On the 1st July 2021, the Government opened up access to UPRN (Unique Property Reference Numbers) identifiers for every property in Great Britain.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
A Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) effectively provides every type of addressable location, including less desirable locations such as an electricity substation or bus shelter, with a consistent 12-digit identifier. The identifier will then be traceable throughout the building\u2019s lifecycle, from planning through to demolition.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The UPRN will be allocated by local authorities and by Ordnance Survey (OS) from a range provided by GeoPlace. The allocation of the UPRN will effectively create a \u2018national insurance\u2019 number for physical objects and open up the ability for a \u2018Property Passport\u2019 to be developed for every home address. The purpose is to gather and provide data like Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), council licenses, gas, and electrical safety certificates that will inform potential buyers and renters of the entire life cycle of each and every property.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Currently; there are 29 million \u2018chimney pots\u2019 in the UK (2019) with an additional 240,000 properties added to the country\u2019s housing stock in the past few years ( 2018-19). And with the UK Government committed to building around 1.5 million new homes by 2022 there\u2019s going to be a lot of data to track and trace.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The government already uses confidential Unique Property Reference Numbers (UPRN) to tag official data about every home in the country via GeoPlace, the organisation behind the UPRN which is jointly owned by the Local Government Association (LGA) and Ordnance Survey (OS) and has the objective that no public-sector address appears without a UPRN and no street without a USRN.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Updated every six weeks as part of Ordnance Survey\u00a0AddressBase<\/a>\u00a0product, the announcement to open up the data to the public will provide an unprecedented level of information not only to the individual but to local government as it seeks to reduce and qualify costs across local and national government.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n In recent years, the industry has changed dramatically with a much keener focus on health & safety. The introduction, in 2018, of the\u00a0Fitness For Human Habitation\u00a0Act has helped the industry to improve\u00a0property\u00a0conditions for renters in both social housing and the private rented sector.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The need to improve tenants\u2019 finances and put a stop to exorbitant and unregulated fees resulted in the\u00a0Tenant Fee Act<\/a>\u00a0being introduced in 2019 with the aim to reduce costs that tenants can face at the outset, and throughout, a tenancy.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nSo who holds the data and more importantly, why?<\/strong><\/h4>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
How will the UPRN help tenants?<\/strong><\/h4>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n