When you move into a new home, it’s an exciting time. Your mind is likely to be thinking about decorating, furniture and generally putting your stamp on your new pad. That doesn’t mean there won’t be irritations along the way, and a common thing to deal with is other people’s mail.
If you receive mail addressed to previous residents, you should simply cross out the postal address of your home and write ‘Not at this address’ on the envelope, before putting it back into the nearest post box.
By returning the mail to the sender, the company (or person) it originated from should remove the old occupant of your home from their mailing list or address book. While this should mean that you don’t get further mailings for them from the same source, it can take a while for records to get updated, and some companies are better than others at staying on top of their databases.
Do I Need To Put A Stamp On Mail Returned To Sender?
The Royal Mail do not charge for returning incorrectly addressed mail, because they know that people will not return it if they have to pay to do so.
You do not need to put a stamp on incorrectly addressed or delivered mail to return it to the sender. Just write ‘Not at this address’ and place it in a post box to return it. Royal Mail will process and deliver the return.
Is It Illegal To Throw Away Someone Else’s Mail In The UK?
Someone’s mail is their property, and from the point of posting it to the point of delivery, it is rumoured to be ‘owned’ by the Queen. Once delivery is complete, regardless of whether it has reached their correct and current address, it belongs to the individual named on the envelope.
It is illegal to throw away mail addressed to someone else at your address that doesn’t live with you, even if you’ve repeatedly returned mail for them in the past. You should continue to return it until deliveries cease.
It can be incredibly annoying to continue to receive mail for previous owners or tenants of your address weeks and months after they leave. If you choose to stop returning mail to the sender you could be in breach of the law, however it’s rare that you hear of anyone with legal issues if they grow tired of doing so.
Can I Open Someone Else’s Mail If It Is Continually Being Delivered To Me In Error?
As mail is considered private property, it’s not advisable to open someone else’s post, even if it continues to arrive after you’ve returned mail to the same company repeatedly. While some items will be far more important than others, some important legal notices are delivered in the mail.
For example, motoring offence notices could be delivered from the DVLA and considered received by the driver, so questions could be asked if you’ve not returned them as undelivered, even if the driver should have updated their details already.
Never open mail addressed to someone else, as it could mean you’re breaking the law. Simply write ‘Not At This Address’ on the envelope and return it via the nearest post box.
The Post Office and Royal Mail have the authority to open mail under certain circumstances, including to return mail if there is no return address on the back of the envelope.
Should I Agree To Forward Mail For The Previous Tenant Or Owner Of My Home?
Forwarding mail can become even more of a pain than returning it to the sender. What’s more, the intended recipient could become suspicious that you’re not forwarding everything, or taking a long time to post it on. It’s their responsibility to update their details with people sending them mail, not yours.
You should return incorrectly delivered mail to the sender, not forward it to the person’s new address, even if you know it. Otherwise the company or person writing to them will continue to send mail to their old address – yours!
What If I’m Asked To Forward Mail To The Previous Occupant?
If you really want to be nice and forward mail for a previous occupant, do so at your own peril. This could continue in perpetuity, and what’s more, can be a complete pain as time goes on.
If you’re still going to go ahead – get them to write their new address down for you and keep it as evidence that they’ve asked you to forward their mail. People get very defensive and point fingers when they’re in trouble – using the DVLA as an example again, if they get in trouble for not updating the address for their licence or car registration, they might try to claim they never got letters. Don’t get caught in the middle!
It’s advisable not to forward mail for previous owners or tenants of your home, even if they ask you to do so. Instead, return the mail to the sender quickly after it arrives and hopefully records will get updated and deliveries will slow to a crawl or stop altogether.
How To Get Mail Forwarded To Previous Occupants Correctly
If you’re being asked to forward mail, be confident that it’s not your responsibility. If the former tenant or owner is that keen to get their mail forwarded, they can arrange the service with Royal Mail.
Royal Mail offer a redirection service to forward mail for a fixed period after someone moves home. Any mail addressed to their former home with their name as recipient will be delivered to their new residence instead.
While using a redirection service arranged through the Post Office or the Royal Mail website costs a monthly fee, that doesn’t mean you should feel guilty for refusing to do the job for free to save the previous occupant money.
Regardless of why someone else’s mail falls through your door from the postman, you should return it in the same way as detailed above (repeatedly!), giving the sender the opportunity to update their records and stop bugging you with letters and parcels that aren’t meant for you.
