Changing a property's registered door number

Vetyver

I think I randomly recall seeing a post about this once, but a search turned up nothing. Wonder if anyone can advise?

Is there any way of officially changing a property's registered door number after purchase?

Background: I'm buying a second floor flat, which shares a separate side entrance with the first floor, labelled "00A". The ground floor flat has its own private front door ("00"). But for some reason, the official postal addresses on land registry don't match this arrangement. Any deliveries to the second floor would then naturally approach the ground floor flat door. I just want to change it so that all post goes to the correct door!

(I know the obvious solution would be to erect signs to redirect deliveries, but I can't imagine the ground floor neighbours would be thrilled by a sign bring drilled into their home doorway... I'd hate to make enemies before time!!)

Land_Registry

The Land Registry address, namely the one used in the Property Register (A1), may not always be the official postal address

The main purpose of the A1 address is to identify the land/property in conjunction with the title plan for registration purposes only. Admittedly it can then be used by third parties to identify addresses and so on but the original purpose remains.

In some cases you may find an A1 address referring to 'land at ........' but which is then built on at a later date but for some reason the A1 address has not been updated.
In some cases addresses are also amended but Land Registry is not advised.

For some registered flats the A1 address will refer simply to the whole postal address e.g. 48 Acacia Avenue and include a separate note to explain that only the second floor flat is included - is that the case here?

If that is the case then renumbering the flats may not require an amendments to A1 address we hold and you might be better served checking what address is held on the Post Office database.

It may then be possible to change the Flat numbering with the agreement of the other flat owners and landlord and then get the amendment recorded on the PO database?

NB - for House renumbering your starting point should be the Local Authority. Most Local Authorities will normally only consider a request to change the numbering where problems exist for the occupiers, Post Office or emergency services.

Vetyver

Many thanks indeed for your detailed reply.

It seems that the flat is not listed at all on the Post Office database, as it doesn't come up when I enter the postcode on any online address finders (e.g. postcodeanywhere.co.uk) - this will no doubt be a big problem when it comes to registering for utility services, as well as postal deliveries. It doesn't appear on the land registry data "sold prices" on Rightmove, either - only "00" and "00A" show up. Does that mean that this flat is not on the A1 database, either?

I've sent an email to the local authority about it - will update when I get a response. At the moment my offer's only been accepted (surveyor is inspecting it this week), but I'd like to get any potential problems ironed out as soon as possible!

curedham

Yes this is a common problem if you live in a flat conversion. I live in one and Royal Mail does not have a separate address for the flat, although Land Registry does.

So our flat according to Land Registry is "00A", but because we don't have our own mailbox, Royal Mail does not recognise it so we have to send everything to "00". "00" has three flats according to Royal Mail.

We had no problem with Virgin Media or British Gas. British Gas seems to know that it's "00A" and Virgin Media has each flat listed individually. Council tax has each flat numbered correctly too.

I tried to correct my address manually, but after a while I got tired of it and decided to call myself "00" High Street, rather the correct Flat A, "00" High Street.

Have a look at the following articles, describe your (and my) problems:

OK I can't post link because I'm new but Google this:

royal mail address flat conversion

The first two links are an article from Money Saving Expert and the second is from Confused.com

Land_Registry

You have not advised as to the actual wording on the registered title - can you post it but amend it to exclude the postal address in some way e.g. 'Second floor flat 00A at XXXXXXXX' or similar?

If unable to then curedham appears to have first hand experience of the issue and their advice is probably the one to follow here

Vetyver

Thanks, CuredHam - the links were very helpful. Looks like I should be contacting Royal Mail now, as it'll take over 6 weeks for databases to update.

Land_Registry_representative wrote: »

You have not advised as to the actual wording on the registered title - can you post it but amend it to exclude the postal address in some way e.g. 'Second floor flat 00A at XXXXXXXX' or similar?

If unable to then curedham appears to have first hand experience of the issue and their advice is probably the one to follow here

The actual wording on the Memorandum of Sale and mortgage offer document is "Top Floor Flat 00 at XXXXXXXX".

Really it should be "TFF 00A at XXXXXXXX" if we're going by the correct entrance door, but for the sake of online databases I think "00B" would probably work better...

Land_Registry

The Memorandum of Sale and mortgage offer may not mirror the registered title.

I would suggest resolving the address aspect with Royal Mail initially. The issue can be raised with Land Registry as and when the application to register you as the owner is submitted.

As I mentioned previously the register information works in tandem with the title plan to identify the location of the property and general boundaries - it may not always be the definitive postal address but ideally would match the address held by Royal Mail etc

Amelia_Smith

Vetyver wrote: »

I think I randomly recall seeing a post about this once, but a search turned up nothing. Wonder if anyone can advise?

Is there any way of officially changing a property's registered door number after purchase?

Background: I'm buying a second floor flat, which shares a separate side entrance with the first floor, labelled "00A". The ground floor flat has its own private front door ("00"). But for some reason, the official postal addresses on land registry don't match this arrangement. Any deliveries to the second floor would then naturally approach the ground floor flat door. I just want to change it so that all post goes to the correct door!

(I know the obvious solution would be to erect signs to redirect deliveries, but I can't imagine the ground floor neighbours would be thrilled by a sign bring drilled into their home doorway... I'd hate to make enemies before time!!)

Please:mad: advised as to the actual wording on the registered title

curedham

Vetyver wrote: »

Thanks, CuredHam - the links were very helpful. Looks like I should be contacting Royal Mail now, as it'll take over 6 weeks for databases to update.

They will ask you to provide mailbox outside the door. That's how they determine if they allocate a "unique number".

If you share a mailbox (which I do right now) then they will only assign "00" High Street.

Each flat needs to have each own mailbox that is accessible by Royal Mail to have its own designation such as

Flat A, "00" High Street.

You can simply ignore this issue like we did it was never a big issue, but you'll miss deals from Quidco/TopCashBack for things like Home Insurance which needs your exact address.

Online credit card verification doesn't seem to cause any issue, just enter

"00" High Street

as your address ignoring the Flat number, that never gave me any issues.