To throw away previous owners post?

[CovidStoleTheRainbow]

I haven't. But I want to. It's probably illegal, I will check in a minute.

Moved to this house a year ago, previous owners had 4 generations living here.
For the first 3-4 months I was sending tons and tons of post back with 'return to sender no longer at this address.

It worked for some, but others came again and again. I would write in massive capital letters and still they would keep sending. (What the hell is Whistl and why can't they read their returned post?!)
SO many catalogues (I didn't bother sending them back).

Eventually the previous owner got in touch because her scan date came through the post. Her husband still hasn't changed his address at the doctors because we all got a letter about our doctors changing and he had a letter that looked identical on the outside so if I'm right then he STILL hasn't changed it.

I've returned their post to them 7-8 times.

I made a point of saying "let me know who the companies are and I will call them myself and tell them you have moved."

But even that passive aggressive stance didn't work (I've asked nicely, but now it's just annoying)

And STILL it keeps coming.
I've had post yesterday and today for them.

I want to throw it away.

What else can I do?!

PS just to clarify, could be anecdotal, but I did think putting something like ‘no longer’ or ‘this person has left this address’ etc worked quicker than ‘unknown’

12 years on I get it! Replacement credit cards, bank statements and the daughter even used our address for credit! I ended up opening the mail (after 5 years of forwarding) and calling the companies

@LittleMissLockdown

Why would you throw it away? Just write "Not known at this address" and put it in a postbox per Royal Mail's instructions.

Perhaps because the Op has done that already and found like many of us that it honestly does fuck all in limiting the mail from some companies.

Probably true of junk Mail etc but some of the more serious stuff does seem to get dealt with

This has just happened to us. We have been putting loads of letters back in post with not at this address since we’ve owned the house. Then today there was a hand delivered address from a debt collector and when we phoned them they said they couldn’t take our word that they haven’t lived in the house for years. No idea what to do now as they were very rude on the phone

I think the only cast-iron way is to write:
'DECEASED' and ret to sender.

Though that would be harsh with the kiddies Easter Choc!

I think I would contact the previous owners, and tell them that they need to make sure everyone has their new address, as you will be throwing away any more mail for them that you recieve, @CovidStoleTheRainbow.

Once you've warned them, just bin it all.

Return with 'Deceased' scrawled across, it tends to work better!

Since moving here 10 years ago we get phone calls for two or three names, all sound Spanish or Italian, some companies won't listen, others are OK when I say they've never lived here, we know the ownersip back to pre WW2, the address they've given isn't mine and there are various addresses. We even got a call from a school, they'd given our number to the school, five years or so after we moved here!

I now tell them that if they owe you money you're in a very long queue, most of the calls are from finance companies, catalogues etc

Throw ut. At certain point it's simply taking a piss and not@thisaddress return does fuck all too.
Year 1 we collected it and contacted previous owner to pick it up.
Year 2 we started returning them.
Year 3 no matter how important it looked, bin.
Year 4 finally no letters!!!!

If someone doesn't change their address on their bank account for 3 years, it's their problem.

@52andblue

I think the only cast-iron way is to write: 'DECEASED' and ret to sender.

Though that would be harsh with the kiddies Easter Choc!

🤣🤣🤣

Indeed, it was probably kinder for me to just eat them.

I emailed debt companies in previous addresses and signed only "current occupant" explaining the person isn't there anymore. That was it and never heard of them again

@movingonup20

12 years on I get it! Replacement credit cards, bank statements and the daughter even used our address for credit! I ended up opening the mail (after 5 years of forwarding) and calling the companies

At our previous address we received Christmas cards for about 5 years for the previous owners signed Love from Mum. It made me very sad, the ultimate No contact.

We’ve been in our house for over a year and we still receive loads of post for the previous owners - they have obviously never bothered to redirect, not even for the first 3 months. A couple and their 3 adult children lived here before us, so we get a LOT.

We did the same as everybody else for the first few months, wrote “return to sender - no longer at this address” on everything and re-posted. HMRC, accountants letters and other post that was obviously important.

It has made no difference. I actually got in touch with HMRC directly and they still send stuff here. It’s incredibly annoying and I can’t be arsed finding a postbox every couple of weeks to send back their copious amounts of post.

It all goes in the bin now.

