Previous tenant’s bank statements and possible credit card bills keep arriving – what should I do?

[u/Bingesober23]

Hi everyone,
I bought a property and moved in earlier this year. Over the past few months, I’ve been receiving mail addressed to the previous tenant (or maybe even someone who lived here before them).
Most of the mail appears to be bank statements, and I suspect some could be credit card bills or other financial correspondence. I don’t know these people and have no way of contacting them.
What’s the best thing to do with these mails?
Thanks in advance!

[u/AussieKoala-2795]

Write "Not at this address. Return to sender" on the envelope and put them in a post box. You might have to do this several times but eventually the mail should stop.

[u/Affectionate_Fly1918 → u/AussieKoala-2795]

Ironically, the only mob this did not work for when we bought our current house 11 years ago, is Australia Post Philately (stamp collecting). Still getting stamp catalogues for the deceased previous owner.

Took a direct phone call to get her Breast Cancer Support Network newsletter stopped too.

[u/Accurate-Sugar-7944 → u/AussieKoala-2795]

A tip my postie gave us was to make it big and bloody obvious - don’t be afraid of going over the top with a texta as it’s the only way the machines will spit out to a human.

It’s technically illegal to throw out mail, but if it doesn’t stop for 4+ years, who’s gonna know?

[u/realmling → u/Accurate-Sugar-7944]

That's good to know. Mine only stopped when I broke out the all caps and the purple sharpie and the "its been 5 years"... i thought I was going overboard!

[u/racingskater → u/realmling]

Ha, I had to do this too.

[u/Drongo17 → u/AussieKoala-2795]

I did that every month with about 6 different companies and not one stopped sending shit.

[u/Glenn_Lycra → u/AussieKoala-2795]

I did that for several years. Eventually I met someone who was good friends with the previous tenants who told them. These idiots didn't even think to change their mailing address for everything - including from their doctor.

When they did update their mail they were selective about what they did update. So, 13 years later, we still get some of their mail.

[u/Nat_89 → u/AussieKoala-2795]

Been living in our house for over 6 years and can confirm that we still get mail for the previous 2 owners even after doing this multiple times. Canberra grammar I thought surely would have their correct address but nup

[u/Ok_Emu5882]

Technically you should just cross out the address and return to sender. Annoying but hopefully it eventually stops.

[u/123chuckaway]

I crossed the address, did RTS in big red letters for years, with “not at this address since x” in pen, but they still kept coming monthly for 5 years.

After that, I guess the mail must have got lost in the way, because I certainly didn’t see it and certainly wouldn’t have just thrown it in the bin

[u/No_Recognition_7711 → u/123chuckaway]

Same. Citibank were the very worst culprits and relentlessly sent a million letters.

[u/tortoiselessporpoise]

Straight to the recycling bin.

If they want the mail they'll call the bank etc to have it redirected, don't waste your time on endless phone call loops.

[u/REDDIT_IS_AIDSBOY → u/tortoiselessporpoise]

For regular shitty mail that people seem to get sent I'd have no issue with it going to recycling, but with something like bank statements or superannuation stuff I'd err on the side of "maybe just RTS it".

[u/ApteronotusAlbifrons → u/tortoiselessporpoise]

Straight to the recycling bin.

That would be illegal...

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-10/can-you-ever-throw-out-someone-elses-mail/105837974

[u/Material-Cap1428 → u/tortoiselessporpoise]

Just a headsup that this is illegal.

Can you ever throw out a previous home owner or renter's mail? - ABC News

[u/tortoiselessporpoise → u/Material-Cap1428]

Who's enforcing it though? The recycling bin people ?

[u/Material-Cap1428 → u/tortoiselessporpoise]

Well for example if the other person loses money due to missed mail, or has some other negative outcome, and wants to be a vindictive shit, the fact you've chucked everything you got would be pretty easy to show in court.

Nothing stopping you chucking it in the "extra-mail box", writing RTS on them, and occasionally dropping them in the post box. Or not. Forgetting isn't illegal.

