House Moving Checklist | Week by Week

Most people move house every few years, which is not often enough to get good at it. We turn up at the end of the process, so we see which bits people wish they had started earlier. It is almost always the same three: the broadband, the parking, and deciding what is not coming.

This is the order we would do it in. Eight weeks is a comfortable run-up rather than a minimum — if your dates have moved and you have three weeks, start at the four-week section and work fast. Nothing here is legal or financial advice; it is the practical side, from the van end of the job.

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8 weeks before you move

Nothing is urgent yet, which is exactly why this is the stage people skip. The jobs here are the ones with long lead times — the ones that cause problems precisely because they were left.

Pin down your moving date, and treat it as provisionalIn England and Wales nothing is binding until contracts exchange, which is often only a week or two before completion. Plan around the date; do not spend money on it yet.
Get three removal quotesAsk each firm what happens if your date moves, and whether the price is fixed or hourly. Ours is fixed and in writing before anything is booked.
Check your notice period if you are rentingUsually a month, but read the tenancy — some are longer, and some only let you give notice on a particular day.
Book time off workThe moving day itself, and ideally the day after. Unpacking with a laptop open is miserable.
Start deciding what is not coming with youSelling, donating or handing things on to family all take longer than people expect. Start now and it is a background task; start in the last fortnight and it is a crisis.
Measure your biggest furniture — and the new placeWardrobes, corner sofas, American fridges, piano. Measure the item, then the doorways, the turn at the top of the stairs, and the lift if there is one.
Look at the parking at both endsPermit bays, loading restrictions, a shared drive, a barrier. This is the single most common thing that turns a five-hour job into a seven-hour one.

On what is not coming

We move what is coming with you. Anything that is not needs its own arrangement, and that is a separate job from the removal — so give yourself weeks for it, not days.

6 weeks before you move

Packing starts here, gently. The aim is to get everything you do not touch in a normal week into boxes now, so the last fortnight is only about the things you actually use.

Order your packing materialsMore boxes than you think, plus strong tape, bubble wrap, and two thick marker pens. Small boxes for books, large ones for bedding — not the other way round.
Pack the loft, the garage and the spare roomThese take the longest and are the easiest to underestimate. They are also where you find the things you forgot you owned.
Pack books, out-of-season clothes and anything decorativeNothing you will need before the move. Keep a box or two spare for the last-minute odds and ends.
Contact schools if you are moving catchmentPlaces are not automatic and admissions rounds have deadlines. Do this before you need to, not after.
Register with a new GP and dentist if you are moving out of the areaWorth doing early — some practices have waiting lists, and you do not want to be sorting it while ill.
Tell your contents insurer the new address and the moving dateCheck whether your policy covers your belongings while they are in transit, and what the removal firm's own cover does and does not include.

Label by destination, not origin

Write the room the box is going to on the top and on two sides — not the room it came from. On the day, the crew is reading labels while walking backwards through a door. "Back bedroom" tells them where to put it; "kitchen cupboard" does not.

Mark anything fragile clearly, and write which way is up.

4 weeks before you move

This is the admin month. None of it is difficult, but a lot of it has a lead time, and the lead times are the whole reason this section is not in moving week.

Confirm the removal booking in writingPrice, arrival window, what is included, what happens if the date slips. If any of that is only verbal, get it in an email.
Sort the broadbandStart this now. A transfer or a new install is routinely the longest lead time in the whole move, and an engineer visit can be weeks out.
Apply for Royal Mail redirectionAllow at least five working days, more at busy times. It is worth a year rather than three months — post you had forgotten about keeps arriving for longer than you expect.
Tell both councils about council taxThe one you are leaving and the one you are moving to. Closing one account does not open the other.
Notify energy, water and TV licenceGive them the moving date and ask what readings they need from you.
Update bank, employer, DVLA and any subscriptionsDVLA means both the driving licence and the V5C log book, and both are free to change.
Arrange parking with the council if the street needs itA bay suspension or a visitor permit usually needs several working days' notice and sometimes a fee. Cheaper than an extra hour of crew time.
Book childcare and pet care for the dayMoving day is a house full of open doors, heavy things and strangers. Everyone has a better time if the small and the furry are elsewhere.

2 weeks before you move

Packing moves from background task to main event. By the end of this fortnight the only things left loose should be the ones you are using daily.

Pack room by room, finishing one before starting the nextHalf-packed rooms everywhere is how things get lost and how the last two days become panic.
Start running the freezer downPlan meals around what is in it. Whatever is left on the day has to travel, and frozen food does not enjoy a removal van.
Confirm the key handoverWho holds the keys, where you collect them, and what time they are actually released — which on completion day depends on the money moving, not on the clock.
Cancel or redirect regular deliveriesMilk, veg boxes, prescriptions, anything on subscription tied to the address.
Arrange for appliances to be disconnectedGas appliances need a competent person. Washing machines need their transit bolts back in, if you still have them.
Agree who is dismantling the furnitureBeds, wardrobes, garden furniture. If the crew is doing it, tell them what and how many before the day so the time is in the quote.
Confirm the arrival window with your removal firmThen tell whoever is handling the keys, so both ends of the day line up.

