Trade body
The Law Society Gazette of England and Wales reports that signatories to the letter, published on the Institute of Residential Property Management’s website, include the Conveyancing Association, a trade body, JMW Solicitors and Bold Legal Group.
Every unit of land and property is allocated a UPRN and geographic coordinates to ensure there is one true record for each address. Local authorities across the UK are required to maintain address registers.
The address registers, including UPRNs, are submitted to GeoPlace, a central address database. GeoPlace is a limited liability partnership owned by the Local Government Association and Ordnance Survey.
Dataset
Beth Rudolf, the Conveyancing Association's director of delivery, said UPRNs were previously not freely available to public or commercial organisations as a dataset. Last year, GeoPlace agreed to release the dataset.
The Institute of Residential Property Management says attaching the UPRN to data such as construction information, mortgages and tenancy deposit schemes will make collation and dissemination of key information to stakeholders simpler, cheaper and easier to automate.
The letter welcomes last year’s announcement that unique property and street reference numbers will become the standard way of referencing and sharing address information about properties and streets across government.
Single reference number
It adds, however, that wider adoption of a single reference number for residential properties would speed up the home-buying and selling process, increase protection for tenants, and improve building, consumer and market safety.
Listing steps for the government to take, the letter says all public data sets relating to properties and buildings should include the UPRN. All future government tenders and policy relating to residential properties should mandate the use of the UPRN.