Can a single family home have multiple addresses?

[Duane Bozarth]

Only your local city/county/whatever jurisdiction can answer the questions...

[HeyBub]

No. It's an issue for the post office. The post office doesn't talk to the city planning commission and is indifferent to local zoning laws, occupancy requirements, and other infringements on the use of your property.

Try it out. Put up a mail box with the address of "1234 1/2" on the box and mail yourself a letter.

[Duane Bozarth]

Even if true (and that I don't really know for sure is USPS policy) that doesn't make it "legal" nor conforming to local zoning which depending on jurisdiction may be enforceable usage of the property.

I'd certainly advise OP to not invest in a property on the assumption of usage at variance w/ local code and zoning at the risk of a sizable economic loss.

[miamicuse]

Location is south Florida. Looking at a property which is a single family residence, however the architect designed it such that it has two different entrances, two driveways, two electric meters, but they do share a common wall. It is one single lot zoned for single family residence, a single folio number, but the lot is a corner unit and has a street to the east and a street to the south. The east facing unit has an address on the east street and the south facing unit has a south facing address, so one house, two addresses, how is this possible? And the current owner block off another bedroom loft and rents it out as a third unit. So question is - is this legal? Can I somehow establish a new address for the third unit for rental? So it will have it's own mail box?

MC

[Duane Bozarth]

Beachcomber wrote: ....

....

Whether the USPS will issue an additional address or not has no bearing on the legal use of the domicile outside local zoning regulations. OP could possibly get a dozen more USPS addresses but whether he can sublet or effectively turn a house into a duplex in a single-residence zoned area and get away with it will depend on his local jurisdiction (and to a large part his neighbors if outside the zoning regulations).

It is simply not wise to buy a property on a premise w/o being certain of all legal covenants/restrictions on that property. The existence or not of a USPS delivery address isn't one of those even though it may currently exist and an additional one might be granted.

[Ulysses]

First of all I agree completely with what you are saying but that fact that it has two electric meters indicates that it was used for two residences. I doubt the electric company would have installed a second meter if it was not allowed by the county/city. My question is where does the second meter go?

[yustr]

In my town, I pay a small ($30/year) fee to maintain an apartment dwelling. Those records are at City Hall. If it were me, I'd absolutely check with the local Planning Office just to make sure everything's on the up-and-up.

[gfretwell]

This is a zoning question. Call the zoning office, (Department of Community Development) give them the strap number and they will tell you what you can do with the property. If it is zoned RS-1 and one of your neighbors tells code enforcement you are using it as a multifamily rersidence you will be paying daily fines until you come into compliance.

It happened right up the street from me (Lee County Fl)

The USPS is not part of the equasion at all.

[Beachcomber]

The key person to talk to is your postmaster in the local post office serving your address.

When the mail is sorted for a carrier route, typically there is an official pigeonhole for each unit at the carrier's workstation where they sort the mail. Each pigeonhole has an "official address" associated with it. The USPS determines what exactly that address is.

You can see your official address if you go to:

and do a zip code lookup of your property. You might be surprised at how the post office wants it to appear versus what you have been using.

Your postmaster will tell you exactly what you need to do and if a new address can be created. There may also be issues about mailbox placement and such. You have to follow the USPS rules....

Also, sometimes in larger cities, the postmasters are a bit elusive so you may want to call or even visit your post office in person.

Beachcomber

[Joseph Meehan]

"It is one single lot zoned for single family residence, a single folio number"

I think that says what is legal. Anything other than single family residence (get a local legal description of what that means) would not be legal. How much of a problem that is would depend on how the local authorities look at it. The real problem is anytime someone wants to mess with the owner, it's open season.

[PipeDown]

Putting a second address at the house may change the tax status of the residence from single family to multiple.

[Don Wiss]

Here in my neighborhood of Brooklyn the mailman will only deliver to one location of the house, even if a legal two family. But I know of multiple stores in the same building and each get their own mail. So what you need to do is to ask the postmaster.

Don (e-mail link at home page bottom).

[Duane Bozarth]

Probably to the two apartments but it you apparently don't have a single dwelling or it is not in conformance with zoning regulations (which happens, sometimes people don't follow rules (gasp!). I think it imperative to find out what the actual zoning rules are before going ahead if you have some reason to think this is actually supposed to be a one-family residential area.

You have a legal beagle on your side here, don't you?

[TP]

I had a property with 4 electric meters. One address (123) number. One meter for apartment (123)A. One meter for apartment (123)B. One meter for the (123)garage. Garage also had a mailbox. Last meter was for the landlord that covered outdoor security lighting. Zone residential two family. I agree, it?s a post office thing.

TP

Ulysses wrote:

[Nick Hull]

I just put up a mailbox and put a letter in it to the postman (flag up) asking him to assign am address. Always worked for me.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Talk to the postmaster. It may just be Apts. ! or Apt. 2 etc. using the same house number. Boxes may have to be together.

I have two addresses. One is the town's legal address that puts me on ABC Street. My postal address is XYZ Street. I'm actually the last house on ABC but the mailman only goes as far as the previous house on the walking route. Then he starts the motor route and I'm the first house on XYZ even though the next house is 1/8 mile. It is all in the way they sort and deliver.

[Wayne Boatwright]

On Fri 19 Aug 2005 07:53:28a, miamicuse wrote in alt.home.repair:

So, in actuality, it is not a single family home at all. Duh!

Check with your city or county zoning board.

[Don Wiss]

At the same location.

Posting it inside the box where the mail carrier can read it when open seems to be okay.

Don (e-mail link at home page bottom).

[Colbyt]

Most likely the post office will oblige you if you do a 123 Some street #1 and #2 as long as there are seperate clearly labeled mailboxes. Also in this case I think they require the tenant to post their name on the box.

Planning and zoning, the legal this and not stuff is just dis-information.

Colbyt

[NapalmHeart]

At least where I'm at (MI), the post office has nothing to do with designation of addresses. It is a local municipal function.

Ken