Charging For Post Delivered

[AliFlump]

Hi all. Have friends who live on a caravan site 11 months of the year. They have a house which they pay council tax for.

They have been there for 3 years and have had post delivered to the site reception the same as most of the other caravans on site have. They have to go to reception to pick up the post, it isn't delivered to their caravan for them. This arrangement works well for them.

Now, the site have introduced a £250 charge per caravan per year for accepting of post. If this is not taken up, post will be returned to sender.

Someone has mentioned that this is not legal (something to do with the queen. But as usual they have no knowledge to back this up)

Can anyone advise if it is illegal ( I'm doubting it but happy to be proved wrong) or anyone had any similar experiences? Thank you

[Gizmonster]

I've no idea whether this is legal or not, so I can't help there sorry.

What I can say is that if it is legal, I wouldn't be prepared to pay it .... I'm guessing they already pay a hefty site fee?? Are there no friends or relatives that would be willing to have the post redirected to them??

[dannyk13]

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/26/part/V/crossheading/offences-of-interfering-with-the-mail
Para 84

[fiction-factory]

danny- in reality Royal mail are not interested. They say once they have delivered it to the agreed place they have discharged their duty. Someone was picking up post addressed to us for several weeks and wouldn't pass it on to us but Royal mail were not interested. The police were going to intervene but decided not to as we couldn't prove he was not intending to pass it on eventually. In reality he was taking, sometimes opening and always binning it as some sort of revenge act but there was nothing we could do.

[fiction-factory]

It depends on the agreement with the site owners, but if they are within their rights to put fees up or levy extra charges provided they give notice and you have the chance to stay or leave, then I don't see there is anything illegal/unlawful here

[bhg481]

Your friends are, effectively, using the Site Office as a drop-box. I've never used one but I've seen one and I assume they charge for their services.

[dannyk13]

FF //in reality Royal mail are not interested//
Maybe this person may have better luck.

[fiction-factory]

Hope so, danny. I rang Royal Mail at least six times and had various email exchanges over a six week period. Anyway, I won't divert the thread any more

[AliFlump]

Thanks all. We are the nearest (still an hour away) but they would still have to travel to pick up the post. They get most letters to the house its just for items that they need at the van.

The charge about £4k for the site fee which I agree should be enough to cover accepting post. Especially when they pride themselves on how many 'residents' they have.

I agree that once Royal Mail have delivered to reception their duty is filled. Just thought it would see if anyone knew anymore. Thank you

[Vagus]

Caravan sites have no legal responsibility to accept post for anyone, they’re a business like any other business.
I can imagine that if there is a lot of post delivered to them for various caravans, perhaps including amazon deliveries, parcels, etc., then it’s becoming a nuisance and this is their way of reducing/stopping it.

[bhg481]

Do local Post Offices still offer "Post Restante"? If so, how much does it cost?

[dannyk13]

Ali, if the landlord interferes with the delivery of the mail, eg marks it return to sender,the he is committing an offence as outlined in the link above.

[vulcan42]

Perhaps a deputation from fellow caravaners meeting with the owners, suggesting a more realistic charge, £250 a year sounds excessive just for receiving mail? ( or threatening a mass exodus might make the owners more generous)

[bednobs]

"Ali, if the landlord interferes with the delivery of the mail, eg marks it return to sender,the he is committing an offence as outlined in the link above"
im not sure thats true danny.
If the post comes addressed to mrs bloggs at sea view caravan park office, it's true that Mrs bloggs doesnt live there at the office, so the owners are entitled to return to sender

[Vagus]

On our friends caravan site, any post not collected from the site office after a week is binned.
Permission can, and often is, given by the site for deliveries of some items eg. Garden furniture, fencing, paving, generally any items which would be difficult if not impossible to transport from home to the caravan.

[dannyk13]

Bednobs, they live there for eleven months of the year.The landlord would be deliberately stopping the addressee receiving the mail and I think that would constitute an offence of delaying the mail as outlined in the link.

[AliFlump]

Thanks for all your contributions. It is a difficult one because on one hand they do pride themselves on having 'year round' residents so you would think things like this should be catered for in the site fees.

On the other hand they have given them warning that it will be returned if they dont pay.

Update: they are reducing the first year fee to half price but if you dont take it in the first year they will not offer it again next year!!!

At the end of the day they can do what they like. Its just a shame as it's an award winning site and they really enjoy living there. It just seems alot to charge.

[Tilly2]

It's less than £1.00 a day. Not excessive, in my opinion.

[Vagus]

If it’s an 11 month site, it’s actually a holiday home site, not a residential site even if your friends stay there the whole eleven months, and the rules and regs are different.

[Old_Geezer]

Probably being naive here, but why is it addressed to reception and not directly to the caravan ? If it was addressed to the caravan then Royal Mail won't be entitled to dump them at reception. And if the site management objects then isn't it at their insistence that mail gets dropped at reception, in which case what right have they to charge for something that they insist on ?

[Vagus]

Postmen won’t deliver post to individual holiday home caravans, there are far too many of them, post is addressed to the person, care of the caravan site.
That’s how is normally works on a holiday home site.