Wondering what to do with mail from a previous tenant? You’ve come to the right place.
When you rent a long-term rental, it’s highly likely that your tenants will have their mail addressed to your property. But when they leave, it’s unlikely that they’ll have their mailing address changed. When this happens, you’ll continue to get their mail delivered to your property, and you’re left to deal with the growing pile of mail for a former tenant. In that case, you should contact your former tenant or write “Return to Sender – Not at This Address” and place the mail back in the mailbox. Keep reading to find out more details.
Key Takeaways
- Former tenants often forget to update their address, and marketing or subscription mail may keep arriving even after USPS forwarding expires.
- Federal law prohibits opening, hiding, or destroying someone else’s mail, even if they are a former tenant.
- Writing “Return to Sender – Not at This Address” and placing it back in the mailbox is the safest way to handle important or recurring mail.
What to Do with Mail from a Previous Tenant
Wondering what to do with mail from previous tenant? There are various ways you can handle such situations – from sending it back to keeping it for a short period of time. Let’s discuss that a little bit more.
Reach Out to Tenant
The moment you receive mail for a previous tenant, you might think that this is not yours and wonder how to get it to its rightful owner. To do this, you can try to contact your previous tenant to let them know about the mail that you’ve been getting. Let them know about the mail that you currently have on hand, and ask if they want to come by and pick it up.
Although it’s not one of your responsibilities as a landlord to hold a former tenant’s mail, doing so can help build a good relationship and reputation. While you’re in contact with your previous tenant, kindly mention getting their mailing address updated to avoid similar circumstances in the future.
Return to Sender
When it comes to handling the mail of a previous tenant, one of the simplest strategies is to have it sent back. Most of the time, marketing letters and catalogs have return addresses on them. So, what you can do is to indicate “return to sender” and put it back in the mailbox. You can even write that the recipient no longer resides at that address to let them know the context behind the request for a return process.
Leave a Note
If you’re unsuccessful in contacting your former tenant, another tactic that you can use is to leave a note on your mailbox that states that the former tenant no longer lives there, and you’d like to stop the delivery of mail for that specific individual. While this is not a sure-fire solution, leaving a friendly note can help guide your mail carrier about the issue and address it accordingly.
How to Handle Junk Mail for Previous Tenants
Now, what about junk mail? Think of catalogs, marketing offers, flyers, and other promotional materials. These are the mail that keep on showing up and are mainly for sales and marketing campaigns. While it may be tempting to just throw these all out, it’s illegal for you to do so. So, what can you do?
When you receive a former tenant’s junk mail, you can indicate a “return to sender – not at this address” and put it back in the mailbox. This will let the mail carrier know that the recipient has moved. Ideally, this step will also reduce the volume of junk mail delivered to your rental. But what happens to the mail you sent back? When your mail carrier gets the mail again, they will process this, and if it’s considered undeliverable, they will be the ones to dispose of the package legally.
Why You Keep Getting Mail for the Previous Tenant
Now, let’s uncover why you keep getting mail for a tenant that has already moved out of the property. Getting mail for a former tenant often happens when they forget to update their mailing address before leaving. Typically, the incoming mail comes from subscription services, monthly billings, and even the bank. Knowing how important these types of mail are, your tenant will most likely have their mailing address with the post office updated for these as soon as possible.
However, there are certain mailings, like magazines, marketing copies, and catalogs, that bypass change-of-address and forwarding requests. For example, companies that rely on marketing lists don’t really rely on the post office’s forwarding data. So, they’ll continue to send the mail to the last known address unless they get updated directly by the customer.
Is It Illegal to Open or Toss the Mail?
Receiving a former tenant’s mail is one thing, but what you do with it is a completely different matter. So, let’s get things straight first. Is it legal to open or throw away a previous tenant’s mail? The answer is no. Following the 18 U.S Code 1702, you are not allowed, in any shape or form, to open, hide, or destroy other people’s correspondence. So even if your former tenant’s mail keeps popping up in your rental, you can’t throw it away. More so, you actually need to handle them with much care and consideration to avoid any claim of mishandling that could lead to small claims or civil disputes.
Elevate Your Property Management Experience with BMG
As a landlord, you need to know what to do with mail from previous tenant. Particularly, you need to understand that, even if you received the mail and it’s on your property, it is still not yours to open, hide, or dispose of. Doing so is considered an “obstruction of correspondence” and is a federal crime.
To prevent mail for former tenants from coming to your rental, it is essential that you remind them to update their mailing address when they are about to move out. Partnering with an Austin property management company, like us at BMG, can help ensure that tenant move-out procedures (including updating mailing addresses) are followed down to the last bit. Get the peace of mind that you need. Contact us today to learn more about our services.