ANYONE returning from a few years abroad would be forgiven for getting completely lost in Dublin, particularly if they're househunting. Parts of Ballymun and Finglas now belong to Glasnevin North, Swords has edged its way into Malahide, Blanchardstown has blurred into Castleknock, Crumlin has moved to Kimmage, Coolock is either the Malahide Road or it's in Raheny, Ballyfermot has been carved up between Clondalkin and Inchicore, Clonsilla has gone off the radar and Ballybough simply doesn't exist anymore.

But such shifting of boundaries hasn't gone unnoticed and, following complaints from the public, the Advertising Standards Authority has given some estate agents a rap on the knuckles. Lisney was reprimanded for advertising an apartment in Premier Square in Finglas as Glasnevin, while Douglas Newman Good was pulled up over advertising a house on Rockfield Avenue as Terenure, Dublin 12, when in fact the address is Perrystown.

Felicity Fox was also challenged about a house on Sundrive Road, which is in Crumlin not Kimmage, as advertised.

And to make matters even more confusing, property website www. myhome. ie has created some brand new areas, such as Clonliffe on Dublin's northside. The upper end of Clonliffe Road, with its fine stock of redbricks, belongs to Drumcondra but the small roads off the lower end, such as Clonliffe Avenue, which were previously considered Ballybough, now cite their address as Clonliffe, Dublin 3.

"It's not really about area snobbery, " says estate agent Nicola Ross of Gunne's Fairview office. "It just makes it easier for people to find places. There's often a lot of confusion about where certain areas are, such as Ayrefield. Some people feel it's Raheny and others call it Coolock, so just referring to it as Ayrefield makes it simpler for everyone. There are parts of Fairview and Marino that people aren't quite sure which side they are on and everyone has their favourite part of various areas where they would prefer to live."

Other new areas 'created' by estate agents include Meakstown (nee Finglas), 'close to Glasnevin', Cappagh (also nee Finglas) and Ayrefield (Coolock).

Setting the boundaries

"This is an ongoing problem, " says Anna McHugh, head of communications at An Post. "Priests have parishes, politicians have constituencies and we at An Post have postal districts. Establishing the boundaries of postal areas is not about good or bad neighbourhoods. For us, it's simply about the most efficient delivery of mail, " she says, confirming An Post is the only body which sets postal-code boundaries. "Therefore we would occasionally divide up postal-code areas, particularly if there is a large housing development that is going to be an extra burden on the postal service. But it's never to do with area snobbery. "We have people calling us to check up on addresses of properties they are buying or moving into, " says McHugh. And the good news is An Post have a dedicated phone number to find out where exactly you live.

Developers' code of conduct

It's not just estate agents who try to drag properties into better areas as a selling tactic. Developers are another guilty party. In recent times, Premier Square apartments on the Finglas Road have been marketed as Glasnevin, despite the fact the site they are built on, formerly Premier Dairies, had a Finglas address.

Elsewhere, new developments between Malahide and Swords are marketed as being in Malahide, enabling developers to charge higher prices for the more upmarket address. Royal Canal Park, which stretches from Ratoath Road in Cabra to the Navan Road and over towards Finglas, gives its address as Dublin 15, although Ratoath Road is very clearly Cabra and that part of the Navan Road is Dublin 7.

Developers also go to extraordinary lengths to create new 'neighbourhoods' to avoid certain addresses. For example, new apartments are never in Coolock . . .they are always on the Malahide Road.

"The problem with new developments is that once the entrance into the apartment block or housing scheme is in a particular location, then that is it's official address, " explains McHugh. "So if it's a large site, you might find that the developer will put a small side gate or pedestrian entrance into a scheme from the better side of the neighbourhood and then get away with saying the whole development is in that area.

"There is often controversy over whether it's Dublin 2 or Dublin 4. You can also get flagrant abuse of the postal codes but it's something we keep an eye out for. What people don't realise is that putting the wrong address or postal code on letters only delays their delivery. Having the correct address is important, particularly since our machinery reads addresses from the bottom up, so putting Dublin 9 when it should be Dublin 3 doesn't make any sense, " says McHugh.

The final solution?

A recent contributor to www. askaboutmoney. com came up with a great solution for the debate about where area boundaries are set. He was responding to an ongoing query over whether Ferndale Avenue was in Glasnevin North, Ballymun South, Ballygall or Finglas. He suggested a whole new category to indicate just how near you were to a better neighbourhood. For example, the better part of Cabra could become Cab-boro.

Other areas he suggested were Crum-age, Bally-core, Mal-ords, Cool-ahide, Drumbough.

Location, location, location

As property prices continue to slide, homehunters are set to become a lot more discerning.

Which is why we can expect location, location, location to be back on the agenda again, as the rush to buy any kind of home in any place becomes little more than the fond memories of an estate agent.

But at the end of the day, if you're lucky enough to have a home you like and good neighbours, then whether it's in Timbuktu or Terenure (the Rathgar side of course rather than the Kimmage end! ) doesn't really matter.

Check out your postal code with An Post on 1850 575859