How long do you bother 'return to sender' tagging mail for previous owners?

[413x]

The amount of mail coming through for old owners of the house is getting tedious.

I've spent a few months sending it back but it keeps coming. Was hoping companies would at least stop sending once they got it returned.

Getting tempted just to bin it!

Are there any other solutions/tactic ?

Edit. I do not know where the owners moved to.

 

[Blackjack Davy]

A lot of it is just marketing crap I get mail for someone i'm pretty sure never ever lived at this address. I'd give it six months sending it back and bin it after that personally.

 

[the-evaluator]

I did it for about a year but 5.5 years on I'm still getting stuff so it goes in the bin.

It's important looking stuff too - letters from financial institutions but if the previous owners can't be bothered to update their address I don't see why I should keep sending stuff back. I've even contacted each of the banks to explain but they've said there's nothing they can do and that they'll continue to send stuff to the address they have on record.

 

[Irish_Tom]

We've been here two years and still get the odd piece.

It was pretty obvious when their redirection came to an end though.

My rule of thumb is if it's clearly something important like the DVLA or HMRC then return to sender, otherwise bin it.

 

[unwashed potato!]

is there a way you can freely stop mail coming to an address? i know you can pay for redirects, but what if you just want to say, any mail directing to x person, RTS?

 

[secretspy]

Almost two years on I'm still getting stuff for previous owners. A family member still lives in the same road so anything that comes through I'll pop through their letter box for them (as I had agreed with precious owners) however, anything that I get through now that I've seen before, I'm marking as return to sender. It's mainly junk mail though.

When I lived at my mum's I sent any junk mail for me back as return to sender. It did take maybe a year of doing it but eventually I got it down to just one occasional Barclays credit card junk letter

Guessing you don't have a contact number for the previous owners?

 

[Blackjack Davy]

is there a way you can freely stop mail coming to an address? i know you can pay for redirects, but what if you just want to say, any mail directing to x person, RTS?

If that were the case then you could stop junk mail and I'm pretty sure thats a big money spinner for RM so no...

 

[413x]

It's such a chore.

I get excited that it might be my subscription to 'gucci guys' but alas, its barbs' dental reminder.


Doesn't seem to be any way to stop this then.

And nope. No contact details at all.


Ill perseverefor a year with 'no longer lives here ' and see if it will at least go down. Get more for them than For me

 

[Steve2000]

I gave them a year and binned anything after that. Can't be that important if you've failed to update your address in a whole year.

 

[Haggisman]

If that were the case then you could stop junk mail and I'm pretty sure thats a big money spinner for RM so no...

I can imagine there are some security implications too - say you wanted to take out a loan in someone else's name, you wouldn't want them receiving any letters about it giving the game away...

 

[Randomface74]

It's something you don't have to do. So if it annoys you don't do it anymore. Not your problem.

 

[Rroff]

It dropped off a lot coming up for 2 years after we moved in both times. Now we only bother with anything that is clearly important.

 

[bazzabear]

We moved house nearly three years ago. Previous occupiers rented, we bought it. It's pretty clear that they knew they were going to leave this house and took advantage of that to build up every conceivable type of debt they could which would possibly not follow them to their new address.
Constant letters of a red final warning type including some extremely official stuff (from French consulate, HMRC, banks, and the like). We also had the police around one evening fairly early in our ownership looking for them. In that case, I actually told them their new address, which I had found out myself with some pretty easy sleuthing.

We did much returning to sender, and some returning to sender with a somewhat angry message written on the envelope for those institutions which specifically requested that course of action, and then clearly ignored it and sent another reminder anyway.
For some of the most worrying I contacted the company myself by phone, and I think there were one or two which got accidentally opened and I contacted the organisation about it.

It's mostly stopped now, but we still probably get one or two per month. They mostly go in the bin now.

 

[Efour]

Not at all

 

[Yaayuh!]

Took over a year for us, but stopped in the end.

We took a marker to the address window and wrote "Not known at this address" and posted it back.

 

[stockhausen]

I just printed pages of sticky labels saying "Gone away - Please return to sender", stuck them over the address and put the letters in a pillar box; not really a huge problem but I do wonder what the sender (if an advertiser) does about returned mail?

 

[esoteric]

Been at my place nearly 2 years and still get mail for the previous occupants. I get appointment letters, debt letters, even had a few bank cards which I decided to open and cut up rather then have it mail limbo.

Worst of all is bailiff letters, I think I'm up to 3 now. Three different bailiff companies working for different companies. I've been SO tempted to leave them to see if they really will forcefully enter even if I'm not home and start taking goods. Imagine the egg on face when they realize they burgled me.

 

[Daaaavvveee]

We just build any up we get, mark them all as "Not at this address, return to sender" then pop them back in the post box, don't get many any more.

 

[paradigm]

I don’t mind the occasional £50 Amazon voucher we tend to get, only ever marked as an unnamed gift from “your favourite doctor”.

 

[randomshenans]

Bin bin bin!