Legal requirement: house numbers
Discussion
blueg33 said:
If I put the main street in my village into the Royal Mail postcode finder, it brings up a number for every property even though most are well over 200 years old and have names not numbers outside.
200 years old? They are modern compared to a lot of houses....My old house (in a village very near Had Ham's) was at least 500 years old, wattle and daub construction and in the middle of nowhere. The village had a couple of roads that had house numbers but my house was on a farming estate and was 3/4 mile from the nearest road. So it was just:
House Name, Village, postcode (shared by half of the village).
I used to have to give directions (turn right at first farm house on to farm tracks, left at another and keep going until you come across a wheelie bin, near a little bridge that seems in the middle of nowhere, turn right and I am at the end of that track) but got used to it.
To be fair it was quite relaxing when I moved to a 'normal' house. Normal construction, normal type address, normal everything.
Kateg28 said:
blueg33 said:
If I put the main street in my village into the Royal Mail postcode finder, it brings up a number for every property even though most are well over 200 years old and have names not numbers outside.
200 years old? They are modern compared to a lot of houses....My old house (in a village very near Had Ham's) was at least 500 years old, wattle and daub construction and in the middle of nowhere. The village had a couple of roads that had house numbers but my house was on a farming estate and was 3/4 mile from the nearest road. So it was just:
House Name, Village, postcode (shared by half of the village).
I used to have to give directions (turn right at first farm house on to farm tracks, left at another and keep going until you come across a wheelie bin, near a little bridge that seems in the middle of nowhere, turn right and I am at the end of that track) but got used to it.
To be fair it was quite relaxing when I moved to a 'normal' house. Normal construction, normal type address, normal everything.
I spent an hour last week screen grabbing from some mapping software on lancashire.gov.uk website where they show the house numbers and more importantly names. I did maps of 6 roads on the outskirts of Blackpool where they are all house names. Then printing them out and putting them in a file in the Taxi.
The worst one, Division Lane is about 1.2km long with about 50ish properties. Most have names on the gate posts, but some of them only have them by the door, many of which are 15-20m from the road. I'd probably struggle to read some of them in daylight never mind in the dark and rain. Nice powerful torch comes in handy. Last 3 times I've picked up from this road has been from properties with nothing on the gate posts. A couple of years ago I did a Chinese meal delivery to this road. It was to the one of the very last houses, wasn't given a phone number so I hope they liked cold food.
The worst one, Division Lane is about 1.2km long with about 50ish properties. Most have names on the gate posts, but some of them only have them by the door, many of which are 15-20m from the road. I'd probably struggle to read some of them in daylight never mind in the dark and rain. Nice powerful torch comes in handy. Last 3 times I've picked up from this road has been from properties with nothing on the gate posts. A couple of years ago I did a Chinese meal delivery to this road. It was to the one of the very last houses, wasn't given a phone number so I hope they liked cold food.
Edited by Russ35 on Wednesday 18th May 14:43
garyhun said:
I must be the only one who misread the OP.
I thought he was asking if it was a legal requirement to show your number if you have a number OR to show your house name if you only have a name.
Thanks for the replies.I thought he was asking if it was a legal requirement to show your number if you have a number OR to show your house name if you only have a name.
Mainly it was that houses should show what they are known as, number or name, clearly and can be seen from the road.
As already said, emergency services have good Sat navs but this still doesn't help if you have lots of properties all together without any fecking numbers or names on show.
JumboBeef said:
garyhun said:
I must be the only one who misread the OP.
I thought he was asking if it was a legal requirement to show your number if you have a number OR to show your house name if you only have a name.
Thanks for the replies.I thought he was asking if it was a legal requirement to show your number if you have a number OR to show your house name if you only have a name.
Mainly it was that houses should show what they are known as, number or name, clearly and can be seen from the road.
As already said, emergency services have good Sat navs but this still doesn't help if you have lots of properties all together without any fecking numbers or names on show.
blueg33 said:
PorkInsider said:
blueg33 said:
Your official address is highly likely to have a house number, you just may not be aware of it
How would one go about finding the number?Everything I have for this house just has the name stated, including the council tax bill and all the paperwork from the solicitor regarding the purchase.
I've also just changed my address with the DVLA online and their address search, via postcode entry, brought up nothing but house names to choose from.
All new properties definitely have a number, we have tried several times to give one off luxury houses names, and they are always allocated a number, but the name can be used, it just doesn't supercede a number
Here's an excerpt from Royal Mail's code of practice for postal addresses. It seems to imply that houses can either be numbered, but have a name added if the owner so wishes, or may just have a name and not have a number assigned.
Royal Mail document said:
Building Name and / or Number
The naming and numbering of thoroughfares is the responsibility of local authorities and not Royal Mail. The postal address reflects the details provided by the local authority. Where a house is numbered by the local authority and has also been given a name by the occupant, Royal Mail will include only the number in the postal address. This is because the use of the number rather than a name enables the property to be located easily. If a building is not numbered and the occupant wishes to change its name, they should first advise their local authority of their intentions. The postal address will be amended to reflect the change provided the new name will not lead to confusion or cause offence. This will not require consultation.
