Moving House Checklist: The Bills, Accounts and Admin, Week by Week

Most of the cost of a badly handled move is not the removal van. It is a bill still going out at the old address, a meter reading nobody took, broadband that is not ready for two weeks, or a council tax bill that arrives three months late with arrears on it. This checklist is the money and admin side of a UK move, in the order it needs doing.

Four weeks or more before

• If you rent, give notice as your tenancy agreement requires, in writing, and keep a copy.
• If you are buying, arrange buildings insurance from exchange of contracts, not from moving day.
• Order broadband for the new address. Installation can take two weeks or more, and it is the service most people miss on the first night.
• List every contract with an end date: broadband, mobile, energy, insurance, subscriptions. A move is a natural moment to leave one that is ending anyway.
• Book the removal firm, and ask whether your contents insurance covers belongings in transit.

One to two weeks before

• Tell your energy supplier your moving date and ask for a final bill.
• Tell the water company for the old home, and find out which company supplies the new one.
• Tell the council for the old address your moving date, and register with the council for the new one.
• Arrange post redirection if you want it. Royal Mail runs a paid redirection service for a set period.
• Start the change of address list: bank, employer, pension, insurers, DVLA and the rest.

Moving day

1. Read the gas, electricity and water meters at the home you are leaving, and photograph them with the date showing.
2. Do the same at the new home before using anything.
3. If you rent, check the inventory at the new home and photograph anything already damaged.
4. Keep every key and code handed over, and note who has spares.

The first week

• Give the opening meter readings to the suppliers at the new home. Until you do, you are on their standard terms.
• Check the council has you at the new address from the right date.
• Register with a GP near the new home.
• Register to vote at the new address.
• Check the first bills: an estimated opening reading means paying for someone else's use.

What changes the bills at a new address

Council tax band, water charges, which broadband providers can reach the property and the energy supplier already in place are all set by the address, not by you. That is why the same household can pay noticeably different amounts after a move, and why the first month is the time to look at each one.

How Wisemium helps

Start with the postcode of the new address and Wisemium sets the household up around it: it works out the council from the postcode, shows the likely water company, and lists the bills still to add. Each contract you add is kept with its price and its end date, and shown as needing attention as that date comes up.