they send one every year.

Dunno, maybe they do - and the previous owners of our house are thinking "We send a card to Aunty Doris every year as she never sends us one" !