Moving House Checklist UK: What to Do From 8 Weeks Out

By the Monster Cleaning team·Last updated 20 October 2026·8 min read

Start about eight weeks out: give notice if you rent, measure the new place and start clearing out. By four weeks before, book the removal and check the parking at both addresses. Mail redirection needs at least five working days, and the energy suppliers want 48 hours’ notice. On moving day, photograph the meter readings at both homes. Once you’re in, update the DVLA, HMRC, the electoral register, your GP and your pet’s microchip record. If you rent, leave time for the end of tenancy clean between the last box and the check-out.

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We run removals and end of tenancy cleans across London, Liverpool and Manchester, and the two can go on one booking. Our moves follow the order below: clear out early, book the crew and the clean together, and move first so the cleaners start on empty rooms. The official steps come from GOV.UK and council pages, linked in the sources at the end.

Moving house checklist, week by week

Most jobs fit into the eight weeks before the move. If your date is closer, start at your row and catch up on the ones above it this week.

When	What to do
Eight weeks out	Give notice if you rent (two months, in writing, in England). Start clearing out the loft, under the stairs and the backs of the kitchen cupboards. Measure the stairs and doorways at the new place for the sofa and the beds.
Six weeks out	Get removal quotes, and tell each firm about heavy or awkward pieces and anything in the loft. Book broadband installation at the new address.
Four weeks out	Book the removal and the end of tenancy clean (or a deep clean of the new place). Set up mail redirection. Check the parking rules at both addresses. Tell both councils your date for council tax. Order boxes and tape.
Two weeks out	Pack everything you won’t need before the move and label each box with its room. Finish the clear-out.
One week out	Give the energy and water suppliers your moving date. Update your bank, cards and insurers. Book whoever is disconnecting the cooker and the washing machine.
The day before	Pack the essentials box last. Put documents, jewellery and chargers in a bag that stays with you.
Moving day	Photograph the meter readings at both homes. Check every cupboard and the loft before you hand the keys back.
The first fortnight	Update the DVLA, HMRC, the electoral register, your GP and the pet microchip database. If you’ve bought, change the locks and check the stamp duty return has gone in.

The tenancy notice rule applies to most private renters in England. Council and housing association homes have their own rules.

Renters in England give two months’ notice

Since 1 May 2026, most private tenancies in England have been assured periodic tenancies. They roll on with no end date. To end one, the government’s guide for tenants says you give two months’ notice in writing, on the day the rent is due or the day before. Rent is due until the notice runs out. You and the landlord can agree in writing to a shorter notice period, so ask if the dates don’t line up with the new place. Lodgers, students in halls and council or housing association tenants have different rules.

End-of-month Saturdays book up first

For a weekday move with our removals crews, one to two weeks’ notice is usually enough. The last Saturday of the month is the busiest moving day and fills first, so book it three to four weeks ahead. If your date can move, a midweek morning is the easiest slot to get. Flats of up to two bedrooms get a written price within the hour during office hours. For three bedrooms and up, there’s a ten-minute video call first.

Whoever you book, mention anything awkward: a large mirror, a marble top, framed art, antique furniture or a wardrobe fixed to the wall. It changes the kit, and sometimes the crew. Mention the loft too, because the quote depends on it. The British Association of Removers (BAR) says its members’ crews only go into a loft that is boarded and safe, with proper access and lighting. Otherwise you bring things down yourself.

Check the parking rules at both addresses

If the crew can’t park close, every box is carried further, and on an hourly booking you pay for that time. Each council sets its own rules. Islington lets a liveried removal vehicle park free on a single yellow line or in a resident bay while loading carries on without a break, where no other loading restriction applies. To guarantee a space there, you suspend a bay, with at least 14 days’ notice. Ealing charges £39 a bay per day for a suspension booked at least seven working days ahead, or £50 with three working days’ notice. A bay there is five metres. Check both addresses on the councils’ own sites; the old and new homes may be in different boroughs.

