House in my road just name changed to something ONE letter different to mine.

[Yani]

In recent weeks the postmadn has knocked on the door double checking house name and occupants name prior to posting letters through the door.

Thought this a bit wierd as regular postie who has worked in this area for over 20 years.

It turns out that a recently sold house has changed its name to one letter different to ours. The first letter is the only difference. Eg YaniHouse Vs ZaniHouse.

Now, I am all for people 'personalising' their homes and undertand they can call it what they like.

But I'm a bit pissed off about it and now worried that our post will keep getting muddled up. (current postie due to retire soon). Postcodes are identical.

Is there anything I can do? Should I pop round, introduce myself and politely ask that they reconsider?

They haven't registered the change of name formall with PO, and quite probably don't realise there are now two houses in the same road with almost identical names!

Oh, just to say, none of the houses have numbers, they are all names. which makes it a pain in the arse to find anyway

Any advice?

I'd talk to the post office first - they may have a policy re this situation (a letter to go to the namechangers?) and if there is something in place it might be better coming from them. Your neighbours would hopefully not even know it was prompted by you.

If that doesn't work you could pop round for a chat - as you say perhaps they haven't realised the issue.

If the chat doesn't work and they don't seem to be considering changing their house name, you could then call in several times looking for post which has gone astray (even if it hasn't)? Keep it hugely polite so it doesn't turn into a row, and hopefully they will do the right thing and change their name (after all you had yours first!)

The Highways Dept of your local council are responsible for registering name changes and if the name is taken, then they will be told. So give them a ring and explain the situation to them, they might send a letter explaining the rules to them and when it's delivered to your house by mistake you can pop along and hand deliver it to them!

Here's the official info from most local councils:

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 need to complete the House Name Change form, 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 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.

Some brilliant advice, thank you.
Sorry to post & run, but didn't get chance to check for replies until now.
i'll have a wander past tomorrow & maybe pop in to say hello. Thanks for the council link, will have proper read in burning.

Morning....
bloody phone!

Do you have a Light over your house name? No numbers is a pain in the arse if you ever need the emergency services to find your house in the dark.

My mil had this problem-new people on road changed house name to their house name !!!! Mil livid. Post was mixed up. Eventually new people got the message! from other neighbours. How could any body be so stupid. PIL had been there 40 + years and not a long road. Perhaps 30 houses with names

We had a slightly similar problem when we lived in a block of flats - ie we lived at 10 Dorset Court, Dorset Rd, and then there were 12 new houses built a bit further up the same road, so we were constantly getting post for 10 Dorset Rd - as were all other our neighbours in flats 1-12. It was a total pain, and I missed lots of important letters (including a job interview once :() as the inhabitants of no 10 could never be bothered to bring my post round, though I was always bringing theirs to them.
Definitely speak to your neighbours about it - they probably haven't realised.

I went round this morning, they were very accommodating, and simply hadn't realised.
The house name they chose was what their previous house was called so there is an emotional attachment, understandably.
However, they have agreed to revert to the original house name.

Pissy No, the house name is on the wall at the front and the light is by the front door. Good point though, I'll look into getting another one put under the light. Or I have seen ones where the text is reflective which may be easier for night-time emergencies.

Thank you again, I had worked myself up into a bit of a worried frenzy over this!