On a scale of 1-10 how unreasonable AM I, opening someone else's post?

[SortYourOwnBloodyPost]

I really don't give a fuck about legalities at this point.

Its been 16 months since we bought this house.

At the beginning I kindly messaged the previous tenants about their fucking constant post.
They came to collect it many times.
8, id say. Therefore PLENTY of times to contact the companies.

I sent bloody loads of post "return to sender no longer at this address, but it kept coming

I got sick of it after a year, I messaged on here for advice, someone said that the company who kept sending was a debt collectors.
So I opened it and it was.
I contacted the previous people and asked for their address. I will contact the companies for them.

So I have. I've had to write to these companies because I don't have time to sit on hold with them
for effing ages.

One company I wrote to several times. But they ignore and now it's with the debt collectors.

Now here's my current beef.

I got another one form Scottish Power this morning. They owe money. Surprise!

I took a pic, sent it to her and said again that I've had enough of all these bloody debts.

She was effing and blinding at me, she's going to call the police, they have paid the debt (no you haven't) and it's an "ongoing dispute"

And ongoing dispute but they are keeping the fucking dispute as MY address?!

The audacity?!

So, scale of 1-10?

I say minus 23 at this point.

It’s funny how no one screams “illegal” at the people whose bills come to your door, only at the people who have to put up with the bailiffs who come looking for them!

I had no end of trouble but with people who had never lived at my old address, so I started opening the letters. One guy was getting disability benefit letters, DVLA stuff and the Police turning up for him, in the end I contacted the DVLA and sent the benefits stuff back to the benefits office with a covering letter saying I had never heard of him and I considered he was using my address fraudulently, and the letters stopped!

Also a Miss “Wee Wee” had her mobile phone bills sent to my address - she was taking the piss obviously! I rang up the phone company and they couldn’t do anything (the guy i spoke to couldn’t give less of a shit) so I messaged (withheld) her to piss off from using my address on her bills and that stopped that.

I had exactly same issue OP.

In the end I just dumped any mail for previous owners in the bin as it was making me so annoyed,having forwarded mail for months on end and returned to sender.

It felt great to emotionally disengage

I had the same problem. I messaged them at first and they used to pick up their post. Then I started the return to sender thing. Then had bailiffs turn up at the door, had to provide proof I was the new owner.

The post continued, started opening the letters, some would be returned to sender, others binned. 0 fucks given.

YANBU at all OP - no idea how that fits on the new BU scale you have invented without telling MN.

People saying it's illegal - that is bollocks.

I can understand your annoyance but return to sender everytime.
Don't engage with the companies it's nothing to do with you and I'm sure you have better things to do with your time.

Very similar situation here a few years ago. Previous tenants' post kept arriving at our house (all official looking stuff - had obviously advised just a select few of their new address). Even had bailiffs knock on the door for them. Asked EA what to do with it the post who gave me tenants' new address in case I wanted to forward it to them. I figured they weren't going to deal with it now so I started to return to sender with new address on. The ones without return addresses were opened and senders emailed (all turned out to be payment reminders). All letters eventually stopped. I can't stand people that run away from their responsibilities.

I have had this and it caused problems for me as my neighbours asked me about it and wonder if I'm doing something dodgy! It's all well and good saying wait for them to come and they will go away once they've seen your ID but if it's multiple debts it's multiple people, it's also quite scary that they can turn up at any time accusing you of something, trying to get in and yes they are pushy, and even if they leave they could come back (even once you've shown your ID - not sure if they're meant to but they did!). It happened to me with loads of companies. I did a house swap so eventually gave the new address to the ones that kept coming back. Not sure if I was allowed but it was really stressing me and DS out!

I have had bailiffs and the police at my door wanting the previous occupants.
Once you explain they don't live here and even better if you have an onward address (I didn't) then they leave you alone.
Annoying that its more than one debt though.

Huge sympathies!!
We are coming out the end of this ourselves after 27 months so I promise it will get better. We resorted to opening the mail and calling the companies (who didn’t care that we had opened it) and that helped resolve a lot of things.
Also let the bailiffs call, the first visit they will post a note with a number to call. In our case they suspected that the people had almost certainly moved on but it was something like the warrant was for this address so legally they had to approach it. But one call (and a copy of council tax as proof of address) to a quite frankly lovely man dealt with it. He had multiple debts for both former tenants so was able to put a stop on all of them for our address. We had one other less lovely but perfectly fine bailiff to deal with and then things started to get better.
I’m glad we had no contact with the former tenants because it meant to had to just contact the companies and deal with it directly. Just remind yourself that everyone in this is following their process in the chain and it will get resolved eventually.

And as you know, return to sender just doesn’t work.
(And we’ve had no issues getting credit in our names at this address)

Don’t attack them over GPDR. They’re sending letters to an address and they have no proof that it’s wrong.

