A new street will normally be numbered with the odd numbers on the left and the even numbers on the right from the entrance of the street, except for a cul-de-sac where numbering is usually consecutive in a clockwise direction.

All numbers must be used in the proper sequence including number 13. However, applications to exclude the number 13 may be considered.

Private garages and buildings used for housing cars are not usually numbered.

Buildings are numbered or named according to the street where the main entrance is located. If a building has entrances on more than one street and each entrance leads to a separate property, each entrance is numbered in the appropriate road.

Where new houses are built in an existing road and properties have names rather than numbers, you'll need to apply for a house name that is sufficiently different to others used locally. This normally applies where there has been no formal numbering scheme.

Where two or more properties on a numbered street are merged, one number will be retained for addressing purposes. For example, 4 and 6 Fore Street being combined would become 4 or 6 Fore Street (depending on the door access to the site).

If you apply to add a name to a property with a number, you'll need to use both in future. The name on its own cannot be regarded as an alternative.

Flats

In residential buildings (eg. block of flats), it is usual to give a street number to each property where the block is up to six storeys in height. When the block is over this height or there are not sufficient numbers available because of existing development, it will be given a name and number in the street.

eg. Flat 1, Flat 2, Flat 3, 25 High Street.

Where a property is sub-divided into flats or apartments individual properties are usually numbered.

Royal Mail will only register properties which have their own entrance and/or their own secure letter box. Sometimes this can cause problems because people think their address/flat should be registered. If mail for a building is delivered to a single letter box and people then collect their own mail, then Royal Mail class this as a 'building in multiple occupation' and will only register the parent building and not individual flats.

New properties in streets where the existing properties are numbered will be allocated a new number. Individual properties built on large gardens or on the site of previously demolished properties will be numbered within the existing sequence if possible.

The law allows the use of numbers followed by letters (eg. 16A, 16B, 16C) and can be used where appropriate. If a new property is built on the site of one that has been demolished, it usually inherits the existing number/address.