Would it be petty to refuse new neighbour’s request?

[isthispetty]

I live in a cul de sac - the houses are in a semi circle and my house is on the one of the ends.

A few years ago, our next door neighbours knocked down their detached house and replaced it with two semi-detached houses. They live in one of the houses and sold the other.

Consequently, they live in number 9, the other house is 9A and my house is number 10.

The people in 9A have recently moved, and we have some new next door neighbours.

This morning, the woman from 9A came round and asked if we would be willing to change our house number to 11, so they could be number 10. She says that loads of their post and deliveries keep getting sent to number 9, and she just thinks it would be easier.

Would it be unreasonable to say no? I’m used to living at ‘number 10’ - we’ve lived here for years! And I’d have to go through the effort of changing our address, and contacting everyone we know and getting it changed officially and legally.

Or should I just be neighbourly and agree?

She just doesn't want to be 9a because it sounds like a flat

As said by pp you can't just change your house number, so at least you don't have to come up with an excuse....I'm surprised your cf neighbour didn't check this was possible before asking you.

I also don't think accidentally getting neighbours post and having to pop it round is that big of a deal....what she was asking you to do is way more inconvenient.

It's plot numbers, I think. If you build in the garden you either add a,b, c etc or it gets its own plot number.

This has reminded me that I occasionally work in a street where the numbers go 1 - 33, odd numbers on one side and 38, 36, 34, 2 - 30, even numbers on the other side. The answer is obvious when you look at the history: there was a large corner house on the main road and it was knocked down and re-built into 4 smaller properties, 2 with doors on the side road. They got 2 new high plot numbers as you can't have -2 and -4 and I assume the rest of the street said no to changing all the numbers

Tell her no. You will have to change your driving license, passport, credit cards, utilities, etc. That’s without checking about postcodes.

All because she doesn’t want an ‘a’ on her address, even though it was there when she bought the property. I think a ‘sorry, that doesn’t work for me’ will cover it.

No way.

You can't change a house number just overnight...it's not a quick process, you have to inform Land Registry and various other official bodies to change names and numbers, otherwise everyone could change their house names and numbers when they felt like it! I think it's unlikely a house number could be changed though? And yes tell the neighbour to get lost!

So you should do lots of things that are not easy to make her life a bit easier. That would be a no.

I occasionally work in a street where the numbers go 1 - 33, odd numbers on one side and 38, 36, 34, 2 - 30, even numbers on the other side.

Er... isn't this the case for most streets? Odd numbers on one side and even numbers on the other?

Ye gods I didn't get that right did I... 4 doors on the side street!! I wouldn't mind but the only reason I know is the the 2 I did last month were 38 and 32. I thought the agent had lost his marbles as the road appeared to only go to 30, 30a, 30b and a newbuild apartment block with a name.

It took about 10 minutes and I had to ask a postman - bloody useful people posties

Huffin - it was the order of the numbers:

1 - 33 on one side
38, 36, 34, 32 and then 2 - 30 on the other

How on earth did Sherlock Holmes cope? Living at 221b

Might it be clearer if the people in 9 were 9b rather than just 9?

That would have made more sense IMO to begin with rather than 9 and 9a

He was always getting 221a's letters.

Agree, it’s plot numbers. On our street, we have some houses with double plots so house numbers will go 1, 3, 7, 11 (because house 3 is double plotted so also absorbs plot 5 and house 7 has a double plot so there’s no 9)

Just no way. Your mail would go to them. You will then have their problem. Why would anyone even consider it?

I wouldn't be doing that.

Quite apart from official requirements - council and PO - it'd be a major hassle to inform banks, utilities, GP, all sorts - and there would almost certainly be cock ups and mail still sent to wrong address.

I like a PP's suggestion - The New House, 9A.

Hahaha, no!

Why dont they just have a house name, instead of a number?

I imagine your new neighbour has come up with the idea and talked to you before investigating just how incredibly complex changing an address is! No need to fall out with her about it, just say that you thought about it and checked online to see how it could be done - and discovered that it was virtually impossible and incredibly expensive. Which is perfectly true - you've checked online with us and we've sent you helpful links as well as putting in our own usual pithy remarks

YANBU

If companies/people are getting her address wrong she should take it up with them and complain

If Royal mail/delivery companies are misdelivering Mail that’s been correctly addressed, she needs to complain to them and consider a more obvious house number

Agree if they have a problem they can change numbers and be 11 ok it's out of order but it solves the problem or a pp said name the house instead! I'm sure she thinks it's a simple as changing door numbers but it's really not! You are not being unresonable at all.

Don’t do it, my dad is number 3 new neighbors 3A, property is a conversion. New neighbors asked my Dad to be number 4........... he laughed at them. It’s a bloody cheek, tell them where to go

Please update with her response when you say no.

Good on you OP... no chance