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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to charge a handling fee / write DEAD on this post!

48 replies

WyldChyld · 01/10/2015 16:59

Okay, so I'm not fully serious... sort of

We moved into our house six months ago. The agreement that we had with the last occupiers were that they were getting their post redirected (as did we) but that because of issues they had with getting the redirection bought, we would keep their post for the first few weeks and they would collect.

Six months down the line, we are still inundated with post. They haven't put a redirection on but more annoyingly, I don't think they have changed their bloody address on anything! We have had letters from the kids schools, bank statements, subscription magazines and catalogues, stuff from their insurance companies... The list never ends

We handed over mail for the first two months - the agreement was I would text her when we had too much and he would ask a friend to collect and pass it on (moved out of area). Since then, I have been writing "not at address" and putting been in the post but it never ends. I'm sick of being a post lady - they get more than us! If it was occasional, i wouldn't mind...

So, AIBU to sue them for nuisance / charge a fee / declare them dead???

OP posts:
Original poster
WyldChyld · 01/10/2015 17:00

Apologies for spelling, fat fingers and a small phone!

OP posts:
ohmyeyebettymartin · 01/10/2015 17:02

If you keep writing "left address, return to sender, please change your records" it will eventually end voice of bitter experience

ohmyeyebettymartin · 01/10/2015 17:03

If you have their new address you can write it on the mail and put it in the post, it will be sent to them. Not a long-term solution but it means you don't need to keep things for them.

OurBlanche · 01/10/2015 17:03

^^ it is annoying but does eventually work.

Pooseyfrumpture · 01/10/2015 17:03

Do you have their new address?
Just stick it all in a big envelope. Without a stamp.

PeasinPod1 · 01/10/2015 17:04

I get mail from our past owners 3+ years on most days, including cheques, I now just throw them away. They know we get their mail as my DH has even kindly met him and handed an important letter over, so grave error on their behalf and far too time consuming to even re-post every one that comes through the door (most days). You have my sympathy, If you have her number I'd send a final text to say she has say 1 month to organise re-direction otherwise all mail goes in bin.

Catzpyjamas · 01/10/2015 17:07

If you register with the Mail Preference. Service their mail should eventually stop coming to you.

OurBlanche · 01/10/2015 17:08

Oh! My best was to collect it all for a while, sort it into piles, then, tape each senders letters together and put it back in the post with:

Return to Sender
Sender, please note that I have returned a lot of post for this individual. THEY NO LONGER RESIDE HERE. PLEASE UPDATE YOUR RECORDS.

I got a note from the old occupant telling me I was an unreasonable bitch. I laminated it and stuck it to the door, asking the postman not to post any more of their letters, please. I think he Dead Lettered everything after that, so now all their post will be in Belfast Smile

feckitall · 01/10/2015 17:09

We had letters for years for previous tenants x 2...it has only recently stopped...years of 'not known at this address' 'return to sender' ..after 13 flippin years...also had bailiffs, debt collectors etc

I contacted the local police support because we suspected bloody knew that the address was being used fraudulently..they were not interested

I feel your pain..you may have a while to go yet
Grin

Original poster
WyldChyld · 01/10/2015 17:10

Not got their new address (annoying). 3 years?!?! Christ... I'm tempted to phone and give her hell because it's just so unreasonable! Will definitely register with the MPS

OP posts:
WorkingItOutAsIGo · 01/10/2015 17:12

I feel your pain! Four years here and I get letters most days for the previous owners. I would always be worried about the possibility of fraud if people don't redirect important financial mail - they could be using your address for financial deception. It sounds odd they haven't given you their address to forward mail to. I have printed some labels saying return to sender so at least I no longer resent the time it takes to hand write it on five or six letters a week.

CigarsofthePharoahs · 01/10/2015 17:20

We have moved twice in the last ten years and have had the same problem. In our previous house it was, in the end, mostly outstanding debt letters including threats from bailiffs. We returned to sender and even rang one of the companies sending the letters and the frequency would die down for a bit but would then start up again. They were still arriving when we left, after 7 years!
In our current house they clearly didn't redirect anything, car tax, insurance, letters from employers and all sorts. One day some policemen turned up looking for them! I just returned everything to sender for about a year before then just disposing of everything. It's been nearly 3 years and we've not had anything through for quite a few months.

