I'm a snooping landlord AIBU

[justasking111]

We had some tenants. They never missed the rent but moved elderly dad and dog in without asking. It was covid so no problems.

Anyway they left, dad went into a home. The dog they cared for died.

They did a flit no rent owing but no forwarding address. We decided to sell but the post kept coming. I'd collect but there was a strange name so opened. It was bank statements to the ex tenant marked vets Bill sometimes twice a month around £900 a month.

We know for a fact that the dog is dead. So the elderly man in the nursing home is he being conned?

Should I do something about this or just let it go because the daughter would receive the money when he dies anyway.

Are you saying that you think the dad is making payments to his son/daughter to reimburse them for vet's fees for a dog that is now dead? ie You think they're telling him the dog is still alive and having vet treatment that they're paying for?

I would have thought it more likely that the dog cost them a fortune in vets' fees in the years leading up to its death (and/or that they've previously had other pets) and they ran up a huge bill which they're now having to pay off in instalments.

Either way, I doubt that the bank statements you've seen would be enough grounds for any investigation so personally I'd just send them back No Longer At This Address or put them in the bin.

Missed the later updates. Sounds increasingly concerning tbh.

I wonder if daughter has power of attorney? This might be useful to help you decide what to do next
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/office-of-the-public-guardian

Cancel the mail!

But seriously, if people would read replies on earlier threads or replies to their comments at least, they might stop posting that it is illegal to open someone's mail because they would know it isn't.

It’s not illegal in these circumstances. If you receive mail addressed to someone you don’t know, at your address, and who is not resident there, you can legitimately open it to protect yourself from potential scams.

You could report to the Office of Public Guardians if you think they have POA over his finances and are abusing it. Although it could be she’s transferring money and just not changing the reference as some banks want extra security if you change anything on a payment so people sometimes don’t bother because its quicker.

Oh they stayed till the day before then disappeared?

Regarding the tenants current address, I tracked down previous tenants by searching very thoroughly online and found the area they moved to, followed by their new address, and eventually their new business. I also found their parents. I was fed up with debt collection letters arriving. I returned each one, opened, with a note inside of the new address/parents address, resealed it and sent it back.

The letters stopped.

I'd ring the vet said they no longer live at the address and just up and left

Is it bollocks.

Actually OP I'm in complete agreement with your actions so far and you're right to be really concerned about what's going on here.
I really think you should go to the police with what you've found.
Not only is it dodgy but there does seem to be some financial abuse going on.

Write to the bank, enclosing the statement opened in error.

Tell them the tenant moved out on X date and you have no forwarding address, despite multiple returns 'gone away' they appear to not have updated their records, and that unless they confirm to you that they have updated their records (as is their GDPR obligation) you'll report them to the information commissioner.

I'm not sure you could do anything about the suspected vet bill fraud without contacting the father.

Marking my place for fun because you landlords are really something else.

Just report his name / her name to adult social care to raise a safeguarding concern about financial abuse. Give them the letters. They'll have to investigate. Don't know if you'd need an address but I'm sure they could somehow find him or her.

As a landlord I've had some amazing scams. Clothing catalogues, next, Debenhams, SKY, etc. I've had to sort them out for new tenants. To avoid bailiffs for them. So yes we really are something else and go the extra mile for good tenants.

Whatever is inside other peoples mail is none of your business. Had you not open this letter you wouldn't be facing this dilemma. If they were interested in getting their mail they would have left a forwarding address but the they were not interested so they did not. End of your dilemma.

Bin it. I'm sure you have your share of stuff to deal with, and if that's not the case then you need to get a hobby OP.

I'm not a landlord and have opened post for previous owners. The only way to stop some of it coming was to open it and write to the companies involved. I did return to sender - not at this address - on the envelope for ten+ years and the same mail kept coming.

Well of course they're not interested they're off scamming elsewhere 🙄

Obviously missing something.
If the ex tenant is conning her father why is she sending letters to him at an address that she knows her father doesn’t live at

It's tiresome isn't it

She isn't the bank and council are

I don't get what the nature of the scam you think is happening is? What do you mean by 'bank statements'? If your ex-tenant was fraudulently charging his dad for a dead dog - why would he do it by sending 'bank statements' to an address that he knows his dad has vacated? Or is it an ongoing uncanceled direct debit coming from the vet (in which case isn't it likelier oversight than fraud)?

Contact the council, explain who you are and that he's not at this address.

I'd been ignoring letters for the people we bought from (there were mountains of junk mail and catalogues) until we had the bailiffs at our door. At that point I started opening letters that looked official, and contacting the companies directly to let them know. I furnished them with the details of the estate agent who'd handled the sale, for proof.

I x posted with Yalta.

I don't understand the explanation. A bank statement means a statement of account - ie showing all transactions on a bank account for a particular period. I think this isn't what you mean - what are the documents that the dad has been sent?

You have concerns. You know what council his care home is in due to the bills.

So report your suspicion of financial abuse to their adult care team and they’ll look into it. They’ll likely be more interested than usual if they’re owed money. They’ll likely be interested in the fact the daughter is transferring any money to herself whilst bills are unpaid.

It doesn’t have to be complicated or dramatic.

We moved into rented and started to send the deluge of mail we got which was addressed to all different people that I presume had rented this house over the years. 60 to 100 letters per week we were getting.

I now throw them in the bin as it has been over a year and if companies don’t understand what NOT KNOWN AT THIS ADDRESS. MOVED means then not my job to explain it to them.

I don’t open other peoples mail as I am not interested in taking on board other people’s problems. I have too many of my own.

Only issue I had was when someone came round and asked if I lived at my address and if I did then the company he wanted was my company because I admitted to living at the address

He seemed relieved to find I had returned every letter I had received for this company back to the sender. (In this case the DVLA)