Is it illegal to open someone else's mail

[philthetube]

I have just been looking at a thread in disputes where a man was sent a letter from TFL which was incorrectly addressed, there is a lot of talk about what this letter says, but should it have been opened, and if not when would this person have found out about the prosecution?

 

[jfollows]

No.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 22 Dec 2024 ==

Lots of previous discussions.
No it’s not illegal.
There are technicalities when you might construe that it is.
But if you open someone else’s mail addressed to you without malicious intent, it’s fine.
Cue silly discussion which comes to nothing about why it might be …..
If I receive a letter addressed to someone else but at my address I open it and deal with it appropriately and have no fear of prosecution for doing so.
That’s the reality regardless of the technical legal position.

 

[Gloster]

According to the Postal Services Act 2000, it is only a offence if you are ‘…intending to act to a person’s detriment and without reasonable excuse…’ So opening it by mistake, or to try to find out where to send it to or return it to would not be an offence.

 

[jfollows]

According to the Postal Services Act 2000, it is only a offence if you are ‘…intending to act to a person’s detriment and without reasonable excuse…’ So opening it by mistake, or to try to find out where to send it to or return it to would not be an offence.

Thanks, that’s what I thought.
I had a DPD delivery a week ago from a real person which I refused because it wasn’t for me. A couple of days ago the same driver turned up with the same package and immediately said “oh no, it’s the wrong name isn’t it?” so I’m waiting to see if he turns up a third time.
But post through my letterbox addressed to someone else at my address is fair game as far as I’m concerned.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Eight and a half years after buying our current home, we still receive mail for the previous owner and for a lodger. Neither of them left forwarding addresses.
Little wonder: when we gave up returning mail to senders, we opened the next ones and discovered their unpaid overdrafts with their banks...

 

[philthetube]

Thanks for your quick responses, obviously I was under the wrong impression.

 

[Trackman]

No.

Lots of previous discussions.
No it’s not illegal.

I had a thread about this a while back, got fed up receiving court summonses for someone else. The court told me it was Ok to open any letters, even though I told them I already had.
When the county court bailiffs banged at my door, which they did as a matter of process - at least I knew what was going on, which I wouldn't otherwise if I didn't open the letters.

 

[bleeder4]

I had a thread about this a while back, got fed up receiving court summonses for someone else. The court told me it was Ok to open any letters, even though I told them I already had.
When the county court bailiffs banged at my door, which they did as a matter of process - at least I knew what was going on, which I wouldn't otherwise if I didn't open the letters.

Yes I had a similar experience once. Seems HMRC allow businesses to be registered at an address without actually doing any checks, so a scammer somewhere had registered their scammy business using my address. They were taking payments off people and then not delivering goods. I was getting legal letters from buyers' solicitors, Trading Standards, Consumer Rights etc. Absolute nightmare! Only got fixed when I got the local MP involved.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Yes I had a similar experience once. Seems HMRC allow businesses to be registered at an address without actually doing any checks, so a scammer somewhere had registered their scammy business using my address. They were taking payments off people and then not delivering goods. I was getting legal letters from buyers' solicitors, Trading Standards, Consumer Rights etc. Absolute nightmare! Only got fixed when I got the local MP involved.

A wicked part me wondered if you mean the MP got in touch asking for their goods - and only  then was stirred into action.

 

[Ediswan]

Yes I had a similar experience once. Seems HMRC allow businesses to be registered at an address without actually doing any checks, so a scammer somewhere had registered their scammy business using my address. They were taking payments off people and then not delivering goods. I was getting legal letters from buyers' solicitors, Trading Standards, Consumer Rights etc. Absolute nightmare! Only got fixed when I got the local MP involved.

Business addresses are registered with Companies House (no checks). The result is the same.

 

[Trackman]

Yes I had a similar experience once. Seems HMRC allow businesses to be registered at an address without actually doing any checks, so a scammer somewhere had registered their scammy business using my address. They were taking payments off people and then not delivering goods. I was getting legal letters from buyers' solicitors, Trading Standards, Consumer Rights etc. Absolute nightmare! Only got fixed when I got the local MP involved.

There's a name for this.. it escapes me.
You like get a swanky London address, pay £10 a month (or whatever) to be registered - it's a bit like a PO Box, there will be tens or even hundreds of other businesses registered there.

 

[dannypye9999]

Is it not theft if you open their mail? And classed the same as opening a parcel not addressed to you and if you open that parcel and decide to keep the item then isn't that theft?

 

[Gloster]

Is it not theft if you open their mail? And classed the same as opening a parcel not addressed to you and if you open that parcel and decide to keep the item then isn't that theft?

See #3. If you open a parcel to see if you can find the intended recipient’s address or a return address, that is not acting ‘to the detriment’ of the person it was addressed to. If you intend to keep the item it is to their detriment and would be a breach of the Postal Services Act 2000.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Is it not theft if you open their mail? And classed the same as opening a parcel not addressed to you and if you open that parcel and decide to keep the item then isn't that theft?

In post #5, I contacted the banks and finally got my property details removed off their "bad debtor" records.
Only achieved after I opened mail addressed to the house's previous owner and to another previous occupier.

 

[D365]

According to the Postal Services Act 2000, it is only a offence if you are ‘…intending to act to a person’s detriment and without reasonable excuse…’ So opening it by mistake, or to try to find out where to send it to or return it to would not be an offence.

Are you suggesting that, if a return address is not provided on the envelope, you would open it to locate a return address instead of popping it back in the post ”Not at this address”.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Are you suggesting that, if a return address is not provided on the envelope, you would open it to locate a return address instead of popping it back in the post ”Not at this address”.

