Buyer having post delivered

[llittledoveblue]

We’ve just returned home from a weekend away and amongst our post is a letter with our buyers name on it.

To be honest, I’m not sure how I feel about it. We haven’t exchanged contracts yet, although we’re all ready to go there was an issue with a survey further up the chain last week so that person has just found a new property. Although everyone is keen to exchange the end of next month this of course isn’t guaranteed.

The letter is from Next and states “important documents enclosed”.
which also concerns me as they had asked to buy our sofa but we had to say no as it isn’t very old and we need it for the new house but we informed them it was from Next.
now I don’t know if this is just order confirmation or furniture or if they’ve potentially taken out finance on it which is a big worry as if we don’t complete by the end of the month their mortage offer expires and they will need to reapply.

obviously it could be neither. But still odd they’ve used our address as anything could happen or am I overthinking it?

Unacceptable; leaves you wide open to being the victim of fraud. Id be interested in any comment from your solicitor before speaking to the EA.
Dont open it though!

I’m not so much fussed about finance linked to the address. I’d like to think we will be well out of here before they are potentially chased for missed payments on a sofa.
But their mortage expires at the end of May. If we don’t complete by then they will need to reapply.

I have heard a lot of horror stories of people applying for finance after having mortgages accepted and then being reassessed closer to completion and the mortgage company declining their application.

Just ask via Estate Agents. Sofas can be 8-12 weeks from Next so they probably thought they’d use their future address.

So much misinformation on this post.

It is not illegal to open someone's mail. It is illegal to open someone's mail if you intend to act to the detriment ofthe intended recipient.

Also finance hasn't been don't on an address for years and years. It is all done by the person. Addresses are not blacklisted etc.... people are.

As lead times can be 12-16 weeks on furniture I would assume they have ordered a sofa or something after your conversation. Just contact the estate agent and tell them what has happened, no need to get so anxious about it.

I don’t think anyone should be ordering furniture for a new property until they have the keys in their hand.
I certainly wouldn’t. From experience, sales fall through all the time!!
I absolutely wouldn’t order the new beds we need to our new house until we have moved in. Absolutely anything can happen prior to exchange.

I think I have the right to be a little cautious that a total stranger is stating they live at my home. How do I know how many other things they’ve used my address for.
it could be months before they actually live here 😂

When we last moved, about a week after we’d accepted an offer we were contacted by our broadband provider saying “we’ve heard you’re moving on X date, we’ll disconnect you”. Our buyer had arranged her own broadband for a random (and very unrealistic) date 🙄
In fairness, she was a FTB, and from another country so potentially a country that doesn’t have such drawn out processes for house buying. But still, I don’t know what she was thinking.

They've been very foolish if they've applied for other credit while in the process of buying a house with a mortgage.

I am pretty sure it is not illegal if it has your address on it.

According to the Postal Services Act 2000, Section 84, it is an offence to intentionally open or delay mail that is not meant for you, even if it has your postal address on it.

I think a lot of people are being a bit precious, you’re selling your house, it won’t be ‘yours’ soon and if someone is just trying to be practical and prepared for the move what’s the issue? It’s their risk if the sale falls through and they have to make other arrangements for their purchase.

Not just their risk though is it? If they jeopardise their mortage offer because they’ve taken out new credit before moving then we lose out on our house too?

We had our buyers EE wifi stuff turn up 2 weeks before exchange, it does give you a weird feeling but it all went though and we popped it in the cupboard for them.

id see it as a huge positive they are keen!!

It's not actually.

It really is:

84Interfering with the mail: general.
(1)A person commits an offence if, without reasonable excuse, he—
(a)intentionally delays or opens a postal packet in the course of its transmission by post, or
(b)intentionally opens a mail-bag.
(2)Subsections (2) to (5) of section 83 apply to subsection (1) above as they apply to subsection (1) of that section.
(3)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.
(4)Subsections (2) and (3) of section 83 (so far as they relate to the opening of postal packets) apply to subsection (3) above as they apply to subsection (1) of that section.
(5)A person who commits an offence under subsection (1) or (3) shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both.

Well, that's fine, you do you.

That doesn't mean everyone else has to do the same as you.

You're making all sorts of assumptions about them telling people they are living there. You have had one letter from next, not people knocking asking for them.

You're being very over the top about one letter and finance and all sorts of things that don't concern you. It won't affect their mortgage if they have bought a sofa or whatever on finance.

I get that waiting for it to complete/exchange is a stressful time, but you need to take a deep breath & stop panicking over absolutely nothing.

You’re making a lot of assumptions and slight catastrophizing the situation.

"why the fuck is this delivered here" is imho a very reasonable excuse

Just after we got our house we got mail from the same sender (blazoned all over the envelope) for two people we had never heard of - not the sellers. We opened it and found out these unknowns had taken out finance agreements from our address. We contacted the company concerned whi were very interested and never heard from then again, thankfully.

I mean, okay?

the general consensus seems to be you shouldn’t use an address for a property where you don’t live regardless if you’re planning to buy the property.

I never said they are telling “people” they live here. I questioned them using my address when we haven’t even exchanged contracts 😅

im guessing 99% of people wouldn’t use an address for anything before moving in.

taking out credit whilst getting a mortage can and will affect your application ☺️

I would open it. And say it was a mistake.

Do you know it's a letter re credit? Or could it be that they've ordered one, been given a delivery date of 12 weeks, they've given their new address (your old address) and that the letter is simply confirmation of this.

I think you are being ridiculous OP and blowing this way out of proportion. If I needed a new sofa and it was a 12 week wait for delivery, of course I would give the new address. If the sale fell through, I'd just change the delivery address. Its really not that deep and you are overreacting.

Most mortgage providers insist on buildings insurance being in place at the point you exchange contracts, so they will have to use that address. Why is buying a sofa or other crap for the house any different?!

You had a lucky escape there. Sometimes opening post addressed to other people at your own address is the only way of being sure you can deal with it properly. Just returning the envelope to sender is no guarantee that the company concerned will understand and deal with the underlying issues.
On another occasion we kept getting post for a neighbour from a finance company. Dropped it through his letter box a few times before asking hm to get his contact details corrected, and he said he'd prefer for these items to go our address instead! Er, no.

Mortgage lenders frequently do a credit search before completion and if anything has changed it can affect the mortgage offer. It's advised to not take any new credit before completion. Our mortgage lender did a credit check before completion

Open it and have a look, 'Sorry, oops didn't notice it wasn't my name on it, but why are you getting mail sent here?'. I'm always suspicious if I get anything with my address, but someone else's name, you never know what sort of scam may be going on.