Moving house guide

Moving House Checklist: What to Update When You Move

A practical guide to the admin that follows a home move, from the obvious utilities and council tax through to the records, subscriptions, vehicles, apps, schools, pets, and providers that are easier to miss.

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Why moving admin grows so quickly

Most people can name the first few things to sort when they move: council tax, gas, electricity, water, broadband, and post. Those are important, but they are only the visible part of the move.

Once you think through the people in the household, the services you use, the official records tied to your address, and the routines that make the week run, the checklist becomes much wider. Schools, clubs, dentists, V5C documents, pet microchips, app subscriptions, delivery accounts, and business records can all sit outside the obvious utility-switching list.

The aim is not to make moving feel more complicated. It is to get the small admin out of your head and into a list, so you can decide what matters, remove what does not, and avoid discovering a missed address months later.

What to update when moving house

The home itself

Council tax, water, gas, electricity, broadband, landline, TV packages, and meter readings.
Waste collection, garden waste, home security monitoring, and smart home devices.
Post redirection, removals, storage, cleaning, locks, keys, and property management details.

People and records

GPs, dentists, orthodontists, opticians, prescriptions, counselling, care providers, and pharmacies.
Schools, nurseries, childminders, tutors, clubs, lessons, school transport, and childcare accounts.
Employers, payroll, workplace pensions, professional bodies, HMRC, and business records.

Money and official admin

Banks, credit cards, loans, pensions, investments, Premium Bonds, and insurance policies.
Driving licence, each vehicle V5C log book, vehicle insurance, finance, parking permits, and toll accounts.
Electoral register, TV Licence, benefits, student finance, Child Benefit, and local council services.

The everyday extras

Streaming services, app subscriptions, saved delivery addresses, online shopping accounts, and smart home apps.
Milk, meal boxes, pet food, water filters, newspapers, membership boxes, and regular deliveries.
Gyms, libraries, clubs, charities, venue memberships, loyalty schemes, vets, microchips, and pet care.

Same area or different area?

A same-area move often means updating addresses and transferring providers. You may keep the same school, GP, dentist, clubs, council area, and local services.

A different-area move is usually broader. It can mean a new council, new GP options, school applications, childcare searches, parking permits, local clubs, transport arrangements, and different waste collection rules.

Boundaries do not always line up neatly, so use a different-area move as a prompt to check rather than an automatic rule.

Children, pets, vehicles, and work

The checklist changes quickly when children, pets, vehicles, or business records are involved. A child may have school, clubs, tutors, childcare, health records, savings accounts, and transport to update. A pet may have a vet, microchip, medication, insurance, and pet-care routine.

Vehicles have their own layer too: driving licence, V5C, insurance, finance, parking permits, toll accounts, and EV charging apps. If you work from home, run a business, freelance, or use your address for company records, that creates another set of updates.

When to update each thing

As soon as the move is confirmed

Start anything with a lead time: broadband installation, school or childcare changes, removals, storage, parking permits, and any medical or care arrangements that cannot wait.

Two to four weeks before moving

Notify utilities, council tax, insurers, banks, subscriptions, regular deliveries, and anyone who needs time to update or transfer the account.

Move week and moving day

Take meter readings, keep photos, confirm removals and key handover, check alarms and smart devices, redirect post, and keep important documents accessible.

The first month after moving

Sweep up the long tail: DVLA records, V5Cs, digital accounts, clubs, memberships, app billing addresses, pensions, investments, and saved delivery details.

How the checklist tool helps

The moving house checklist tool starts with a short set of questions, then creates a broader list based on your move. You can remove anything that is not relevant, add custom items, add provider names, duplicate rows for multiple accounts, and save the working list in your browser.

It is useful because moving admin is rarely one tidy task. It is lots of small records spread across utilities, finance, healthcare, official documents, subscriptions, schools, vehicles, pets, and everyday services.

Ready to use your own figures?

Build your own moving house checklist

Use the guide to understand what tends to get missed, then use the checklist tool to generate a personalised list you can edit, print, and export.

Build your checklist

Moving house guides

Want the detail behind the move?

Use the tools for your own figures and checklists, or open one of these guides for the extra context, assumptions, and planning checks behind each part of a move.