The Ultimate Guide to Moving House

When it comes to moving house there's just so much to think about — from handing your notice in to your landlord to changing your address with your utility providers. And that’s not to mention all the packing that needs to be done!

With so much to get through, it can be easy to forget an essential step. That’s where we come in. We’ve got plenty of experience in the removal industry and could practically move house in our sleep at this point. That’s why we’ve created this handy moving house checklist. It covers everything you need to consider when moving house.

Once you've read our step-by-step guide to moving house, not only will you be blown away by our removal wisdom — but you’ll feel a lot less stressed about the big move, too.

Confirm your move in date

Before you can do anything here, you'll need to confirm your official move-in date with the official people i.e. the conveyancers and the house sellers if you’re buying or the landlord if you’re renting.

Once you’ve got your move in date then you can decide how you want to go about this. For example, if you have a lot of stuff to move you might want to spread it across a couple of days. Or, if you need to redecorate and clean your new place, it might even be worth holding some stuff back and putting some of your items in storage whilst you do this.

Let your landlord know you’re moving out

If you're renting, you'll also need to let your current landlord you’ll be moving out. Make sure you check the notice period too. The last thing you want is to sign a lease that starts in two months time only to find your notice period is sixth months.

Hopefully your end date and start date coincide perfectly and there’s no overlap. However, if you’re planning a gradual move in to your new home then you might actually want a small overlap. The choice is all yours but just make sure you plan accordingly.

Notify your utility providers

Next, you need to ring your utility providers to let them know you’re moving house. We know, this one can be a bit of a faff — but it has to be done all the same. It’s particularly important you call your water, gas and electric suppliers, especially if you want to keep using them in your new home, as they will need to come and set this up for you.

Plus, if you forget to call them you’ll still be charged. You don’t want to be paying two lots of bills now, do you? Not in this climate! Though not exhaustive, here’s a list of some of the relevant organisations you’ll need to let know your moving:

• Your gas and electric provider

• Your phone and internet provider

• TV licensing

• Your local council

• Your home insurance company

You’ll most likely need to take some meter readings in the case of your gas and electric and you might be asked to send your Wi-Fi router back, too. Once you’ve let your suppliers know you’re moving house they can update your accounts and/or help you get set up at your new place.

Have a clear out!

For a lot of people, this step is either the best or the worst part of moving. Some of us love a good old declutter and a trip to the skip, whereas some of us struggle to let go of that fridge magnet collection from 2009! We get it — but either way, a clear out will need to happen at some point if you're moving home.

There’s no point packing and moving items you don’t need or use any more. They're only taking up valuable space and will slow you down. Plus, if you decide to bring in the help of professionals to help you move, it could end up costing you more money because you have more to move.

So use this as an opportunity to have a spring-clean. It doesn’t all have to go to waste either. You can donate any items you no longer want to your friends, family or charity or you can sell them online or at a car boot sale.

Pack everything into boxes

Next up on our moving house checklist is packing! Perhaps the most obvious one out of the bunch but we couldn’t miss it out now, could we? We actually have a whole blog post dedicated to packing for moving house, which you should definitely check out if you need some extra guidance here.

Or you could just leave it to the experts completely. Did we mention we have a combined 25 years of industry experience? In that time we’ve packed it all. Our full packing service sees us take care of absolutely everything — from the heavy lifting to the glassware. This means you can sit back, relax and focus on all the other tasks on this moving house checklist.

Alternatively, we have a partial packing and removal service for those who want to be more involved. You can find our complete list of packing and removal services here.

Move house

Again, we're sorry to state the obvious but we can't let it go unsaid. Once you’ve packed up everything you own into boxes you’ll need to consider how to get everything from one place to the other.

For the lucky ones of you out there, you might be able to do this yourself with the help of your friends and family. But we reckon most of you will need a van (or two).

Well, here we are. If you’re in Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey or surrounding areas we'll be more than happy to help you to move out. Though these are the areas we’ll collect from, we will happily take you anywhere within the UK — whether it be the neighbouring town or t'up north — we'll get you to where you need to be.

Set your valuables aside

When you’re moving house and everything’s up in the air it’s easy to misplace those valuables and important documents. We’ve all been there, you’re on a roll with you’re packing and the next thing you know you’ve packed your car keys into one of the thousand boxes in front of you.

So, to avoid any mishaps like this we strongly suggest gathering up all your valuables and putting them in a safe box. You can then take this to a trusted family member's house or put it somewhere it won’t get mixed up with all the other boxes.

See — we told you our moving house guide has absolutely everything covered!

Set aside the essentials

We talk about this in our packing for moving house guide, so we won’t go into too much detail here. But to summarise, set aside some boxes and bags of essentials such as work clothes, duvets and basic cooking equipment.

When you’ve just moved in and you can’t access everything just yet, these will be a godsend. And if you have small children or pets this tip will come in even more handy!

Update your address

Next up on our moving house checklist is changing your address. We know, you thought the endless faff of phone calls was over — unfortunately not quite yet. There are other organisations you need to let know you've moved house too. These include:

• Your bank

• Your employer

• Your pension provider

• Your insurance provider(s)

• The DVLA (if you drive)

• Your GP, dentist, optician and any other healthcare provider

Thankfully you can update your address for a lot of these online these days. Though we can’t promise you won’t have to make another phone call.

Take what you need to storage

As we mentioned earlier on, you might want to hold some of your items back or keep them in storage whilst you move in gradually, renovate or decorate. If you do need a place to safely store your stuff then we’d be happy to offer our services to you.

We have several secure storage units across the country that are protected through 24-hour CCTV. Get in touch with us if you’d like to explore your options here.

If you are putting some of your items into storage, our helpful blog covers everything you need to know about how to prepare your possessions for a professional storage unit. Be sure to check it out!

Just one last check...

Again, this one probably goes without saying but before you leave your old home have one last scout of the place. Look in all the cupboards, the attic and the shed to make sure you’ve not left anything behind.

Get your bearings at your new place

Once you get to the other side, it’s a good idea to scout that out too. Check the old tenants or owners haven’t left anything behind. You might also want to take a meter reading and make sure the electrics work as they should.

And there we have it! That brings us to the end of our step-by-step moving house checklist. Feel free to refer back to this whilst you're in the midst of your move.

Saint Removals — the removal experts

Here at Saint Removals, we’re all about making your move as flawless as possible, whether that’s by physically helping you through it or by offering our expert moving house advice.

We hope you found our guide to moving house helpful, and if you do need a couple of extra pairs of hands — then you know who to call. Whilst we can’t call your internet provider, the packing and heavy lifting? That we can help with.

Start your removal journey today!