Identity and geography
UPRN
The Unique Property Reference Number: a 12-digit identifier every addressable location in Great Britain carries, and the key MarketCode joins property records on.
Also called: Unique Property Reference Number, UPRN lookup.
Definition
UPRN, as the data uses it
A UPRN is assigned by the local authority when an address is created and published nationally through Ordnance Survey AddressBase. It never changes for the life of the property, which is what makes it a better key than the address: "Flat 2, 12 Lordship Lane" can be written a dozen ways, but its UPRN is one number.
MarketCode resolves every address to a UPRN first and joins everything else to it: registered sales, energy certificates, the council tax band, listings, titles and building geometry. Every per-property tool takes a UPRN rather than an address, so the resolve step is the one call almost every workflow starts with. address_autocomplete narrows the address for free; address_resolve returns the UPRN.
Two limits. Some datasets record the building rather than the unit, so flats in a subdivided house can share one UPRN in a source that should have several. And Ordnance Survey covers Great Britain while HM Land Registry covers England and Wales, so a Scottish UPRN resolves but has no sale history here.
Tools
Tools that return it
Resolve an address to a UPRN
address_resolve()Resolve free-text address to canonical record (UPRN for UK).
Autocomplete a UK address
address_autocomplete()Free address autocomplete. Returns ranked candidates for a partial address
Look up an address by UPRN
address_by_uprn()Look up an address by UPRN (UK only).
Property summary
property_summary()One-call summary of a property: what it is, what building it belongs to,
See also
Related terms
- Postcode district, area and sector: The parts of a UK postcode: the area ("SW"), the district ("SW11") and the sector ("SW11 1"); most MarketCode area statistics are published at district grain.
- Title number: HM Land Registry's identifier for a registered title: a prefix for the office and a number, such as TGL123456; the key ownership records are held against.
FAQ
Questions about uprn
What does UPRN mean?
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The Unique Property Reference Number: a 12-digit identifier every addressable location in Great Britain carries, and the key MarketCode joins property records on.
Which MarketCode tools return uprn?
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Resolve an address to a UPRN, Autocomplete a UK address, Look up an address by UPRN, Property summary. Each runs as an MCP tool in Claude, ChatGPT, Codex and Cursor and as a REST endpoint with an API key, at the same price.
Is UPRN lookup the same thing?
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Yes. Unique Property Reference Number, UPRN lookup are other names for what this entry defines; MarketCode uses "UPRN" in its tool descriptions and responses.
See it on a real address.
Thirty minutes, your property or area, every figure sourced.