The official street naming and numbering process

We are responsible for the official naming and numbering of streets and buildings. This is a requirement under Part II of The London Building Acts (Amendment) Act 1939.

Official naming and numbering is required where a development, redevelopment or conversion has the effect of creating or modifying the number of units for residential, retail, industrial or leisure purposes.

An officially allocated postal address is necessary prior to completion of any development. This enables various companies to provide essential services such as gas, electricity and water. Without an official address Royal Mail will not allocate a postcode and building control will not issue a completion certificate. This could cause serious delays to your development and problems for occupiers.

To apply for official naming and numbering please submit an application to the address management team. Applications can be made online or by post. Details can be found on our Applying for official naming and numbering page.

The address management team will:

• allocate official naming and numbering for your development
• provide an official certificate for the allocated addresses
• return copies of plans showing the officially allocated numbers
• circulate the official address to emergency services, Royal Mail and various other organisations that require this information.

Postal address query

If you have an enquiry about your postal address, for example if it is not recognised when entering it on utility company websites, you can find more information and contact the address management team.