USPS and holding mail

Factual Questions
1

If you put a hold on your mail, is that tied to the name AND address or just the address?

Here’s my situation: I’m in the middle of escrow with closing anticipated during the first week of May. As part of the loan approval, I had to prove that my current condo was rentable, so I ended up with people moving into that property on April 15. I am currently staying with a friend until escrow closes.

I’d like to keep my mail on hold until I can safely switch over to the new address, but I certainly don’t want to prevent my tenants from getting their mail… Any ideas?

2

Have you considered asking your local postmaster about this?

3

I think that a “hold” on mail (that people use while on vacation, etc.) applies to the address. A “forward” (that you use when you move, etc.) is based on the name(s) you specify on the form.

I second the idea of asking the Post Office to be sure.

4

IIRC, the form for a hold gives you the option of choosing “all mail” or “only mail sent to me.”

5

I just put my mail on hold via their web form - it does not give an option for “all mail” or “only mail sent to me.”

6

On the printed form the boxes include one that forces you to enter the names of the people for the hold.

But this is easily taken care of by visiting your local office.

7

oh, i know, i will… i’m just bored at work and trying to plan my “to do” list accordingly

8

Provided the postal workers actually read the names.

When I still lived in Rentalville, I once moved into an apartment whose previous tenants, a married couple, had the same last name as mine (and IIRC the husband shared my first initial). Hm. interesting coincidence. It got more interesting when they didn’t get around to filing their forwarding order/change of address until after I’d moved into their former apartment. Yup, you got it – the PO started sending my mail to them. I remember it being a bit of a pain to straighten out.

9

My idea would be to talk to the people living there. If they are “your tenants”, they probably would agree to accept any mail that comes for you and hold it, or you could even give them some large stamped envelopes to forward it to you every few days.