To ask how common it is to get letters for old tenants

[Beatinghearts]

Medical looking ones. I would have thought people would change their address straight away.

I had always put not known at this address and put them back in the post but we once had a bailiff turn up ( it was fine as obviously we could prove who we were) they turned up because they had had no reply to a couple of letters that had come to our address because I’d sent them back and they didn’t get them. They explained the address could be blacklisted for credit.

We moved in three and a half years ago and still receive the following mail for the previous owners:
-NHS letters (including all those related to covid shielding as the wife is CEV). Did she ever realise this? Who knows?
-Tv licence letters
-Magazine subscriptions
-Amazon deliveries

Until I opened them and rang the companies we were also getting lots of payment demands (their DIL had serious debt issues).

It beggars belief really. I used to put return to sender on everything and send it back, but after three years enough is enough and I shred it.

I've lived in my current address now for 6 years, still get letters for the previous tenants, the letters go straight in the bin now, she had a bus pass sent to us last week, went in the bin, she cant be bothered go change address, I cant be bothered to send them back

You must NOT open other people's mail. Opening a private and confidential letter is far worse than them missing it - a gross infringement of privacy.

It is illegal to knowingly open someone else's mail.

3 years in my old flat and I had mail for the landlord, his partner who was a dentist (received many issues of Dentistry Magazine with some fantastic samples of...dentistry stuff and when I was lucky posh toothpaste), and at least 4 previous tenants.
Even got a tesco delivery for my landlord once. Didn't take it of course.

Never opened anything else than dentistry magazine because I really wanted to know everything about the 2018 dentistry awards. And the toothpaste samples.

@picturesandpickles

You must NOT open other people's mail. Opening a private and confidential letter is far worse than them missing it - a gross infringement of privacy.

It is illegal to knowingly open someone else's mail.

Only if you do it with intending harm and without good reason. If you have been returning to sender and they keep coming, there is nothing illegal in opening it up to try and find some way to inform the sender it’s the wrong address.

I’ve taken on a voluntary role for the local Scouts. The number of times we have told some companies about the change beggars belief...and still my predecessor gets letters. So it might not be the previous occupants fault!

Only if you do it with intending harm and without good reason

The OP does not have good reason. It is not legal to open that letter IMO.

Very, I’ve got letters from the GP surgery and a pension company addressed to people who weren’t the tenants here before we bought the place a year and a half ago. I’ve got things addressed to at least half a dozen different people.

@Ahwig address blacklisting isn’t a thing. Your credit score would only be associated with someone else’s if you have a shared account/financial product with them.

They explained the address could be blacklisted for credit.
Absolute rubbish. Addresses don't get blacklisted, people do.

It is illegal to knowingly open someone else's mail.
Also rubbish. It's only illegal to open incorrectly delivered mail if you intend to commit fraud.
But even then the mail the OP is talking about has been delivered correctly as it's only the address that counts, not the name.

We still get letters about medical matters over 15 years since the relevant person lived at the address (and it may be much longer).

When we first moved in, the previous occupants used to come round periodically to pick up their post, so we just collected it. Then they stopped coming, and the bailiffs arrived - we do now return most things we get addressed to someone else (a surprising amount of it, given we've lived here over a decade).

So it's worth returning to sender to avoid the bailiffs, though the ones I met were perfectly pleasant and reasonable.

The previous residents of our last house were very lax. We received letters from the DVLa, their daughters school, Amazon deliveries... And a brand new phone from Vodafone. That was the one that finally caused them to sort their issue.
We had tried to track them down, and had then resorted to return to sender.

@picturesandpickles

Only if you do it with intending harm and without good reason

The OP does not have good reason. It is not legal to open that letter IMO.

Another mumsnet myth. Not illegal.

Do not ever open letters that are not addressed to you. If you know where the previous tenant lived, forward them. If not, strike out the address and return to sender.

Again, not illegal to open post address to someone else, but at your own house. Only illegal if you use what you find to the detriment of the intended recipient.

First port of call if it has a return address, is to return to sender, but that doesn't always work or get there in a timely manner. especially if it's a debt collection letter. Next is to open it to find a direct contact, or phone number and go from there. Ignore all the frothing on here about illegality, getting the mail to it's intended recipient is an acceptable reason for opening mail addressed to someone else at your address.

I lived in rented flats for years moving fairly often. I learned people are terrible at changing their addresses! So unfortunately really common!

Extremely common. I lived in my last house for 4 years and still got the odd letter for both the last tenant and one before that too. Mostly debt collection, odd specsavers one.

We still get letters for the previous owner of our house, despite him having died 7 years ago.