I am still getting mail for the previous owner of my house. I have her new address. Can I just write the new address on the letters and put them back in the post box?

> Can I just write the new address on the letters and put them back in the post box

Yes :) If it is junk mail, you would probably be doing her (and you) a favour if you marked it 'Gone Away' and put it in the post box too, otherwise you will be getting it forever :) :)

Some could be junk but not all. She has moved too far for me to hand deliver it.

I used to work for RM and any items marked 'gone away' etc then they were returned to sender if the return address was on the reverse of the envelope. If no return address was visible then the item was opened by RM staff in the hope of finding a return address, then returned to sender. RM will forward them on if you put her new address on the envelope but she will be charged a handling fee when the item is delivered as she should have set up a re-direction to prevent her mail going to her old address.
hope this makes sense?

> but she will be charged a handling fee when the item is delivered as she should have set up a re-direction to prevent her mail going to her old address.

Really ??? My children have moved around a bit in the last 10 years and I have frequently forwarded mail to them - neither of them have ever been charged.

The house where I live had a dubios previous occupier!!! So I put all post 'return to sender, not known at this address'
I also, if something looks the same as has come before, that I have already put, not known at this addressand isnt junk mail, I open it, ring them and tell them I have opened the mail, tell them they dont live here anymore, reseal and put back in the box. As quite a few have been from debt collecting agencys and I donnot want the baliffs turning up on my door step when I am not here and scaring my kids!!!!
Lea :) :)

My children have moved around a bit in the last 10 years and I have frequently forwarded mail to them - neither of them have ever been charged.

Blimey how things have changed! It's been a good few years since i worked for them but that was the so called rule when i was there. I used to get a slap on the wrist if fees were not collected for underpaid items :-(

I donnot want the baliffs turning up on my door step when I am not here and scaring my kids!!!!
My first week in a council flat and i had the bailiffs turn up with a warrant for the previous tennant! Scared the living daylights out of me! I didn't owe nothing to anyone. Had to produce my tenancy agreement and i.d. to their office. Thankfully that was the last of it.
The only other thing i can suggest is to ask your postie to only deliver mail with your sir name on it i.e. Smith/Jones etc if not phone the sorting office and explain to them the scenario.

>Blimey how things have changed! It's been a good few years since i worked for them but that was the so called rule when i was there. I used to get a slap on the wrist if fees were not collected for underpaid items

Underpaid items are still surcharged on collection.  However, redirected mail is delivered with no charge to the sender or recipient.  OH's father regularly redirects mail to him at our current address and there is no surcharge.

I have worked in the RM's Return Letter Centre (or whatever they call it these days) in Belfast in my student days and my Mum is still an employee there.

>However, redirected mail is delivered with no charge to the sender or recipient.

Wow!  That's changed then.  When I moved here almost 20 years ago, I paid a tidy sum at the local post office to have my mail redirected from my old address.  If I recall correctly, I could choose 3months, 6 months or a year.  It was not cheap.

> When I moved here almost 20 years ago, I paid a tidy sum at the local post office to have my mail redirected from my old address.  If I recall correctly, I could

> choose 3months, 6 months or a year

No - that is still the same. What we are talking about is the 'casual' redirection of mail by a householder to a previous occupier :)

>Can I just write the new address on the letters and put them back in the post box?

Yes; we often do it for previous occupants of the offices above the vet's.

>RM will forward them on if you put her new address on the envelope but she will be charged a handling fee when the item is delivered

No, they'll just be delivered to the changed address as normal with no charge.

Whether they are delivered free of charge or not will depend on whether they are sent via Royal Mail or a third party and just delivered by royal mail

I dont care, I just chuck them all back in the post, if it costs the person that sent it tough!!!! and if someone moved that owed us money I would rather know they moved then get a debt collector to turn up on an innocent partys address. I opened one this morning from the DWP and told them I had opened it as I had chucked the last 4+ odd back in the post!!!! I rang them, told them I had no idea where they had gone. and that CID were looking for them. They then proceeded to say that there was no hope in thenm finding them!!!!! resealed the letter and it went back in the post 'return to sender, not known at this address, remove address from file'
this has hopefully stopped the baliffs landing on my doorstep for the previous occupant!!!!!!
Lea :) :)