Changing house name. Possible unintended consequences?

dllive

Hi all,

Ive been in my new house for a year. Theres another house in the same postcode with a very similar name to mine. We both get each others post; and parcels get delivered to the wrong address; and energy suppliers (Green Network Energy) dont seem to be able to tell the difference between the 2 addresses etc... I dont like the house name anyway.

So Im thinking of changing the house name.

Does anyone know whats involved? Is this even a good idea or is it likely to have unintended consequences? How would I go about doing this? Is there a fee? Obviously Id need to tell the bank, DVLA, insurance companies etc... Is there anything else Id need to do?

Thanks

chrisw

You need to contact the local authority. As you might expect, there are rules to follow.

Most local authorities have online forms for the change, here's an example:-

https://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/planning/address_management/house_naming.aspx

Davesnave

Our local authority changed our address. It was something they did in league with the Post Office, who did the notification.

We had an identical address to a property 200m away; a situation that pertained for 24 years when the other property was converted from a barn. Finally, they'd noticed, but it was us who had to change.

Unintended consequences? Well, the council were the only body that refused to use the new address, despite being the instigators of it. After a few years, when everyone else had been using it, I complained in writing, because 'phoning hadn't worked.

They wrote back to say it would cost us £31 to change it on their systems!


Sooo, I wrote to them again and said it would be fine by me if they were the only body using a defunct address, as in time it would be them who'd probably get confused every time I crossed it out and returned stuff like voter registrations to them with the 'right' address.


They thought about it for a while, then decided to waive the fee.


However, we still get our council tax bill with the old address on it.:rotfl: Hopefully change will happen more easily in your area than it does in this backwater!

onomatopoeia99

I did this in 1996 at my previous house, changed it from "Colinswood" (the previous owner was called Colin. I'm not) to "Netherfield" as Emma is one of my favourite novels.

Had to tell the council and get the OK from Royal Mail as I recall, and update all correspondents like the gas board. Post still arrived for the old address OK as the postie remembered.

southcoastrgi

House names are a pita, if you want to put a plaque outside with a name on it then fine but keep the house number so everyone else can actually find it

CIS

Changing it without getting it done officially can cause havoc if different places start using different addresses - council tax, valuation office, credit history etc

pattycake

southcoastrgi wrote: »

House names are a pita, if you want to put a plaque outside with a name on it then fine but keep the house number so everyone else can actually find it

My son lives in a village and his house only has a name, no number.

Davesnave

pattycake wrote: »

My son lives in a village and his house only has a name, no number.

Numbers aren't so useful in the country, where the layout and number system, if it exists, might not be logical.

Even our exact postcode encompasses places that are over half a mile apart by road. They might be within 70m of each other on the sat-nav, but that's only half the story.

cajef

We moved into a village with no house numbers, the house name was personal to the previous occupiers children's names, we just changed it put a new nameplate on and then notified all the utilities, local mail office etc, no one ever questioned it.

onomatopoeia99

southcoastrgi wrote: »

House names are a pita, if you want to put a plaque outside with a name on it then fine but keep the house number so everyone else can actually find it

Previous house didn't have a number, so that would have been difficult. Current house doesn't either.

Among the names councils won't let you choose are numbers, so calling your house "Seven" is out.

dllive

CIS wrote: »

Changing it without getting it done officially can cause havoc if different places start using different addresses - council tax, valuation office, credit history etc

This is my bg concern! I dont trust any of them to get it right. (Ive had bad experience with all of them). I just dont want to make matters worse!