Council at my door...

[OnNaturesCourse]

Had two people come to my door from my local council looking for someone I've never heard of today . They stated they are looking to speak to this person urgently.

I said never heard of the name or person and they went away no further questions.

I've just now received a letter (post man) addressed to this person with my address on it. I haven't opened the letter. But I am now concerned someone is using my address for council tax or benefits etc. Wondering if I should open the letter and, if it is council or other contactable organisation, give them a call to try and explain what's happening? Or is it unreasonable to open others mail? (I've actually heard it's illegal...)

How concerning could the situation of someone using my address be? I guess they could have genuinely used the wrong house number on a form etc but surely the council should have pretty accurate details. I mean I pay the council tax for my home so my name is recorded here.

We once got a letter to someone who had never lived in our flat from the probation service saying they were coming to stay there after leaving prison. I called the probation service who casually said to return the letter to them. A few weeks later I get a knock at the door - it was four police officers demanding to search the property to find this person who must have skipped their bail conditions.

So I'd be mindful that these things do happen!

Do not open it !! It’s illegal to open another persons mail regsrdless of what your intention is; write unknown at this address & cross out the name put return to sender & put it back in the post box.
Contact your local council & ask them to check who is registered at your address & ask them how do you go about making sure that it’s only you & your family registered there; whether your on the electoral register or not is your personal option. Keep a record of what letters arrived; a picture on your phone is a good idea & one of how you sent it back; that way you can prove you’ve done your best to sort the issue & prove the person doesn’t live at your address

oh I’m sorry. The authority of a random on mumsnet. I must bow to your superiority.

also nice bit of casual ableism. Resorting to personal insults says more about you than me. Enjoy your evening.

Wow, OK.

I've read the legislation and fully believe my reasonable excuse is potential fraudulent use of my address which could in fact affect my own personal life - credit rating etc plus my own feeling of security in my own home. (random men appearing at my door and walking around, past my gate looking at my address etc is a little intimidating!)

I think this thread is done for now.

I've opened it and contacted the sender. Let's hope that's enough.

Returning to sender would have solved that. Opening it told you nothing.

I work in social housing arrears which include former tenant arrears - you will probably have been sent letters which you returned to sender (fair enough) and once no contact was made, it would have been passed onto a debt collector. Just call the council and tell them the forwarding address is incorrect and ask them to remove it and ask the the debt collector to put a stop on your case.

Contact the council

You can’t open the letter as it’s illegal to open someone’s mail. It’s not your business what the letter is about or what the council want to speak to them about. You need to put the letter in the post, cross out the name and address and write “not known at this address” on the front.
The Council can’t give you any information due to confidentiality policy but you’ve given them sufficient information ie told them the person doesn’t live there. Returning the letter UNOPENED will back this up.

You’ve broken the law and you did NOT have a reasonable excuse for opening the letter, you have no reasonable grounds to suspect fraud has been committed based on a visit from the Council!
Opening the letter may have led the sender to believe the addressee does live there. They might believe you are in fact the addressee, regardless of what you’ve told them.
Im betting you won’t have heard the end of this.
Opening someone else’s mail is a serious offence as it’s classed as tampering with the Royal Mail.
Why ask for advice then ignore what responders have said?

I wouldn't worry about it. I'm fairly sure any reasonable person could see that you felt a genuine reason to open it and try to sort it out and would realise you had no malicious intentions.

Not that I expect the police to come knocking at your door. 😁

If I were you I'd get a little packet of info together that proves who you are and when you moved in, in case bailiffs come back. They do accept it if you can show you aren't who they're after.

Of course she had reasonable excuse to do so! Stop trying to scare the OP with daft, unfounded claims. How vile.

I would be very careful here.

I was the same as you @OnNaturesCourse, I moved into a home that had been rented out multiple times prior to sale. My landlord bought it and we moved straight in.

Within a month we started to get letters, mostly to one particular female name. I put them in the post as not known at this address and thought nothing of it.

About 6 months in, had Police at my door at 11.30 at night. I nearly didn't open the door as it was late and DH was away for the weekend. I then heard the door knock very aggressively, and "police, open the door". So I opened it a crack, they had torches in my face and demanded to be let in.
Obviously I asked what they wanted, what the hell was going on. They were looking for the boyfriend of the woman whose post kept coming. They were very polite once I showed them identification and my tenancy agreement. But it frightened the life out of me.

I thought it couldn't get worse than that but it did. I went to pick the DCs up from school one afternoon, as I did every day. It was lovely and sunny so they wanted to play in the park next door to school but I said no as I was going out that evening with a friend.

As we turned up our street, I could see two men and two police officers taking the lock off my front door. I've run up the street shouting to them to have one female officer grab me and say they were there to keep the peace for a county court bailiff exercising a writ.

I had to keep saying for who? What name?
It was the old tenant and I said so.

The bailiffs attitude was "that's what they all say" luckily the police said they were happy to see identification and I showed them my bank card. Bailiff said that wasn't enough so I offered my tenancy but they said they didn't want me in the house to hide things before they made a list of goods to take if I didn't arrange a payment to them on that day!

The police again stepped in and said that I was fine to do so, DCs were in tears as they thought we were going to have nothing in the house. I gave them the tenancy agreement, they uhmmed and ahhed and then said I should find out her new address and asked for my landlords details. I explained he had bought the house after she left so he wouldn't know and I demanded they fixed my door but they refused and the police said they were not obliged to do so!

I contacted my landlord and he got someone out to fix the door, he then got the details of the company who broke it and took them to small claims for the money, which he won.

We were still getting driving fines and all sorts sent here for two years and I opened every one of them and called.

Returning to sender would likely have achieved nothing.

I have returned many, many letter for other names and yet they still arrive.

The council have advised I hold on to the letter and any future ones that arrive. I assume they know what they are talking about.

I have been given advice and I have chosen which advice I believe the best to follow. Simply because it was not your advice is no reason to start a argument on the Internet. Move on.

Sorry I don't think I have started an argument? I was just advising caution as we had such a near miss with bailiffs due to a previous tenant?

skynorth is niugboo 's fresh name. Got it.

That wasn't aimed at you Reformed.

I've been in this position. Keep a copy of your tenancy agreement or land registry purchase registration by the front door, in case bailiffs turn up. You won't have any problems if you can prove that you are now the legal resident.

It is NOT illegal to open someone else’s’ mail in these circumstances.

Because responders like you who are saying the OP has broken the law, are wrong. The law says a person commits an offence if, intending to act to a person’s detriment and without reasonable excuse, he opens a postal packet which he knows or reasonably suspects has been incorrectly delivered to him.

We bought our home from a landlord who used the house for short term rentals and we ended up with bailiffs and police on our doorstep after doing exactly as you suggest, and returning letters to sender unopened. We were advised that opening mail in these circumstances is not an offence as there is reasonable excuse to do so. We would not be acting to the detriment of the addressee because the very fact that mail is arriving regularly or frequently means they haven’t changed their details with the relevant organisations and is a red flag. Under these circumstances the new homeowner or tenant has a right to protect their own interests in making sure they are not mistakenly held responsible for someone elses’ actions or misdeeds, and the easiest way to avoid it is to open the letter and contact the sender to update them.

Casual ableism ?!!!