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Original poster

Throwing out previous owners post?

65 replies

BabynamehelpArgh · 02/02/2019 13:48

Wondering about the legality of this....

Previous owners moved out over a year ago. Still receive quite a lot of post for them - mainly rubbish ie catalogues but occasionally letters that look official and increasingly severe...I can recognise a dvla one that’s been sent several times now so I know they haven’t noticed them of change of address and from what I can tell are incurring charges for not taxing the car...

We have no forwarding address for them. Initially I re-posted some things saying ‘not known at this address’ but it went on for so long and there was so much I got annoyed, started saving it in a drawer for if they got in touch and they never did. Drawer got full, life got very busy for me and I made decision to throw it all out...have I done anything wrong here (legally not morally!)

Not really relevant but sellers were not pleasant people and screwed us over on several things...

OP posts:
Highonthehill · 02/02/2019 14:37

Oh should say the envelope thing is same for banks.

We had a letter from bank to say we hadn't signed house insurance docs.... we told them we never got it... they had sent to previous address (mortgage with same bank.. idiots) anyway the new owner of old house confirmed they had returned to sender.... bank actually then realised this when they found the docs on our file minus the envelope which hadnt been scanned in...Hmm

Many companies now use electronic postage where the post is scanned in and sent to the relevant department electronically and you have to request the physical document if you need it otherwise it's stored and archived.

londonrach · 02/02/2019 14:41

I just throw it now the not known at this address doesnt work

Cacaca · 02/02/2019 14:43

It’s not quite the same thing but a few months after moving into our new build we started receiving post for someone we’d never heard of. Thinking it was a bit strange as we were the only people to have ever lived at the address we googled the company name on the envelope and turned out it was debt collection firm.

3 letters were returned via post - not known at this address - new build property. After the 4th letter we ended up opening the letter and right enough this unknown person was being chased for debt. Phoned the company, explained the situation and never heard from them again.

SpringForEver · 02/02/2019 14:46

We still get mail for the previous owner. I return to sender.

However have previously opened letters, crossed out the address that appears in the window and stuck a note on or written across it in large letters, Stop sending mail, this person has not lived here for 10 years, or No longer at this address is now living at ....... especially if it is a debt letter. Then put back in the envelope and return it.

If I get another one I repeat the process and add that several letters have been returned with a request to stop and that any further letters will be treated as harassment, they stop then. It is a pain but throwing them away won't stop them.

DarlingNikita · 02/02/2019 14:48

The DVLA stuff I'd send back with a note saying 'not at this address'. The other stuff I'd shove back in a postbox or put in the recycling.

expatmigrant · 02/02/2019 14:48

Yes like others have said. Post them back with a 'no longer at this address'. it will peter out in the end

category12 · 02/02/2019 14:51

You've got a better chance of it actually stopping if you return it to sender. Organisations do get it back and do update their records. If you chuck it in the bin, they're just assuming it's been received and will continue to send.

RomanyRoots · 02/02/2019 14:57

Just scrawl not known or no longer at this address and post it back again.

ellendegeneres · 02/02/2019 14:58

Had debt collectors on my doorstep thanks to the last occupants. I’ve now contacted several debt agencies who’s letters I opened (by accident) and made them aware that they’re not the only debt collector after her and her last known address.

It’s been about 7yrs, I still get the odd ones. Hilariously one is an account she’s forgotten she has which has enough in to pay off her debts. Son opened the letter before I could stop him.

Calling companies has had the best effect for me, they’re catching on that the daft cow isn’t here any more at last

HauntedPencil · 02/02/2019 14:59

I would bin all the marketing stuff and send the important ones back to the sender always.

We had loads to start with here and repeatedly sending them back is working slowly

user1474894224 · 02/02/2019 15:00

Not unreasonable. The previous owners had an actual car delivered here. Then a John Lewis box was delivered....left on the doorstep or we would have refused it. Their son does an activity with my son....so not hard for them to ask for the box....it was never mentioned. After about 3 months I opened it. They also only had post redirected for 3 months. We did pass some on. Then our postman asked if we wanted him to stop delivering it - of course we said yes.

This week we had someone write to us asking for a forwarding address or the solicitor details..... it's not my place to do their admin.

If they weren't such stuck up they think they are better than us CFs and had just left a forwarding address I would send it on. As they left the house in a right mess, didn't mention the rats and squirrel infestations, the broken fireplace they did with a flower arrangement, the disgusting bathrooms, the broken dishwasher, the oven too dirty to cook in.. I delight in throwing away their post now. Fyi the John Lewis box is still in the garage. I hope she doesn't read Mumsnet. Although if she does -- our estate agent said we should have charged you for the cleaning when we moved in and chased for the fireplace and dishwasher replacement costs as you lied on the f&f form. But we wanted nothing more to do with you ....

