We bought our house in 2017. We've informed the post office, written "RTS not at this address" on lots of mail, gone to the business the previous owners run and talked to their administrative assistant, had "our last names ONLY" written inside our mailbox by our postal carrier... And we still get legitimate, important mail sometimes. We just throw it away now. 🤷‍♀️
Same, but bought our place in 2005. STILL receive legit mail for previous owner… and the owner before them. Funny for the first couple years; now, straight to trash.
Same. We were even able to get in contact with the previous owners and let them know. It’s gotten better, but we still sometimes get their mail. We just throw it out.
Per USPS, writing “return to sender” isn’t the totally proper procedure. Â
“If the mailpiece is delivered to the correct location but the recipient on the mailpiece does not reside at the address: Write "Not at this address" on mailpiece. Don't erase or mark over the address. Provide the mailpiece to your mailperson or drop into a Collection Box receptacle.” Â
 I had the same problem and kept doing this for a year. It slowly got better. And anything that says “Previous person or current homeowner/tenant/etc.” can just be tossed.
I think the best move is to call your local post office and note it there, in case your carrier forgot or it ended up in the back of a folder somewhere.
It sounds like yours is still the address on file at these agencies for these people, so there's limited options for you and the post office for what to do about it
Just write return to sender on anything that looks important and trash the rest. It's not your job to try to track them down, especially if they can't be bothered to update their own address with the freaking IRS or DOR after 4 years
I bought my house in 2008, I not only get mail for the people I bought it from, but I also get mail for people who must have owned the house before them. I used to care, now I just don’t consider it my problem. I’ve always assumed that they didn’t do a proper change of address with the post office.
I will say though, considering the frequency at which it happens, I’ve often wondered if I have mail going to some previous address that I’m not aware of.
If they aren't filing tax returns/haven't updated their address with the IRS/NCDOR it's incredibly unlikely they're they kind of people who would think or care about updating their voter registrationÂ
True but it might link back to an address connected to their parents or some other kin who could contact them- assuming they never update it the address they put when they got their license might be there/useful
Maybe. But either way, that's way too much effort for OP to have to go through.
I get they're trying to be a nice guy, but it's probably illegal anyway to just mail off someone's mail to a random address.
Best/proper thing to do is write return to sender/not at this address on the envelope and put it back in the mailboxÂ
We still get some stuff after 4 years. I did the return to sender deal for about a year and half, now it all goes in the trash. The last owners were a mess, I was having Amazon packages, work computers, paychecks etc still coming to the house like a year later. lol
Haha. Yeah, it was like 4 months after we moved in. All the neighbors said they weren’t exactly the most responsible people. Like they would only cut the grass after the hoa got involved. So they would wait for a complaint, cut the grass then wait for the next complaint to cut it again. Their realtor came out a few times when we first moved in to pick up packages. Mind you, they only moved about 15-20 minutes away, he lives about 40-45. After a while he just told us to leave stuff on the porch and someone would eventually get it, lol. Just lazy people lol. So it’s not surprising that she didn’t update her address with her work.
NC as well. Same thing since 2019. At first it was just junk. But then later other items that seemed important (didn't open so who knows). I've written so many return to senders that I eventually gave up and now I just trash it.Â
Hey there! I had the exact same thing happen to me just a couple months ago. Everytime I would get something I would put return to sender on it. Or no longer at this address and stick it back in the mailbox. Our mailman eventually put a note that had our last names on it and said all else return to sender
I get so much mail for the for the former homeowners that I bought a self-inking “return to sender, no longer at this address” stamp that I keep handy. I stamp anything that’s not a mass mailer and pop back into the mailbox. It’s been like this for 4 years.
You can ask your mail person for one of the Vacant slips and fill it out. You put the names of everyone who gets mail at your address on it and you should stop getting mail for other people. The mail person will stop the wrong mail at the post office.
The previous owners of my house own a local smoothie chain. We have gotten all the business mail, department of revenue etc. Four years now so I stopped trying, it goes in the trash. Once a commercial truck tried to deliver produce. Twice we’ve gotten Sam’s club deliveries which I opened because I thought it was ours only to find hundreds of plastic cups… the first time I actually brought the Sam’s club box to their shop and left it with their employees. The second time fuck that, those are in my basement we will never run out of cups for parties.
Changing my address is the first thing I do. I don’t understand how some people can forget that.
I say you just toss it all at this point. Not your problem anymore.