The OP can send proof and request immediate update or she will take matters further. She has previous tenant's contact details if they request it.

It is not against the law to open post coming to your address, only if you use the post for illegal purposes (ie. took someone else's bank card and used it as your own).

In your circumstances it's perfectly OK, and you could prove you have made every effort to inform the companies involved and to send on to the right person etc.

If debt collectors visit you need to show them proof you are not the debtor, that you moved there at such-and-such a date, any other proof that you are paying your own bills with your own companies etc. They will believe you with proof. You need to be writing to all these companies and telling them, over and over again, that the debtor does not live there, give them the debtor's new address (or e-mail or any contact details you have) every single time you get a communication. Eventually they will track the real person down and sort it out.

When I moved here I got hundreds of letters from a company chasing a previous tenants debt. I rang the company in question who were actually really reassuring and helpful and said that the debt wouldn't affect me or my credit rating so I should just bin the letters and forget about them. However they said that because they didn't have a new address for the debtor they would continue to send the letters to my address!! They did for little while but eventually stopped.

If debt collectors visit you need to show them proof you are not the debtor, that you moved there at such-and-such a date, any other proof that you are paying your own bills with your own companies etc

So, debt collectors can wander the streets, knocking on doors and demand the occupants show them ID, proof of when they moved in and that they pay all their bills? I don't think so.

Write on the envelopes "return to sender... No longer at this address" and pop them back in the post box. That's alleged you need to do, I certainly wouldn't be on the phone to various companies!

So, debt collectors can wander the streets, knocking on doors and demand the occupants show them ID, proof of when they moved in and that they pay all their bills? I don't think so.

Clearly not. But some evidence that you are not the person they are after is likely to get rid of them quicker. It's obviously a common problem as many tenants seem to think they can just move out without paying their bills. I have had this several times. Never actually had debt collectors though.

@MonaChopsis

Write on the envelopes "return to sender... No longer at this address" and pop them back in the post box. That's alleged you need to do, I certainly wouldn't be on the phone to various companies!

You're fucking kidding me?

Write on the envelopes "return to sender... No longer at this address" and pop them back in the post box. That's alleged you need to do, I certainly wouldn't be on the phone to various companies!

You can just write RTS on them.. even quicker!

@Cuddling57

I think the law on this should allow for who owns the property at the address it's being sent to! Perfectly reasonable to open letters addressed to your own house! I'd even be tempted to pretend I was the person and ring the company to give the new address! What a cheek they are letting you get the bailiff letters! Although I guess these companies record there phone calls so I'd probably get into more trouble

This might be a light-hearted comment but I just want to emphasise - do not do this!!! It's fraudulent and you probably wouldn't get past verification with the call handler anyway.

OP ALREADY HAS sent the mail Return To Sender. Many, many times!

@Ifailed

If debt collectors visit you need to show them proof you are not the debtor, that you moved there at such-and-such a date, any other proof that you are paying your own bills with your own companies etc

So, debt collectors can wander the streets, knocking on doors and demand the occupants show them ID, proof of when they moved in and that they pay all their bills? I don't think so.

No, but they can knock on the door and ask for the people they are looking for.

The easiest way to ensure they don’t return is to show ID.

There’s no need to make opening the door, showing ID and sending them on their way into a mega drama.

I open all post that comes to my hose as I assume its for me. The same as for my job, when we get post i assume its fir the business, open it then realise its fir the building next door. Just keep putting not known at this address and return to sender.

@iklboo

Don’t attack them over GPDR. They’re sending letters to an address and they have no proof that it’s wrong.

The OP can send proof and request immediate update or she will take matters further. She has previous tenant's contact details if they request it.

Or she could just save herself the hassle by ignoring the letters, show her ID when they come and then move on from it.

I'd bin them from now on.

I've owned my current house for 6 years. I still get post for the previous owner & the daughter of the house - both as flaky as heel with their debts, it seems.

DD had this when she moved into a rental property and spent months putting things in the postbox with return to sender on.
Eventually two bailiffs turned up at 9pm hammering on her door demanding proof of who she was. They were scary and intimidating and suggested she was living with the person named on the bills. She was in a real panic because she couldn’t immediately put her hands on the rental agreement to show when she moved in and obviously letting agents were closed at that time.
I personally would try and contact people on the phone.

We had the same in this house, sending them back marked “not known at this address” but when they still kept coming I opened them. We were getting them for years. Bollocks is it “illegal”, if I am getting debt demands coming through my door dammed right I will open them. One I got was a court summons for unpaid tax and the procurator fiscal when I called them mentioned nothing about it being “illegal” to open the paperwork so 🤷🏼‍♀️