Post and loan applications from family that have moved out

Advice needed, a family member moved out 18 months ago after we bought their share of the house (my husband and this person inherited the house) and still has her post sent to the house this includes loan applications and various requests from companies advising her to pay her outstanding bills. Most of the post we can send back but some does not have a return address so we have to open it, she is currently living in a caravan so does not have an address and is still using this one. Not only am I fed up of receiving her post but she has also told the caravan park that this is her address and unless she tells then otherwise they will not change it, she is in arrears with them as well.

Comments

  • Not much you can do apart from keep on returning the post.
  • DCFC79
    DCFC79 Posts: 40,598
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    SJWW wrote: »
    Advice needed, a family member moved out 18 months ago after we bought their share of the house (my husband and this person inherited the house) and still has her post sent to the house this includes loan applications and various requests from companies advising her to pay her outstanding bills. Most of the post we can send back but some does not have a return address so we have to open it, she is currently living in a caravan so does not have an address and is still using this one. Not only am I fed up of receiving her post but she has also told the caravan park that this is her address and unless she tells then otherwise they will not change it, she is in arrears with them as well.


    You have 2 options, you can talk to her about or carry on putting the post back in the post box marked as return to sender.


    Ive never seen an envelope from a bank that doesn't have a return address on it.
  • If she's living on a caravan park permanently then she DOES have an address, no? If just talking to her and telling her to stop using your address as an "office" isn't going to work, then personally I'd be sticking everything back in the post with "not at this address since X date" written on the envelope. I'd also be writing formally to the caravan park with a copy of the register of title for the property stating that she is NOT resident at your address and that your address should not be used for communication with her.
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  • yksi
    yksi Posts: 1,024
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    Hopefully you can reason with the caravan park and tell them you're getting mail for this person but she doesn't live here. She's told them that she has a permanent address (yours) in order to get around the rule that says she cannot live permanently in the caravan park. That's a condition of their operation, so they wouldn't want to be annoying the council by failing to comply. They should be chasing her to prove her permanent address, which she won't be able to do because you can continue to bin or return her mail. Ordinarily I wouldn't suggest this with a family member but it's been more than a year and she has been rude enough not to sort this out!
  • Do not open post addressed to others. The Postal Services Act of 2011 is clear that a person is committing an offence if they deliberately open post which they know or suspect has been incorrectly delivered to them or was not intended for them.

    Official Post Office advice states;
    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 (I assume) you do not work for the Post Office then you are not responsible for resolving the situation. By all means follow Essex H's sound advice and add the date she was gone away, especially if you think her various activities might start to damaged your credit history.

    Finally, depending on where you live, you might want to contact your local council and update them on the household's change circumstances. Not all councils are interested beyond Single Persons Allowance (which probably doesn't apply here from what you've said) but some do allow you to say someone has moved in or out. It can't hurt to have another record of the change in circumstances lodged elsewhere.
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  • sourcrates
    sourcrates Posts: 28,711
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    glennstar wrote: »
    Do not open post addressed to others. The Postal Services Act of 2011 is clear that a person is committing an offence if they deliberately open post which they know or suspect has been incorrectly delivered to them or was not intended for them.

    Official Post Office advice states;


    As (I assume) you do not work for the Post Office then you are not responsible for resolving the situation. By all means follow Essex H's sound advice and add the date she was gone away, especially if you think her various activities might start to damaged your credit history.

    Finally, depending on where you live, you might want to contact your local council and update them on the household's change circumstances. Not all councils are interested beyond Single Persons Allowance (which probably doesn't apply here from what you've said) but some do allow you to say someone has moved in or out. It can't hurt to have another record of the change in circumstances lodged elsewhere.

    This only applies if you have malicious intent, opening letters in order to find return addresses is not malicious intent.
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  • glennstar
    glennstar Posts: 282
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    sourcrates wrote: »
    This only applies if you have malicious intent, opening letters in order to find return addresses is not malicious intent.

    I believe you have to demonstrate a 'reasonable excuse'. I can't see that a reasonable excuse has been demonstrated in this case, especially in the instances where the return address is obviously visible.
    The views expressed here are my own. I am not a Solicitor nor am I affiliated with any of the parties I mention. If you disagree with any of my comments please say in whatever way feels most natural to you. No one self improves in a bubble!
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