Renaming house

NewHOUSE1

We moved into our home last year. The house has a Number and a name. 

Can anybody advise how we go about it? 

Does it cost?
Who do we need to inform?
Do we need to ask permission? 

I’ve found links on other Council webpages but I can’t find anything for our council “Wirral council”. Any help would be much appreciated. 

Thanks x

Martin_the_Unjust

if I recall correctly for all ‘official’ purposes the number is the important bit, as long as you use that you can name it whatever you want.

TBagpuss

If you want to change the name then normally you need to apply to your local council  - check their website, they will probably have a standardised process and will probably  charge a fee.  Generally, you can't change (or drop) the number but will usually be able to change the name as long as the name you want is not likely to cause confusion or be offensive. 

The_Unready

Does this not cover it?:

https://www.wirral.gov.uk/planning-and-building/street-naming-and-numbering

MultiFuelBurner

Apparently here are a few that were allowed

Wetwang House
Bushygap Cottage
Dicks Mount Cottage

Let alone the interesting street and village names out there.

DullGreyGuy

It depends if you want an official name or an unofficial one... ie if you do a postcode lookup on a Royal Mail database if you want the name there or not.

In the close I grew up in all the houses had names on the front but only ours was formal and registered with Royal Mail. To do that you have to apply via your council and assuming they think the name is acceptable they then inform RM. Each council seems to set their own fees, by the looks of it you're in Wirral and they charge £30 for the application.  Add to that that you'll need to add the name of the property to the exterior so whatever it costs to make up a new board/sign.

Clearly some people go the unofficial route and just stick a name onto the front of their house, it wont ever then come up in any postcode lookup meaning you are forever having to correct the address. 

user1977

If it has a number then I'd expect any name to be irrelevant, so you change it or remove it as you wish.

Section62

user1977 said:

If it has a number then I'd expect any name to be irrelevant, so you change it or remove it as you wish.

Technically under the 1847 Act it would be an offence to add or change a name of a building without permission from the relevant authority, even if you keep the same number.

I've not come across a prosecution for adding a name though, and I doubt anyone would be too bothered* unless a name was added which was obscene or caused confusion (e.g. giving your property the same name as another in the locality). (*provided any number was still displayed and used officially)

I know of someone who added the name "xxxxx Farm House" to the property in the mistaken belief this would give them agricultural permitted development rights - they were told to remove the name as it caused confusion with a real farm of that name in the locality.

theartfullodger

We bought a house in Maidenhead (two moves back).  We decided to name it "Seaview"  (obviously no sea view available) .  Neighbours decided we were even odder than they had thought.. 

Skiddaw1

theartfullodger said:

We bought a house in Maidenhead (two moves back).  We decided to name is "Seaview"  (obviously no sea view available) .  Neighbours decided we were even odder than they had thought.. 

Love it!!

YoungBlueEyes

Very droll artful

There was a house where I used to live called “The Seaward”, so named because the guy was always calling people the c-word…