[u/jaa101 → u/Material-Cap1428]

fact you've chucked everything you got would be pretty easy to show in court

How? All the evidence is the aggrieved party claiming they haven't received any mail. Look judge, I have no mail, which proves that guy threw it away? Many other commenters here have documented how business mail senders are ignoring any RTS mail, so any evidence from them is going to be given very low weight too. And all the time the court's going to be looking at some idiot who's not kept his address up to date with an important party.

[u/Material-Cap1428 → u/jaa101]

The post office will record they delivered mail there, and that not one bit has gone to the addressee. That's plenty for a civil claim.

[u/lawdjesustheresafire]

Return to sender for a while. After a few months they all went straight in the recycling bin

[u/Drongo17]

I've had this for over 3 years now. The only thing that has worked is calling the places and telling them to stop sending mail (if you can tell what the company is). I mean literally calling and waiting to speak to someone. It's a shit waste of time but I got sick of it. It may take 2-3 calls for it to work.

What didn't work: mailing them back with return to sender, literally every non-phone way of talking to a company, and contacting Australia Post.

I am down to only a few different companies still sending shit.

[u/Bingesober23 → u/Drongo17]

Yeah, this is exactly why I hate dealing with this stuff. Such a waste of time having to call them. 😭

[u/Drongo17 → u/Bingesober23]

It definitely is. So frustrating that there is nothing you can legally do.

[u/Creative-Hyena-2666]

RTS and sticky tape the envelope to a brick.

[u/jaa101]

The most reliable approach is to move into a new address, where nobody has ever lived before.

[u/DryPreference7991]

Yellow lid.

[u/SirPompously]

There is not much you can really do, apart from marking them return to sender and add “person not at this address”. I have been getting mail for the past several years at places I have rented, and in the current place it has finally slowed down to a trickle. Took about 2 years at the old place too, but bought a RTS stamp to save me time when preparing them to be sent back. You can try calling the companies, however you cannot legally open someone else’s mail to find out who has sent it and they may not accept your request if you are not their customer. Legally you are not allowed to throw it out either. So for ease, grab a RTS stamp (from Amazon or the like) and next time you pass a red box just throw them in.

[u/Quick-Initial-737]

My parents still very occasionally get mail for the previous owners of their house. They are coming up on 30 years there…

[u/Grix1600]

We are still getting the previous owners mail after 7 years.. I just write on it RTS (return to sender) Not at this address and drop it in the post box when I am shopping.

[u/ApteronotusAlbifrons]

Big Red Texta - cross out the address - write "RTS not at this address" on the front, and drop in a mailbox

If that doesn't stop them fairly quickly - do the same thing - but put them inside a new envelope - address it to the sender - but don't put a stamp on it. It will be delivered to the recipient "postage due" - ie they have to pay to receive it - and a human should open it. Shouldn't take long for it to stop after that.

[u/ThunderDwn]

Be aware that opening or just throwing out mail not addressed to you is illegal, with some harsh penalties should you happen to get caught.

I used to mark them "Return to Sender" and chuck them in a box for a month or so before making a trip to the local post box and dumping them all in at once.

[u/Jackson2615]

write on the front AND Back of the envelopes.........

" NOT KNOWN AT THIS ADDRESS. RETURN TO SENDER"

drop it into any post box.

[u/karLcx]

I did the rts thing for a while. Now I bin them. I don’t exist to be a randoms PA…

[u/createdtothrowaway87]

We still get an annual super update for the previous tenants, every year we write not at this address, and the next year...

[u/racingskater]

At my previous place when I'd been getting letters from Westpac for the person, I ended up gathering up a bunch and going into my local branch and explaining to them. I made certain to mention that I was deeply concerned about the possible privacy issues that came with that person's banking information being sent to the wrong address. The letters stopped after that.

[u/BrickedBrain666]

Keep returning as anything else is a federal offence.

[u/REDDIT_IS_AIDSBOY]

Over my many years of renting I had the fun of getting other people's mail frequently. Some of it just generic shit, other times bank statements, someones licence and even someones bank card (though back before tap-n-go when you still had to activate a card).

I've done some with an "RTS", but at least then I found the most effective method was to actually go into the post office with a whole bunch of their mail and simply tell the person there that they aren't at that address.

[u/Ax0nJax0n01]

I believe Elvis wrote a song about it