Should a tenant open mail addressed to "Owner/Occupier"?

[Phil7b]

Firstly, I assume that "Owner/Occupier" is different from "Owner-Occupier" who lives in the property that he owns. So, "Owner/Occupier" means the owner OR an occupier. Is this correct?

A letter has been received here that I guess may be Council Tax or some such, because it has a return address **BC (blank blank Borough Council).

So as an occupier (tenant) am I allowed to open it? - It could very well be relevant ,e.g. if landlord's not paid Council Tax, perhaps??? !

[Buenchico]

Either the occupier or owner can open the letter.

Unless you live in a multiple-occupancy building where the Valuation Agency has used an 'aggregation' policy for determining the Council Tax band for the property as a whole (which is quite rare) it is your responsibility, as the tenant, to pay Council Tax, not that of your landlord.

Chris

PS: Most people wouldn't be as fussy as you about opening letters. If something drops through my door, I open it and read it. If it turns out that it should, for example, have been delivered to a neighbour, I simply put it through their letterbox with "Sorry, opened in error" written on it ;-)

[momcj]

is it not illegal to open post not addressed to you?

[sherrardk]

I open owner/occupier letters - if they are for the actual owners I presume they would know their names?

[AlBags]

Just have a look at it.
You "might" do someone a favour.

[tamborine]

Yes....as occupier is whoever lives at same address.

[Buenchico]

That's debatable, Momcj.

It's an offence to interfere with items being carried by Royal Mail but my understanding of the law is that the Post Office have completed their task when they've delivered the letter to the address on it. (Not when it has reached the person to whom it is intended). So the letter is no longer within the Royal Mail system.

As long as you leave your door (or window) unlocked, it's perfectly legal for anyone to enter your house, have a good look around and read any documents you've left lying around. (Such as personal letters, bank statements, medical reports, etc). So it's unlikely that opening someone else's letter could be construed as an offence (unless it was for 'criminal damage' to the envelope when opening it!).

Chris

[momcj]

thats ok, just wandering cos i get letters addressed to prev tennant who obviously had loads of debts and people chasing them. I must sent loads letters back saying 'no longer at this address' but still get more letters from same companies. so i have opened some and rang up companies to tell them no longer here cos well p***ing me off! had read somewhere not supposed to open mail not addressed to you, so thought i would take the oppurtunity to ask ya now! Ta x

[themas]

Chris

I think you may find that the Postal Services Act 2000 makes it an offence to open mail addressed to someone else.

[Answer_Tank]

I know this is a decade old question, but it is NOT an offence simply to open post addressed to someone else. This came up when I searched for something else, so thought I'd add the correct information if anyone else happens across it.

The wording of the Postal Services Act 2000 that Chris mentions is "A person commits an offence if, intending to act to a person’s detriment and without reasonable excuse, he opens a postal packet which he knows or reasonably suspects has been incorrectly delivered to him."

The important wording here is the "intending to act... without reasonable excuse". The offence can only be committed if you plan to act to a person's detriment OR you don't have a justified reason for opening the post. So if you're not planning on misusing the information in the letter (such as using the personal details for fraud) and you have a reasonable excuse such as determining who debt collection letters are being sent by in order to inform the debt agency that the person they are looking for no longer lives at the address, then it's perfectly legal to open mail which has been delivered to you but addressed to someone else.

[fiction-factory]

>Chris.I think you may find that the Postal Services Act 2000 makes it an offence to open mail addressed to someone else.

Royal Mail were not interested when someone was opening post addressed post to me after I'd moved house and the post redirection failed even though I'd paid. They said they had delivered to the address given so that was the end of their responsibility. They said it was a police matter. But of course police were not interested as they said it couldn't be proved or he hadn't said he wouldn't forward it to me in the next few months