Moving into flat with only one address - what are the problems? 30 June 2016 at 10:46PM in House Buying, Renting & Selling 17 replies 2.9K views

arthurfowler

I'm just about to rent a ground floor flat and have just discovered after looking online, that both the top floor and ground floor have the same number - no defining address (i.e. A, Ground Floor).

I have looked online to subscribe to services such as BT and only one number is listed, checked royal mail and the same thing.

What are the implications of this? I imagine it will be very confusing to order these services, such as electric, gas etc.

Can someone please help?

davidmcn

Unless it's a new property or you're connecting a new utility then you'll be using the same address as the previous residents. My experience is that the utility companies seem to be happy to make up their own flat positions irrespective of what the Royal Mail or the council think the address is.

arthurfowler

I hope so, but I can't help but feel if there is no defining address and I live in the same place as someone else, even things such as fraud may be easier.

I'm not sure, but i've just never come across anything like this before.

dc197

Well if you are defrauded you know wherr to look first for the fraudster.

moneyistooshorttomention

Personally - I'd just tell people "My address is Ground Floor Flat, no. x, so-and-so road".

People can readily see which flat is the ground floor flat after all. Utilities etc presumably note on their records "Ground floor flat, top floor flat etc" just as one would expect.

Dont decide to call it Flat 1a or Flat 1b (as that could leave them coming to different conclusions - with one utility thinking "That must mean top floor flat" and another one thinking "That must mean ground floor flat").

agrinnall

Assuming the properties have been legitimately separated then the council will have an address for each, but as davidmcn says that counts for nothing with RM, utilities, etc. I once owned a flat that had been converted from a corner shop and was variously known as 1, 3, GF3, GFL, and the correct name, PF3 (which stands for Pavement Flat 3 - not that there was ever a PF1 or 2).

Alter_ego

Is council tax separate for the 2 flats?

Pixie5740

I live in a flat which shares an address with the other flats in the block. I didn't have any trouble setting up utilities. These flats have been here since the 1930s and each has it's own council tax banding. Utilities companies kind of make up their own addresses like top floor flat, flat c, attic floor but as long as you give the correct gas and electricity meter serial numbers you'll be fine.

When I go on holiday I use Royal Mail's Keepsafe service so that no post is delivered for me until after I get back from holiday. I know my neighbours and whilst I doubt they would take my post you never know. It also stops my post from piling up in the close.

AlexMac

We had the same issue; in a 6-unit block, converted in 1980-something with flats numbered 1-6.

It worked fine except that our flat (flat 2, at 24.... road) and the other five flats in the house didn't show up separately on Post Office postcode software such as that used by the NHS.

So lazy or incompetent administrators, having pumped in the postcode, would then send our hospital appointment letters to number 2! "Cos Komutr sez no 2/24"

I've since moved, but I think our shared freehold Company Sec was in the process of fixing it with the PO,

benjus

Assuming that the council tax department has separate addresses for the two properties, you can contact Royal Mail and ask them to add these addresses to their database. You don't have to use the same addresses as the council tax department, but it will probably make life easier if you do, unless they are using something really stupid. Google "royal mail address maintenance" - I was in this situation a couple of years ago and emailed them. They updated their database pretty quickly; of course it took a while to filter down to the various organisations that use it, as they may not update their copy of the database very frequently.

Utility companies will just make it up as they go along.

Norman_Castle

Gas and Electric suppliers will use the MPAN number for your meters. They may query the address.
I'm in a flat in what was two semi detached houses. Dropdown lists sometimes lack flat numbers and sometimes refer to either one or both house numbers but this can be corrected by contacting the companies. My council has three versions of my address on its list which recently caused problems. I would talk to the neighbors and create flat numbers for yourselves. No idea how the process works but I suspect its simple. As above, how do the council refer to your property?.

http://www.royalmail.com/personal/receiving-mail/update-your-address