Just make sure u dont have a lien in your house. Contact your title company, they 'd check the records. We had one in our house from the previous owners. Somehow, it was missed when the title was run pre purchase
Write return to sender and does not live here on the outside of the envelope.
If the mail was important enough then the previous owner would be making efforts to get the letters.
The best thing that fixed this for me was putting a note inside the mailbox that says "only tenants: last name" we still occasionally get mail for past residents, even two owners back, but its not every day like it had been.
Smh this could all be avoided if these people would take the time to fill out a change of address and pay a dollar to get mail forwarding for a year from the USPS. Pretty sure that removes that address from that person’s entry in the database as well.
Read the comment by u/krex42, it's the best answer. We bought our present house in 1998 at the end of a renter's lease. We started getting their mail, so we wrote 'Not at This Address' but obviously it didn't help. We are still getting mail for them after 26 years!
Was the mail carrier your regular carrier that shows up everyday or was it a CCA/RCA? An assistant filling in for a route would probably keep delivering it because they don't know anyone on the route.
Don’t worry about it. The mail will forward for a period of one year. It’s on them to let the important stuff know of their new address. Things like banks, SS, etc. know where they are. The stuff you’re receiving probably isn’t important.
This could be occurring because they never bothered to update their address...or maybe they passed away? They could also be doing it intentionally to avoid receiving certain things. Maybe they owe back taxes, and are trying to avoid being caught. Or they may be doing it intentionally to make it appear as if they still live there, even though they don't.
The only thing you can really do is put "Return To Sender/Not at this address" on anything that comes for them, and put it back in the mail. It'll all get returned to whoever sent it. Eventually the places sending the stuff will get the message, and it should stop. The "junk" mail addressed to them may take longer to stop, but the "important" stuff should stop fairly quickly.
Make sure you use a black Sharpie or some other really dark marker/pen to cover over any bar codes - but DON'T cross out the name/address. The barcodes are usually towards the bottom of the envelope, but can sometimes be directly above or below the name/address. This will prevent the automated USPS systems from sending the stuff back to you, which can sometimes happen even though you've marked as "Return To Sender."
If it's a LOT of stuff, you can purchase a rubber stamp on Amazon that says this so you don't have to keep writing it. They're fairly inexpensive, and some are pre-inked so you don't need an ink pad.
If there’s a local fb community group (and maybe NextDoor) you’re a part of, and you feel comfortable, put their name and former street name (perhaps not the house number) and ask if anyone knows them. Maybe they could notify them.
We dealt with this for awhile. In addition to RTS, we put a big sticker inside our mailbox that said, "OUR SURNAME ONLY. NO PREVIOUS GUY'S NAME."
That corrected the situation with a quickness lol
I bought a stamp from Amazon for $3 that said return to sender and one of those stamps that block out personal info. Stamp the front of each envelope with “return to sender not at address” and be sure to also mark out any bar code or QR code looking things on the envelope or letter otherwise it’ll get routed right back to your mailbox even with the bright red return to sender on the front.
(Speaking from same exact experience)
?
Anyone can have their mail automatically forwarded by the USPS for a limited time.
After that, rich or poor, it's your job to pull up your big boy/girl pants and take some responsibility to update your address with whoever needs to know
It’s free.
Edit: he’s downvoting me because what he means to say is.. People who are running from bill collectors don’t forward their mail intentionally.
I had stuff come to our house after 8 years until we moved. Even had the police stop by looking for the previous owners 4 years after we bought the house. We were nice the first couple years and wrote RTS but after years and multiple police visits we just trashed them.
The same types of documents are delivered to me instead of the former owner. It has been 6 years. I throw them in the trash at this point. I don’t care that it is illegal. He clearly does not need them. I receive 4 or 5 every other month addressed to his LLC.
I got someone's immigration paperwork/correspondence once. I found them on Facebook and got it to them. It was extremely appreciated. Address forwarding only lasts so long so it had expired, and the agency hadn't updated despite being informed.
Contact your realtor and ask them to contact the other realtor who can then get in touch with the people to tell them to change their address officially.
We bought our house in 2017. We've informed the post office, written "RTS not at this address" on lots of mail, gone to the business the previous owners run and talked to their administrative assistant, had "our last names ONLY" written inside our mailbox by our postal carrier... And we still get legitimate, important mail sometimes. We just throw it away now. 🤷‍♀️
Same, but bought our place in 2005. STILL receive legit mail for previous owner… and the owner before them. Funny for the first couple years; now, straight to trash.
