Neighbour keeps opening my mail

[Sophia777]

I live in a converted house which makes two flats. One at the top and one below. We have a front main door, then a small corridor leading to the two doors of the flats. The mail gets in through the front door and she gets to it before me. Last week her son gave me an opened letter with a note which read sorry opened in error. When I spoke to him about it he said I had in fact received two letters from the same company but he shredded the other one! (this was for a southern electric unpaid bill). Then in the same week I saw another letter which was opened again with an apology from her- this one was a council tax bill. I have had bank statements I never received, mortgage statements I never received although the company's insist they posted them. She has opened my mail in the past- maybe three times in a year- but I feel three times a week is now just too many errors. They must have done it before but since these were urgent bills they felt they had to give them to me. The lady is elderly but her family and son visit on an almost daily basis. What can I do? I am very disturbed by this, but I am a quiet person.

[stokes11eg]

Sorry to hear of this.Quiet or not, let them know in no uncertain terms they have not to open your mail, and to leave it alone! you could call and collect from your local office, but this has to be arranged, and I think they are looking at charging a fee for this service. You should reprt them to the Police.

[Broxi51]

You should create a letter supposedly coming from the police and regarding the incidents of
people opening your mail and that it is illegal to do so.
When the postie delivers this letter and she opens it then I think that your problem will be solved
without any need for you to say anything to them.

[stokes11eg]

:shock Prtoblem is if the police found out she did this she could be in trouble! On a lighter note, she could perhaps do what I did once. Many years ago, when my mum occassionaly baby sat for me, she used to 'nose' around and open mail. Once I left a pretend letter on the mantlpiece (we had coal fires then) and I left a note inside saying' don't be so nosy!

[POSTMAN]

You could have the below,but they are about to start charging for the service in April...

Royal Mail is to charge customers £210 a year if they choose to collect letters and parcels from sorting offices rather than wait for the postman.

Mail Collect is a free service that lets you collect mail from your local Delivery Office at a time that suits your needs. We hold your mail securely at our Delivery Office and it can only be collected by authorised people with ID.

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/jump ... d=48100695" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[noggin1969]

Either se

[Sophia777]

OH MY GOD!!!

I went downstairs to collect my mail 2mins ago- what do I find- AN OPENED CURRENT ACCOUNT BANK STATEMENT - with a note

" Sorry, Mum opened by mistake when it got mixed in her birthday cards. She has not looked inside."

I AM SOOO ANGRY !!!

[Sophia777]

I could

1. Either get a private letter box and have all my mail redirected there- Is there a charge for redirecting mail?

A letter box will cost up to £100, but I could charge her half the payment of that.

or

Is there an option where I could give the Post office the key to the front door? That way all letters will be posted on the appropriate doors.

or

I could tell her son that this has gone too far, opening someones mail is illegal and they have to make arrangements for their mothers mail to be redirected either to themselves so she does not have to handle the mail or get her a private letter box for her. That way I wont be out of pocket because of this and its their responsibility to make arrangements for their confused mother. If he does not comply then I will file a police report.

The idea of getting a separate letter box outside is good- just that there is not much space and it would have to go on the wall which is her property, plus Im thinking it might be costly.

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr !!!!

[BT2010]

call into your delivery office and explain the situation with the office manager who should in turn speak to the postie and come up with a solution (perhaps if the postie makes seperate bundles for each flat).

on this point though the manager would almost certainly have RMs income at the top of his agenda and i guess there would be some fee or other to pay.

if nothing is done then it would have to be a matter for the police.

[Sophia777]

I have just spoken to the police, I will try to come up with an arrangement with her son.

I will give them a deadline of Wed to either get her a private box or do something for her. Why should I be made to pay for their errors? I will also quote the police ref number I was given. Failing that I will continue with filling the incident report with the police.

She has ruined my weekend.

[Sophia777]

The police suggested coming in to "have a word" with her, and they said that might resolve it, because they are convinced she knows what she is doing.

Also I have just realised that now I have to speak to my bank cause my Bank details have been compromised!!

[Sophia777]

I just spoke to her. She says if there is anyone I should be mad at its the postman because he personally handed her a "bundle of her post- which were all her birthday cards." In it was my bank statement. Then I told her that even if that was the case a birthday card looks very different from a bank statement! She then says that while she was reading the statement she then realised it was n't hers but her son said it would be ok because he would "just write me a note". I told her how could her son say its ok when it wasn't his bank statement being read.

I went on to tell her that I was very distrubed by this whole matter and when I mentioned the word police, suddenly her hearing went! She goes "speak in this ear love, because that other ones hearing aid has stopped working", and she just kept saying this changing her ears, saying try this ear, then that ear!!

So I said I will put it in writing and give her and her son a copy.

[stokes11eg]

Shouldn't laugh, but this sounds like so many old folks (and hubbys!) with 'selective' deafness. At least you are getting things sorted now!

[POSTMAN]

Tell you what and you'll have to move fast go for the local collect thing i posted for the short term,it will be free till april.
That will give you some time to play with.

[Forrest Grump]

I think the only solution to this problem will be a separate box for your mail. If you are renting this property, your landlord must make arrangements for you to be able to receive mail securely; if you own the property (you mentioned a mortgage statement) then you would be within your rights to have a separate and secure letter-opening made to the joint front door.

Citizen's Advice Bureau should be able to help but be quick because their funding had been cut by the old Etonians who are currently dismantling our country one brick at a time.