How to change your house name

Change Existing Address and Postcode

To change an existing house name, or register a new property that is not a development and having a street name, then we need to know about it.

If you are a tenant of the property we will need the owners permission to proceed with the change. If you are purchasing the property and the contracts have not exchanged, we will not proceed with the request until you become the owner.

The procedure is that the owner of the property will be either sent a form to complete, or you can write us a letter. We will also require a location map, this can be one that you have printed or a hand drawn map. We require the map to have roads and other properties identified, so that it makes it easier for us to locate the property. We charge a £20 administration fee, cheques made payable to Herefordshire Council.

Once we have received your written request we will then make contact with Royal Mail Address Management Service in Sunderland. They will check their database to see that the name you have chosen does not conflict with any other property in the area. If it does they will inform us immediately and we will then write to you explaining that, if you still wish to use the house name that conflicts with other properties in the are this may cause you problems with credit and also the emergency services.

Once we have received written confirmation from Royal Mail that the name is okay, we will write to the owner confirming that their house name has been accepted. We also send copies of the letter to the other Council Departments, Land Registry, Welsh Water, West Mercia Police and the two main Credit Reference Companies.

If your property has been given a number and a street name, you cannot remove the house number, without Building Control being informed and agreement from the whole of the street.

If you wish to write to us regarding a House Name change, our address is Electoral Registration Office, P.O. Box 211, Hereford, HR1 9FL .

Change New Build Address and Postcode

If you have built a new development and wish to have a street name with numbers, then you will need to contact the Building Control Department, who will then do a street numbering exercise.

Last Updated: 24 January 08,
Review Date: 20 September 2005