Opened previous owners mail

[justalittlelemondrizzle]

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.

I got a telling off from the police about opening someone else's mail. I can't remember why they got involved - I think it was because the letters were getting relly threatening and I couldn't stop the companies sending them. Some bloke even showed up at the door with a made up story before coming clean and saying he was trying to find the previous occupant becase he worked with him and he'd stolen loads of money from the business and him personally. He suggested a town where this man might be.

It didn't help that my flat was horribly creepy (only moved I as was homeless). It gradually got better but whenever I got cross about the letters or decided to call the companies with the new information about the guy's whereabouts, something creepy happened in my flat (even furniture moving!) I'd also gleaned that his wife had died suddenly, in the actual flat. Also the police knew about the flat ("Oh, the one with xyz interior feature...") but obviously wouldn't say why. My overactive imagination filled in the rest of it! I still live in the same flat but it's lovely now and letters have finally stopped.

OP, if it's for offspring of obviously inconsiderate people, it may be worth trying to get it to them - via estate egents or even facebook as mentioned. Otherwise keep hold for a while then give to charity (unless you're seriously skint).

If you are getting car tax reminders for the previous owners, then contact the dvla. It's illegal to have a vehicle not registered to your present address.

The previous owners of our house didn't bother to redirect their mail and after a year, even the tax disc for one of their cars turned up in our letter box. They sent a mate round to sheepishly pick it up, but when we looked into it, we realised that it could actually be quite awkward for us if the car was involved in a crime or accident.

Wow so shocking so many people telling her to keep money what was sent for a child, I would try my upmost best to get that money back to them!

Contact the estate agent!

When my brother moved house I completely forgot to update the address in my address book, and twice sent cards with money in, to him in April and to SIL in May, and first time we thought it had perhaps been stolen in the sorting office, second time I realized my mistake.

My brother went and knocked on the door and the new tenant denied ever receiving anything, I was pretty upset at her dishonesty but of course it was my own fault for sending to the wrong address!

These mistakes do happen and I think honesty is the best policy. If you have no luck with estate agents and Facebook etc, pop the money back in the card and if in 12 months you've heard nothing, treat yourself.

The previous tenants of my flat (I bought from a landlord) very snottily refused to give me a forwarding address.

I initially sent their mail to the vendors solicitor but they got hacked off so e.mailed the tenants stating that they weren't prepared to continue forwarding this volume of mail and asked them to either set up a mail redirection or give permission for their forwarding address to be disclosed directly to me.

The e.mail the tenants wrote in return is priceless. (Vendors solicitor was by this point getting fairly hacked off so simply forwarded it to me). They said that the only mail they would receive from now onwards would be junk mail and they were surprised that I didn't know that I could just mark it "not known -return to sender" and would be grateful if the solicitor could instruct me how to do that.

I have since taken great delight in sending HMRC documents, his P60, their health insurance policy details (opened that one in error as I have life insurance with the same company) and a new credit card (could feel it through the envelope back) back to the senders. I've carefully labelled each envelope "no forwarding address provided". If I got cash in similar circumstances I would be tempted to just keep it.

Fucking muppets (the old tenants). They are both junior in their professional fields and should have known better than to be so pompous and to think they had informed every organisation especially at the end of the tax year. Six months on I'm still getting mail via my mail redirect from places I'd forgotten about or had contacted but who have taken time to put the change on their system.

Ontheturning that was cheeky of the police to tell you off, it's none of their business

I've moved many times- estate agents won't do anything. Gets it off your desk though I guess!

I would put the letter in a drawer in case someone claims it. I wouldn't waste my time and energy trying to track someone down, these people are grown ups and should know to tell people about their address.

RTFT! Op has said that the previous owners had grown up children. And she has no way of getting the fifty quid to them.
You are doing right thing op, hang onto it in case they come knocking.

In RL, people would probably just keep it if you don't have a forwarding address. They haven't bothered to change their address, tough shit!

I've just been through the same thing. Vendor moved out, didn't tell anyone or change a single thing. All utilities were informed by us. She left a note on the side asking we forward post to her DD's address. It was clear nothing had been changed, we had a lot of important letters turn up. Then the (adult) son's stuff started turnI g up too and he hadn't even lived here, DVLA letters, HMRC letter about paying tax as he was self employed. All of his went back return to sender. I forwarded the vendors for about 6 weeks then it went return to sender. I'm not going out of my way for people who can't be bothered to make a few phonecalls.

