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.

If you know where the dads care home is I would bundle it all into an envelope and put it in the letter box. Then forward any new mail c/o the home.

Personally I think you are right to be concerned. Not only is the old man being defrauded but we as tax payers are having to pick up the bill.

I would take all the post, put it in a big envelope and post it to the council. Let them see where the money is going so they can send the police or bailiffs to the right individual. Fairly certain the bank will have to give address details if there's an official investigation going on.

When I bought a house once, the previous owners had their main forwarded for a year. When that lapsed, it all started getting sent to me again. For months I returned it to the PO, then one day a bailiff turned up to collect money that the previous owners owed.

That’s when I found out that they had taken out loads of credit on their old address (now my house) and they had defaulted on it. I opened every letter after that, and contacted every single company to inform them that they had moved, and to stop sending stuff to me. We had debt collectors turning up quite regularly for months.

And fyi - there's no saying that his daughter will get his money when he dies. He might have left a will saying everything goes to Dogs Trust or cousin Fred.

I still get the same savings statements and investment statements for the previous owners, not the tenants. They sold the house 12 years ago and had let it before that.

So, 12 years of returning mail to banks, marked no longer at this address. I have tried putting a note inside.

Banks are the worst of the lot for this.

I thought you said they left owing no rent? Now you say they were evicted.

But did a flit owing no rent the day before the court order ran out.
Evicted and did a flit...

My adult DD gets all payments from me marked as 'happy birthday' because about 10 years ago I used that reference and never changed it.

True.

I kept getting bills from British Gas addressed to someone I'd never heard of and sending them back unopened. Eventually I opened one and phoned British Gas it turned out they were for me but with a completely spurious name and I owed them about £9 from when I changed provider. They had started threatening me with court for non payment even though they had used the wrong name.

In the OP's situation I would return the letters in an envelope with a letter describing what has happened.

Truly noble of you OP. What is it they say? - not all heroes wear capes.

Call the vet.

Tell them the facts.

You need to take that statement and the vet bills and your concerns to the elder abuse office of your local council.

There may be an elder social services office you could get in touch with.

I'd say it's clear they are fleecing the old man.

I don't think you are wrong to be concerned op. Sounds like the daughter is spending dads mo ey. It might be with his permission in an effort to get rid of the cash so they fon't have to pay care fees thpugh - so made to look like reimbursement of wxpenses i mean. What you do about it i have no idea.

@Resilience
There is a reasonable excuse here and no harm to the addressees, unless they are committing a crime, in which case, the interest of preventing a crime or harm to another trumps their interest in the privacy of their post.

It is not illegal to open other people's post unless you are doing it for criminal gain. In fact if you are doing it to try to track down the person you are ok to do this

@mathanxiety - I agree. I don't think the OP was unreasonable. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

I had a horrible lodger once, who when moving out told me he’d had all his mail redirected so he didn’t need to leave me a forwarding address (fine with me), so when his Glastonbury festival parking permit arrived I tragically couldn’t send it on to him.

Yes, I opened it.

And yes, his Grandad lives in the village so I suppose I could have given it to him, but that’s a half-mile walk up a very steep hill, whaddya gonna do?

How exactly do you think they are conning the elderly man because the vet is sending bills twice a month?
I just don't get what you think the scam is there.

They are scamming the vet by not paying for whatever treatment they've received for the dog but that's got nothing to do with the man in the care home.

They are possibly scamming g the old man by telling him they're paying the bill in installments, taking money from him monthly, and then not paying the vet. Same goes for the care home fees - taking the money from his account and then not paying the home.

Am I missing something.....

So the OP says she opened the bank statement because it was addressed to a strange name - how does she know it's actually the ex tenants statement?

IF it is the ex tenants bank statement, it's HER/HIS bank statement - who they make transfers to or withdrawals from is completely their business, nothing to do with the elderly dad

The only thing that relates to the elderly dad is the letter for unpaid care home costs and that's something they he OP has no idea about

I also don't understand that the OP evicted the tenant who had no rent arrears, but also did a flit..... did they not just leave at the end of the notice period after paying rent in full?

Some of you are adding 2 to 2 and coming up with 5

None of it makes sense.

If you mean that the bank statements to ex tenant (still don’t understand why it was in a strange name but you say it was ex tenant, surely you know her name)

There was a couple of credits from the father marked vets bills although dog is dead

Couldn’t it be the case that the payments were for something else entirely and father hasn’t bothered to change the reference reason

I never change reference reasons when transferring money to family

Sorry message got duplicated

Postal Services Act 2000A person commits an offence if, intending to act to a person’s detriment and without reasonable excuse, they open a postal packet which they know or reasonably suspects has been incorrectly delivered to them.
The Act also refers to a person who ‘intentionally delays’ post being received – even throwing away unopened mail could lead to problems!

After 6 years of still receiving ex's bills, new credit card applications & final demands, I concur it's impossible to get these letters to stop unless you're the person they are writing to, can remember your mother's maiden name and memorable word, and can be bothered to update your address.