Landlord's (wife's) post

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We are private tenants - I'd say we're good tenants (always pay on time, keep the place clean and tidy, anything that breaks we replace with like for like or better) and our landlord is pretty fair (rent is reasonable, he's always responsive if we do need to contact him, was fine about us moving our rent day by two days etc)
The only thing that is driving me POTTY is that, after nearly two years, we are still receiving his wife's post.
Every other day, a letter comes for her. And not just spammy stuff - it looks official. She's in a professional field and we get correspondence from her governing body. Letters with bank return addresses. Phone bills. We mentioned it to our landlord and he just says sorry. We never get anything for him, just her.

Until now we've been putting it in a big envelope once a month a forwarding it on, but AIBU to just stop that and bin it?? Surely after 21 months you should have updated all addresses?

It won't affect your credit rating unless you have any joint accounts with him.

To be honest I'd just shove it in a box and let them collect it or not. It's not exactly causing you great hardship.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions so far. I've tried texting him every time she gets on saying we'll keep it for her, but he just asks us to send it on every time. I'll just stop letting them know and he can pick it up whenever he comes for an inspection.

@NewYearNewMe18 and @19lottie82 actually, after doing it around 20 times, it is. Just like most people, DP and I have enough on our to-do lists without having to duplicate the postman's work. Would you expect someone to still be sending your mail on 20 months after you moved out? I certainly wouldn't!

And council tax etc is all in our name. We're thinking about buying soon so keeping a keen eye on both our credit scores, no worries there!

They're child free and in their 60s so no need for a school place.

It's not the biggest hardship no, we have bigger problems. It's just annoying! I'm a PA IRL so someone actually pays me to do this kind of stuff for them, and she's just getting me services for free (joke)

Sounds like she's not registered where they currently live for some reason.

How much does it cost you to send it on? Even if it's only £2/3 a time it's really cheeky to expect you to do that long term.

I'd start marking it return to sender.

To the people suggesting this isn't a big deal, it could seriously affect the OPs credit rating if this is banking stuff.

^ THIS!

It doesn't affect your credit rating if you aren't financially connected in any other way. If it did, nobody could ever safely live in a shared house, or take in a lodger. You need a shared account of some kind to have a financial connection in credit rating terms.

I'd start returning post to sender instead of fw it on, though.

They are playing dirty, I think. She could be pretending to live there to avoid CGT when it comes to sell or perhaps some other income tax avoidance going on. No way would a normal person want all their official stuff going to a rented property.

We had this in the property we just moved out of - post for the LL including court summons, driving fines, mortgage statements all in the last few months before they decided to sell. The letting agent said it was his house he could still have his post delivered there

I would get a big box and put it in that and wait for her to collect it.

This. At present it's not inconveniencing her so she has no incentive to sort it out.

We've been here years and still get the odd thing for the previous owner. He lives nearby and DH usually sticks them through his door after a few weeks I wouldn't bother if it was up to me !

I would just put 'not known at this address' on the mail. For some reason she is still registered as living there (I reckon anyway... Coz why would everything keep coming there?')

This happened to my friend (with her old private let landlady,) for about a year, and long story short, the landlady was registered as still living there with some people/companies, including student finance, who she had told she was single and only on £10K.

She lived with her partner who earned £25K and it would have affected her son's grants and loans. The landlady came unstuck when my friend wrote to student finance and said she wasn't living there and gave her the landlady's address.

My friend left the house soon after!

So yeah, definitely send everything back 'not known.' Or open the mail and ring the companies in question and tell them. Up to you.

It could seriously affect the OPs credit rating if this is banking stuff

No it couldn’t.

When we rented it was in all our tenancy agreements that we would pass on mail to the landlord.

You can't just bin it or return to sender, it's their house you're living in.

It's no hardship to pass a few letters on, alternatively you could look for a new property to rent.

@Cuppaoftea there's nothing in our tenancy agreement, and DP is a solicitor so he's just gone over it with his legal eyes to make sure we're not in breech of contract. It's not a hardship but we're both really bloody busy and tbh it's annoying, I don't go near a postbox day to day so I have to go out of my way. Like I said, would you expect someone to keep posting your stuff to you? If you would, I think that's really entitled.

