Hi all,

Creepy landlord from years ago tracked me down via Facebook and sent a letter to my work. She has opened every piece of mail I received after I left the UK which includes personal information (Tax info etc) and then forwarded it to me not before she called each letter source.

Isn't this illegal?

Don't you know the laws in the UK about opening mail not addressed to you?

Did you notify the various agencies in the UK that you were moving abroad and give them a new mailing address? Change your mailing address to forwarding at the UK postal office?

In the US it is a federal offense for her to have opened your mail. Don't have a clue about the UK.

I would definitely make the credit reporting agencies in the UK aware that you want your equivalent of a US social security number closed to new accounts to safeguard your credit history, etc.

I notified a bunch of places but it appears I've had ID fraud however have managed to have accounts closed but the fact remains she has opened a ton of my mail!

Fairly sure it's illegal in the UK as it is here in the US.

this landlord was based in the UK or the USA?

His OP stated the UK

I know I read that. It just seems weird that a landlord would forward your mail to the USA. Can you even do that internationally? I'm assuming the landlord just wrote the USA address on it and put it back in the post. But would the Post office accept it for international forwarding? Surely, they'd just send it back to the original senders and for that they'd need to open it up.

all sounds a bit strange that's all.

Why not. You stick it in an envelope and mail it off. And yes, you can direct your mail to be forwarded in the UK to the US. I believe I have seen other do so and if you can't then have it directed to someone else who will forward it to you.

Yes the UK PO will forward mail international. I believe you have to show proof that the UK address the mail was originally sent to is/was your address. It is really something that should be put in place before one leaves the UK.

Best practice is to get the UK Post Office to forward to your US address, then the landlord would not have seen it. I did that and discovered attempted fraud soon after I arrived here, receiving several forwarded letters saying "thank you for your credit card application etc etc..". I was able to call and stop them all with no further problems.

In short the landlord has opened my mail which includes HMRC through to my final phone bills and so forth. She is also trying to sue me for breaking a lock that they repaired 2 years prior when it failed through wear and tear. Unreal!

why didn't you just pay for your mail to be forwarded by the post office and then your landlord wouldn't have even got it?

Jerseygirl, are you referring to the service that the Post Office provides where you pay for it in advance.

I thought the others were talking about the mail arriving at the address and then the landlord just writes on a forwarding address. I don't think they will do this internationally.

Yes. I don't think mail would be forwarded internationally if a third person writes an overseas address on it...because it would only have a domestic stamp on it.

Anyway, back to the OP.

Postal Services Act 2000

You'd have to prove malicious intent.