People down the road with no address using ours!

[houseofisms]

We live on a road with a camping/touring park down the end. There’s only 4 addresses on our road (including the holiday park)
we often get loads of post for random people whom we assumed lived here previously but from years ago (we suspect it was an unofficial HMO at some point due the Yale locks on every internal door so not an issue, they just get binned)

we had a few Amazon packages delivered here by people staying at the park and needing an address to send it to (without asking) Annoying but fine.

about a year ago, the manager of the park knocked on the door asking for their credit card!!! (I must have binned it but said I hadn’t seen anything) turns out that they can’t get a bank account due to no address (they live in a big caravan with their feral kids on the park so no address) bad credit and this card was their only way of getting money. It took us flippin ages to get it removed from our address as the company refused to make amendments without full details etc.

Ive just had an Amazon delivery in their name! (Partner took it in thinking it was for us)

AIBU - suck it up and behave like a good neighbour and wait for them to collect

YANBU - leave the parcel outside in the pouring rain with a note asking not to use our address again

*they are quite loud and scary and I don’t like confrontation

I’d order that 3 tons of horse manure you’ve been meaning to get but use the holiday park’s address and ask them to leave it right in the middle of the gate.

I know they could hold a permanent residence licence but they clearly don't if they can't use their caravan as an address.

I had a relative who lived in her caravan 11 months of the year and sofa surfed for February. She couldn't get deliveries or anything.

I would be leaving it outside or handing it back to the driver and saying no one with that name lives here.

A soft answer turneth away wrath, (well, sometimes it does)

For a quiet life instead of a problem one with feral kids. I think I would keep the deliveries for them and smile when they call.
It won't cost you anything, they might even be nice to you.
Someone I worked with spent some time with some fairly wild teenagers. They were grateful, bought her a coffee and taught her how to hot wire a car.

I would contact the delivery companies and have them register that only packages addressed to you are delivered. A friend of mine had someone get a credit card at her address and it caused her major problems with her credit score

Appeasing bullies never works. They need to be stood up to or they just get worse and take further liberties.

I’d be very wary one of my relatives lived in a large block of flats and random mail and parcels were delivered to other residents name ( say John Smith) but with their door number. My relative was mostly home all day and being nice, but naive, would hand over the stuff when John Smith chapped at the door this went on for quite some time apparently. Til the day an envelope arrived from the Passport Office when my relative happened to have a visitor. Visitor opened the envelope to find passport with John Smith’s face but with a different name. Anyhow police were called and it turns out Hhn Smith was well known to the police and long story short quite a few other neighbors had also been receiving parcels, some dodgy, for John Smith, it was quite the local story for a while.

Yes, do this OP. You could even invite them in for a three course dinner while you’re feeling benevolent. Perhaps offer to go along and clean their caravan once a week?

If they come asking for their parcel " because photo is your door" you can say.."oh that must be the parcel i handed back because it wasn't for us, you'll have to take it up with delivery company"

Personally, I would open any mail that came to your address. We once had someone using our address for car insurance scam. They bought the insurance online and got the documents printed out but used our address. They then had an accident the next day. I think it was one of those deliberate crashes. We had a letter come to the house and my husband phoned the insurance company. Despite what anyone says, we will continue to open all mail.

This! Return all mail to sender with Not Known at this Address on it. Don't take in any parcels not for you. Return Amazon parcel to Amazon and say not known at address.

I open any post that comes from a bank, mobile phone company etc (anything that suggests an account at your address). Ring them, give them the account number and tell them the person has never lived at your address. They’ll stop the mail immediately.

When we moved in we had statements for one of the previous owners from Barclays. At first I dropped them to the estate agent for forwarding but after a while I got pissed off by the inconvenience and opened one. It had a balance of about £120k! At that point I realised it couldn’t be accidental, as who would forget an account with that much cash in it? It was the husband of the vendors and I suspect he wanted her not to know he had that money. As soon as I rang the bank they stopped it coming immediately.

Also contact action fraud about your address.
Return all parcels to original couriers as not known at address.
Report the caravan site to council as it will probably have a holiday license not a residential which is why they don't have address.
Contact owner of caravan site and tell them people are using your address fraudently - the owner may put a stop to this via caravan eviction if they think they might end up with a tax bill or fine for incorrect licensing.

Should they be living at the caravan park full time? Perhaps this is why they can't use it as an address as they should only be there for so many months of the year and maybe the have an unofficial agreement that it's ok to be there. It all sounds a bit dodgy though that they aren't even getting items delivered there as I am sure some people get stuff delivered from Amazon to campsites when they forget something.

Absolutely, but it sends a message to people trying to use her address.

The could use the caravan park address. I’d start binning it all or denying all knowledge. Don’t answer the door either.

Almost certainly because living there full time is not permitted on their licence to run a holiday/caravan park, and having peoples post to that address gives the game away. Same thing tends to apply at marinas where people can stay on their boats some of the time but aren't permitted to live there all year round.

All it would show was that a parcel was left outside. And what’s the worst that could happen if there was an allegation of theft? OP says “Oh yes, there was a parcel delivered here by mistake, but I had no idea who the addressee was, so I binned it”.

I agree. I've seen all those posts with people getting all worked up. If it comes to my house, I'm opening it. If anyone complains then I obviously didn't check before I realised did I?
I opened an envelope which contained a Monzo card for someone I'd never heard of. Phoned Monzo who told me to cut it up. Two days later a stranger knocked on my door asking for his Monzo card and was very sad when I told him what had happened. He told me he'd moved in two doors down and had got the number wrong so would it be ok for them to resend his new card to my address. No! Strangely enough I never saw him again.

You always get people on these types of threads who pompously bleat on about how it is illegal (dun-dun-DUNNNNN!) to open someone else's post, but they always fail to complete their cut and paste legalese, which adds on the context about having malicious intent.

Yes, this is one of my favourite MN myths. Along with “OMG you posted a photo while you were on holiday?! You have just invalidated your insurance!!!” and the idea that all employers require and expect highly detailed references.

Lock your porch so the delivery driver cannot pop parcels inside and scarper.

I agree it could be seen as fraud for them to use your address.

I would mark items as return to sender.

However, I would also include only the envelope that the person has never lived at your address, does not have permission to use your address, and you wish for it to be removed from their records.

If you are there when something is delivered, you can refuse to accept it.

Do you have a camera or doorbell camera. If not and you have concern re retaliation it may be worth getting one.

Caravan parks are not allowed to receive owners mail. Doing so is in breach of council licensing rules. The park would be at risk of losing its licence. So owners can’t apply for a on park mailing address.
PO box is a viable option

Parcels get stolen from doorsteps a lot.

the problem is that these people are dodgy and potentially dangerous.

it’s fine and dandy for posters here saying you should do this and you should do that, and in a naice area you totally would, but living in a dodgy area i know well that dodgy people are capable of doing things to your property if you piss them off. i wouldnt want my tyre slashed or car keyed.

easist way is lock the porch and do nothing else yet. i’d stop ordering my own stuff online for a bit too so no couriers coming and going. see if that works first.