Mail Forwrading / Return to Sender

[anchor_drops]

Hi, I live in MA and have a question regarding legal ways of handling mail. My landlord does not reside in my building, but insists on receiving him mail on the premises. It's a lot of mail, including paychecks. (I suspect that he is fraudulently claiming to be a live in landlord to exempt himself from state inspection and receive a tax break).

I am tired of sorting his mail and enabling this misrepresentation. Can I mark the mail as incorrect address / return to sender? I don't want to tamper with the mail.

I do not know his real address despite MA laws requiring that it is posted on the premises. I would be happy to have them forwarded.

 

[seniorjudge]

Hi, I live in MA and have a question regarding legal ways of handling mail. My landlord does not reside in my building, but insists on receiving him mail on the premises. It's a lot of mail, including paychecks. (I suspect that he is fraudulently claiming to be a live in landlord to exempt himself from state inspection and receive a tax break).

I am tired of sorting his mail and enabling this misrepresentation. Can I mark the mail as incorrect address / return to sender? I don't want to tamper with the mail.

I do not know his real address despite MA laws requiring that it is posted on the premises. I would be happy to have them forwarded.

I don't want to tamper with the mail.

Then set your own mail box up and tell the post office to deliver just your mail to that box. tell the landlord he is on his own unless he wants to pay you for secretarial services.


Why don't you move?

https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=317638

 

[anchor_drops]

In response to your rhetorical question

In all fairness, the apartment is nice and at a reasonable rate. It's also in a location that allows my wife to walk/bike to graduate school. There's a thin band of properties that will meet our location, and rate requirements. The real estate market hasn't crashed enough to expand that band.

We'd rather not spend another summer looking for apartments - especially when we expect our current LL to offer a biased reference.

Also, moving brings us to the inevitable dispute about the security deposit. I suppose we could start suing for it now, but I'd rather have a lease renewal and put that off for a little while. I also imagine that it would help to have his real address prior to litigation. At least we know his employer.

As for the just our mail box.... Mail for 2 units are delivered through a door slot. Segregating ours would eliminate the clerical work. Unfortunately, there is no clear means of doing so without modifying the building.