GeoPlace welcomes today’s announcement from leading property sector organisations calling on the Government to fully adopt the Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) across the residential UK property market. As the custodian of the UPRN, GeoPlace supports this powerful initiative, which aligns with its longstanding mission to enhance the accuracy, transparency, and efficiency of location data in the UK.
The open letter, addressed to the Housing Minister and signed by key figures in the property industry, outlines a clear path for how the UPRN can transform the property market. The coalition’s call to action highlights the vital role the UPRN can play in enabling the UK property sector to become more efficient, safer, and consumer friendly.
The signatories to the letter call on the Government to take decisive action to adopt and implement the UPRN across the residential property market to drive benefits for both the public and private sectors, as well as consumers.
This letter follows a similar call from the residential property sector in 2021 and some progress has been made with the inclusion of UPRNs in more property related databases such as the tall buildings register and organisations such as the National House Building Council (NHBC) are working towards implementation. GeoPlace believes that further and more widespread adoption of the UPRN offers transformative opportunities for the property market, including:
- Increased market transparency and efficiency, allowing faster, more reliable property transactions
- Enhanced building safety and improved tenant protection, with the ability to track and enforce housing standards
- Stronger regulatory enforcement, ensuring housing legislation is more effectively applied
- Supporting the drive to net zero by providing accurate data on properties’ energy usage, enabling targeted retrofitting and sustainability initiatives to reduce carbon emissions across the UK’s housing stock
- Better insights into accessibility and inclusion, enabling more targeted interventions to address housing inequalities.
GeoPlace Managing Director, Nick Chapallaz, said: “We strongly support this call from leaders in the property sector to place the UPRN at the core of the UK residential property market. The UPRN is a critical tool that underpins the accuracy and reliability of property and land data across the country. Widespread adoption combined with best practices, will not only streamline the home buying and selling process, but also accelerate the Government’s housebuilding initiatives and instil greater confidence throughout the sector.”
Nick continued: “Its adoption cannot come soon enough. The UPRN will drive efficiency across buying, selling, and letting, while also playing a key role in supporting the Government’s broader housing and regulatory objectives. Moreover, the benefits extend beyond the property sector—positively impacting policymaking, process improvements, and decision-making in both government and commerce. This is precisely why the UPRN has been made open and mandated by the Central Digital & Data Office as the public sector standard for identifying geographic locations.”
As the UK’s definitive source of address and street data, GeoPlace has long championed the use of the UPRN as the key identifier for properties. Its work, alongside local authorities and partners across the public and private sectors, has shown that consistent use of the UPRN unlocks significant benefits by providing a single, authoritative reference for every property in the country.
GeoPlace stands ready to support the Government and the property industry in making this vision a reality. The mass adoption of the UPRN is not just a technical improvement—it represents a foundational shift towards a smarter, more data-driven property market that benefits everyone.
UPRNs are open data, covered by the Open Government Licence and are available from Ordnance Survey as an API.
