In order to get the most from the address verification process it's good to understand how the address verification process works. This will allow you to interpret the results and make good decisions regarding addresses which fail to match.

The address verification process is a matching exercise in which we try to match your address with its verified equivalent from our database. In order for a match to occur, we have to be confident that the match is correct and to get this confidence we need matching to occur in multiple areas without breaking any verification rules we have set.

A basic match requires two things:

1. the street part of the submitted address [street number, street name, & street type] matches to the street part of the verified address [number, street_name, street_type] and,
2. The location part of the submitted address [suburb, city and/or postcode] matches the location part of the verified address [suburb, city, postcode].

At the same time as achieving the above criteria, there are additional rules that need to be applied. These are:

1. There needs to be a certain level of spelling accuracy.
2. There cannot be other addresses in the database with the same level of matching confidence.

If an address fails to match during the verification process, it will likely fall into one of the following categories.

1. Multiple match addresses - more than one address in the AddressFinder database matches your submitted address. Eg;
   • Submitted address - 110 Queen Street, Auckland (missing suburb & postcode)
   • Potential Matches:
     • 110 Queen Street, Northcote Point, Auckland 0627
     • 110 Queen Street, Auckland Central, Auckland 1010
2. Incorrect addresses - the submitted address contains either significant spelling errors, incorrect parts (eg, incorrect street type) or conflicting unit data (eg, A/17 instead of 1/17).
3. Missing addresses - these are correct addresses but do not currently exist in the AddressFinder database. Could be new subdivisions, developments or just addresses which are not officially recognised by NZ Post or LINZ. These addresses should be available after future database updates.
   
   

Addresses that can successfully be verified.

Addresses that can not be verified.