To ask what the hell I do in this situation?

[Keremy]

Ok long story short. I have lived in our flat for 15 years. Our house is converted into 3 flats. One is long term empty, one is ours and one is occupied by a woman who moved in three years ago but hasn't been living there properly for at least two of the three years but is still registered as the tenant.

Anyway at the weekend I had nipped out and the son of the woman above left a message at the property with my friend who was at our house visiting thinking she was the new tenant of his Mums property as he thinks she has moved.

The woman above has been seemingly allowing her son to use the address to claim car insurance, he told my friend that he used to live at the property with his Mum (which I don't think is true as I have never seen him and the first post in his name arrived three weeks ago) and that he had had an accident in his car and needed the letters coming from his car insurance to sort his claim as he had fell out with his Mum and hadn't been able to contact her.

My friend was asked to forward any letters that came to an address.
I suspect his Mum has been allowing him to use her address for insurance as we live in a village and he lives in inner city London.

I am mightily pissed off at being dragged into this.
If I do send the letters when they come then I might be complicit to insurance fraud!
If I don't send them then I am assuming this man (who I have been previously told VERY bad things about) will keep returning

What the hell am I meant to do

[SuperManStoleMyPants]

Pop them back in the post box with not known at this address and deny you ever got any.

[Allthewaves]

Do you have communal post area?

[KinkyAfro]

Agree with Super not your problem

[Keremy]

Even though they are addressed to a flat other than mine Super?

We have a shared front door between all three flats hence why I can see the post in the persons name. We stick post for the other flats than ours on a little shelf behind the door. The woman initially started spending nights with her new partner and then more and more until she didn't actually seem to be living here although she was coming back for her post regularly until around October. There is at least three months of post behind the door currently for her.

[Celticlassie]

Ignore any post that's not yours.

[ChazsBrilliantAttitude]

What a shame you didn't get the message that he left with a random person and so didn't forward his mail.

[Charlottelouisa]

You shouldn't get involved , just let him have the post ... if his mum is the tenant then it is up to her if her son is using the address for car insurance. It's hardly the crime of the century

[KimmySchmidtsSmile]

Empty cardboard box, put them in there, wait for him to come back. If he has access he can take the box. If he hasn't and buzzes you, tell him to pay the P.O. for redirecting as someone said above, but you will not be redirecting as you know he doesn't live there and never has.

[KimmySchmidtsSmile]

^ Sorry. Just caught up. Add them to the little shelf. Or if you know they are his cos insurance co. is on the envelope, separate box.
Are you worried about where his mum is?

[Littledrummergirl]

You don't know your friend. Message, what message? Send them back as not known at this address. Apologise loads if he comes to collect with your best innocent I know nothing face.

[Birdsgottafly]

It isn't your mail to do anything with. So do what you would normally and put them on the little shelf.

Otherwise you're involving yourself more than you need to.

[slanleat]

just add any post for her flat to the post already there.

[PlumsGalore]

I agree with PP, if the son ever comes back to query you never got a message to forward mail and would rather not take responsibility for the same. It would be up to him to arrange mail redirection.

[Allthewaves]

Just stick it on the shelf then if it's not yours

[BarbaraofSeville]

if his mum is the tenant then it is up to her if her son is using the address for car insurance. It's hardly the crime of the century

You may consider it to be hardly the crime of the century, but the insurance company will consider it to be insurance fraud and is one of the reasons that we all pay more than we should for insurance.

The OP has said that they live in a village (so low risk for car insurance) and the young man in question actually lives in central London (so much higher risk of accident, damage or theft). So he has lied to his insurance company for the purposes of reducing his insurance premium.

It is likely that investigations by his insurance company will uncover the deception and his insurance will be invalid. Earlier this year I witnessed an accident that has turned into a whole complicated mess partly because the person who caused the accident had told his insurance company that he lived with his grandmother in rural Scotland when in fact he lived in a deprived city in northern England.

He also lied about his occupation presumably to also reduce his premium. It is over six months since the accident and I am still getting calls asking for information so it appears that the insurance companies still haven't sorted the claim.

[Lorelei76]

don't worry about it
you never got the message or maybe didn't understand it

you could just leave the letters on the shelf. They aren;t coming to your address so it's not your issue.

he might reappear but if he does, then tell him you are not the mail redirection service. I'm the type who doesn't answer the door unless I'm expecting someone though, so I wouldn't end up talking to him anyway.

[zoemaguire]

But it's not for your address? Surely you do whatever you'd do with any other post addressed to the other flat?

[Jux]

Just put on the shelf and let him come to collect, feign ignorance, and don't get involved.

We used to get mail for all sorts here. We'd been asked by the previous owner to hang onto it and she'd come and pick up. That was fine, but she only came about once a year. We would also get mail for people we'd never heard of, clearly red bills, and then the bailiffs started turning up. Easy to deal with as they didn't want us and it was easy to prove who we were, but it was a pain.

[harderandharder2breathe]

Return to sender if you see them, or leave for his mum to deal with

[BarbaraofSeville]

To answer the OPs question, I would probably just put any mail for the other flat in the pile but not put any effort into sorting mail or letting him into the building.

I don't think the OP can be considered to be an accessory to insurance fraud by simply handing letters over though.

If the insurance company has concerns about his honesty there are lots of ways that they can catch him out, such as ANPR cameras or mobile phone data - they can basically track the movements of us and our cars day to day and if he spends more time driving round London than he does the OPs village, it won't take them long to work out where he actually lives.

[OurBlanche]

OP - he didn't talk to you, so you have absolutely no idea about any of this!

Just keep building that pile of post!

If they ask he will know it wasn't you, or any new tenant of his mum's, he spoke to. So that means, for you, it just didn't happen!!

[Keremy]

Thanks all,
I will put them on the shelf with the others and just say I didn't get the message if he turns up again.

I know it is not the 'crime of the century' Charlotte but if I just post it back to him he has no incentive to change it to the correct address and what if he wipes someones car out or police get involved and he is still using here.

I suffer from anxiety and don't need this rubbish.

[CryingShame]

"The new tenant upstairs" didn't tell you anything about car insurance letters and indeed you weren't even aware there was a new tenant upstairs [cough].

Job done.

You don't even need to send post back to sender, just bung it through the mother's letter box.

[LittleStripyBee]

Personally I would return to sender as not known at this address, he doesn't live there therefore that's the correct thing to do.