diff --git a/controller/search.js b/controller/search.js
index 9666cc49..8c9f7970 100644
--- a/controller/search.js
+++ b/controller/search.js
@@ -22,8 +22,8 @@ function setup( backend, query ){
     }
 
     // set type if input suggests targeting a layer(s)
-    if (req.clean.parsed_input) {
-      cmd.type = req.clean.parsed_input.target_layer;
+    if (req.clean.default_layers_set && req.clean.parsed_input) {
+      cmd.type = req.clean.parsed_input.target_layer || cmd.type;
     }
 
     // query backend
diff --git a/sanitiser/_input.js b/sanitiser/_input.js
index d65cf60d..42a65fd8 100644
--- a/sanitiser/_input.js
+++ b/sanitiser/_input.js
@@ -48,6 +48,10 @@ function sanitize( req ){
     // set target_layer if input suggests no address
     if (parsedAddress1.text === parsedAddress1.regions.join(' ')) {
       parsedAddress2.target_layer = get_layers(['admin', 'poi']);
+    } else {
+      // this might be an overkill - you'd want to search for poi and admin
+      // even if an address is being queried. TBD
+      parsedAddress2.target_layer = get_layers(['address']);
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/sanitiser/_layers.js b/sanitiser/_layers.js
index f61bb9a3..fa44336e 100644
--- a/sanitiser/_layers.js
+++ b/sanitiser/_layers.js
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ function sanitize( req ){
   // default case (no layers specified in GET params)
   if('string' !== typeof params.layers || !params.layers.length){
     params.layers = 'poi,admin,address'; // default layers
+    clean.default_layers_set = true;
   }
 
   // decide which layers can be queried
diff --git a/test/unit/sanitiser/reverse.js b/test/unit/sanitiser/reverse.js
index bb1a6a98..90366a41 100644
--- a/test/unit/sanitiser/reverse.js
+++ b/test/unit/sanitiser/reverse.js
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ var suggest  = require('../../../sanitiser/reverse'),
                       lon: 0,
                       size: 10,
                       details: true,
+                      default_layers_set: true,
                       categories: []
                     },
     sanitize = function(query, cb) { _sanitize({'query':query}, cb); };