To get the UPRN for an address, geocode it with Geocodio and add gazetteer to the fields parameter. The response includes fields.gazetteer.identifiers.uprn.value and usrn.value for every rooftop match in Great Britain, together with the town, county, and council for the same address. One request handles up to 10,000 addresses.

What is a UPRN?

The Unique Property Reference Number is a number of up to 12 digits that identifies one addressable location in Great Britain: a house, a flat, a shop, but also a bus shelter, an electricity substation, or a post box. Local authorities allocate UPRNs as addresses are created, GeoPlace collects them, and Ordnance Survey publishes them. A UPRN stays with its object for life, so two datasets that both carry it can be joined without matching address text, which is the reason it exists.

The Unique Street Reference Number is the same idea for streets. Every street in Great Britain has a USRN of up to 8 digits, maintained by the local highway authority through the National Street Gazetteer and published by Ordnance Survey.

Both have been open data under the Open Government Licence since 2020, and a growing number of public datasets, including the Energy Performance Certificate register and many council datasets, carry a UPRN column so they can be joined without address matching.

How do I look up a UPRN with Geocodio?

Send the address to the geocoding endpoint with fields=gazetteer. The UPRN and USRN come back inside identifiers.

curl "https://api.geocod.io/v2/geocode?q=10+Downing+Street,+London+SW1A+2AA&country=GB&fields=gazetteer&api_key=YOUR_API_KEY"

{
  "formatted_address": "10 Downing St, London SW1A 2AA",
  "accuracy_type": "rooftop",
  "fields": {
    "gazetteer": {
      "geographic_town": {
        "name": "City of Westminster",
        "names": { "en": "City of Westminster" },
        "type": "built_up_area",
        "code": { "gss_code": "E63019250" },
        "source": "Ordnance Survey"
      },
      "county": {
        "ceremonial": { "name": "Greater London", "names": { "en": "Greater London" }, "source": "Ordnance Survey" },
        "historic": { "name": "Middlesex", "names": { "en": "Middlesex" }, "source": "Historic Counties Trust" }
      },
      "authority": {
        "local": {
          "name": "Westminster",
          "names": { "en": "Westminster" },
          "type": "london_borough",
          "code": { "gss_code": "E09000033" },
          "source": "Office for National Statistics"
        },
        "regional": null
      },
      "identifiers": {
        "uprn": { "value": "100023336956", "source": "Ordnance Survey" },
        "usrn": { "value": "8400071", "source": "Ordnance Survey" }
      }
    }
  }
}

The same works for coordinates. Reverse geocode 51.0632, -1.3080 with fields=gazetteer and you get 60 Eastgate St, Winchester SO23 8DZ with UPRN 10094862163 and USRN 44301222.

The identifiers are part of the gazetteer append, so every lookup that returns a UPRN also returns the town, the ceremonial and historic county, and the local authority with its GSS code. The whole append costs 1 credit per address on top of the geocoding lookup.

When is the UPRN returned?

Only when Geocodio is sure which property it matched. The UPRN and USRN are returned for rooftop and point matches in Great Britain. For any other accuracy type they are null, and for Northern Ireland identifiers is null for every match.

If a full address comes back without a UPRN, check accuracy_type first. A typo in the house number or a missing postcode often turns a rooftop match into a nearest_rooftop_match, and fixing the input fixes the UPRN.

Is a UPRN the same as a parcel or title number?

No, and this is the mistake that causes the most trouble. A UPRN identifies an addressable object, not a piece of land.

• A block of flats is one building but holds one UPRN per flat, plus usually one for the building itself. Trellick Tower has 217 flats and 217 flat UPRNs, and the tower has its own UPRN, 217034922.

• A bus stop, a phone box, or a substation has a UPRN and no parcel of its own.

• A field with no address has a parcel and no UPRN.

If you need one record per piece of land, use the HM Land Registry title number or the Land Registry's INSPIRE polygon ID instead. If you need one record per address, the UPRN is the right key, and the stable address key that Geocodio adds to every result works for the same purpose across all six supported countries.

What can you do with a UPRN?

• Join datasets without address matching. Two files that both carry a UPRN join on an integer, with no fuzzy matching of "Flat 2, 10 High St" against "10 High Street, Flat 2".

• De-duplicate property lists. Two differently formatted addresses with the same UPRN are the same property.

• Attach public records. Energy Performance Certificates, council tax bands, planning applications, and many council open datasets are published with UPRNs.

• Group by street. The USRN gives every property on a street the same key, which is useful for highways, utilities, and anything organized by street rather than by postcode.

How much does it cost?

A UK geocoding lookup costs 1 credit, and the gazetteer append adds 1 credit per address, so an address with a UPRN costs 2 credits. If no gazetteer data comes back at all, the append is not billed. See how much does the gazetteer append cost? for the detail.