This topic

HELP!! OpenReach can't find my address...no solution after a month

pippa16 — Sun, 03 Nov 2024 04:50:45 GMT

I am going round the bend trying to get broadband in my new place. I can't use mobile broadband as it's too rural to get any decent signal. This is the time line so far. Can anyone help? I am seriously at breaking point.

3/10/24 Contacted BT and placed order
Order cancelled 3 times to date as OpenReach unable to verify property
BT eventually advised registering address with Royal Mail as OpenReach use this to update their system
19/10/24Registered the address with Royal Mail, appeared on their website 24/10/24
24/10/24 Tried to reorder wifi , advised takes 3 days to update OpenReach system , therefore, order could not be placed
30/10/24 Contacted OpenReach to raise a missing address report on their system
31/10/24 OpenReach advised they were rectifying it
01/11/24 Email from OpenReach to say I need a Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) to identify address
Contacted local District Council, to obtain a UPRN; they don't use Royal Mail to update their address, so no UPRN can be obtained. consequently raised a missing address query with them. Told to contact Valuation office.
Valuation office have no record of address
Consequently, raised a missing address query with them so I can then register address.

Surely, there must be another way? I need broadband for work and it's like being back in the '90s....

Thanks for any help.

Re: HELP!! OpenReach can't find my address...no solution after a month

Keith_Beddoe — Sun, 03 Nov 2024 06:37:44 GMT

Use the address checker on the page below, and post the results, but edit out your address details first, but leave the exchange name and cabinet number showing.

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL
Please include all notes at the bottom.

Re: HELP!! OpenReach can't find my address...no solution after a month

tonysmini018 — Sun, 03 Nov 2024 08:32:46 GMT

Are you in a new build, or an annex to an existing building?

Re: HELP!! OpenReach can't find my address...no solution after a month

Anonymous — Sun, 03 Nov 2024 09:08:10 GMT

Try thee UPRN search here:

https://www.findmyaddress.co.uk/search

But I'm curious as to how you completed the legal side of the move & got other utilities set up at a property that "didn't exist"?

Re: HELP!! OpenReach can't find my address...no solution after a month

pippa16 — Sun, 03 Nov 2024 10:57:20 GMT

Hi Thank you

Here is a screenshot of the result

Re: HELP!! OpenReach can't find my address...no solution after a month

pippa16 — Sun, 03 Nov 2024 10:58:51 GMT

Thank you.

Re: HELP!! OpenReach can't find my address...no solution after a month

pippa16 — Sun, 03 Nov 2024 10:59:49 GMT

It's a converted outbuilding on a farm

Re: HELP!! OpenReach can't find my address...no solution after a month

pippa16 — Sun, 03 Nov 2024 11:01:01 GMT

It's a converted stable on a farm, rented from the landowner. Really common in rural areas to do this, but I (and the letting agent) have never cpme accross this before.

Re: HELP!! OpenReach can't find my address...no solution after a month

tonysmini018 — Sun, 03 Nov 2024 12:17:26 GMT

It’s likely whoever converted it hasn’t registered the building properly, hence no UPRN/NAD key and you having to register it with the Royal Mail yourselves first.

How are you paying utilities? Do they have their own address or are you paying the landlord a set fee?

Re: HELP!! OpenReach can't find my address...no solution after a month

pippa16 — Sun, 03 Nov 2024 12:23:08 GMT

I have registered the address with Royal Mail, it now comes up on the postcode finder, but OpenReach say I need a UPRN before they can use the address, I have a metre for electricity which is registered to the landlord who will bill me . Water is included in the rent and there is no mains gas.

Does that help?

Re: HELP!! OpenReach can't find my address...no solution after a month

tonysmini018 — Sun, 03 Nov 2024 12:31:21 GMT

When the landlord converted the barn they should have registered it as a separate address with the local council and the Royal Mail. (Like a new build house on an empty plot)

This would then create the UPRN, the address database entry and the Openreach system would then create a NAD key. You are trying to do everything backwards and it will be a pain to get sorted.

Speak to the landlord, they should sort this out for you.

Re: HELP!! OpenReach can't find my address...no solution after a month

pippa16 — Sun, 03 Nov 2024 12:34:53 GMT

HI Tony

Thank you for your reply. I have been on to the letting agent and the landlord, as I realised this last week when I was asked for a UPRN. It is all in motion, but looks like it will take months to resolve. I was posting to see if there was a work around in the meantime. The other properties have broadband, it's the first time this unit has needed it as it was used by the farm for storage. It's so frustrating!

Re: HELP!! OpenReach can't find my address...no solution after a month

tonysmini018 — Sun, 03 Nov 2024 12:41:10 GMT

It shouldn’t take that long once they register it and you get a UPRN assigned as it sounds as though everything else is in place.
Make sure your landlord has all the details (address registered with the Royal Mail (make sure everything is spelt correctly), details from your order and a NAD key if you have one) when they apply.

Re: HELP!! OpenReach can't find my address...no solution after a month

iniltous — Sun, 03 Nov 2024 15:36:29 GMT

Is this property liable for its own council tax ? ,does it meet the minimum requirement for a habitable dwelling ( like have its own running water ( and corresponding account with the water company ) for example ? If it doesn’t meet these minimum standards then there is no requirement for anyone to offer fixed line services .

Presumably the address you have used both with the DSL checker and when trying to arrange service with BT is just the farm address , that ultimately won’t work , if you get an engineer visit the order effectively is for a line into the farmhouse not outbuildings within the farm boundary, if it’s impossible to get from that main building to where you rent ( which it has to be said appears to be somewhat of an unofficial sublet ) there probably will be excess construction costs , unless ( depending on the distance between the farmhouse and this outbuilding ) the farmer is prepared to provide the means ( like digging a trench and installation of duct ) to get a cable between the two , and in that case your ‘line’ would be ordered for the main building ( as a 2nd or 3rd line depending on how many the farmer already has ) and your line would be more like an extension from a phone line in the farmhouse ……TBH , what you are asking is not really any different to having a caravan in a field of the farm , utility company have no obligation to service those type of locations , it’s no wonder the address doesn’t show ( it wouldn’t really be a dwelling ) and the orders ultimately get cancelled .

Re: HELP!! OpenReach can't find my address...no solution after a month

pippa16 — Sun, 03 Nov 2024 17:24:57 GMT

Thanks for your response. It is let through an agent, there are 4 other rented properties in the courtyard, so it is an official dwelling. Has water and electricity and has been occupied before. The issue seems to be that over time, the building has had different uses, and has always used the address of the farm. Council tax is through the local authority. The only issue that I have, despite it having an address on Royal Mail, is that OpenReach don't seem to have it on their records, this is the frustration as I can't seem to find a solution. Neither the letting agent or the landlord have encountered this problem with their other lets. The other properties have broadband, all properties are joined as were once a stable block. There seems to be no rationale or logical explanation.

Re: HELP!! OpenReach can't find my address...no solution after a month

tonysmini018 — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 08:04:47 GMT

It’s never had it’s own address and has always used the farms main address, that’s why you are in the predicament you find yourself in now.