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Original poster

Opened previous owners mail

260 replies

justalittlelemondrizzle · 30/06/2016 11:21

Since buying the house almost a year ago we have recieved all the old owners mail. Everything from car insurance and bank statements to birthday cards and junk mail. I've been returning everything to sender and for the last couple of months letters have greatly reduced and have almost stopped. It was my birthday the other day and today a birthday card came in the post. I didn't look at the name on the envelope as it was clearly a birthday card so just opened it like a giddy child wondering who it could be from. Well it wasn't for me but the previous owners son and £50 fell out. I'm not sure what to do. I have no forwarding address and I can't return this to sender.

OP posts:
Filosofikal · 03/07/2016 20:07

Lol at this thread.

😇 My halo isn't that shiney but I couldn't bring myself to keep the money. It's not the poor lads fault his parents are not organised enough to arrange for their post to be redirected.

I'd find out his address. I love a challenge and I'd scour the Internet and track him down Wink Otherwise, I'd do as the OP is planning which is to put it to one side for a while. Maybe she can open some more mail of theirs to find out some more clues to their identity.

LastLunchMommy · 03/07/2016 20:07

find them on FB and send the money to the person it belongs to otherwise you are being a thief.

RaspberryOverload · 03/07/2016 20:11

CocktailQueen Sun 03-Jul-16 19:52:33

No forwarding address, and OP hasn't stolen the money.

She's holding on to it to see if they come to find it. And is returning as much to Sender as she can. She doesn't have any clue to aid a search, and quite frankly, as they haven't bothered to sort the address nearly a year after moving, I have little sympathy for the intended recipient.

RaspberryOverload · 03/07/2016 20:11

LastLunchMommy OP's tried FB without success.

user1467491951 · 03/07/2016 20:13

Find out where live, put a sticker on a pushbike, call yourself a courier, and charge them 50 quid for the privilege of delivery.

AdultingIsNotWhatIExpected · 03/07/2016 20:18

This has probably already been said as I've not RTFT

But if you bought the house from them, then your solicitor will have the contact details of their solicitor who will have their forwarding address. They won't give it to you, but they'll pass on a message for you

theDudesmummy · 03/07/2016 20:22

When we moved we actually swapped house with another family. Did the whole redirection thing with Royal Mail, for a year, and by then there was vitrtually nothing still addressed to us at old address, so we stopped it. They must have also done redirection as we were not getting anything of theirs.

Months later a couple of letters for us turned up at our old address (friends from abroad, a forgotten insurance policy, happy birthday to the (now deceased) cat from some pet-related advertisers, things like that). Maybe three or four letters over a few months. The guy got really snippy, texting that we should come round and collect our mail immediately and they were not a forwarding service, quite rude. We apologised and fetched the mail.

After that we have received quite a number of letters for them, we have been here five years and still get some occasionally. Some even look official (banks, pension companies etc). They go right in the bin!

MumsTheWordYouKnow · 03/07/2016 20:23

Strange how they never redirected or at least left an address or contact details. Very odd.

MumsTheWordYouKnow · 03/07/2016 20:25

I think I'd do everything I could to get contact details if there was that much post coming so that I could ask them to sort it out and let them know a lot of mail is coming. Perhaps they were a bit old and senile.

thisonethennomore · 03/07/2016 20:25

When we moved I did rail redirection but some things still got sent to the old address.
I'm part of a life time breast cancer research project, DS got some exam results and some cards all went in the bin. The new owners have our forwarding address and the agents were never contacted.
TBH when I see them around I'm less than friendly.

I'd definitely contact the EA and let them know. It's wrong to take money that isn't rightfully yours.

MrsHathaway · 03/07/2016 20:27

We paid for a year or two of Royal Mail redirect, but it's not perfect. If the address is slightly different from the one on the record (eg Flat 4, Nelson Mandela House instead of 4 Nelson Mandela House) then it doesn't get caught.

Our vendors had four surnames between the five of them and didn't fancy forking out for redirect so for months I drove stuff round to them heavily pg and then with a newborn.

Five years on, we recycle it. Except this week, when her pension statement came yet again (it's obvious from the outside of the envelope). DH saw his arse and is returning to sender with much black pen and passive aggression.

We binned an obvious wedding invitation for them last summer. I felt a bit bad about that - for the bride, not the vendors.

Baileysagain · 03/07/2016 20:32

I found £60 on my hall floor, wasn't ours so wasn't sure what to do, I out it in a safe place and a few weeks later someone knocked on the door and asked if I had found it. Apparently it was intended for them and it was put through our door by accident, sob!

Silvergran68 · 03/07/2016 20:44

I am still receiving a Christmas card each year for a couple who left here at least 15 years ago. It's not the people we bought from but their predecessors. Never been any information as to who sends it apart from first names. No money in there though!