As (most) people have said, keeping them in a box out of the way is the way to go. Thank you all!

I had no issue passing on post for previous landlords when I was their tenant, why would I? It's not that big an inconvenience. And I'd want to make sure they received any important post straightaway.

Every property we rented we made feel like home but I never lost sight of the fact a rented house wasn't ours. Honestly OP, you sound entitled with your dismissive attitude towards your Landlord's Wife and unwillingness to post on a few letters even though she co-owns the house you live in.

They are probably trying to avoid capital gains tax by appearing to still live there. Not worth annoying them if all else good - it's so difficult to find a good rental property. Just stick them in a box and send on once a month to make it less annoying

@Cuppaoftea I wasn't dismissive for the last 20 or however many months. I have dutifully found an envelope big enough, bought a stamp and walked out of my way to a postbox (bearing in mind I never send letters myself, I have no need to). Not sure how that's entitled. Now, I'm just a bit fed up.

And we pay pretty good money to live in the house she co-owns. It's not like she's doing us a favour by letting us live here, is it?

To the people suggesting this isn't a big deal, it could seriously affect the OPs credit rating if this is banking stuff.

NO IT CAN'T! You have to be financially linked to someone for their credit rating to affect yours, like sharing a mortgage or having a joint account.

OP, just put "RTS, not known at this address" on the letters and when you've got a few, pop them in the postbox. No need for stamps or large envelopes. There are often post boxes in or near supermarkets, or perhaps your partner goes past one?

When the companies get the letters back, they'll stop sending them. It's obvious the landlord and his wife are not going to bother to get the mail redirected.

we pay pretty good money to live in the house she co-owns. It's not like she's doing us a favour by letting us live here, is it?

You pay 'pretty good money' for quiet enjoyment of their property which presumably you have as they're not constantly round to pick up their post.

Like you said in your Op your landlord is willing to do you favours like move your rent day by two days so to keep that easy relationship why wouldn't you keep posting on his Wife's mail.

You've suggested to him keeping the post at your rental property by text but he's asked you to keep passing it on. That's in writing as well as a verbal agreement between you you'll do this. So the least you should do is inform them you'll be keeping it for them to collect from now on as you're fed up and it's too much effort to find a postbox. See if he's so quick to respond to favours you ask in the future . . .

(Amazed at the number of responses saying bin it or return to sender. You do that with previous owners/tenants, not the current owners of the property who confidential letters are being correctly delivered for and have requested they be posted on.)

Why go to all the trouble of getting a big envelope and buying a stamp when you could simply redirect them?

This is how I handle mail that arrives for about 5 different people that used to live at my address.

1. Mark them RTS and write 'No longer at this address. Left xxx months ago."
2. I never make a special trip to post them. I send them off in batches when I remember and this can be 2,3 or 4 weeks after they arrive.

My rationale is, if they can't be arsed to advise everyone of their new address then I can't be arsed to rush down to the letter box.

I still get American Express statements for the previous owner of my house. I've lived here for 20 years.

Why upset your landlord just for the sake of chucking her mail in a box for him to collect. Do you really want to cause this much upset for bits of paper? You could upset her so much she wants you out and then where would you go. The next place may not be half as nice as where you live...

I just want to clarify: this isn't one of two letters a month. It's normal post - it's more post than me and DP get together. It's official letters from banks and professional bodies. It's sometimes enough to need more than one big envelope that doesn't fit in a normal letterbox, so I have to go to the post office and have it weighed and pay more.

As I said, I'm not going to throw it away - I'm going to keep it in a box and say to our landlord if she's expecting anything important to let me know and I'll look out for it.

And @Cuppaoftea you clearly have more time and patience than me. Congratulations, I'm impossibly jealous.

You don't have to pay to re-direct post. You cross out the address, write 'Please re-direct to ' and drop it in a post box. It is time-consuming.

Telling them the quantity is overwhelming and you'll keep it in a box sounds a good plan.

Just return to sender next time you pass a post box stick it in. Her professional body don’t care if she’s renting her house out. As others have said, it won’t affevt your credit rating