When a tenant occupies a rental unit, it becomes his temporary home. He would care for it, conduct his daily activities in it, and probably make some minor decorative changes to make it their own. As a resident, they will have their mail and packages sent there as well. That is fine, of course.
However, when they move out after their lease ends, some of their letters and packages might still be delivered to the unit. The new tenant might receive them and give them to the landlord. But what if the former tenant did not leave a forwarding address? It’s an easy problem to solve, but it’s not always as quick — and that’s when it becomes less simple.
Return to Sender
The simplest way to deal with mail for your former tenant is to write the phrase ‘Return to Sender,’ ‘Moved,’ or ‘No Longer At This Address’ outside the envelope or box. Be sure not to open the mail because the former might go after you if they discovered that you opened it. Some letters might contain sensitive information.
After the post gets hold of the mail with any of those phrases written on them, they will have to return it to the sender and update the former tenant’s information on their record. The sender should also do the same and hopefully not send anything for the former tenant on that address. Ideally, mail for the former tenant should stop from getting delivered to your rental unit.
It keeps arriving
There are some cases when even after writing “return to sender” on consecutive mails, deliveries for the former tenant keep coming. It can become annoying to the new tenant if they keep receiving stuff that is not theirs.
If the errant deliveries keep coming, the next thing for a landlord to do is to go to the local post office and speak to the station manager. Have them update their record. If you have documents to prove that the tenant has already moved out of the property, you can show them to the station manager.
Another Option
If you want to go the extra mile, post a notice on the mailbox so that each time a mail carrier delivers an item for the former tenant, they will see it. The note can say “(Name of the former tenant) is not at this address” or “Only deliver letters or packages for (Name of the former tenant).”
Prevention
When a tenant’s lease ends, make sure to get a forwarding address from them before they vacate the unit. If they refuse not to give you such information, request them to have their information on the local post office updated.
If they are still searching for a more permanent place to live, request to keep their contact information so that you can inform them in case something is delivered for them after they leave.
It is vital to ensure that when your rental agent finds a new tenant through Padleads, the latter will not get pestered by deliveries for the previous tenant. It can eventually destroy their peace and waste their time if it becomes persistent.
Padleads is a property listing platform where you can syndicate published listings to different rental websites to increase visibility. Finding tenants become quicker, so ensure that your previous tenants have settled everything before they leave so that you’re ready to welcome new tenants to your property without worries.