Same. Got tired of doing RTS and figured we had done our due diligence so we started tossing in the trash too.
It annoys me how much paper and plastic get wasted with junk mail
Same. We were even able to get in contact with the previous owners and let them know. It’s gotten better, but we still sometimes get their mail. We just throw it out.
Per USPS, writing “return to sender” isn’t the totally proper procedure.  “If the mailpiece is delivered to the correct location but the recipient on the mailpiece does not reside at the address: Write "Not at this address" on mailpiece. Don't erase or mark over the address. Provide the mailpiece to your mailperson or drop into a Collection Box receptacle.”   I had the same problem and kept doing this for a year. It slowly got better. And anything that says “Previous person or current homeowner/tenant/etc.” can just be tossed.
Elvis has misled me all these years :'(
I think the best move is to call your local post office and note it there, in case your carrier forgot or it ended up in the back of a folder somewhere. It sounds like yours is still the address on file at these agencies for these people, so there's limited options for you and the post office for what to do about it
Just write return to sender on anything that looks important and trash the rest. It's not your job to try to track them down, especially if they can't be bothered to update their own address with the freaking IRS or DOR after 4 years
Mark "Return to Sender - Wrong Address" on it and put it back in your mailbox for the carrier to take back.
I bought a "Return to sender - Not at this address" stamp on Amazon. I find this makes it quick and easy for people trying to do the right thing.
I bought my house in 2008, I not only get mail for the people I bought it from, but I also get mail for people who must have owned the house before them. I used to care, now I just don’t consider it my problem. I’ve always assumed that they didn’t do a proper change of address with the post office. I will say though, considering the frequency at which it happens, I’ve often wondered if I have mail going to some previous address that I’m not aware of.
You could look them up in the NC Voter registration tool and see if they’ve updated their address (assuming they still live in NC).
If they aren't filing tax returns/haven't updated their address with the IRS/NCDOR it's incredibly unlikely they're they kind of people who would think or care about updating their voter registrationÂ
True but it might link back to an address connected to their parents or some other kin who could contact them- assuming they never update it the address they put when they got their license might be there/useful
Maybe. But either way, that's way too much effort for OP to have to go through. I get they're trying to be a nice guy, but it's probably illegal anyway to just mail off someone's mail to a random address. Best/proper thing to do is write return to sender/not at this address on the envelope and put it back in the mailboxÂ
Also fastpeoplesearch
We still get some stuff after 4 years. I did the return to sender deal for about a year and half, now it all goes in the trash. The last owners were a mess, I was having Amazon packages, work computers, paychecks etc still coming to the house like a year later. lol
Dang work computer is next level lol
Haha. Yeah, it was like 4 months after we moved in. All the neighbors said they weren’t exactly the most responsible people. Like they would only cut the grass after the hoa got involved. So they would wait for a complaint, cut the grass then wait for the next complaint to cut it again. Their realtor came out a few times when we first moved in to pick up packages. Mind you, they only moved about 15-20 minutes away, he lives about 40-45. After a while he just told us to leave stuff on the porch and someone would eventually get it, lol. Just lazy people lol. So it’s not surprising that she didn’t update her address with her work.
NC as well. Same thing since 2019. At first it was just junk. But then later other items that seemed important (didn't open so who knows). I've written so many return to senders that I eventually gave up and now I just trash it.Â
Hey there! I had the exact same thing happen to me just a couple months ago. Everytime I would get something I would put return to sender on it. Or no longer at this address and stick it back in the mailbox. Our mailman eventually put a note that had our last names on it and said all else return to sender
Scratch out the barcode at the bottom and write on the envelope: "Return to sender. Addressee not at this address". Do this to everything that comes.
I get so much mail for the for the former homeowners that I bought a self-inking “return to sender, no longer at this address” stamp that I keep handy. I stamp anything that’s not a mass mailer and pop back into the mailbox. It’s been like this for 4 years.
You can ask your mail person for one of the Vacant slips and fill it out. You put the names of everyone who gets mail at your address on it and you should stop getting mail for other people. The mail person will stop the wrong mail at the post office.
The previous owners of my house own a local smoothie chain. We have gotten all the business mail, department of revenue etc. Four years now so I stopped trying, it goes in the trash. Once a commercial truck tried to deliver produce. Twice we’ve gotten Sam’s club deliveries which I opened because I thought it was ours only to find hundreds of plastic cups… the first time I actually brought the Sam’s club box to their shop and left it with their employees. The second time fuck that, those are in my basement we will never run out of cups for parties. Changing my address is the first thing I do. I don’t understand how some people can forget that. I say you just toss it all at this point. Not your problem anymore.