This really annoys me. I've always redirected my post and changed my address. It's just polite and sensible.

Twice now in two different properties the leaving tenants have kept coming back to check for post. In one case she got quite demanding and shirty. She told me at 10am when I had already left for work that she was only in the area one day and needed to check the letters . She got stroppy when I pointed out I was at work and she would have to wait until the evening and asked me to come home.

She turned up that evening and got quite stroppy and I asked her if she had changed her address or redirected and she said no she could just contact me to pick it up. Nope not happening.

So in this house when the previous tenant rocked up 3 months later I told her to redirect it or I would bin it.

Ita not rocket science redirect your bloody post. (The previous owner not you obviously op)

Write "Not Known, Remove from Mailing" on the catalogues, that usually works after the first 2 or 3.
Banks / doctors etc - don't forward it, return to sender with a note of what the new address is.
Anything else return "Not Known", super quick to do.

The only things I couldn't get rid of quickly were Capita Registrars shares letters and something similar in France, they persistently said they had to send the letters if they had no new contact details. In one case after a couple of years still getting letters I looked up the individual and found a business contact, told them it looked extremely important if they could find the person. No reply, but the mail never came again.

I feel your pain. I have even had bailiffs at my door when the daughter of the previous owner didn't pay her parking fines.

It's taken 7 years but I only occasionally get their mail now and when I do I just throw it away as it can't be anything they are missing if they haven't noticed in this long.

In my experience, if you put 'Return to sender, no longer at this address' they keep on sending the stuff because they think that you have some connection with them.

Put 'Not known at this address' on the front in inch-high letters.

Really relate to this, OP. In our previous house we received all kinds of post for the previous owners who seemed to think we were some kind of free mail forwarding service. It pissed me off massively as they were just cheapskates (we found so many bodged jobs around the house) who didn’t want to pay for redirection, it’s £50 for 2 people for three months!

I always googled the address on the back of the envelopes and know they were sent things from HMRC, Scottish Widows, a parking fine, Direct Line, Barclays Finance, other banking letters. Actual important post! As annoying as it was, I always wrote NO LONGER AT THIS ADDRESS - PLEASE UPDATE YOUR RECORDS and sent it all back. Took a while but eventually it dried up. I cannot believe there’s people out there who don’t update their bank or insurance or company address or where their vehicle is registered!

Forward /deliver their mail to the solicitor who acted for the previous occupants. They'll chase them. You should make sure the electoral roll is updated to show your details. Debt collectors and others are obliged to keep their databases accurate. It's really annoying but to stop debt agency letters you may have to contact them personally (in writing) giving them details for the former owners' solicitors. Keep a copy and send the letter signed for delivery. Use the online trace to check the letter has been received by them and keep a print - out to prove it.
Ultimately you can complain to the ICO about organisations that don't update their databases. Computerised mailing systems e.g as used by banks for sending statements,are sometimes only updated every three months.

I just cross out the address, write "no longer at this address" and drop back into a Royal Mail box (no need to frank the letter again). Anywhere "official" has a return address and usually updates their database.

You can buy "return to sender - not known at this address" stickers to shove on any post you get, then just put them in the letterbox whenever you know you're going past one.

I still get post for the previous owner, plus several people's post who have rented here in the past. Rather annoying.

Interesting to read so many of us on here have this problem.
I moved here and almost 2.5 years later a member of the previous family turned up asking if I had any post for them??
How can people be so ignorant as to think this is acceptable when it has not been their home for such a length of time?
I initially kept their post as every few months they would turn up to pick it up. After 6 months I was getting exaspperated and would ask if they had done done a redirection order.
At times I put 'not at this address' but they still keep coming. Others I have binned them. Twice I have opened, one was for a summons to court and they had obviously given the police their old address, most lately is a vets bill for £1400 pounds.

I've rung the companys that sent the letters and informed them that those people don't live here anymore.It worked.

It's such a pain, but the only way I managed to stop it, was to open the post, then phone the sender and state they've moved, and any further post sent to your address is harassment! That sorted it for me.

I wouldn't hesitate to bin it after a year and actually speaking to them about it. CF's clearly aren't going to do anything about it and you're not their sorting office.

Put their details on Mail Preference Service - only takes a few minutes - it will stop some junk mail but not all.