AIBU to do nothing after receiving a letter for the previous owner

[Onemoret1me]

I came home tonight to find a handwritten envelope that had been posted through Royal Mail, signed for delivery.
we hadn’t signed for it, it was just through the letterbox and had my address but no name in

opened the letter and it’s a letter addressed to the previous owner, a male who must be at least early 60’s ( not lived in the house for approx 7 years)
the letter is from a potential child of theirs saying they’ve been informed previous owner may be their biological dad and asking if he would get in touch

The letter is signed with first and last name but no contact number or address

would I be unreasonable to do nothing? I feel if I start trying to see if I have previous owners forwarding address still then I’m sticking my nose in something that doesn’t involve me.
equally, I feel if I do nothing then this person will assume previous owner has received the letter and chosen not to reach out.

what would you do, if anything?

There was no name on the envelope. Just OP’s address. What was she supposed to do ?

It is curious that someone who wants contact doesn't give contact details

I'm one of the people who deals with that sort of random enquiry at the law firm I work for. We wouldn't charge you for our time and we'd pass the letter on (because we wouldn't know what it says. Fuck knows what we would do if we did), but we're a small, friendly firm. Not all law firms would do that,

I can walk into council offices and look at the Electoral Registers, for all the address in my district and it will give me the names of all the residents over 18

Whilst I can't make copies, they are still full lists at the council offices and they are public documents open for access - so its a far easier way of getting the names of someone in a particular house

its a £1000 fine for not being on the list, so most people are on the full list and many tick to not be published online or have their date sold

No return address supplied, no forwarding address known
You are not legally required to do either

Reseal the envelope
Strike out your address
Write in big letters "No longer at this address"
Pop in the postbox

But how is the 'dad' supposed to get in touch? Are they known to each other already?

The estate agent might possibly have contact details. I’d pass it to them.

The potential child might be known to the previous owner so didn’t need to add contact details?

Yeah, this is the maximum I would do. As I said, this is not for the OP to deal with, and it's absolute nonsense that she is 'legally required to forward it on' as one poster laughably suggested. It's not even illegal to open someone else's mail. This comment always comes up on threads like this. It's only illegal to open someone's mail, and use what's in there for nafarious purposes.

But yeah, if the letter was a signed for letter/recorded delivery, then popping it into the letterbox after writing 'not known at this address' on it, may possibly get the letter returned at least to the post office it came from.

The OP does not have to contact the estate agent or solicitor and try to find the person that this letter is meant for, and it's a ludicrous suggestion, saying she is involved now and she needs to work hard to find this man! (as some posters have been saying!) She doesn't need to do ANYthing. She could tear it in up and stick it in the bin, which is what some people would do, no matter what people are saying on here. But yeah, writing 'not known at this address' on the envelope, and popping into a postbox is the best idea IMO.

If letters kept coming, I would only do this 2-4 times though, and then I would just bin any letters after that.... When we moved into our current home, we kept getting mail for a woman, that were sent from a building society for an account that had less than a pound in it. Every 3 months the bloody statements were coming, and every time (for the first year or so,) I wrote 'not known at this address' on the letter, and stuck it in the postbox, and they still kept sending the fucking statements!

When the 5th/6th one came I just binned it, and carried on binning them. They still sent them for about 4-5 years. We moved here in the early 2010s - 13-14 years ago, and we still get the occasional letter for someone we have never heard of. As we've been living here 13-14 years I have no bloody clue why anyone is writing to ANYone other than me and DH here. Even our DC haven't lived here for a decade. So yeah, anything in someone's name other than DH or I gets instantly binned now. We don't even open them.

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I've been searching for my real father. I have to say that I wouldn't have thought of looking on Rightmove to see if the house was sold if I found his address.

It will have taken an awful lot to pluck up the courage to send that letter.

I wonder if the estate agent you bought through would have a forwarding address?

Yes, you need to do what the majority of posters are saying, do what you can to get the letter to the addressee.

Did it really not have a name on the addressed envelope? Why would it only have the name inside once it's been opened. Sounds like you've opened a letter not addressed (named) to you, which you shouldn't have. No wonder you now want to ignore it!

post the envelope and the signature and maybe a line of the writing in the letter in case anyone recognises that on a local Facebook group. Just a general note saying received this to this street and if anyone has any info on recipient whereabouts or sender etc to DM you. You would be surprised the things neighbours know and I’ve seen this kind of post before where say a card has been posted through a door and they are looking for the recipient or sender. You don’t need to include details of what the letter says obviously.
the sender may have been emotional and confused etc hence forgetting the details of how to contact them . They possibly may also see the Facebook post you never know .

We had debt collectors turn up at our house looking for the previous owner (which was scary and shit). We gave them his solicitors details for when we bought the house. I believe they found him.

This is what I'd do.

Not necessarily. They may have knew the man when they were younger as an acquaintance, ie, friend of mother's. Man may have lost contact and mother then told child he was dad so sending correspondence to last known address mother provided

But would you have sent it not addressed to him personally? And with no contact details?

I have been in your shoes and I am genuinely curious.

I would try and write back to them and say the person no longer lives at this address and return their letter. Failing that I would contact the estate agent or your solicitor and ask them to forward this letter to the previous owner.

People don't send many letters these days - my gen z kids barely know where to buy stamps and envelopes without having to ask.

If I had the address I would forward

It really isn’t. It’d be nothing to do with me.

So much sticky beakery in evidence on here.

No, I wouldn't. I was just commenting about the Rightmove thing, people seem incredulous that the person didn't check if the house had been sold.

In fact, when I contacted my real mother by letter (20 years ago now) I didn't put my contact details in the letter because she knew me and had my phone number. I put her name on the envelope though!

It's not 'sticky beakery' to have empathy for people. This is a strange thing in the modern world I find.

I would try and write back to them and say the person no longer lives at this address and return their letter.

THERE. ARE. NO. CONTACT. DETAILS. OF. THE. PERSON. WHO. HAS. SENT. THE. LETTER.

Did you even read the OP's first post?

I couldn't live with myself if I ignored something of such magnitude!