Do I have a legal obligation to…

…forward post if I know the address? I'm expecting the answer to be no, but read on…

We've been living in this house for over 2 years and we're STILL getting post from the previous owners. Normally it gets binned, being little more than junk mail, but more recently we've had some "real" post. For example the other day there arrived what looks like a letter from a solicitor to do with a death. We've also had pension stuff and who knows what has ended up in the bin.

They moved somewhere locally so it is not a big pain to drop it by, but I don't really know if they still live at the new address. The fact that such important post does not have the correct address after 2 years rings alarm bells.

What do you reckon?

Return to sender then it's up to them to find the people.

return to sender – just put 'no longer at this address on the envelope.

Other than pure bloody idleness what reason is there not to write the correct address on and stick it in the postbox?

What would you want to happen to your mail in similar situation.

Return to sender, that way they will stop sending it to you

avdave2 > the correct answer is to pay the small fee that RM ask to redirect your mail. Change addresses on anything you can think of, then do any others that get redirected as you get them. Within a few months you should have got 95% of it, and everything that matters within 6-12 months.

Relying on people who live at your old address is just laziness – I do goodwill for 6 months or so if I know their address, anything else or after that it goes back with "not known at this address".

Other than pure bloody idleness what reason is there not to write the correct address on and stick it in the postbox?

Indefinitely? This is not just a bit of junk mail but important post. I feel aggrieved that it is falling on my shoulders to deliver someone else's post. Yes, I'd be very grateful if someone did it for me and I hope the people in question are grateful too, but I'd bloody well get my backside in gear if I knew my solicitor was sending post to somewhere I no longer live. What if they move again? Maybe they already have? Surely then it's better to return to sender?

Return to sender and if the same stuff keeps coming to you return to sender attached to a pile of old magazines/phonebook/heavy scrap item.

We're still getting post for the previous occupants after six years!

I used to pass it on but now I return to sender. Last month we recieved a driving licence! The previous occupants are particularly slack.

Previous owner of ours ran a business from house – still get stuff i just send it back. Every now and again he comes looking for invoices I just shrug at him and say sorry not seen anything. He is a complete c0ck mind so I dont feel the need to help him – left house in a hell of state and I had to sue him to get him to pay for skip hire to remove his cr@p from my garden. He is genuinely surprised I dont help him with his mail – now 5 years since he moved. I send it all back now

We used to get contact magazines for swinging sent to the previous occupants, and letters from his professional body (he was a town planner).

7 years now and still get last owners bailif letters, HMRC, solicitors and Private investigators….. I used to send them back for 5 years, I had enough, they could not trace him so they keep badgering us for information like we were good pals or somthing.. I recycled them for 1 year and have heard nothing for 12 months now. Ahmen

stilltortoise , send a letter to your local mail sorting office detailing the surnames you wish to receive mail for (i.e. yours + dependants who may have different) and state that you don't wish to receive mail for any other surname.

The office should then have a card placed with the postmans redirections/special instructions and any post that isn't yours should be removed before delivery.

I find having an open fire in the study deals with these matters quite easily…

Open it if you suspect it contains cash, otherwise bin it. If they can't be arsed to sort out their own lives, why should you put yourself out in any way?

Return to sender. We've lived here for 10 years and still occasionally get post for the last occupants and sometimes for those before them who, according to the neighbours, moved out in around 1990!

previous owner moved out 17yrs ago and still get some mail which isn't just junk – first ten yrs or so i used to send it back now just bin it

at the time the woman bought house from wouldn't give us a forwarding address, all the neighbours said she was a bit touched – after 6months of mountains of mail i wrote to her solicitor and he confirmed she did not want to give her address and that he wouldn't take the matter up

I get mail for the same house number as mine but slightly diff street. Its a significantly bigger and posher house than ours. Few weeks opened my normal bank mail to find that my term deposit of $1.9M was maturing. WTF, then i checked the name and lo and behold its not mine – its theirs. Bstrds !

we had a completely randomly named letter turn up – dividend cheque for nearly 12K.

The problem was that the address was correct but the name wasn't. The previous lady / family that owned our house were a) dead and b) not the person / family named in the letter. They'd been the only owners prior to us in the last 50 years…

Sent it back as 'person unknown', hopefully they got their windfall.

Random letters, don't mind sending back, if it were the same people repeatedly they'd get a couple of months of forwarding then I'd start sending them back too.

Too late to redirect now.

Why not pay him a visit and explain your doing "return to sender" unless he collects?