What to sort out before moving day
Booking the removers is the part everyone remembers. The rest of a move is a list of small jobs, and a handful of them have real deadlines behind them.
Those are the ones worth doing early, because the cost of being late is not inconvenience, it is a fine or a bill in someone else’s name.
The ones with deadlines
Redirect your post. Royal Mail needs at least five working days to set a redirection up. Apply two or three weeks out anyway, so that a problem with the application has room to be fixed. Mail arriving at your old address after you have gone is how bank statements end up with strangers.
One thing worth knowing before you search for it: plenty of sites offer to arrange a redirection for you, and the official routes are Royal Mail’s own website, a Post Office branch in person, or a paper form sent by post. Some kinds of redirection cannot be set up online at all. These applications ask for personal details about everyone in your household, which is exactly the material you would not want to hand to the wrong site, so reach Royal Mail through its own site or a Post Office counter rather than through a search ad or a forwarded link.
Tell the DVLA. Updating the address on your driving licence is free, and updating your vehicle log book is usually free too. This one is not optional: you can be fined up to £1,000 for not telling the DVLA when your address changes. Do it online, then chase DVLA if the new log book has not arrived after four weeks; leave it past six without telling them and a replacement costs £25. If you pay vehicle tax by Direct Debit, check that too.
Tell both councils. You owe council tax at the old address until you leave and the new one from the day you arrive, and the only way either council knows is if you tell them. Do it as two separate jobs, because they are two separate authorities unless you are moving within a borough.
Register to vote at the new address. It takes a few minutes and it also affects credit checks, which matters if a mortgage or a phone contract is anywhere in your near future.
Meter readings, on the day
Take a photograph of every meter at both properties on moving day, with the time visible if you can manage it.
This sounds fussy until the first estimated bill arrives. A reading with a date on it is the thing that settles an argument with an energy supplier, and it costs you thirty seconds while the van is being loaded. Do the same with the water meter if there is one.
Give your suppliers the readings and your forwarding address. If you are changing supplier as well as address, do the move first and the switch afterwards rather than both at once.
Packing, in a useful order
Pack by room, label by room, and write what is in the box on the side rather than the top, because boxes get stacked.
The order that works is boring and effective: anything you have not touched in a year first, seasonal things next, then the kitchen, and finally the things you use daily on the last day. Books go in small boxes, because a big box of books is not liftable and a remover will say so.
Two things to keep out of the van entirely:
- Documents and valuables. Passports, the completion paperwork, jewellery, anything irreplaceable. Carry them yourself, and remember that a remover’s liability has limits and exclusions, which our guide to how much removals cost goes into.
- Anything a remover will not legally carry. Petrol, gas cylinders, paint and some cleaning chemicals are common exclusions. Ask rather than assume, and dispose of them before the day.
If you are letting the firm pack for you, that changes who is liable for what, so it is worth reading what their terms say about owner-packed boxes before you decide to save the money.
The first-night box
One box, labelled, that goes in the van last or your car first.
Kettle, mugs, tea, phone chargers, loo roll, hand soap, a towel each, bedding, any medication, and a basic toolkit for reassembling a bed. Add pet things and children’s things if they apply. The point is not comfort for its own sake: it is that you will be tired, the shops will be shut, and nobody wants to open eleven boxes looking for a phone charger.
A rough order of play
- Four to six weeks out. Book the remover. If you are moving in or out of London, look up the parking suspension then rather than later: boroughs want anywhere from three working days to a fortnight, they are not all the same, and the one with the longest notice period decides your deadline. Our guide to moving house in London covers that.
- Three weeks out. Royal Mail redirection. Start decluttering, which also lowers the quote if the survey has not happened yet.
- Two weeks out. Tell the councils, the DVLA, your bank, your GP, your insurer, your employer. Confirm the moving-day details with the remover.
- The week of. Pack everything but the essentials. Confirm the parking. Build the first-night box.
- Moving day. Meter photographs, keys, and a final walk through every room including the loft and the garage.
Frequently asked questions
When should I take the meter readings, before or after the removers leave?
After, on your way out, so the reading covers your whole occupancy. Take the reading at the new property as soon as you arrive, before you start using anything.
Do I need to be there on moving day?
Someone does, at both ends, with authority to make decisions about where things go and to sign the paperwork. If that cannot be you, tell the firm in advance who it will be rather than on the morning.
How early is too early to book a remover?
You can rarely book too early, and getting quoted costs you nothing. Four to six weeks is comfortable, and longer is fine if your date is firm. With your addresses, a rough room-by-room list and your likely date, you can compare quotes from removal companies and have the booking off the list.