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?!

@HOkieCOkie

I get a Xmas card every year for the previous owner. Been 5 years 😂

34 years here - card not even addressed to the previous owner, but to people I've never heard of. No return address or even surname of the sender, so now I just put the card up every year and enjoy it. The handwriting is getting old and shaky now and I breathe a sigh of relief every year when it arrives...

I would bin it too.
It will soon jolt them into action.
They're definitely taking the piss out of you now.

@Junjulaug

Agree with pp. tell them to come and collect it on x date and after that it’s going.

We had a dreadful neighbour, and sadly shared the same surname. When we moved we paid for Royal Mail redirection......but it picks up the surname. I have had SO much delight in binning all his mail. I think it’s called Karma.

Has no one read my first post?

They collected it 7-8 times.

Why does no one read my post?

Can’t believe she still hadn’t changed her address at something as basic as the GP’s after a year, just pure laziness.

Maybe they did it on purpose if they moved out of the GP’s catchment area!

OP, everyone read your post. You’re doing the right things, but unfortunately that’s all you can do. Just do it less frequently as to not inconvenience yourself as much.

The only way this will stop is by putting not at this address and putting back in the letter box. Or, if you want open the letters in a hope of getting a number to ring and tell them. You aren't opening the letters for gain, other than peace from unsolicited post, so this is acceptable.

What do you think will be gained by binning or shredding the letters? Maybe give their new address to the writers, may be easy to find out or at least worth the effort..

@Jroseforever

Oh don’t stress about the debt letters

It was in the “olden” days that that used to be a problem

I have had debt letters from previous owners for 8.5 years.

Not been a squeak of a problem. Apparently I am in the top 0.5% with my credit history!

I've had bailiffs at my door in the past when a previous tenant didn't pay his loans.

That was 13 years ago, does that not happen now?
I'm pretty sure it does?

@throwaway10000

Can’t believe she still hadn’t changed her address at something as basic as the GP’s after a year, just pure laziness.

Maybe they did it on purpose if they moved out of the GP’s catchment area!

OP, everyone read your post. You’re doing the right things, but unfortunately that’s all you can do. Just do it less frequently as to not inconvenience yourself as much.

I found out today that they did indeed move out of the catchment area.

That explains that then.

Do you have their new address? Contact the bailiffs/debt collectors and provide them with it - hopefully they won’t visit your address at all then. If they do visit your address, you just need to do the same thing and tell them that the debtors have moved.

we still get letters for previous owners, in particular every year a christmas card from same people!
We've been hear 10 years

We don;t have a forwarding address for them either.

Initially we held it to be collected,. They collected once.

Then for about 2 years we did RTS or Not known at this address.
Some stopped, not all.
So then dh opened it all and phoned them and said no longer here.
A shocking number of companies refused to change as we weren't the people on the envelope. So we asked them to mark the account as the wrong address, or stop the mail at least - no.
So we told them that all mail received woudl now be put in the bin which was a waste of their money? Some then, reluctantly stopped it.

Now we put it all in the bin.

I feel that I need to post this again, because there continue to be so many posters who think there's nothing you can do about getting other people's mail apart from sending it back.

Also tagging @CovidStoleTheRainbow

The Mail Preference Service
www.mpsonline.org.uk/#

Tick "I wish to register a previous occupant at my address"
www.mpsonline.org.uk/consumer/register

We ignored the previous occupant (not owner)'s post for a while, just kept it in a box - they had collected it a couple of times early on. Then the bailiffs turned up..... They were surprisingly pleasant, but we did start returning post at that point as I didn't particularly want to see them again (or a different, more menacing one).

This would have been about 8 years ago, but I don't imagine it's changed.

I've lived in my new home for just over a couple of months and Chuck previous owners post in the bin. Don't really care if it's illegal or not

5 and a half years here and still getting occasional letter for previous owners. Christmas will bring more cards I'm sure

20 years here, and I still get the odd christmas card for the previous owners. Just return it as not known at this address, and (for the debts) make sure it's not affecting your credit score

I got a cheque for the child of the previous owner. I have no forwarding address and no idea how to get it to them. We’ve lived here two years. I binned it after a few weeks.

If its official with a return address on the back of envelope, write no longer at this address and put it back in postbox.
If there isnt a return address and you have no forwarding address for them then chuck it without guilt !

In my view people ought to put a mail forwarding service on their mail for a year. We always do. Important people ought to know the new address. It’s not the responsibility of the new owner to forward mail.

The best sucess I had with catalogues was to use the electronic unsubscribe options on the website. So go to company website, and tell them to stop mailing "old name, your address". Was much more successful than putting back in the post with "return to sender".

We used to get this. Court summons, parking and speeding fines, debt collectors.

I opened every one of them and called the agencies involved explaining. That usually worked better than putting back in the post with 'unknown' on it.

[quote saraclara]I feel that I need to post this again, because there continue to be so many posters who think there's nothing you can do about getting other people's mail apart from sending it back.

Also tagging @CovidStoleTheRainbow

The Mail Preference Service
www.mpsonline.org.uk/#

Tick "I wish to register a previous occupant at my address"
www.mpsonline.org.uk/consumer/register[/quote]
Thank you!!

DON’T Just throw it away!

I had this for months and kept sending it back until it turned in to bailiffs knocking!! I then for the next year opened all the post and called the companies/debt collectors myself. They owed money everywhere and obviously hadn’t and weren’t going to notify people they’d moved.

Score out your address and put return to sender on mail.

We had continual post for 3 years from the previous owners, who’d lived there since the 80s, including stuff for their kids who’d moved abroad. They even had an electricity bill in their sons name for a business address miles away, which I tried for 2 years to ask the provider to change the mailing address to match the business, ended up raising a GDPR complaint with them after many promises to do so. On the others I gave up after a year of “no longer at this address”.

We’ve recently moved house so now the new owners will have the delight of all their mail.

I did the return to sender thing for a year then started binning. Can't be bothered to manage someone else's post.

Mailing Preference Service is for unsolicited junk mail though, not previous occupant's debt letters.