AIBU to have opened their mail?

[Mariposa70]

Hi,
Bit of background, we are renting a property and have been for the past year. A little while back I accidentally opened a letter intended for the house owners (she has same initial and I didn't look properly) it was a letter about their mortgage arrears and was threateningo send debt collectors round.
I panicked and informed the house agents, they in turn contacted the owners and explained what had happened (they live in another part of the country so it was a bit suspect that the mortgage company didn't have their proper address)
The agent got back to us and the owners said that whilst they had got behind with the mortgage they had contacted the company and had sorted it all out, lovely.
However, we then get another letter, my partner opened it (yes I know he shouldn't have but we are both worried). This one states that they are starting court action and talks about repossession.
We are worried as we have 2 small children and have been told that as the company seem to think this couple still live here they can break in and change the locks whilst we are out, rendering us homeless.
So aibu to yet again report this to the agent, obviously having to explain how we know?

Just tell the agent it came through the door and you opened it before realising it wasn't addressed to you.

I think you need to make plans to move. Could you ask the agent about contacting the mortgage company so that they know there are tenants in the house? It may help.

Have you contacted the mortgage company to say that they no longer live there?

It could be an admin error on their behalf. If not they will ( if have any sense) start investigating this themselves.

We had similar of someone using our address ( never lived here) and we got threatening letters etc. Make a note on your calendar of dates, take copies of all correspondence. As like you - our bad egg kept reappearing.

They wont discuss anything with you anyway as its not your account. The tenants prob havent updated their contacted details with mortgage company. They wouldnt just stopping sending mail etc just because you say they dont live there anymore as everyone could do that.

I think you had better call the mortgage company, and post them a copy of your tenancy agreement.

Get CAB advice asap, as in tomorrow.

If they repossess, you are out with absolutely NO notice whatsoever.

I wonder if you can pay the rent directly to the mortgage co?

Please double check that your deposit is in a scheme, otherwise you'll lose that too.

I would look for new place though as clearly you dont need the stress!

I'm willing to bet the mortgage co doesn't even know the property's rented.

But if you inform them it goes on the record of contact and can be referred to at a later date. And it covers you better in that you told them.

Obviously the mortgage company cannot tell you anything and may or may not believe you ( thankfully they did in our situation) but it goes on record and the mortgage company can start looking for them through other methods.

Oh crumbs, it makes me feel sick.

Thanks all, yes deposit in a scheme and agent is on our side, he told us not to let anyone in and have tenancy agreement handy in case they come round.

Will ring them and pass on the latest tomorrow.

We really don't want to move as we love this house, but must agree it doesn't look good as the owners told the agent they had paid up and sorted it, which is obviously a lie :(

I would look to move ASAP. I was always advised that anything saying occupier etc should be opened just to stop this happening. Not sure I'd open owner letters would take to estate agent but to honest in this case opening in error is forwarning yourself. Return the letter to the sender with a letter stated opened in error and that you are renting and give them the estate agent details so they can chase the owner. Contact
citizen advice also. Hope its okay. Xxx

This happened to my best friend. She was 38 weeks pregnant at the time when she was evicted. The letting agent did all they could but once it gets to the point of repossession, there isn't much to be done beyond finding you a suitable property to rent. Maybe ask the letting agent to start the ball rolling on that? My friend went to the council to get on the social housing list and due to the situation she got straight to the top of the council house waiting list, bid on a lovely house and got it. Maybe that would be worth a shot if you're really stuck?

Good luck OP.

Thank you all for your great advice.

Will speak to agent again, we really can't afford to move again, it cleaned us out moving here. We would not be able to raise the deposit :( but can see we may have no option.

Seems silly as just before we took it on they had the house on the market, got offered the asking price but turned it down and withdrew it. Then promptly started defaulting on mortgage ???
Why not just sell when they ad the chance?

I would imagine you are getting the post as they have not informed the mortgage company they have rented the property as you are supposed to obtain permission to let and they may have increased the rate. I expect they are not paying tax either, maybe call CAB as well for some advice.

This happened to us. There was some dodgy tax avoidance thing going on...

Our house is now owned by receivers and managed by a new company. I doubt they will sell as they would make a loss and, frankly, we overpay rent. It's worked out well as we've had repairs done that the old owner refused.

Mariposa You can apply for an emergency loan from the DSS....google Department of Social Security and the name of your town...call them tonorrow and ask how to apply for emergency loan...if you get tax credits you should be able to I think...then they let you pay it back very slowly...should get enough for a deposit.

It is illegal to open somebody else's post. Obviously you can always pretend you did it accidentally, but if your story is recognised on here, you've just admitted that it was done on purpose. I'm sorry to hear about the worry you have with your home but I don't think that the end justifies the means in this case.

Surely any legal sanctions for opening the post are less dreadful than the consequences of being unready to meet bailiffs armed with a tenancy agreement and ID? And it doesn't sound as though the LLs were dealing with things until they were "exposed" the first time.

Anyway, who's going to prosecute? The mortgage company may not be pleased if the higher buy to let rate (a positive they've probably been missing out on) pushes the LLs under, but mortgage providers have been exercising discretion and "forbearance" quite widely, meaning they might not he worse off than

than under the current rate.

The thing about opening the post - I have been told that is not strictly accurate. The law is that you cannot open post whilst in transit and if the reason you are opening is not malicious (to enable fraud etc), it is OK.

For instance a letter from a local hospital addressed to a previous tenant (not even the previous tenant to me, no idea where they are) was delivered here. I had opened by mistake and it was about an urgent appointment within a few days so I called the hospital to explain, and they were pleased I had done so.

In the OP's case I think it is more important that they know the truth of what is going on, as the landlords are clearly not going to tell them. Their home is at stake!

You can just return the mortgage letters to the company with a note on the envelope saying that the addressee doesn't live there. Therefore in one movement you are informing them that the mortgage account holder doesn't live at the property and that someone else is. This will mean that they will get in contact with the owners via phone and will likely write the "current occupier" to seek clarification.

In the meantime inform the agent of what you have seen on the letter, as they hold your deposit in trust they may be able to help you move into a similar property and transfer the deposit for you if it comes to that.

I don't think it is illegal to open post that has been deliveredto your house actually.

It is illegal to intercept post, but once it has been delivered (which it has, as soon as it was put through OPs door) anyone can open it.

X-post, sorry had thread open to read and missed your post Nadia

The mortgage company may want to sell, if it comes to repossession, or they may be pleased to have reliable paying tenants. I would contact them urgently to tell them your situation. They can't consider your position if they don't know about it. And I'm sure they will be pleased to have updated details for the owners, if you can pass them on.