Also see page 7 of this document: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/street-naming-numberin...The naming and numbering of thoroughfares is the responsibility of local authorities and not Royal Mail. The postal address reflects the details provided by the local authority. Where a house is numbered by the local authority and has also been given a name by the occupant, Royal Mail will include only the number in the postal address. This is because the use of the number rather than a name enables the property to be located easily. If a building is not numbered and the occupant wishes to change its name, they should first advise their local authority of their intentions. The postal address will be amended to reflect the change provided the new name will not lead to confusion or cause offence. This will not require consultation.
policy document said:
(d) Allocation of numbers to properties with names only
This numbering is carried out on receipt of an application for public safety reasons with the support of the Emergency Services. Consultation is carried out with the Town/Parish Councils and Ward Member and notification letters sent to occupiers with as much notice as practicable to comply, subject to the discretion of the Address Information Team. A house name may continue to be used in conjunction with the designated house number.
I've also tried the Royal Mail postcode finder application you mentioned, and that just lists house names and no numbers for my road.This numbering is carried out on receipt of an application for public safety reasons with the support of the Emergency Services. Consultation is carried out with the Town/Parish Councils and Ward Member and notification letters sent to occupiers with as much notice as practicable to comply, subject to the discretion of the Address Information Team. A house name may continue to be used in conjunction with the designated house number.
Edited by PorkInsider on Wednesday 18th May 16:16
blueg33 said:
TooMany2cvs said:
Our official address is house name, village name, village-next-door name. No road name. Our village spreads about two miles in each direction from the centre. Next door to us are <very similar house name - we're cottage, they're farm>, village-next-door name. They share our postcode.
Your official address is highly likely to have a house number, you just may not be aware of itI have had 2 houses, including the one I am in right now, that only has a name. Both times, the entire road was made up of houses with no name. If you contact the PO they confirm this.
NinjaPower said:
Ilovejapcrap said:
The best is house no's yet one owner decides to give house a name instead and will not give the no. So you have to drive up and down like a nutter instead of them just telling you it's really no. 8
Removing the number from your house and giving it a name instead, is the preserve of utter f
king bd st-faced s.My dad owned a business that had some delivery vehicles, and I used to work for him occational weekends. Delivery driving is hard enough without some pathetic tosspot suddenly getting ideas above their station, and thinking that having a house with a number is below them, and giving it a stupid name.
I've had many, many daft women absolutely refusing to give me a number claiming '"it doesn't have one" when it clearly used to, and then you are left trying to find a house with a name on a housing estate of 200 houses.
On several occasions I've just given up and phoned the customer telling them to come to the shop and pick their own stuff up.
To my mind the sensible arrangement is for properties to have numbers, and for those numbers to be clearly displayed.
However, many people quite like to give their property a name, and I see nothing wrong with that. Our current home has both a number and a name, a name that has been associated with this property for above 40 years. We include the name as part of our address and we like it to appear when people send us written communications. Most people do include it in our address when they write to us, but obviously it isn't important if the name doesn't appear.
I suppose I see it as a matter of courtesy rather than an important practical matter: if somebody gives me their address so that I can write to them, and that address includes a house name, I always include in any communications I may have with them.
JumboBeef said:
...
As already said, emergency services have good Sat navs but this still doesn't help if you have lots of properties all together without any fecking numbers or names on show.
I can understand your frustration but when I called an ambulance because my son had collapsed I stood outside and waited to wave/shout/jump up and down like a loon to get the ambulances attention!As already said, emergency services have good Sat navs but this still doesn't help if you have lots of properties all together without any fecking numbers or names on show.
WRT sat navs, few years ago I had to call the fire brigade and gave them our post code that was just our house (yes, very rural!) but they didn't have sat navs but relied on map books. Hope that's changed now.
blueg33 said:
TooMany2cvs said:
Our official address is house name, village name, village-next-door name. No road name. Our village spreads about two miles in each direction from the centre. Next door to us are <very similar house name - we're cottage, they're farm>, village-next-door name. They share our postcode.
Your official address is highly likely to have a house number, you just may not be aware of itThe house I bought had a crappy name ("Oak Gates" - the house doesn't even have any type of gate, yet alone Oak ffs) and I think the developer assigned names to all the plots in the 20's when the land was cut up.
I've tried to get rid of it (i.e. refuse to use it on any correspondance) but the Council and utilities keep resurrecting it on their bills.
Obviously I need to get to the underlying property data set, and change it, as I recall the fustration of this problem from years as a paperboy.
Incidentially, the only time I've been involved in an ambulance call out which was along a side track: we sent someone up the road to the junction to direct the ambulance the right way.
Though we were fortunate to have enough people around to do this.
Ian
I've tried to get rid of it (i.e. refuse to use it on any correspondance) but the Council and utilities keep resurrecting it on their bills.
Obviously I need to get to the underlying property data set, and change it, as I recall the fustration of this problem from years as a paperboy.
Incidentially, the only time I've been involved in an ambulance call out which was along a side track: we sent someone up the road to the junction to direct the ambulance the right way.
Though we were fortunate to have enough people around to do this.
