Said It Here

Previous owners coming over uninvited after selling the house

Former homeowners frequently return to the property unannounced or continue having sensitive mail and packages delivered there. This invasion of privacy forces buyers to manage awkward confrontations and safeguard forgotten personal property or medical shipments that require secure handling.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

  1. 1
    Returning letters to sender and refusing to accept parcels
  2. 2
    Asking the former owners to let you know before coming over
  3. 3
    Setting a hard line, refusing to accept packages, and threatening or calling the police for trespassing
  4. 4
    Blocking contact with the previous owner
  5. 5
    Surrendering the pet back to avoid guilt

In their words

Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.

“When we bought our house the former owners kept sending their medications (!!) to our house, including ones that needed refrigeration and had to be signed for.”source ↗

gothic-crow · r/homeowners · 744 upvotes

“Long story short, next day my wife said she can't live with the guilt and decided to give him back.”source ↗

Ayn_Otori · r/cats · 291 upvotes

“A few months into owning the house my dad is in the basement and finds this little hidden away stash of pretty valuable guns. [...] The son shows up on a weekend evening saying something to the effect of “hey I think something of my dad’s was left behind in the basement. Mind if I come see if it’s still there?””source ↗

MidwestApathy · r/homeowners · 54 upvotes

“I had to give my dog up to a very good home after I was made homeless some years ago and I had to act like she passed away, that was the only way I could get over it.”source ↗

rainandrunes · r/cats · 2 upvotes

Where this came up

r/catsr/homeownershomeownershipneighborspet adoptionreal estaterelationships

People with this problem also raised