To stop getting mail for previous tenants, mark each piece “Not at this Address” and drop it back in your mailbox, ask your regular mail carrier to file a Moved, Left No Address notice for the former tenant’s name, and shut down junk mail at its source by registering with DMAchoice and calling persistent senders directly. No single step clears it out. The combination does, over a few weeks of consistent effort.
Don’t Just Throw It Away
Federal law makes it a crime to hide or destroy mail addressed to someone else if you’re doing it to interfere with their correspondence. The penalty is a fine and up to five years in prison.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1702 – Obstruction of Correspondence Tossing a former tenant’s letters counts as destroying them. Accidentally tearing an envelope open before you notice the name is not a crime, because the statute requires intent, but once you know it isn’t yours you have to handle it properly. If you do open something by mistake, put the contents in a new envelope, address it to the sender, add postage, and mail it back.
Mark and Return Every Piece
On each envelope, write “Not at this Address” or “Return to Sender” somewhere on the front that doesn’t cover the delivery address or the barcode. Put it back in your mailbox with the flag up, or drop it in a USPS collection box.2USPS. Return to Sender Mail Your carrier will pick it up and it goes back through the system.
Do this for every piece, every time, including repeat senders you’ve already returned. Most senders use automated lists that only update after multiple returns. If you stop marking after the first week, the postal system has no signal that anything has changed.
Why This Alone Won’t Empty Your Mailbox
First-Class Mail — the category that covers personal letters, bills, bank statements, and government notices — gets routed back to the sender at no extra cost. USPS Marketing Mail is different. Catalogs, flyers, and promotional offers arrive under bulk rates, and unless the sender paid for a special endorsement, USPS disposes of returned pieces rather than sending them back.3Postal Explorer. 507 Mailer Services Writing “Return to Sender” on a bulk mailer typically accomplishes nothing, because the piece never reaches anyone who can update the list. That’s why the steps below matter.
Ask Your Carrier to File a Moved, Left No Address Notice
Most people skip this step, and it’s the single most effective one. Carriers can file what USPS calls a Moved, Left No Address notice using PS Form 3575-Z. The form tells the postal system that a specific person moved away without a forwarding address, and the information feeds into the national change-of-address database.4USPS Employee News. MDD Update Once that record exists, mail addressed to that name at your address should stop showing up.
You can catch your carrier at the mailbox, leave a note inside with the former tenant’s full name and a clear request to file the notice, or walk into your local post office and ask a clerk to get one going. Be specific. Give the full name and say plainly that the person no longer lives at the address. A vague complaint about “getting someone else’s mail” is much less actionable.
What you should not do is file a change-of-address form yourself in the previous tenant’s name. Only the person named on the mail, or an authorized agent such as an executor, can legally submit a change of address, and filing one for someone else is treated as mail fraud.
Shut Down Junk Mail at the Source
DMAchoice
The Association of National Advertisers runs DMAchoice, a registry that lets you opt out of marketing mail. It costs $8 online or $9 by mail, and your registration lasts 10 years.5Association of National Advertisers (ANA). DMAchoice Consumer Choice Tools A single profile handles up to five addresses and five name variations, so you can register your own name and the former tenant’s name at your address in one account.6Association of National Advertisers (ANA). Consumer Choices FAQs It stops most promotional mail from participating companies, and you should see a noticeable drop within a few weeks. It won’t catch every sender.
Pre-Approved Credit and Insurance Offers
Those “You’re pre-approved” envelopes come from a different pipeline. The credit bureaus sell prescreened lists to lenders and insurers, and the lists track the address as well as the name. To stop them, use optoutprescreen.com or call 1-888-567-8688. Opting out online lasts five years; a signed mail-in form makes it permanent.7Consumer Advice. What To Know About Prescreened Offers for Credit and Insurance
OptOutPrescreen requires the person’s own Social Security number and date of birth, which means you can only use it for yourself. For prescreened offers addressed to the previous tenant, your realistic options are marking them “Not at this Address” and calling the issuing bank or insurer directly.
Call Persistent Senders
When the same company keeps sending mail for the former tenant despite your returns, calling them tends to fix it faster than anything else. Find a customer service number or website on the envelope. Tell them the person no longer lives at your address and ask them to remove the address from their records. Have the former tenant’s name and your full address ready.
Utility companies, banks, subscription services, and insurance carriers all maintain their own databases separate from USPS records, so a single phone call can accomplish what months of return-to-sender markings never will.
Special Situations
Tax Documents and IRS Notices
W-2s, 1099s, and IRS letters contain Social Security numbers and income information, so treat them carefully. The Taxpayer Advocate Service says to call the phone number printed on the notice and tell the IRS you received another taxpayer’s information by mistake. They will tell you to reseal the envelope if you opened it, write “Not at this address” and “Return to Sender” on the front, and put it back in the mail. Call the IRS before destroying anything; the agency documents these as inadvertent unauthorized disclosures. If the information came electronically instead of by mail, the IRS will tell you to destroy it, but only after you’ve reported it and received their instructions.8Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS). What Should I Do If I Receive Someone Else’s Information From the IRS
When the Previous Tenant Has Died
The steps above still apply, and there are two additional tools. Register the deceased person’s name on the Deceased Do Not Contact List through DMAchoice.org, and advertising mail should drop off within about three months.9USPS. Mail Addressed to the Deceased – How to Stop or Forward Mail Unlike a standard DMAchoice registration, this one is permanent.
Forwarding or redirecting a deceased person’s mail is more restrictive. USPS requires you to go to a post office in person and show documented proof that you are the appointed executor or administrator of the estate. A death certificate on its own is not enough.9USPS. Mail Addressed to the Deceased – How to Stop or Forward Mail If you aren’t the executor, you’re left with marking pieces “Deceased — Return to Sender” and working the DMAchoice and direct-contact steps.
Packages From UPS, FedEx, and Amazon
Everything above is about USPS mail. Private carriers work differently. You aren’t legally obligated to accept a package addressed to someone who doesn’t live at your home. For FedEx and UPS, call the carrier, explain the situation, and ask them to arrange a pickup; they’ll usually open a case and send a driver. For Amazon, use the website or app to report a package that wasn’t meant for you.
Don’t open packages addressed to someone else, even from a private carrier. The federal mail tampering statute specifically covers USPS mail, but opening a package you know isn’t yours can still raise state theft or fraud issues.
How Long This Takes
Clearing all mail for a previous tenant realistically takes several weeks of steady work. First-Class Mail slows first, once your carrier files the MLNA notice and senders start acting on your returns. Marketing mail takes longer because lists update on their own schedule. Prescreened credit offers take the longest if you can’t use OptOutPrescreen on the former tenant’s behalf.
The most common mistake is quitting after the first round of returns. Keep marking every piece, keep talking to your carrier, and keep calling the repeat senders. USPS forwards First-Class Mail for 12 months after a change-of-address is filed, so if the previous tenant filed one, that forwarding has likely expired by the time the mail is landing in your box. Once forwarding lapses, mail reverts to the old address, and the cycle starts over unless the underlying records have been updated.