New Build Flat - address knightmare ??

deb788

I'm moving to a new build flat tomorrow and i am having a nightmare trying to change all my utilities ect..as the address is showing as invalid everywhere

does anyone have any advice ?? Cant get my phone , tv or internet connected until the address is showing but no idea how to sort it

Norma_Desmond

I would think you'd have to contact the Post Office - they seem to be the starting point for address 'disputes'.
When we bought our house it had been unoccupied for 20 years or more, was derelict and before that converted to a couple of flats under different addresses, so it was confusing to say the least, but the PO were very helpful and it's all sorted now!

Bargain_Rzl

I moved into a newbuild 14 months ago and most places were fine as long as they let you override the automatic options on their systems. However my Nectar card correspondence is still addressed to 191-195 *** *** when this address hasn't existed for years and I live at Flat 1, 193 *** ***.

We also still get a lot of correspondence in our communal mailboxes addressed to 191, 193, 195 or any combination of the above - including some official correspondence such as council tax demands and other tax admin correspondence. My neighbours and I just return them to sender.

POSSETTE

we have had 3 new builds..its always the post code that takes weeks to be sorted..try PO as suggested...but i say how do council tax know you exist when no-one else does????typical!

taxiphil

Oh, I had this problem once with a new build.

It's an absolute nightmare and I'm sorry that I haven't got any easy answers to offer, except that you need the patience of a saint.

I had to wait a whole year for a cable TV & phoneline to be activated because my house didn't exist according to NTL's computer. The house had cable already installed as part of the building process, and even had sockets in the walls branded with the NTL logo, but trying to convince them to "flick the switch" and activate it took a whole year!

By that stage I had lost patience and already paid £100 for a roof aerial to be fitted and £70, I think it was, to have a BT line fitted instead, and I could have avoided those expenses if NTL had got their act together.

And to add insult to injury, my address existed on their marketing database from the first day I moved in, because I kept getting junk mail encouraging me to take out their service!

dellxps

Hi deb, one thing i would make sure you get sorted is the gas and electricity. New builds are becoming an increasingly big problem for suppliers because most new builds have temporary postcodes. So, you won't yet have an account number and doing an address search doesn't work in these circumstances.

As long as you know your plot details or even your gas and electricity meter serial numbers (you can find them on your meters) the supplier should be able to sort your account out for you. I would make it a priority to get an account set up with your supplier.

One thing is not to worry, it may take a little time but it WILL get sorted. I suggest doing things one at a time. Make a list of which companies you need to call, e.g gas/elec,internet, phone, tv. Then prioritise these and get one sorted out before moving onto the other. This means you shouldn't be dealing with too much all at once.

laughing_cow

taxiphil wrote: »

I had to wait a whole year for a cable TV & phoneline to be activated because my house didn't exist according to NTL's computer. The house had cable already installed as part of the building process, and even had sockets in the walls branded with the NTL logo, but trying to convince them to "flick the switch" and activate it took a whole year!

I had that problem with them too and my flat wasn't even a new build. For some reason the Post Office only had flats up to number 3 for my address and I was number 4! I have no idea why because it had been converted to flats over 25 years ago. NTL were insistent that "you can't possibly live there, number 4 doesn't exist" :rolleyes: even though I was paying a mortgage and council tax on the property. I gave up trying and used BT and On Digital (remember them?) instead.

The Post Office were very helpful - they sorted it out within days. However, some companies don't update their lists very often so the issue cropped up now and again over the next couple of years, usually with shopping/mail order co's - luckily my neighbours at number 3 didn't mind me using their address!

Lakey

Have also had problems with utilities and new builds. Big tip is to write down serial numbers of all your meters and readings, also check with your council tax that you are recognised as a dwelling. It may seem tempting to let them all live in ignorance, but they will find you eventually.

Olliebeak

We've been in our properties for 15 months now (new build). Still experiencing postcode problems - most notorious was how the Post Office was handling Giro Payments on behalf of Benefits Agency (during the postal workers strike). Their computers wouldn't recognise the post codes that they had allocated to us - resulting in giros going to post offices that were nowhere near where we lived and without a record of which post office they had been sent to!

Argos still send delivery items to other addresses as they don't recognise our post codes.

United Utilities STILL haven't sent us any water bills and don't recognise our addresses/postcodes - even though we have had our watermeters read!

Glad

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere (please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]!!!!!![/EMAIL]

chappers

Lakey wrote: »

Have also had problems with utilities and new builds. Big tip is to write down serial numbers of all your meters and readings, also check with your council tax that you are recognised as a dwelling. It may seem tempting to let them all live in ignorance, but they will find you eventually.

Indeed a friend of mine moved into a 6 year old house, phoned up Southern Electric to say they had moved in and give a meter reading they told him the property wasn't on their data base and nothing had been paid there for the last 6 years.
Think they tracked down the original owners through their mail forwarding.