To wish the old owners of of house would change their sodding address?

[TerribleCustomerCervix]

We bought our house in September 2020. Very smooth sale, old owners very obliging and left the place so clean you could eat your dinner off the floor.

But we are STILL getting post for them- I’ve not been opening another, but by the stamps/logos on the envelopes I can see it’s loads of official stuff. Bank statements for their adult kids, HMRC and bank stuff for the self-employed builder ex-owner, parking fines. We just got a brown envelope letter which is clearly a reminder about last months unpaid parking fine.

I wanted to start returning them to sender, but DH doesn’t want to. He’s been giving them to another neighbour who is still in contact with old-owners to pass on, who is now understandably getting pissed off at having to play Postman Pat.

I’m also a bit worried about our address still being linked to the previous owners business, especially with HMRC.

Am I being unreasonable to say to DH he’s being soft, and from now on everything is going back to the sender?

@HELLITHURT

Send them a letter (via the neighbour) saying as if now, no more forwarding post we will be returning to sender.

Then do it.

This is what I would do. One message, on a letter that's arrived at your house - "This is the last letter that will be sent to you via Helpful Neighbour. Any further post will be returned to sender."

I had this issue with a previous tenant when I was a student. I enjoyed writing 'return to sender' in big letters and taking them most weeks to post-box.

However, if you have less free time than the average uni student, may I suggest something like this:
www.amazon.co.uk/Label-Metrics-address-Stickers-Shipping/dp/B076M5P8DL/ref=pd_lpo_2?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B076M5P8DL&tag=mumsnetforu03-21

www.amazon.co.uk/Return-Stickers-Forwarding-Address-RTSFNA-16/dp/B08X3YLJ7D/ref=psdc_192414031_t1_B076M5P8DL?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Ahh if only RTS made it stop.

4 years and counting here. House was a short term rental for many years before we purchased it and at one point out of curiosity I started to note the names the post came for, there were 21 different names. It was absolutely stupid.

RTS dealt with some, but others I had to call and ask them to stop. The expensive womens magazine that came monthly that I RTS for two years before admitting defeat and calling them, the accountants sending end of year statements, the bailiff letters, pension companies, even welcoming me to my new O2 contract when a tenant from 10 years ago gave this address. You get the idea.

I RTS a few times, but if it looks important I try and open, contact, then reseal and RTS. Thats saved me a few bailiff visits I fear.

Good luck OP!

@Pyri

Why would anyone open someone else’s post and phone up to say the address is wrong; just mark as “return to sender”!

The only letter I ever opened was addressed to the father of the previous owners, who had died 3 years before we bought. And I only opened that because it was from a hospital-he must have been on a waiting list. So I told them he was deceased. @TheLightSideOfTheMoon ; was he trying to re-mortgage your house, or the one he'd moved to?

We had post from the previous three owners. People before us appeared to have stopped making payments on their store cards so had to phone up a debt collection agency about that, their stuff mainly got popped back in the post with return to sender on as neighbours weren't in contact - they'd not got on at all.

Guy before them - got lots of dodgy get rich quick schemes, gambling stuff, memorably a photocopied catalogue for hardcore German porn.

And the lady before him, a widow, I'd get letters about her shares in something or other - those I passed on to my neighbour as he knew her son.

I have found that using stickers (rather than just writing on the envelope) is more effective.

10 years in the house, still get mail for previous owners. All of it goes straight into the bin.

9 years in and I only forward on things like xmas cards that have no return address. Anything else gets RTS'd.

@DifficultBloodyWoman

I have found that using stickers (rather than just writing on the envelope) is more effective.

I'm not wasting my time and money with that. I just bin it.

I've opened post for the old owner of this house and called some companies. We were getting all sorts coming through.
You've been too accommodating by sending the post to the old owner via the neighbour.
I just rip everything up now. I returned to sender long enough. We've been here for a year and a half!

We were getting post for the previous occupants for some time, and it continued even after returning to sender.

I can't remember who by now, but we were advised to open the post and send it back to sender with a copy of our council tax bill enclosed to prove we live here and not the previous occupant. It was a pain, but it worked.

I had this for too many years with a previous tenant in a flat I bought. "Not known at this address" didn't work so eventually I got fed up with it and looked her up on LinkedIn. Fairly distinctive non-British name, and her profile said she'd lived in my town before moving to That London, so I started forwarding the stuff to her business address. That got it sorted.

Now we get mail addressed to the previous owners of our house who live in another country, that has clearly been sent from that country

We had this situation - official looking letters arriving regularly for months after they moved out. Initially I kept them in a pile, then after no contact from the sellers, just wrote “no longer at this address” and popped them back in the post. After about 6 months, the husband arrived at our door, and was absolutely furious as they were waiting for a hospital appointment letter. He was completely oblivious that it was their responsibility to set up a redirection.

They've avoided paying redirect fees because they've got your mug DH doing it. Scratch a line through it all and chuck back in the post box.

The previous occupants of my house apparently had two sets of names they went by. (They told me this). I have no idea why.

When the mail in one of the names continued to come to my house I resorted to writing FRAUD in big letters on the envelopes when 'RTS, No Longer at this Address' on its own seemed to have much effect. That certainly stopped 99% of the mail!

I still get mail from previous owners 8 years on and I am now selling the property.

Sorry I am mot selling it because of that just you can do return to sender which I have done and it doesn't always make a difference.