NIP for previous owner of house

user1977

Frozen_up_north said:

Okell said:

fatbelly said:

Stop opening his post

Write on the envelope

Not at this address - return to sender

Put in post box

That's daft advice.

The OP is perfectly entitled to open any correspondence that has been correctly delivered to his address.

Not daft advice at all, see the Postal Service Act 2000, which states:

"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"

Yes, but if you read the Act more closely, you'll see that "correctly delivered" refers to the address, nothing to do with the name. The postie has correctly delivered it to the OP (what else are they meant to do with it?). So the criminal offence doesn't even come into it.

There could be different criminal offences if you go on to commit fraud, theft, etc, but merely opening and reading the mail isn't an offence.

Car_54

Frozen_up_north said:

Okell said:

fatbelly said:

Stop opening his post

Write on the envelope

Not at this address - return to sender

Put in post box

That's daft advice.

The OP is perfectly entitled to open any correspondence that has been correctly delivered to his address.

Not daft advice at all, see the Postal Service Act 2000, which states:

"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"

The key words there are "intending to act to a person’s detriment". 

The OP has no such intention; intention, indeed being traced would be to the addressee's benefit.

facade

Frozen_up_north said:

Okell said:

fatbelly said:

Stop opening his post

Write on the envelope

Not at this address - return to sender

Put in post box

That's daft advice.

The OP is perfectly entitled to open any correspondence that has been correctly delivered to his address.

Not daft advice at all, see the Postal Service Act 2000, which states:

"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"

The emphasis is on "incorrectly delivered"

Royal mail deliver to an address not a person. So if it has your address on it, it has been correctly delivered and you can open it. 

(There are also other requirements necessary for the commission of an offence)

If your mum opens and reads your confidential letter, then that in itself is not an offence.

If you want a letter/packet delivered to a person then you have to use services other than standard mail.

Okell

Frozen_up_north said:

Okell said:

fatbelly said:

Stop opening his post

Write on the envelope

Not at this address - return to sender

Put in post box

That's daft advice.

The OP is perfectly entitled to open any correspondence that has been correctly delivered to his address.

Not daft advice at all, see the Postal Service Act 2000, which states:

"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"

Crikey.  Bit like tell me you're a moron without telling me your're a moron.

Don't just quote the words of the statute - read all the words and try to understand what they mean.

TooManyPoints

It is arguable whether s84 applies at all (and I would suggest it does not). That section only applies if the letter has been incorrectly delivered. In this case it has not.

In any case, even if that argument is lost, the OP did not intend any detriment to the addressee (in fact opening it could save him a lot of bother) and he had a reasonable excuse to do so.