House has mystery name....can I use it officially?

[RichB]

bimsb6 said:

Vipers said:

I may be wrong, but I always thought house names had numbers as well.

you are wrong , many roads have houses with names and no numbers , near me there is a village called northall where virtually every house has a name (and it's not at all posh or expensive)the village pub has a map with all the house names on it as so many people are unable to find addresses.

Not just villages, my mother lives in Maidenhead and all the houses in her road are named not numbered.

[Impasse]

Landlord said:

wildcat45 said:

Coquet House. Pronounced Coe-Ket

No it's not. It's pronounced Cock It. Presumably named after the builder's utterance after measuring an opening wrongly and subsequently a door wouldn't close properly.

[bluelightbabe]

It may be worth considering that if you have to call out an ambulance or the fire brigade they will probably find you much quicker if it is numbered as well. If it was just a name they'd have to stop and look at every house. As sophisticated as current sat nav systems and mapping systems are, it may take quite a while for them to get updated with the name. You don't want to waste valuable time if you need the emergency services urgently. If they see a number on a house and it's the wrong one, they can work out roughly how far away your house is and what side of the road it's on. If it was just a name they possibly wouldn't have any idea at all.

[knotweed]

Simon Brooks said:

Tony2or4 said:

Nice story, OP.



It's interesting how, in the same way that the 'typical' man is often referred to as Fred Bloggs, the 'typical' address is usually given as Acacia Avenue.

There are approximately 60 Acacia Avenues in the uk. Any PH'ers live in one ???

My grandparents used to.

[Tony2or4]

Simon Brooks said:

Tony2or4 said:

Nice story, OP.



It's interesting how, in the same way that the 'typical' man is often referred to as Fred Bloggs, the 'typical' address is usually given as Acacia Avenue.

There are approximately 60 Acacia Avenues in the uk. Any PH'ers live in one ???

Any PHers whose real name is Fred Bloggs??

[FlossyThePig]

Our previous house had a name only and none of the houses on the street had numbers. The land was originally owned by a farmer and when he retired he he sold a few plots for houses. When he used the money he sold a few more. The plots weren't sold in a logical sequence so numbers couldn't be assigned.

The street has two postcodes, one for each side of the road. If you do a PAF lookup all the house names are listed.

[TRB]

I live on a lane where the houses are named and not numbered (for the most part). There are a couple of clusters of cottages with numbers. Deliveries are a nightmare. Postie knows where we all are, but couriers hardly ever bother looking. You'll ring up courier co and they say no one was home (but no card left) which translates to couldn't find it. Takeaway/supermarket deliveries always ring to find the house. Took 3 'attempted' visits to get sky TV fitted.

OP, I would keep the number even if you use a name. As someone mentioned above, your local authority have a naming & numbering person (who deals with new builds etc).

[shakotan]

Easy, just start including the house name into your address, but keep using the number. Eventually, any of the posties that serve your route will associate the name with the number.

After a year, drop the number.

[Mobile Chicane]

I would definitely keep the number.

My house just has a name (no option for a number as it never had one), and getting anything delivered is an arse ache.

Royal Mail is no problem as Dave has been our Postie for 30 years, but courier companies and taxis are a hassle. Forget about getting takeaways delivered because without full sat nav - and daylight - no-one can ever find it.

Thankfully the Postcode narrows it down to one of nine properties, but I am always getting parcels intended for neighbours and vice versa.

[Tiggsy]

PITA when trying to find a house.

Name it if you must (although a staggeringly pointless exercise) but keep the number.

What next? Ask HMRC if you can replace your tax code with "billy willy"

[Jobbo]

Jobbo said:

If you have a number already you can't lose that

Just quoting myself because it seems to have been missed.

You can't get rid of the number if you have one; the Post Office will always know the property by the number and everyone you deal with who auto-completes your address from the postcode will use that same database.

[Luke.]

Vipers said:

I may be wrong, but I always thought house names had numbers as well.

My cousins address is

Mr xxxxx
"Mallards"
5 Winchester Way. Etc etc.

It's only called Mallards because it's opposite a duck pond (Ducks - Mallards).

I could be totally wrong though, but your idea does sound sort of posh, good luck.

My house is just a name and no number. So you're totally wrong

[Coco H]

My house has a name. We decided to change the name as my neighbours and I - all three of us in our postcode get each others post. 6 years ago we changed the name with the land registry but that hasn't worked. Every time I use an internet site with a postcode only sort - the name isn't there and we have to have the old name.
It's been a nightmare. The first mortgage was registered in the new name. The remortgage had to be in the old name or the computer said no. Likewise many other things.

[Jonathan27]

I remember talking to a Paramedic once who said that house names were a nightmare. If they were called to an emergency at 123 The Street, it should be quite quick and easy to find. However The House, The Street gives the driver no clue about where to look on the street.
Personally, if I need an ambulance I’d like them to be able to find me as quickly and easily as possible.

[RichB]

We have called the paramedics for my mother 3 times in the last few months and they have found her bungalow perfectly and as I mentioned in my previous post it only has a name.

[VernalEquinox]

If a house has been long-established with a name, and is in a little village then yes - local people will probably manage to find it. Eg, 'The Manse', 'The Rectory'... that stuff's pretty common.

Doing it in a street with a logical number sequence just makes your house sound like a b&b.

[MH]

GTIR said:

People who use just house names probably have a crappy personalised plate on their car(s).

It's also really irritating at night trying to find a house!

Townie by any chance?

[furtive]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/propertyadvice...

http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_5120750_change-house-nam...

Does peoples Google not work any more?

[D_G]

Vipers said:

Post codes are for roads' not the houses in them, so not sure what you mean.

Not necessarily, I have a business premises that I needed a name change on, turned out the previous name had been on the building for donkeys years and as the address number was lost with subsequent buildings and the time gone by etc so it got a new postcode. I reckon it took three years before you could use it reliably online and even now 10 years later some couriers still struggle so I'd not recommended it. Funnily enough the previous name & postcode still works fine to find the building...

[K77 CTR]

As others have said, it's a pain for the ambulance service. Our sat navs are pretty accurate at pinpointing a house but looking for a name rather than a number does delay you. Just as annoying are those houses that don't clearly display their house numbers.