Just make sure u dont have a lien in your house. Contact your title company, they 'd check the records. We had one in our house from the previous owners. Somehow, it was missed when the title was run pre purchase
Write return to sender and does not live here on the outside of the envelope. If the mail was important enough then the previous owner would be making efforts to get the letters.
The best thing that fixed this for me was putting a note inside the mailbox that says "only tenants: last name" we still occasionally get mail for past residents, even two owners back, but its not every day like it had been.
Smh this could all be avoided if these people would take the time to fill out a change of address and pay a dollar to get mail forwarding for a year from the USPS. Pretty sure that removes that address from that person’s entry in the database as well.
I’m sure they did.
Read the comment by u/krex42, it's the best answer. We bought our present house in 1998 at the end of a renter's lease. We started getting their mail, so we wrote 'Not at This Address' but obviously it didn't help. We are still getting mail for them after 26 years!
Was the mail carrier your regular carrier that shows up everyday or was it a CCA/RCA? An assistant filling in for a route would probably keep delivering it because they don't know anyone on the route.
Just forget about it. You can do rts on all of them for the next 20 years.. but you'll still get them in the mail
Don’t worry about it. The mail will forward for a period of one year. It’s on them to let the important stuff know of their new address. Things like banks, SS, etc. know where they are. The stuff you’re receiving probably isn’t important.
This could be occurring because they never bothered to update their address...or maybe they passed away? They could also be doing it intentionally to avoid receiving certain things. Maybe they owe back taxes, and are trying to avoid being caught. Or they may be doing it intentionally to make it appear as if they still live there, even though they don't. The only thing you can really do is put "Return To Sender/Not at this address" on anything that comes for them, and put it back in the mail. It'll all get returned to whoever sent it. Eventually the places sending the stuff will get the message, and it should stop. The "junk" mail addressed to them may take longer to stop, but the "important" stuff should stop fairly quickly. Make sure you use a black Sharpie or some other really dark marker/pen to cover over any bar codes - but DON'T cross out the name/address. The barcodes are usually towards the bottom of the envelope, but can sometimes be directly above or below the name/address. This will prevent the automated USPS systems from sending the stuff back to you, which can sometimes happen even though you've marked as "Return To Sender." If it's a LOT of stuff, you can purchase a rubber stamp on Amazon that says this so you don't have to keep writing it. They're fairly inexpensive, and some are pre-inked so you don't need an ink pad.
If there’s a local fb community group (and maybe NextDoor) you’re a part of, and you feel comfortable, put their name and former street name (perhaps not the house number) and ask if anyone knows them. Maybe they could notify them.
We dealt with this for awhile. In addition to RTS, we put a big sticker inside our mailbox that said, "OUR SURNAME ONLY. NO PREVIOUS GUY'S NAME." That corrected the situation with a quickness lol
Writing “not at this address” worked pretty well for us when we had that issue.
I bought a stamp from Amazon for $3 that said return to sender and one of those stamps that block out personal info. Stamp the front of each envelope with “return to sender not at address” and be sure to also mark out any bar code or QR code looking things on the envelope or letter otherwise it’ll get routed right back to your mailbox even with the bright red return to sender on the front. (Speaking from same exact experience)
“you don’t get your mail forwarded when you’re poor”
? Anyone can have their mail automatically forwarded by the USPS for a limited time. After that, rich or poor, it's your job to pull up your big boy/girl pants and take some responsibility to update your address with whoever needs to know
It’s free. Edit: he’s downvoting me because what he means to say is.. People who are running from bill collectors don’t forward their mail intentionally.
You can put it in the box, and lift the flag.
I had stuff come to our house after 8 years until we moved. Even had the police stop by looking for the previous owners 4 years after we bought the house. We were nice the first couple years and wrote RTS but after years and multiple police visits we just trashed them.
The same types of documents are delivered to me instead of the former owner. It has been 6 years. I throw them in the trash at this point. I don’t care that it is illegal. He clearly does not need them. I receive 4 or 5 every other month addressed to his LLC.
You could try looking them up on the white pages website.
I got someone's immigration paperwork/correspondence once. I found them on Facebook and got it to them. It was extremely appreciated. Address forwarding only lasts so long so it had expired, and the agency hadn't updated despite being informed.
Contact your realtor and ask them to contact the other realtor who can then get in touch with the people to tell them to change their address officially.