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I'm not sure if anyone mentioned it, but in case not - you could want to remind your landlord that opening mail not addressed to you is a federal crime.
Actually, that is not true as a general statement. There are amny court cases where the courts have continually rules that the federal law does not impose a violation for opening mail not addressed to you. There are many times it is, but a clear case of IT IS NOT ILLEGAL is if the person didn;t know it wasn;t addressed to them. So long as the person wasn;t aware it wasn't their mail, and once they relaize it they returned it to the USPS, they have not commited any crimes under fedreal law.
i have gone through the same thing and in fact after looking into everything I had found out it my apartment was never an apartment and the landlord had to pay me back my moneys in small claims the city did an inspection and found many things wroung And in fact the laws says the landrd must give the back space a new address and supply a male box it is amazing what landlords get away with if you dont know your rights and they get very upset when you say somithing
i have gone through the same thing and in fact after looking into everything I had found out it my apartment was never an apartment and the landlord had to pay me back my moneys in small claims the city did an inspection and found many things wroung And in fact the laws says the landrd must give the back space a new address and supply a male box it is amazing what landlords get away with if you dont know your rights and they get very upset when you say somithing
From my experience and understanding it's quite rare that a court would order the return of rents paid on an illegal apartment but that was a nice windfall that worked in your favor. It can't be stressed enough that both landlords and tenants should know at least the basics of the relevant laws. At least half the threads on this forum wouldn't be started if tenants did something so simple as read and understand a lease before signing it.
I did have one question. You said that LLs must supply a male box. Can a tenant request a female box instead?
my landlord evicted me bc i complained about issues with the property, he didnt file in court so legally its stil my address. Well we came up 2 stay at my sisters for a bit waiting for the papers from the court, stil havent got them, but the landlord has been taking my mail everyday, what can i do?
Whether or not the eviction process has gone through the court system yet isn't relevant as you obviously have left the rental unit and are no longer a tenant (unless you're still paying rent). File a change of address with the Post Office and have it all forwarded. If you no longer live at the property you have no right to receive your mail there and since you haven't filed a change of address with the PO you'd better check with them before it's returned to sender or discarded. Your LL may well be doing what he's supposed to do and returning it to the PO.
PS: Just to clarify and since the original thread has been responded to again, this is in response to poster my4cbabys new question of today's date.
Last edited by STT Resident; 05-17-2012 at 11:41 AM..
True....however, I get mail for more than one person and have for over 25 yrs and I've never signed someone else's check...open the mail? Yes. Sign their check? No.
Maybe this is being blown out of proportion, but I wouldn't be comfortable having my landlord sort my mail :::shrug::::
Exactly! I only open mail that is addressed to someone in MY household; but then again I actualy, you know, READ who the mail is for before I open it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hueyeats
Get a PO box like others said.
Opening another person's letter is actually a federal offence that no one should mess with.
Oh and with the "signature" endorsed on the check... that is actually "proof" needed for taking the LL to court "if" the need arise.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lifelongMOgal
Good heavens OP, just get a PO Box or a PMB at a UPS store already. No wonder the landlord got "aggressive", to use your terminology. Get over it already. In the time you've wasted over this you could aready have a new mailing address and sent out your change of address notifications.
Get over it? Tampering with someone's mail is a FEDERAL OFFENSE and nothing to "get over". Unless of course you think other federal crimes aren't a big deal either, like illegal immigration, or borrowing a pain pill/phenegren pill from a friend, etc...
Federal Law - Title 18, Section 1708
Section 1708 of Title 18 describes the penalties for possessing stolen postal property such as mail. This section imposes a greater jail sentence on violators. From the U.S. Code: "Whoever buys, receives, or conceals, or unlawfully has in his possession, any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, or any article or thing contained therein, which has been so stolen, taken, embezzled, or abstracted, as herein described, knowing the same to have been stolen, taken, embezzled, or abstracted...Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both."
It was a mistake, folks. Unintentional. An "oops."
I seriously doubt it was a mistake. I bet the LL tried to cash it, and the teller caught the problem, and that's why the LL gave the check back. He's being dirty, if not why would he tell her it would PROBABLY happen again?!
Quote:
Originally Posted by PacificFlights
Actually, that is not true as a general statement. There are amny court cases where the courts have continually rules that the federal law does not impose a violation for opening mail not addressed to you. There are many times it is, but a clear case of IT IS NOT ILLEGAL is if the person didn;t know it wasn;t addressed to them. So long as the person wasn;t aware it wasn't their mail, and once they relaize it they returned it to the USPS, they have not commited any crimes under fedreal law.
So basically you can not get in trouble if you aren't literate. Ok gotcha!
Seriously?! If you don't know your own address and your own damn name then you got bigger problems that just facing Federal jail time.
How hard is it to check and read your OWN NAME?! If it has YOUR name on it, it's ok to open; if it doesn't have YOUR NAME on it, IT IS NOT YOURS!
So basically you can not get in trouble if you aren't literate. Ok gotcha!
Seriously?! If you don't know your own address and your own damn name then you got bigger problems that just facing Federal jail time.
How hard is it to check and read your OWN NAME?! If it has YOUR name on it, it's ok to open; if it doesn't have YOUR NAME on it, IT IS NOT YOURS!
No, the Federal Courts have said that a person is NOT GUILTY of Postal Crimes if there was no intent to interfere with the proper mail delivery and steps were properly taken in the event a mistake was made. Just because you read each envelope to see if its addressed to you does not mean everyone else is under the same legal obligation and requirment. Thats your personal obsession and the US Postal Service, the US Postal Inspectors, the US Attorney, and the US Federal Judges do not share your viewpoint.
So, although you personally belive it should be, or you want it to be a crime, under the scenerio the OP provided, there was NO CRIME committed.
Exactly! I only open mail that is addressed to someone in MY household; but then again I actualy, you know, READ who the mail is for before I open it.
I'm a perfectly literate and well read person and have on a few occasions mistakenly opened mail stacked in my PO Box in error. Not often but a few times over many years and generally they're such as utility and telephone bills which are identical for everyone apart from the addressee (obviously).. It happens. But I hope you feel better now that you got all that off your chest.
No, the Federal Courts have said that a person is NOT GUILTY of Postal Crimes if there was no intent to interfere with the proper mail delivery and steps were properly taken in the event a mistake was made.
This post is making me think of something that happened to me about 6 months ago. I got my mail. I live in an apartment complex, but each apartment has its own separate box in the large box the USPS installed, so until this incident, I never checked who the mail was addressed to.
I opened mail in my box to discover I owed $40,000 to the IRS!!! Was So glad it wasn't me and then started to panic that I had opened FEDERAL mail that was not addressed to me. It is kind of funny now, but at the time I was convinced there was no way out of accidentally opening mail that wasn't mine from the IRS.
I put it in the mailman's hands the next day as I did research and discovered that an honest mistake with attempts to correct was not a crime. I figure if I wasn;t arrested for my oops, then you definitely can get away with accidentally opening mail!
Get a PO Box..they're cheap and you don't have to worry about missing mail or missing checks. I can understand him opening something by mistake, but to actually endorse a check that isn't his?? That's a bit much for me to chalk up to an 'accident'.
Yes, just get a PO Box.
So, were you able to cash the check?? His endorsing it seems bizarre....even opening the mail since it had your name on it seems bizarre....but if you like your guest house take the easy way out...
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the city did an inspection and found many things wroung And in fact the laws says the landrd must give the back space a new address and supply a male box it is amazing what landlords get away with if you dont know your rights and they get very upset when you say somithing