Moving week

Everything from here is about making the day itself boring. A boring moving day is a successful one.

Pack an essentials box and label it clearlyKettle, mugs, tea and coffee, toilet roll, hand soap, a towel each, phone chargers, medication, scissors and a screwdriver. This box travels with you, not on the van.
Defrost the freezer at least 24 hours aheadLeave the door open with towels underneath. A freezer that is still dripping when the van arrives is nobody's favourite item.
Photograph anything valuable before it is wrappedFurniture, artwork, electronics. Two minutes now, and any question about condition afterwards has an answer.
Charge everything and get some cashPhones, power banks, the drill. Cash for parking, and enough for a proper lunch for everyone.
Clear a run from the front door to where the van will parkBikes out of the hall, cars off the drive, wheelie bins moved, the side gate unlocked.
Put together a folder of documents that travels with youPassports, birth certificates, the tenancy or completion paperwork, insurance. Not in a box, not on the van.
Tell a neighbour or two what is happeningEspecially if the van will be blocking anything. Most access problems are solved by someone knowing in advance.

The day before

Short list, and worth doing properly. Everything you get done today is something you are not doing at seven in the morning.

Finish the packing, except the essentials box and the bedsIf a box is not sealed and labelled by tonight, it will not be tomorrow either.
Set aside everything that travels in your carDocuments, jewellery, medication, laptops, keys, chargers, the kettle. Put it all in one place, ideally a room the crew has finished with.
Check the loft, shed, garage and under the stairs againThese are where the forgotten things live. Also the airing cupboard and the back of the wardrobe.
Strip the beds, or set an alarm to do it first thingBedding into a clearly marked bag — it is the first thing you will want at the other end.
Confirm the arrival time one last timeA two-minute call the evening before catches anything that has changed at either end.
Get an early nightNot a joke. It is a long physical day and it starts early.

Moving day

Your job today is readings, decisions and keeping the essentials box with you. The lifting is ours.

Take and photograph the meter readings at the old placeGas, electricity, water. Photograph the meter with the reading visible — it settles any dispute later.
Walk the crew round before they startShow them what is fragile, what is not coming, what needs dismantling and where the van should sit. Five minutes here saves an hour later.
Keep the essentials box and your documents with youIn the car, not on the van. This is the single most common thing to get wrong.
Do a final sweep before the van closesLoft, shed, garage, dishwasher, washing machine, behind every door, window sills, the back of the airing cupboard.
Leave keys, manuals and anything you are handing overWindow keys, meter keys, alarm codes, appliance manuals, the bin collection day written on a note.
Take the readings at the new place as soon as you are inSame again — photograph them before anything else happens.
Direct boxes room by room as they come off the vanStand where you can see the door. It is far quicker than moving them again tomorrow.
Check the van is empty before it leavesHave a look yourself. Blankets and straps get folded over things.
Make the beds before you do anything elseYou will not want to at midnight, and you will be very glad it is done.

Your first week in the new place

The move is done. These are the things that are easy to forget once the boxes are in and the pressure is off.

Find the stopcock, the fuse box and the metersBefore you need them at eleven at night. Show everyone else in the house too.
Test the smoke and carbon monoxide alarmsFit new batteries regardless of what the previous owner said.
Consider changing the locksYou have no way of knowing how many keys are out there. It is a cheap hour's work.
Register on the electoral rollIt also affects your credit file, so it is worth doing promptly.
Update the address on everything left overOnline shopping, loyalty cards, vets, gym, anything that turns up on your doormat over the next month.
Check your new council's collection daysEvery council runs a different schedule and the first one always sneaks up on you. It is usually on their website under your new postcode.

A note on timing your removal booking

The last Friday of the month is the busiest day in this trade, followed by every other Friday. If your date is flexible even by a day, a midweek move is easier to book and there is more slack in the schedule if the morning runs late.

Access is the other thing worth raising early, because it changes what vehicle makes sense. Terraced streets with permit bays, narrow conservation-area lanes and managed blocks with a bookable service lift are all normal here — we have written up the specifics for moving in Luton and moving in St Albans, and the same thinking applies across Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.

Want this priced properly?

Send us the two postcodes and a rough idea of what is coming, and we will give you a fixed price in writing. No obligation, and no follow-up pestering if you decide to go elsewhere.

Get a free quote Call 07769 753258

The complete house moving checklist

8 weeks before you move

6 weeks before you move

4 weeks before you move

2 weeks before you move

Moving week

The day before

Moving day

Your first week in the new place

A note on timing your removal booking

Want this priced properly?