Register New address with post office

[rajakumar]

Hi,

I just bought a new house. The house I bought is not listed in the post office or other databases when I enter the postcode. I was denied credit on several occassion saying the address listed is not a proper address.
Can anyone advise me on how to register my address? One of my friend says we have to go to the post office and register the address. Has anyone does this and let me know the procedure how it can be done.

Thanks in advance

[Dazza.mk]

I can only suggest you try contacting Customer Services at Royal Mail.com

Then make sure you are on the local electoral register (full version), finally make sure you get a copy of your credit report from the main credit reference agencies and raise a query if they don't show your new address

[elmer]

Hi, you will need to contact your local councils assessor, who will assess it for Council Tax and put you on the electoral roll, and also notify the post office, in our area this can take several months.

Elmer

[rubix_76]

I had a problem when trying to get a mobile phone contract because the phone company (O2) had an old poscode directory and they said my postcode didn't exist. I had my council tax bill there with me to prove my house did indeed EXIST, but Noooo, I had to pay a £50 deposit even though my credit history was A1 !!!

I'd try and contact the builders as the house may still be listed under a plot number.

Hope this helps, good luck !!

Rubix.

[Alison1999]

I have lived in about 4 new houses where this has happened and to be honest it's never been a problem. I would contact the post office and see if you can register the post code, but I always found telling them it was a new build was enough. Its not as if new houses are unusual are they?

[frivolous_fay]

Hello,

We had exactly the same problem. We've now lived in our flat for 6 years, and having finally got the RM to admit that it exists, there are STILL companies out there that haven't updated their records. And trying to get a credit reference from Experian? Forget it...

Just a few things I had to do to get it sorted (it took me a long time... years... but then I wasn't as persistent as I could have been)

1. Ring customer services
2. Ring customer services
3. Ring customer services

after approximately 5 calls you might get through to someone who understands your problem. They might advise you to get proof of the existence of the building from the council, which the RM can use to add you to their database. The council is meant to do this when the building is built, but they'd never bothered. I never managed to get this document.

After repeated calls to the RM, I finally got on the line to someone who said 'Ah yes, this has been an ongoing situation since the flat was built in 1988, hasn't it? I'll just add you to the database.' With hindsight I should have written down their name and sent them some flowers or something but I was just too gobsmacked.

Good luck with sorting it out. As you can see it took me some time, but with a bit more persistence you might get it sorted quicker. To help you get credit, I would further advise you to ensure you are on the local electoral roll.

[Debt_Free_Chick]

There is no point in chasing Royal Mail until the Local Authority have named and numbered the road/development. Local Authorities have this responsibility under the Public Health Act 1929 sections 17-19. The Royal Mail can't do anything until the local authority have done their bit.

If you put statutory register street naming numbering followed by the name of your local authority into Google, you'll find contact details and more information. Here's an example from Solihull in the West Midlands.

The local authority allocate a number (and if necessary, a street name) to the property and tell Royal Mail that this is the registered postal address. Once Royal Mail have that notification, they allocate a postcode.

So .... contact your local authority in the first instance.

If you think about it ..... only the local authority can register the postal address. If we were allowed to do it ourselves, then addresses could be changed all over the place - both confusing and a potential for all kinds of identity fraud.

So don't waste your time with the Royal Mail, unless you have checked the situation out with the Local Authority.

HTH

[frivolous_fay]

Originally Posted by Debt_Free_Chick

The local authority allocate a number (and if necessary, a street name) to the property and tell Royal Mail that this is the registered postal address. Once Royal Mail have that notification, they allocate a postcode.

So .... contact your local authority in the first instance.

If you think about it ..... only the local authority can register the postal address. If we were allowed to do it ourselves, then addresses could be changed all over the place - both confusing and a potential for all kinds of identity fraud. HTH

That makes sense, but I'm not sure it works like that all the time... it certainly doesn't explain why after 15 years of incorrect records RM suddenly decided to deal with our problem, when I am convinced our local authority didn't lift a finger to resolve the situation.

[Frozenace]

Thank you so much! I tried to get a new line with BT today, but my address hasn't been put onto the Royal Mail Postcode database yet. I phoned up Royal Mail Customer Services (just search on saynoto0870) and then they put me through to the right department.

They say it will be live in 2 days, but I reckon it might be earlier once they realise that I ordered a kettle from amazon to be delivered via special delivery (royal mail ping, hehe)

[custardy]

Originally Posted by Frozenace

Thank you so much! I tried to get a new line with BT today, but my address hasn't been put onto the Royal Mail Postcode database yet. I phoned up Royal Mail Customer Services (just search on saynoto0870) and then they put me through to the right department.

They say it will be live in 2 days, but I reckon it might be earlier once they realise that I ordered a kettle from amazon to be delivered via special delivery (royal mail ping, hehe)

better to pop into your local delivery office
they can update the Aplus database,this is the database that goes into the main postcode database
its updated(or should be) regularly to keep it all up to date with new developments,conversions etc

[weston]

I successfully got my address on the RM postcode database via my local street naming and numbering officer and now it shows up on their online address search.

This was about 2 weeks ago.

However no online company I have found has seen the change yet. Does anyone know how long does it normally take for updates to make it out into other peoples databases?

[custardy]

Originally Posted by weston

I successfully got my address on the RM postcode database via my local street naming and numbering officer and now it shows up on their online address search.

This was about 2 weeks ago.

However no online company I have found has seen the change yet. Does anyone know how long does it normally take for updates to make it out into other peoples databases?

really varies on how often those companies update their database
you see in deliveries it takes months beofre new addresses start getting the full range of mail as their address saturates the system

[weston]

So I am on post office database but not on anyone's local copies yet.

My Experiences:

More Than can't insure me full stop because of address

Churchill did get past address stage when I rang up (tell them you tried online but it couldn't find and they should give you the online discount) but they can't insure me as the house is not brick. The (clearly young) guy was amazed that it was a wooden house!

Then I found ensleigh when looking for wooden house insurance! They require a post code but you can type what you like for the address line, they don't enforce that it has to be on address database, and they were actually cheaper than my current brick house based insurance!