Address, Postcode and Bank solutions

The occupancy indicator gives an indication of the type of occupants of properties on the selected postcode. It can be helpful in determining whether a given postcode is more likely to relate to a business or private residence, or if a given address is more likely to be in a more industrial or town centre type of setting or in a residential street. You should note that there is always the possibility of an address not being present on PAF, or an incorrect postcode being given. This means that you may be given business or residential details which contradict this field, so it should be used as a guide as to what to expect rather than being treated as authoritative. The types returned are as follows:

1. Large User Organisation

This indicates that this is a business postcode which is not shared between different delivery points (letterboxes). The organisation is a large user of Royal Mail deliveries. No private residences should share this postcode and the Royal Mail Postcode Address File will only contain one business entry at this postcode. This can include PO Box addresses which always have a single postcode allocated to them.

2. Small User Organisation

All the properties on this postcode are likely to be businesses (i.e. not private addresses). There may well be multiple businesses and buildings sharing this same postcode.

3. Mostly Organisations

Most of the addresses on this postcode are businesses. However residential addresses are also present.

4. Mixed

This postcode contains a mixture of both business and residential addresses with no one type of address in a significant majority.

5. Mostly Residential

Most of the addresses on this postcode are residential. However business addresses are also present.

6. Residential

All the properties on this postcode are likely to be residential addresses.

The address type indicator gives an indication of the type of property level data you will need to capture to have the full delivery address for properties on the selected postcode. It can be helpful in determining the necessary additional property information you will need to capture to complete the full deliverable address. You should note that there is always the possibility of an address not being present on PAF, or an incorrect postcode being given. This means that you may be given property details which contradict this field, so it should be used as a guide as to what to expect rather than being treated as authoritative. The types returned are as follows:

1. Numbered

This indicates that all addresses on this postcode consist purely of a number. So the only information that needs to be captured for a complete address (in addition to the street address returned by Postcode), is the house number. It should be noted that some people may give out and wish to use a house name instead, despite that not being their official address as held by Royal Mail.

2. Numbered and Named

This indicates that a mixture of addresses exist on this postcode, some needing a house number and some needing a property name. There can also be those that require both or include alphanumeric numbering such as 16b. More care therefore has to be taken in capturing the property details than with a purely numbered or named postcode.

3. Numbered and Named, Likelihood of Multiple Occupancy

This category is the same as that above (Numbered and Named), except that the address details indicate that it is likely that some or all of the addresses on this postcode are multiple occupancy (such as a flat).

4. Named

All the properties on this postcode have a house or building name, not a number. You are therefore normally expecting to capture a name rather than a number when capturing addresses on this postcode.

5. Non-Standard Address Format

This refers to postcodes where one or more addresses is not in a common address format. It is therefore important with this address type to carefully check and enter the property details. This includes addresses which do not have a street field at all, or have multiple street names on the same postcode. It also includes addresses with numbered localities (no street but a house number which goes in with the locality field).

6. PO Box

This refers to postcodes that have a PO Box number rather than property details to capture. The PO Box number is included in Postcode and so only the business or individual name needs to be captured in this case.

7. No Property Information

When this indicator is present, the address or addresses on this postcode do not have any property information present. So in this case you are only required to capture an organisation or resident name to complete a fully deliverable address.