If your house has a number you can add a name without any need to contact us as long as it doesn’t conflict with an existing property in the local area. You can do this without registering it on the Royal Mail database as the name will not officially form part of the address. Please note: Any name added to a property which has a number will appear on an “Alias” database which only Royal Mail has access to, it is not available to members of the public or businesses. Your address will still appear on the Royal Mail’s Post Code Finder under the number of your property but will not show the name.

If you would still like to register a name on the Royal Mail’s Alias database then you will need to complete an application form and pay a fee of £57.67.

If you want to change the name of a property you only need to complete an application if:

• The property has an existing name and this is registered on the Royal Mail database
• If your property has no number just a name

If you need to change the name of a registered address then you will need to complete an application and pay a fee of £57.67.

If a property has been divided these will be numbered into the street that the property is accessed from.

If the property is being split into multiple dwellings where there is only one letter box and the occupants collect their mail from this, then Royal Mail class this as a ‘building of multiple occupation’.  (NB The individual flats will appear on the Royal Mail Postcode Finder but this can take up to 30 days, the parent building will appear first). If the parent building is already on the register you will still need to register this change with us.  We will then tell Royal Mail that there are now multiple dwellings in the building.

There will be a fee of £57.67 to change the address for each new dwelling.

If properties on a numbered street have been merged the numbers of the original properties should be kept. For example if the properties at 4 and 6 The Street are merged, the address would become 4 -6 The Street.

There will be only one fee of £57.67 to change the address.  

Occasionally existing properties are missing from the official postal address file. We can register these properties but can’t guarantee a particular postcode as these are issued by Royal Mail.

There will be a fee of £57.67 to register a property.

If you are building up to nine properties, residential or commercial, it will be classed as a small development.  Developments of 10 or more properties will be classed as a large development.

On a small development there is a fee of £57.67 for registering each dwelling and a fee of £54.03 per dwelling on large developments.

If a new street needs registering there is a fee of £251.58.

You should complete the application form on this page as soon as you start work on site.  This information is sent to the public utilities, emergency services, Land Registry, Ordnance Survey and relevant council services.

You can find more information about large developments in our Highways Design Guide.

Building of multiple occupation

If it is a building with multiple dwellings where there is only one letter box and the occupants collect their mail from this then Royal Mail class this as a ‘building of multiple occupation’.

If the individual flats can be registered then they should be numbered with the lowest number starting at the bottom of the block.

On rare occasions it becomes necessary to rename or renumber a street. This is usually only done as a last resort when:

• There is confusion over a street's name and/or numbering
• A group of residents are unhappy with their street name
• New properties are built in a street and there is a need for other properties to be renumbered to accommodate the new properties
• The number of named-only properties in a street is deemed to be causing confusion for visitors, the delivery or emergency services

If you think you have a street naming issue, please contact us.