Moving house checklist: Everything you need to remember

Tips to make moving day that bit easier.

Moving house is not a simple task, with everything to be packed away, cleaning to be done, and a plethora of busywork required to ensure your transition to the new abode is done correctly.

With so much to remember, we thought we’d try to make life easier by providing a moving house checklist, with all the things you need and some tips on making moving day as smooth as possible.

Moving house checklist: Early preparations

Moving all your worldly possessions from one house to another starts from the moment you know your move in date. The earlier you get on top of things, the easier it will be come the date of the move.

Ideally, you should want to give yourself a good few weeks to prepare - between six to eight weeks is good time, as you’ll likely be working in this time still so will have limited opportunities to get everything sorted.

The same rules apply to renting. In fact, you have an advantage when renting as you have a set move out date in place for even longer.

In the event that you have a rolling tenancy agreement - legally known as a periodic tenancy, meaning your tenancy has no fixed end date - you’d need to let your landlord know as soon as possible of your moving date so that you can agree on things such as the moving out date, final rent payment and deposit repayment.

Moving budget

What you’ll also want to do, which applies to both buying and renting, is create a moving budget. There may be costs behind moving all your belongings, especially if you’re moving a great distance. Here are the key costings you’ll need to consider in your moving budget:

Moving van rental

Unless you have a handy friend or family member who happens to have a big truck or van themselves, you’ll need to rent a removal van to transport all your stuff. Depending on how much stuff you have, you may even need one for several days, which will increase the cost.

Packing equipment

Buying boxes to put all the smaller bits in would be essential. You may have a few Amazon boxes lying around that can be handy, but believe us, it's easy to underestimate just how many boxes you’ll need. It’s better to have more than less to stop you from having to constantly run out to buy more.

You’ll also want things like bubble wrap and packing paper to protect your more valuable items, plus there’s the cost of how much packing tape you’ll need to close up all the boxes.

Cleaning

Cleaning your old home is very important. You always have to clean the property you are moving out from and leave it in a good condition.

If you want to do this yourself, you’ll have to consider buying all the cleaning supplies you’ll need if you haven’t got them already. 

Alternatively, you can hire professional cleaners to do it all for you. This would likely require moving all your stuff out a little earlier so the cleaners can get to everything, but consider the time and effort you’re saving yourself, not to mention how much cleaner the place may be over opting to do it yourself (unless you positively love spring cleaning).

Professional movers

Hiring professional movers is also a smart play. This can save you a lot of time on the moving day so that you can focus on getting all your stuff out and into your new home, and it can even work out as the cheaper option since professional movers will have their own moving truck and equipment, saving you from having to rent those separately.

Storage units

If there is some time between your move out and move in date and you have no place to put all your belongings, your best option then is to put everything in storage. 

There are plenty of storage units around, so simply search for one and decide what size unit you’ll need and for how long you’ll need to use it for. 

Moving insurance

Finally, one of the most important costs that often gets overlooked is moving insurance. This may be included in your home/contents insurance if you have it, but if you don’t or you do but it doesn’t include house removals, it would be advisable to take out a separate content insurance policy that does include house removals, even if just for the duration of the move.

Removal and storage companies may have some kind of cover in place already but it might not cover some of your more valuable possessions. It’s best to check with either one (depending on which you choose) about what they offer in that regard.

Moving house checklist: Administrative tasks

Possibly the most boring aspect of moving home is the seemingly exhaustive amount of administrative tasks that must be completed. Unfortunately, while boring, these are arguably the most important tasks that need to be undertaken to ensure you don’t miss anything that may come back to cost you - figuratively and literally.

Updating your address with places like your bank(s) will save you from missing any important letters and/or documents that you won’t want to not receive. Typically, this can be done via your banking app if your bank has one, but if not you will likely be able to do it online via the banks website as well.

Similarly, any insurance you have will need to be updated. Again, this can likely be done via your insurance providers’ app (if applicable) or online via their website.

You’ll need to contact DVLA to notify them of your new address so they can issue you a new licence with your updated address. Don’t worry, you will still be able to drive within this time.

Then you have to sort out your new healthcare providers. You’ll need to do some research into the local doctors surgeries, dentists and vets (if needed) to see what’s available and if you can sign up as a new patient.

Utilities

Finally, and potentially the biggest task, will be sorting out utilities, which applies to your old house as well as your new one.