HeighHoghItsBacktoWorkIGo · 01/10/2015 17:26

We are still getting mail 8 years later! If it looks like proper post we forward it on. If it is obvious junk mail, we throw it away.

Catzpyjamas · 01/10/2015 17:27

The reason we registered with MPS was because the previous occupant's DS applied for a credit card and the letter came here.Hmm I had returned to sender and the credit card company wrote to us as Current Occupier and told us about it. We then had to check our credit reports and he showed up as linked to us. Took a while to unravel that one. After MPS registration all their mail and junk mail stopped within a month or so.

AlpacaLypse · 01/10/2015 17:32

I win! SIXTEEN YEARS!!!

After five or so years, I gave up in disgust and just binned it.

They'd shafted us royally in the house buying process so my sympathy levels were always on the low side.

I did make the time to contact a very small local charity that was sending hand stamped appeal letters to them though.

ImperialBlether · 01/10/2015 17:34

But if you have her phone number, why haven't you just phoned her?

Comingfoccacia · 01/10/2015 17:45

I did return to sender and it eventually stopped. Did help living a stones throw from a post box. The only things we get now are an xmas card from aunty Eileen (we add to it to our own collection - though feel sad that said aunty has no idea they've moved!) and a periodic smear test reminder from the GP.

tectonicplates · 01/10/2015 17:46

OP, if they haven't even changed their address on their bank statements, that sounds dodgy to me. Like many other people, I once had a debt collector turn up at my door for someone who no longer lived there. I would definitely recommend returning to sender.

Thefuckinggrinch · 01/10/2015 17:51

I kept things for a while now I just return to sender the odd bit that gets through. It's all junk though.

It is not always easy as it sounds to change from our experience. We changed our address when we first moved. With a couple of banks it has taken several phone calls and up to TWO YEARS for them to actually change it. A bank we have several accounts with have been writing to us about an old savings account at our old address STILL and we've sent change of address letters in, called and gone into a branch.... They have changed most accounts but not all. Seems the system doesn't just update everything we have Hmm

Ishtar2410 · 01/10/2015 17:51

We still get pensions information for the previous owner of our house. We've been here 8 years. For a while we had all mail - and by a while I mean 18 months - I took it into the estate agents for the first month or so and, when they started getting annoyed, I returned all items to sender.

Almost a year in I had their son on the door looking for his car tax reminder - he was angry mildly annoyed that I didn't have it, 'how am I supposed to tax my car?' Hmm. Not my problem. Strangely enough, after that most of the mail stopped coming.

The bailiffs stopped after a couple of years too.

Bombaybunty · 01/10/2015 17:55

We still get mail for the previous owner of our house. We've been here three years now.

Sadly the previous owner dies. At first I put "no longer at this address", these days I just write "deceased" on the envelope and stick it back in the post box.

Original poster
WyldChyld · 01/10/2015 17:58

I haven't phoned her as she's a total pain in the arse, to be honest, and is completely insistent that they 100% have had their mail sorted (despite telling our neighbours they weren't going to bother). Whenever I have previously phoned and said "CHANGE YOUR ADDRESS!" I get an earful of woe and excuses...

OP posts:
Redglitter · 01/10/2015 18:05

I had this problem for ages when I moved house. I ended up opening the mail as it came in and phoning the company to let them know she'd moved. Phoning was far more effective than returning the mail. It pretty much all stopped after I phoned everyone

I'd take great delight in phoning and passing on her new address if she appears to be trying to avoid people

Rattitude · 01/10/2015 18:08

After 24 years in my house, I now only get an annual pensions statement for the previous owners. I returned it to the sender a few times, recently writing on the letter that they had not lived at this address for the past 16,17,18 years... I now just bin it.

WutheringFrights · 01/10/2015 18:08

When we moved exactly the same thing happened
After about a month the postie knocked on and asked if we had contact with previous owners as they obviously hadn't redirected their mail.
I said we didn't even know where they'd moved to so he said he'd return all their post from that point on.