The Moving House Checklist We Actually Use (UK)

Moving house is the third most stressful life event, apparently just behind bereavement and divorce. We don't fully buy that, but we do see what happens when people start packing four days before completion, and it isn't pretty.

This is the checklist we give every family who asks us how to prepare. It assumes you have around eight weeks from offer accepted to moving day, which is roughly typical for a UK house purchase. If you have less, skip ahead and move faster. If you have more, you can relax a bit in the early weeks.

8 weeks before: plan, declutter, and get quotes

This is the "quietly start" phase. Nothing is urgent yet, but the work you do now saves you a scramble later.

• Decide what's going with you. Walk every room with a bin bag, a charity bag, and a "sell" pile. The fewer things you move, the cheaper and faster the day will be.
• Start a moving folder. Paper or digital, doesn't matter. Solicitor's contact, estate agent's contact, completion date, quotes, inventories, and receipts all live here.
• Get three removal quotes. A good removal company will either visit in person or ask you to WhatsApp a video walkthrough of each room. A quote based purely on "three bedrooms" is a quote that will change on the day. Here's how our house removals work.
• If you need storage, start pricing it now. Short-term storage is cheap if you book early and expensive if you book on the Wednesday before completion. See our self-storage service.

6 weeks before: book everything

• Book your removal team. The best West Yorkshire movers are booked six weeks out for Fridays and Saturdays in peak season.
• Book time off work, at minimum the day of the move and the day after. You will not be useful at your desk on day two.
• Sort schools if you have children. Notify current school, apply to new school, request records transfer.
• Start using up the freezer. Frozen food doesn't travel well, and frost-free freezers still need to defrost the day before the move.

4 weeks before: start packing the non-essentials

This is the week most people wish they'd started in. You don't have to pack much yet, but pack something.

• Pack anything you won't touch in the next month. Books, DVDs, photo albums, loft contents, spare bedding, out-of-season clothes, decorative items, garden tools that aren't in use.
• Label every box on two sides with room name and a one-line summary of contents. "Kitchen: baking tins & mixing bowls" takes three seconds and saves an hour on day two.
• Arrange redirection of your post with Royal Mail. It's a paid service but worth it for the first three months.
• Notify utilities and service providers of your move date. See the FAQ below for the full list.
• Measure anything big (fridge, sofa, wardrobe, piano) against the doorways and stairs at the new place. Tight fits need to be known about, not discovered.

2 weeks before: confirm everything

• Confirm your removal booking in writing. Times, addresses, access notes, parking, anything unusual.
• Book parking or a dispensation if either end is on a busy street, a red route, or has permit-only parking. Councils usually need 5–10 working days' notice.
• Buy packing supplies if you're self-packing: wardrobe boxes, bubble wrap, tape, marker pens, and twice as many boxes as you think you need. Or let us handle the packing while you focus on the move itself.
• Sort out pets and children for moving day. They are a distraction you will not have bandwidth for.
• Back up your computer and take a photo of every wire behind your TV and your router. You will absolutely forget which cable goes where.

1 week before: final push

• Pack daily-use items except the kettle, a few mugs, and one change of clothes.
• Defrost the freezer 24–48 hours before the move. Stand it on towels. There will be water.
• Take meter readings on the morning of the move: gas, electric, water. Photograph each with the date visible.
• Pack your "Open First" box (see the FAQ below). Put it in the car, not the van.
• Dismantle flat-pack furniture the night before if you're comfortable doing it. Otherwise leave it for the team; we'll do it on arrival.
• Triple-check completion details with your solicitor on the Friday before. Moves fall over in the last 72 hours more often than anyone wants to admit.

The day before

• Strip the beds. Pack sheets in a clearly labelled box so they're the first thing you find tonight.
• Empty the bin, the fridge, and the freezer.
• Charge your phone. Fully.
• Eat something proper for dinner. You will not cook tomorrow.
• Set two alarms. On your phone and your partner's phone. Moving day is not a day for sleeping in.

Moving day itself

• Do a final walkthrough before the van leaves: every cupboard, the loft, the shed, behind every door.
• Take final meter readings after the van has gone.
• Leave the keys where the estate agent has agreed (not on the kitchen counter, unless that's the plan).
• Follow the van or get to the new place first, whichever works. We'll wait if we beat you there.
• Unpack bedrooms first. Beds made, kettle on, pyjamas out. Everything else can wait until tomorrow.

The first week in the new place

• Find the stop taps and the fuse box. Knowing where they are before something leaks or trips is always wise.
• Test smoke alarms. Batteries, not just the test button.
• Register with a new GP and dentist if you've moved far enough to change them.
• Update your address everywhere you haven't already: driving licence, car insurance, home insurance, banks, online retailers you use regularly.
• Meet one neighbour. Honestly. One conversation early makes everything easier later.

The one thing everyone forgets

Take photos of every room at the old place after you've moved out and every room at the new place before you've moved in. Deposits, final bills, and "did that chip in the wall come with the house or did we do it?" disputes all get a lot easier when you have dated photos.

If any part of this checklist is making your heart sink, that's what we're here for. WhatsApp us or email [email protected] and we'll sort a free quote. We've done more than 10,000 moves across West Yorkshire, and we've seen every kind of wobble.