Liara · 03/07/2016 20:50

I've moved many times and although I have always paid for redirect for 6 months and informed everyone I can think of that I moved invariably the next occupants got mail from me.

I've since given up, and inform the next occupants to feel free to bin anything that arrives. It is not their problem that some organisations seem unable to process changes of address.

I have had one house for over 10 years and I still get stuff for the previous occupant, despite having returned things systematically saying they are not at this address.

It's not always the fault of those who have left.

Tigger365 · 03/07/2016 21:14

I had this problem. Birthday card for a little girl. No return address.
Father had done a moonlight flit, no forwarding address, nothing on Facebook looked 'right' so I left it on the side for 6 months, then used the money to buy supplies for the food bank collection and rspca collection.
I would maybe have made more effort had we not had 4 different bailiffs and a set of police with court bailiffs arrive on our doorstep.

dibs1973 · 03/07/2016 21:46

Could you not google previous occupants name and your current address, may well pop up on 192 or white pages x

teejayem · 03/07/2016 21:57

I'm currently being harassed by bailiffs (actually court officer ones) trying to collect unpaid parking fines and Christ knows what else from the previous tenant of our house. They've turned up at 6am trying to seize his car which is apparently still registered here. I'm not frightened by them, but they do give me the fucking arse ache. So when a cheque for said previous tenant for £600 arrived last year for an insurance payout I was sorely tempted to try and stick it in the auto machine at the bank and see what would happen but I tore it up. Roll on 6 months and he's been sent another bloody cheque because he didn't cash the last one. Yes I open his mail, he had the commonsense to change his bank / credit card address, all we get is car related stuff and he gets around five parking tickets a week, the letters have pictures of the tickets stuck to his car. I've asked my landlord for a forwarding address but he doesn't have one, so now that cheque is on our pin board for me to throw fucking darts at.

fragsjones · 03/07/2016 22:07

OP has looked on Facebook which is the first thing I'd do.
I'd check 192.com which has helped in the past but nowadays there is little free info on there and I would not pay.
I would not take it to the police, EA or sols because it will just sit there or get spent on the office party.
Depending on where you are living neighbours simply don't know their neighbours- when in terraced housing we only knew the immediate neighbours either side and one of those only because I used to work with him!
If my searches found nothing I'd put it in a drawer and then if no one comes asking I'd spend it on the kids at Christmas.
A year before we sold I contacted numerous companies to make sure we were off mailing lists and by the time we came to sell very little junk mail came to us, I then used RM redirect which only a couple of forgotten things came through as I immediately contacted all banks etc.
The previous owners of our house are still local and I see her regularly so passed on lots of mail (they clearly paid for the shortest redirect period) but 5 yrs on we still get mail that is 'important' and not junk and it is bloody annoying! I did a few return to senders but then started to open the mail and email the companies myself which stopped it as the return to sender wasn't working.

I have found the owners of birthday cards (no money sadly) that have been posted when at our old address because i had the time and was curious as my house had been empty for 9yrs before I owned it and I had it for 10yrs! We do have some daft postmen in our area though that can't get correctly addressed mail to the right location!

I have handed in found wallets etc to the police and if I found an 'item' I'd try and locate its owner or take it to the police but cash in the street is fair game and we have a box at home which we put all found coins in to then spend on holiday - my kids love finding coins and popping them in the box! I recently found a fiver and was really chuffed...sad for whoever lost it but it went on the kids. Incidentally if I found a wad of cash I'd hand that to the police.

Filosofikal · 03/07/2016 22:07

Teejayem. Why don't you contact the DVLA and tell them that you are receiving the previous owners fines etc it would only take a few minutes Confused

fragsjones · 03/07/2016 22:11

Oh and my sister suddenly started to get mail for a man whilst she was renovating a property and he was not the past owner - she open the mail as it looked official and it turned out to be court summons...she took it to the courts and police as it turned out the guy had give her address as a false address! Cheeky git!
But, he got a job at my hubby's work (unusual name and big coincidence) so we happily passed this info onto the police! Lol!

PterodactylToenails · 03/07/2016 22:18

I couldn't keep it especially if I knew it was for a child.

Tigger365 · 03/07/2016 22:27

What would you do? toenails

Whistlejackets · 03/07/2016 22:36

The solicitors will have the former owners' new address. Send an email asking them to pass on the message.

No way should you pocket it - Im really surprised at some of the posts on here. That would be theft.

cuddlemonkey2016 · 03/07/2016 22:39

It's hardly a million quid! Some of the responses like hand it to the police for 6 months!

Buy a takeaway and stop worrying! X

hobbisl38 · 03/07/2016 22:49

Bloody hell. Have a bit of class and find a way to send it back. It is really not your 'payment' for forwarding their mail.