Before you move out, you’ll need to notify your utility providers that you’re leaving the premises. If you’re still under a contract with any, you’ll need to check what your options are, whether you can transfer over your existing contract to your new premise or if you’ll need to cancel, which may come with an early cancellation fee.

You’ll also want to take a final meter reading for your water, gas and electricity and send the data to your provider so you can get your final bill. This should be the last day that you are responsible for the premise, although if you can’t on the day, some providers do give a couple of days to do so.

You’ll then want to get your utilities for your new home sorted ideally before you get there. You should research which provider the previous tenants were with, then compare prices to see what your best options are to ensure you don’t overpay.

Then, when you first move into your new home, be sure to take a meter reading and submit it to your providers. That way, the provider can give you an accurate first bill and more accurate bills going forward.

Lastly, you’ll need to update your council tax. This can either be very straightforward if your remaining within your local authority, or a bit more complicated if not.

If you are moving to somewhere within the same local authority, then not much changes. You’ll need to go onto your local authority’s website and find the ‘change of address’ page, enter your new address, and that will likely be it. Your direct debit will continue as normal so it is a simple process.

In a situation where you are moving to a new local authority, then you’ll need to contact your existing authority to notify them that you’re moving away and thus need to close your account. They will send you one final bill before stopping your monthly payments.

You then need to create an account with your new local authority ideally before you move into your new home. The local authority will backdate any required payments if you don’t have it sorted for when you move in, so it’s best to do this before you move in to save any unwanted bills.

Moving house checklist: Packing essentials

We briefly went over some of the essentials you’ll need as part of the move - boxes, bubble wrap etc. But let’s dive a little deeper into that.

The first mistake you may make is chucking everything into random boxes. While maybe somewhat convenient on the move out, future you will despise yourself for leaving the task of finding where everything is and where things need to go for when you get to the new home.

You should carefully pack things together that will be staying together. That way, you can put the boxes in the relevant rooms and know you won’t have to run around finding different things.

You’ll also want to label all the boxes, either with proper labels or simply by writing on the boxes with a sharpie. This helps you to know what’s in each box so you can put it in the right room, and the same goes for if you hired movers, so they can place the boxes in the corresponding area.

Putting these boxes together can be an art form. If you have given yourself enough time to carefully plan your packing, then you will find you can get a lot more in a box then if you opt for a rush job of just chucking everything in, closing the lid and forgetting about it.

Giving yourself enough time will also save you from potential damage. With proper preparation, you’ll be able to see what needs to be wrapped up for safer transport and what should and shouldn’t be put together to avoid potential collision and breakage.

Moving house checklist: Preparing for moving day

As the moving date looms closer, you’ll want to ensure you have the last bits ready and accounted for.

This can be confirming final arrangements with the removal company if you have one, such as making sure the date and time that they’ll be with you is to your liking.

This is always when you should be checking your meter readings. On the final day of the move is most ideal, but if you want to save a job on the day you can get it done sooner so you don’t have to worry.

If you hired a professional cleaning service, you should give the place a once-over yourself before they come in to do the job. You will have kicked up a lot of dust and dirtied the place up when packing so a quick clean before the in-depth scrub would be necessary.

Finally, you’ll want to arrange for care of any pets and young children if you have any. You may love them, but you won’t when they’re getting in the way while you're exhausted from all the heavy lifting. 

It’s best to find any family members or friends who can take them for the day, even if it's just for a couple hours to take them to the park before bringing them back in time for departure.

Moving house checklist: Day of the move

It’s d-day, time to go. If you want to ensure the smoothest operation possible, you’ll need one final checklist with everything you need to happen on the day to make sure all is accounted for.

This part is almost like a military operation. You’ll want to conduct a full sweep of the premise, confirming that all your belongings are carefully and safely packed away. Anything left out isn’t a failure, but somehow has messed up somewhere and will need to be reprimanded (not necessary but maybe cathartic).

Within your checklist should be all essential documents you may need. This may be the contract to your new home, your ID, the keys for both old and new home, and any other important documents or items you feel you’ll need readily available.

If you’ve opted for professional movers, you can converse with them to work out the best course of action. Some movers may say you can sit back and relax while they sort everything out, while others may require some direction. It’s always best to stay there with them to help with any queries or direct when needed. 

If you don’t have movers, you’ll need a whole lot of coffee for the boost, energy drinks for an added boost, and aspirin for when you finally get to rest and realise the pain you’re in.

Once everything is packed away, do one final sweep to check everything that is yours is packed away before departing. Say one final goodbye to your old home, then get in your vehicle of choice and ride off into the sunset.