Whoopsies · 02/02/2019 15:00

I had a debt collector at our door this morning for the previous owners daughter!! We had been getting letters to her for a while. I rang the estate agent we bought the house from and asked if they could notify the previous owner, they rang back half an hour later and said the woman is mortified and so sorry and it won't happen again.

Isleepinahedgefund · 02/02/2019 15:02

What was in the JL box User??!!

KonekoBasu · 02/02/2019 15:06

We used to get loads of post from the previous owners, by which I mean the previous three owners. The earliest two just went in the bin after I'd checked with the neighbours to see if they knew where they'd moved. The people before us I did not "known at this address", but a few companies I phoned, especially the one from a debt collector. Not had anything for them for about six years now. Instead, for no apparent reason, we keep getting the post for someone a few doors up. I think our postie has given up...

Tara336 · 02/02/2019 15:12

It took me ages to stop post coming for previous home owners, the worst one to stop was Chums shite catalogues that seemed to arrive incessantly. Turns out they’d opened about 4 accounts with them so every mail shot arrive during 4 times

ScrumptiousBears · 02/02/2019 15:12

I kept returning the mail we received for previous owners then something made me open on as they were particularly persistent and it was a debt collector. Glad I did on that occasion.

WTFIsAGleepglorp · 02/02/2019 15:12

If there's no return address on the envelope, carefully open it, find the sender's details and reseal.

Then put NOT KNOWN AT THIS ADDRESS PLEASE RETURN TO SENDER and write the sender's address somewhere on the outside of the envelope.

If there is a return address, just return to sender.

If it's something legal and you know the whereabouts of the addressee, return to sender, but put a little note in the envelope with contact details of addressee or their solicitor.

Keep going until people get the message.

It took me about 6 years before mail for the previous owner and tenants stopped coming.

DoJo · 02/02/2019 15:13

A person commits an offence if, intending to act to a person’s detriment and without reasonable excuse, he opens a postal packet which he knows or reasonably suspects has been incorrectly delivered to him.

From the Postal Services Act 2000 - it's only illegal to open someone else's post if you do it deliberately to harm them or have no reasonable excuse. I think that a reasonable belief that they don't want the post and a lack of intention to cause the intended recipient harm are reasonable excuses to 'tamper' with someone's mail!

Missingstreetlife · 02/02/2019 15:16

I think I would send back to official bodies because I wouldn't want dvla or bank chasing it up at my house. Post office are supposed to open personal mail in case there's a senders address inside to return it to. I have had stuff back like this. Junk mail can be binned if they can't understand gone away or no longer here. Think you have done your bit

BeanTownNancy · 02/02/2019 15:17

www.mpsonline.org.uk/consumer/register

Mail preference service will allow you to list a previous occupier and remove yourself from postal mailing lists. I signed up a month or so ago and have noticed a significant reduction in rubbish and previous owners post since. Might be a fluke, but fingers crossed.

sobeyondthehills · 02/02/2019 15:23

I had this in my previous address, along with debt collectors banging at my door.

Mine were also DVLA (previous tennants could not park in the right place and ignore the speed limit and bus lanes) I rang the DVLA but they still kept coming, in the end I just binned them. I think the car was registered to my address, I was there for 6 years and still kept getting them

Ohjustboreoff · 02/02/2019 16:11

We have been in our address for 6 years (owners). We still get numerous different bank statements U.K. and French, mobile phone statements, DVLA and RAC membership. It's getting ridiculous. No forwarding address and trying to call the companies, oh dear! They just say "Data protection we can't change the address".

BrightYellowDaffodil · 02/02/2019 16:18

I just write "Not known at this address, return to sender". At my last address there was so much post for previous tenants, some of whom were clearly being chased for debt, that I printed up a sheet of stickers. Whack one on the envelope and shove it back in the post box next time you're passing.

If they carried on, I used to write "Addressee no longer at this address, moved out prior to [my moving in date], no forwarding address known. Any further correspondence will be ignored". I only had to do that once or twice.

However, I have recently had a letter from the DVLA for non-payment of tax for a company I've never heard of, registered to my address. While I appreciate that it's against the law to open post that's not addressed to you, I'd already panicked and torn it open by the time I realised. So I sent it back with a letter explaining that the company is not known at this address, and that registration of the vehicle is either mistaken or fraudulent. Haven't heard anything back.

milkmoustache · 02/02/2019 16:24

I worked at a homeless charity, and we sent regular appeals to our donors. Every single time we got any post returned to us, we would add a note from the file and stop any further mailings, so it's definitely worth a few seconds of your time.

Arkos · 02/02/2019 16:28

I just chuck them now... sadly the people we bought from are gone now so I just bin it

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