Ian
PorkInsider said:
blueg33 said:
PorkInsider said:
blueg33 said:
Your official address is highly likely to have a house number, you just may not be aware of it
How would one go about finding the number?Everything I have for this house just has the name stated, including the council tax bill and all the paperwork from the solicitor regarding the purchase.
I've also just changed my address with the DVLA online and their address search, via postcode entry, brought up nothing but house names to choose from.
All new properties definitely have a number, we have tried several times to give one off luxury houses names, and they are always allocated a number, but the name can be used, it just doesn't supercede a number
Here's an excerpt from Royal Mail's code of practice for postal addresses. It seems to imply that houses can either be numbered, but have a name added if the owner so wishes, or may just have a name and not have a number assigned.
Royal Mail document said:
Building Name and / or Number
The naming and numbering of thoroughfares is the responsibility of local authorities and not Royal Mail. The postal address reflects the details provided by the local authority. Where a house is numbered by the local authority and has also been given a name by the occupant, Royal Mail will include only the number in the postal address. This is because the use of the number rather than a name enables the property to be located easily. If a building is not numbered and the occupant wishes to change its name, they should first advise their local authority of their intentions. The postal address will be amended to reflect the change provided the new name will not lead to confusion or cause offence. This will not require consultation.
Also see page 7 of this document: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/street-naming-numberin...The naming and numbering of thoroughfares is the responsibility of local authorities and not Royal Mail. The postal address reflects the details provided by the local authority. Where a house is numbered by the local authority and has also been given a name by the occupant, Royal Mail will include only the number in the postal address. This is because the use of the number rather than a name enables the property to be located easily. If a building is not numbered and the occupant wishes to change its name, they should first advise their local authority of their intentions. The postal address will be amended to reflect the change provided the new name will not lead to confusion or cause offence. This will not require consultation.
policy document said:
(d) Allocation of numbers to properties with names only
This numbering is carried out on receipt of an application for public safety reasons with the support of the Emergency Services. Consultation is carried out with the Town/Parish Councils and Ward Member and notification letters sent to occupiers with as much notice as practicable to comply, subject to the discretion of the Address Information Team. A house name may continue to be used in conjunction with the designated house number.
I've also tried the Royal Mail postcode finder application you mentioned, and that just lists house names and no numbers for my road.This numbering is carried out on receipt of an application for public safety reasons with the support of the Emergency Services. Consultation is carried out with the Town/Parish Councils and Ward Member and notification letters sent to occupiers with as much notice as practicable to comply, subject to the discretion of the Address Information Team. A house name may continue to be used in conjunction with the designated house number.
Edited by PorkInsider on Wednesday 18th May 16:16
Where a property has a number (as allocated by a local authority), and a name (as adopted by the property owner), Royal Mail should include the house name as well as the number, if asked to do so, and this should be done without involving the local authority. Obviously the number is the primary means of identifying the property, in which case including the house name, although not necessary for practical purposes, should be done if requested by the property owner, and no harm whatsoever would be caused by doing this.
There only needs to be a formalised procedure covering the use of house names where no number has been allocated, as the name is then essential for locating the property.
blueg33 said:
Those who say they live on streets where some of the houses have no number. I would be interested to do a postcode search to see what it throws up.
Today I searched 5 streets in different old villages that i know. Every single one has attributed numbers to houses that show names.
That's just snobs who feel a house number is inadequate for them so they tag a name to the front. It CAN form part of the official postal address but only in conjunction with the number.Today I searched 5 streets in different old villages that i know. Every single one has attributed numbers to houses that show names.
As has been said many times on here, there are also properties that are only named, no number ever.
blueg33 said:
Those who say they live on streets where some of the houses have no number. I would be interested to do a postcode search to see what it throws up.
Today I searched 5 streets in different old villages that i know. Every single one has attributed numbers to houses that show names.
Ok, put GL10 3UE into the royal mail site. Today I searched 5 streets in different old villages that i know. Every single one has attributed numbers to houses that show names.
No numbers there, and it isn't in the middle of nowhere (well, not compared to some placers anyway). Some parts of the village have numbers but most (the older houses) do not.
PorkInsider said:
I would MUCH rather have a number but other than making one up there's not much I can do. And given that this is a country lane with a few houses, then fields, then a couple more houses then a field, and so on, a lone number would be as useless as a name in terms of helping anyone locate me.
I'm in a similar situation, my road is a fast country road around 5 miles long, there is a row of small houses about 500m away and they have numbers but I've checked and the larger houses that have at least 200m between them, only have names.To make it easier I have a 3'x 2' sign hung 6' in the air, perpendicular to the road yet almost every day I get a van driver asking if my house is -----
of course it is, I just hung a different name on the entrance for a laugh.
blueg33 said:
Those who say they live on streets where some of the houses have no number. I would be interested to do a postcode search to see what it throws up.
Today I searched 5 streets in different old villages that i know. Every single one has attributed numbers to houses that show names.
PE10 0JHToday I searched 5 streets in different old villages that i know. Every single one has attributed numbers to houses that show names.
Some of those on that postcode are at most 10 years old.
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