A moving house checklist, from eight weeks out to moving day
Moving is a project with a hard deadline and no dress rehearsal. This is the list of things people discover too late.
Start this checklistAlmost everything that goes wrong in a move is an admin task with a lead time: a utility transfer, a redirect, a deposit, a council notification. None of it is difficult, and all of it is easy to forget.
Work backwards from moving day. Anything involving another organisation needs weeks, not days, so put those at the top of the list and the packing below.
A checklist to start from
- Give notice to landlord or list the property
- Book removals or hire a van
- Order packing boxes and tape
- Declutter room by room
- Set up mail redirection
- Transfer or cancel broadband
- Transfer gas, electricity, water
- Update council tax at both addresses
- Update address: bank, work, insurance, doctor
- Take meter readings at both properties
- Pack an essentials box for the first night
- Label every box with its room
- Confirm keys handover time
- Final clean of the old place
How to make it stick
- Do the utility and address changes first. They depend on other people's timelines, and packing does not.
- Photograph meter readings and keep them in the note. Disputed final bills are the most common post-move annoyance.
- Pack an essentials box last and unpack it first: kettle, mugs, chargers, bedding, toilet roll, a knife.
Common questions
- Will the list work in an empty flat with no broadband?
- Yes. That is exactly the situation the offline-first design is for. The list opens from your own device with no connection.
- Can I attach photos of meter readings?
- Yes. Attach an image to the note, stored in your browser rather than uploaded to a server.
- Should I use one list or several?
- Several. Admin, packing and moving day as three checklists keeps each one short enough to finish, which is what keeps you using them.