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?!

That's true but, according to the man at Royal Mail, when you know the recipient no longer lives at your address and that all you need to do is return marked "Moved Away", you are not considered to have a "reasonable excuse" to open their mail

That's not what the legislation says. According to me, a lawyer, man at the Royal Mail is talking bollocks.

I write Return to Sender. Not at this Address.

I think it is a good idea in case of unpaid debts and county court judgments against the address.

I’m still getting what I assume is pension post for the previous owners and we’ve been here 14 years.
I’m sick of writing not know at this address / gone away on it and posting back so I’m just binning it now.

Return it to sender as it's illegal to bin it

When I moved into my new flat, I got a series of official looking letters. Not known at this address didn't stop them. Finally I peeked and saw they were court summons. This time I added New Owner and sent it back. One morning I had two gruff detectives at my front door checking up on me.

Return it to sender as it's illegal to bin it

Prove that someone binned it.
Also imho if someone didn't bother for a year to cahnge address they don't want that mail so I don't need to collect it, write whatever and take it to the mailbox and hence spend my time to my detriment on what someone clearly doesn't want. In my opinion that would be a "reasonable excuse". 😁

@Japa

I write Return to Sender. Not at this Address.

I think it is a good idea in case of unpaid debts and county court judgments against the address.

Do people literally read the title and not bother with the first post?

Genuine question.

Is it too much effort?

@Iamthedevilinthedetail

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

I hadn't ever thought of that! You're a genius!

We still get post for the previous, previous owner - including a new business they had incorporated over the last three months! The contracts and Companies House letters all confirmed this was the company and Directors address...seems like the account didn’t do their job given that they had moved six years ago.

We also received a random girls coat which was left on our door step just after lockdown. It didn’t belong to us so we assumed someone had dropped it and thought wrongly that it belonged to us. We couldn’t leave it out on the wall as the weather was awful so we popped it in the charity bag and weeks later off it went. Then a good 2 weeks later, a knock on the door from the previous owner who came to claim the coat which their friends had left at ours as they had forgotten their friends had moved 12 months before. How embarrassing. I went back to the charity shop to retrieve it but it had been ‘ragged’.

@Runningdownthathill

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.

It's pretty expensive. I've done one for 3 months, couldn't afford it for a year!

It's pretty expensive. I've done one for 3 months, couldn't afford it for a year!

People need to change their address everywhere by that time. 3 months should be sufficient to call bank, dvla, service providers, probation services (yes, really...), Change address on main shops you use and few other. Anything what is forgotten is obviously unimportant junk and that's where it goes.

I don't mean you personally. That was a general talk

MYbe people should always count with that 70 pounds as kind of a part of a moving costs? It's certainly cheaper than missed parking fines

We get returned post at work. We deal with people affairs who were now deceased. One day we got a returned letter which someone had written across it. "They are still dead" it would seem that they had returned more than one letter stating that the recipient was deceased. Maybe try STILL no longer at this address any more post received will be destroyed.

OP why dont you just return to sender??

;-)

I had loads of mail for a previous owner, who’d left no forwarding address - I was pretty certain he’d returned to his native country.

RTS had no effect, and suspecting (with good grounds) that he’d left unpaid bills, I started opening it before bailiffs started banging on the door.

Sure enough, he’d left around £20k of debt behind. Credit cards, utilities, you name it.
I eventually had to write to all the creditors, explaining the situation, and they did all back off once I provided a copy of my council tax bill.

What really bugs me, is that I wouldn’t mind betting he could return to the U.K. tomorrow, and there would be zero consequences.

I still get phone calls for the previous owner , from 22 years ago.
I keep telling these callers but the calls continue. We still get the odd bit of mail too.
We've contacted the Telephone Preference people but their only suggestion is to change our phone number.
I bin the mail and tell callers to remove the details.
GDPR laws have helped but not all companies are aware.
Grit your teeth.
Bin the letters.

@TibetanTerrier

It is a crime to open someone else's mail or to delay its delivery to them, with two years imprisonment a possible sentence. Throwing it away can certainly be seen as delaying delivery by a court. You should mark it "Moved Away - Return to Sender", which tells Royal Mail that this isn't just a one-off delivered to the wrong person/place but a relocation, and it is up to them to then redirect delivery as appropriate.

Opening a letter to inform the sender that they have the wrong address for the person is not attempting to delay it's delivery (it's the opposite) nor is it intending to act to their detriment (again the opposite as it will assist the mail getting to them).

[quote TibetanTerrier]@shitinmyhandsandclap
Opening someone else's mail is allowed in certain circumstances under the Postal Services Act 2000. It is only an offence if you open someone else's mail 'without reasonable excuse' or if you 'intend to act to another's detriment'

That's true but, according to the man at Royal Mail, when you know the recipient no longer lives at your address and that all you need to do is return marked "Moved Away", you are not considered to have a "reasonable excuse" to open their mail.[/quote]
The man at Royal Mail has obviously never had to deal with having to keep his ID by your door because he got so many baliffs turning up for previous occupants.

* They have obviously never bothered to redirect, not even for the first 3 months.*

We paid a fortune for 3 months redirection (3 different surnames!) and we were still getting texts from the new owners of previous address that mail was being sent there! We complained to the Post Office and got given an extra 3 months redirection free.

At the new address we RTS for the first 18 months then binned everything. House had been empty for a year before we lived here (previous owners deceased) and the adult kids were regularly picking up the Mail so knew what needed dealing with.

I worked for a company which did mail outs. When post got returned “no longer at this address” we didn’t have time or resources to trace new address so it got binned. Suggest you do the same.

We just wrote not at this address. Posted it back and it seems to have stopped now.

Does anyone know if Return to sender works for overseas mail? Our previous owner moved abroad and post comes from Europe. I put it back in the box with 'No longer at this address, Return to sender', bit wondee whether the PO actually returns overseas?

My dad kept having loads of junk from the same company for years for the previous owner. He sent them back “not at this address” and they kept coming. I got pissed off once and wrote in the envelopes “deceased”.

Only then they stopped.