I’m trying to send a letter to the residents of a house that is adjacent to some land I own. Unfortunately, the home doesn’t have a mail receptacle (that’s what the mail carrier scrawled on the letter I tried to send to the address).
I can get an owner’s name from online property records, but I’m fairly certain that the home sold recently, and the info. online is no longer accurate.
How can I send a letter to the home’s current resident? I’m not serving a subpoena or anything, so I’m not looking to hire a process server. I have a friend who could go by there and drop something off (I live across the country), but she’s pretty busy and it’s out of her way. Plus, I’d like to be sure that the current resident actually received it (I sent it registered mail last time).
Is there some signature-required shipping service (Fedex, UPS, etc.) that could work in this situation? Or do they require a mailbox?
You are correct that UPS and Fed-Ex will deliver things. But if they won’t sign for it, you’ll have to try again without the signature and then use their driver’s statement of delivery as “close enough” evidence. If you sue, for example, this is accepted by the judge if he is convinced the person was home and simply refused to acknowledge it.
More formally, process servers are listed in the phone book. You can send eviction papers in person that way, even if squatters have no post office box any more.
Use UPS or Fed Ex. If you go to a physical UPS or Fed Ex store, they will have special “express” envelopes that you can put your letter in to ship it. If there isn’t a mail box at the residence, the carrier should just leave it by the front door. If they don’t feel comfortable leaving it, or if a signature is required, the’ll leave a note on the door.
Keep in mind, of course, that sending a letter via FedEx or UPS is illegal if the letter is not deemed “Urgent” in the eyes of the USPIS. You’re not going to get caught, but it’s still a crime. If this is building a legal case against the person, it’s something to be aware of. Equifax got nailed on this a number of years ago, and others have as well.
That sounds far better than relying on some postal employee’s opinion of whether or not the letter is “extremely urgent” or not - it seems that paying sufficiently high postage is adequate. The way I quoted above is not the only way a letter can be considered “extremely urgent”, but as I read the legalese it is sufficient.
Hmm. I had never read it that way before, but your argument certainly seems solid. I’m not sure how Equifax got busted, then, though, because FedEx simply won’t let you send a letter via FedEx Ground, as that is not necessarily sufficiently expensive. Interesting. I’ll have to read more about that case.
I’d call the Postmaster at the delivering post office and find out why the carrier didn’t go up to the house and get it signed for. If you sent it registered mail, it doesn’t matter if they have a mailbox or not. The carrier is supposed to deliver it to the door.
They might have a PO box, in which case you could send a letter with an “address correction requested.” It used to cost a dollar for that, not sure what it costs now. But then you could send a registered to their PO box. (Still no guarantee that they’ll pick it up, though.)
And, as an FYI, FedEx doesn’t have to get a signature for residential deliveries.
Are you sure the new owners live there? It could be a vacation home. In that case you really do need their mailing address. You could call the County assessor and ask about how long it will take to get the data updated.