Furniture Village are very persistent. 3 or 4 times I've posted their leaflets back saying person doesn't live here and can our address be removed. My messages have got more irate with each leaflet. Haven't had one for a while and it is very slowly stopping.

What gets me is the vendors DH passed away a few years before she moved out and odd bits of post turn up for him too! Including one from the hospital about a hearing aid check. You would have thought they would know he had died!

You contact the estate agent and ask them to forward it! I can't believe anyone would do otherwise. You have the means to get it to the right person.

When we moved we set up a redirect for over a year to make sure we captured everything. The previous owners of our house were too lazy to do that - the first lot went to the estate agent to forward on, after that everything was marked not known at this address and now it goes in the bin.

Mistakes do happen. We have in the last year received cards for the previous owners - a mere 11 years since they sold us the house. Someone must be using an old address book. I opened them to see if there was a return address but there wasn't.

I've been told by estate agents they only return to sender. They're hardly going to provide a free forwarding service are they?

I'd spend it myself, right now tbh.

Royal Mail charge for the forwarding service when you move. It is not a free service provided by estate agents. The previous owners clearly decided not to use the Royal Mail s ervice and it's now cost them £50. Not the ops fault.

Wow, I'm actually quite shocked that people would keep £50 that didn't belong to them.

We moved unexpectedly just before Christmas and a couple of Amazon deliveries from relatives overseas went to our old address. Our buyers brought them round but were quite miffed until we explained what had happened.

About three years later one of our customers (we run a business from home)sent a payment of £2000 to our old address. Again our buyers brought it round. They were young and skint (and the lad was a bit rough) but it's just what decent people do surely?

Tinklylittlelaugh, How can the op take the £50 round when she doesn't know where the people live?
The advice given on the thread is based in the premise that the op has no forwarding details. Advice would likely be different if she did.
What do you propose the op does?
In your post, th address details for forwarding were known. In this case they are not.
I wish people would read the bloody thread!!

I don't think that Op should keep the money or give it away as it clearly isn't meant for her.

It's probably not the fault of either the sender or the addressee that it's gone to the wrong address, so I would probably put a little effort into trying to unite money/card & rightful owner.

I would keep hold of the card and cash for now, just in case they call round for it.

Ask the estate agents for the forwarding address of the previous occupant. They might not give it to you, but you can ask.

Then, save up all of the mail that comes through for them (I would probably save junk leaflets and free newspapers too). Wait till it is a big wodge of paper and put it in an envelope addressed either to the previous occupant or the agent if they refuse to give you the address.

DO NOT PUT A STAMP ON IT.

In my area you have to collect items with underpaid postage from the sorting office so this will fuck them right off and hopefully get them to update their address. Worked like a charm for me!

I would either put the £50 in a charity tin or spend it.

It's not your responabillity to track them down on Facebook, via estate agents etc. If this person is sending money on birthdays why didn't they tell them when they moved.

I hate it when people moved and just can't be arsed to change addresses and expect you to forward post. I remember when I brought my house the last owners fought I was going to keep post and they could come and collect it every now and then, umm No use Royal Mail re direct service and change addresses everywhere.

As above, the OP could try facebook, her estate agent, her solicitor. We didn't leave our buyers a forwarding address (paid to have our mail readdressed for about a year because of the business) but they managed to work it out.

Maybe take your own advice and read my post? Nowhere in my post have I said address details for forwarding were known.

It's now been a year since the previous owners moved out. Even the friendliest estate agent is going to be pissed off at still having to forward mail.

Ours only forwarded stuff on a couple of times right at the beginning and didn't want to know after that.

It is the responsibility of the previous owners to arrange mail forwarding not the op. They chose not to do so. Their problem.

It's a criminal offence to open someone's mail

Out of interest, has there ever been a single case of someone being arrested for opening mail addressed to a someone else?

We sometimes get mail addressed to random people who have never lived at the property (it's been in the family since 1954, so I know exactly who has lived here for the last 60+ years).

I open it. If some fucker is using my address I want to know why.

I would contact the estate agency