If there's no return address on the exterior of the envelope / parcel, then where else could the mail actually go?

 

[D365]

If there's no return address on the exterior of the envelope / parcel, then where else could the mail actually go?

It’s a genuine question of mine as to how others would deal with this scenario.

 

[richw]

Only an offence to open mail if it doing so is with malicious intent or to deprive the addressee of the contents. Opening to find sender details and notifying them the addressee no longer live there, is the complete opposite

 

[Sun Chariot]

It’s a genuine question of mine as to how others would deal with this scenario.

The one that bugs me: (usually marketing) letters addressed to previous owner/occupier where the rear of the letter boldly states: "please do not reply to us at this address" next to their business address. Ruddy infuriating!

 

[Gloster]

Are you suggesting that, if a return address is not provided on the envelope, you would open it to locate a return address instead of popping it back in the post ”Not at this address”.

If there's no return address on the exterior of the envelope / parcel, then where else could the mail actually go?

It is up to you what you do. If you want you can cross out the address and sorting marks, write ‘Not known at this address’ (or similar) on the envelope and put it back in the post. If you do, I believe it will get sent to Belfast, which is the only Royal Mail location authorised to open mail for general reasons.

Or you can open it with the intention of trying to find a return or forwarding address. And then deal with it as appropriate, so long as it is not to the intended recipient’s detriment.

 

[londonbridge]

Came home from work and neighbour knocked with a parcel saying “this came whilst you were out”. Wasn’t expecting anything, when I looked at the label it had my correct address but a different name. No sender details anywhere on the outside so I opened it up, inside was a pair of shoes from an online store. Put a letter inside saying that I was the householder and had not ordered them, and that the person named was unknown to me and did not live at my address. Sent them back using the returns label, never heard anything back.

 

[Horizon22]

I always just collect them write "RETURN TO SENDER, NO LONGER AT ADDRESS" (so long as it's corporate not personal/handwritten) on the letters and back into the post box at the next opportunity. If no return address, I might have to open it which I did have to eventually do after sending back multiple letters and then bailiffs being threatened to my address...

Been 2 years in my current place and the number of letters for the previous residents has gone from a daily letter to maybe 1 every couple of months with this method.

I moved a lot in the past decade or so, so I had a checklist of about 20 different organisations that needed to be told - and I probably still forgot some! I consider myself quite organised so no doubt others likely do not even think about it too much until they have to.

 

[MotCO]

The one that bugs me: (usually marketing) letters addressed to previous owner/occupier where the rear of the letter boldly states: "please do not reply to us at this address" next to their business address. Ruddy infuriating!

Send it back to the address quoted, with a message on the outside "please do not reply to us at this address". That will confuse Royal Mail

 

[Sun Chariot]

I moved a lot in the past decade or so, so I had a checklist of about 20 different organisations that needed to be told

That's exactly it. I'd moved 8 times 1989 to 2016, due to uni and then career. I always used Royal Mail's mail forwarding service for the first 6 months, in addition to making address changes myself (or notifying the relevant third parties).
The 6 month forwarding service, helped me spot any genuine I had missed - but also highlighted the marketing or mailshot mail that I didn’t want and wouldn't miss.

 

[dosxuk]

Came home from work and neighbour knocked with a parcel saying “this came whilst you were out”. Wasn’t expecting anything, when I looked at the label it had my correct address but a different name. No sender details anywhere on the outside so I opened it up, inside was a pair of shoes from an online store. Put a letter inside saying that I was the householder and had not ordered them, and that the person named was unknown to me and did not live at my address. Sent them back using the returns label, never heard anything back.

Normally connected to review scams where the seller writes off the cost of a number of items and uses bot accounts to send them to random addresses and then adds a 5-star review as a verified purchaser.

 

[BazingaTribe]

My mother and I would both receive long sentences. My mum for making sure I got important work letters about pay and benefits (I started my current tenure at the NHS while still living at home and it didn't get changed for a long time after I moved out) and me for ripping into misdelivered Amazon packets because I tend not to be that careful about the odd time that happens and then am left scratching my head at why they have sent me something I don't remember ordering. I always repatriate the items when I can (and on occasion I've swapped over for my own package that they received and did the same ???!!! song and dance with), but once or twice it's been something that is misnamed and sent to my own address and therefore I have no clue where to send it. I acquired some dental floss that way, regifted it since my teeth are too widely set for floss to be effective, and that my personal organiser now swears by.

Normally connected to review scams where the seller writes off the cost of a number of items and uses bot accounts to send them to random addresses and then adds a 5-star review as a verified purchaser.

Also to prove something has been sent to a buyer if the latter has opened an 'item not received' case, although they would presumably do that to an address where they can retrieve the item, or send something of trivial value.

 

[peteb]

Send it back to the address quoted, with a message on the outside "please do not reply to us at this address". That will confuse Royal Mail

For years I have just written "GONE AWAY" on the envelope, in large letters, crossed out addressee and put back in red post box.

I always do the same for begging letters and junk mail.

 

[island]

Thanks, that’s what I thought.
I had a DPD delivery a week ago from a real person which I refused because it wasn’t for me. A couple of days ago the same driver turned up with the same package and immediately said “oh no, it’s the wrong name isn’t it?” so I’m waiting to see if he turns up a third time.
But post through my letterbox addressed to someone else at my address is fair game as far as I’m concerned.

DPD isn't "mail" anyway.

The one that bugs me: (usually marketing) letters addressed to previous owner/occupier where the rear of the letter boldly states: "please do not reply to us at this address" next to their business address. Ruddy infuriating!

This does have a valid reason: the return address will be an agency or outsourced provider that handles undeliverable mail, and entirely separate from the actual business itself (whose address will be inside).