Pack the things you won’t miss first

Packing is the part of a move that always overruns, usually at midnight the night before. Which? suggests starting on non-essentials at least two weeks before moving day. Don’t overpack boxes, and spread heavy things across several. On each box, write what’s inside, which room it goes to and which way up it stands. Pack the breakables early, with crumpled paper or bubble wrap between items.

Clearing out first makes the job smaller. You pay for a move by the hour or by the load, and a box you’ll throw out in six months takes as long to carry as one you love. If you’d sooner hand the packing over, our packers are £35 an hour each. They do the whole home the day before, or just the kitchen and the fragile things while you do the rest. Unpacking is booked the same way.

Pack an essentials box last and label it: kettle, mugs, teabags, loo roll, phone chargers, a change of clothes and the children’s bedtime things. It’s the first box unloaded. At 10pm on the first night, you’ll be glad of it.

Who to tell when you move house

Some organisations want to hear before the move, others only after it. These are the ones with rules or deadlines attached.

Council tax, at both ends. Royal Greenwich asks for your account number, moving date and new address, and bills you until it sends a final bill. Renters leaving the borough are asked for a signed and dated copy of the check-out report.
Gas and electricity. Citizens Advice says to give the suppliers at least 48 hours’ notice. Read the meters on the day you leave and note the readings and the date; the final bill should arrive within six weeks. At the new home you start on the current supplier’s standard tariff (a ‘deemed contract’) until you switch.
Your post. Royal Mail redirects it for three, six or 12 months, from £45. Its moving checklist asks for at least five working days’ notice and lets you apply up to three months ahead.
The DVLA and HMRC, after the move. Changing the address on your driving licence costs nothing, and the V5C log book is usually free too. Not telling the DVLA can mean a fine of up to £1,000. HMRC asks you to wait until you’ve moved; one online update then covers Income Tax, National Insurance, Child Benefit and the State Pension.
The electoral register, your GP and the pet microchip database. You register to vote again at the new address, which GOV.UK says takes about five minutes. Online GP registration takes about 15 minutes a person, says the NHS, and your old surgery is told automatically. Keeping a dog’s or cat’s microchip details up to date after a move is the owner’s job.
Everyone else with a bill or an account: banks and card providers, which use your address in security checks, plus broadband, mobile, the TV licence, your employer and the schools. Which? also says to tell your contents insurer the date and ask what’s covered during the move.

If you’ve bought, your solicitor or conveyancer usually files the stamp duty return and pays it on completion day. GOV.UK says it’s due within 14 days of completion, with penalties and interest after that. Check it’s been done.

If you rent, move first and clean second

Cleaners can only reach the floor under the bed and the wall behind the wardrobe once the furniture has gone. A crew carrying boxes through a freshly mopped hallway undoes the work. So the clean goes after the last box. Book both with us and the crew loads first thing, the cleaners start once the flat is empty, and the keys can go back to the agent that evening. If the day runs late, or the check-out is the next day, they clean the next morning. Our end of tenancy clean is priced by the size of the property. If the letting agent flags anything within 48 hours, we come back and re-clean it free.

The check-out clerk goes through the property against the inventory, so clean from a list; our end of tenancy cleaning checklist works room by room. Once you both agree how much comes back, the GOV.UK deposit guide gives the landlord 10 days to return your deposit. If you don’t agree, it stays protected in the scheme until the dispute is sorted out. Our deposit-back toolkit has a deduction checker and a dispute letter for that stage.

Moving into somewhere that needs work? Book a deep clean for the day before you move in. Empty rooms clean far quicker than rooms full of your own furniture.

On moving day, photograph the meters

Take a clear photo of the gas and electricity meters at both properties. It takes thirty seconds and settles any argument with the energy supplier later. Citizens Advice also says to give the new home’s readings to its supplier on moving-in day, so the first bill starts from the right figure.

Disconnect the cooker and the washing machine before the crew arrives. BAR says that’s the customer’s job, since removers aren’t allowed to tamper with mains services. The Gas Safe Register says a gas cooker or hob should only be disconnected by a Gas Safe registered engineer, so book one in advance. Keep jewellery with you on the day, as BAR advises.

If you’re leaving the home to someone else, Which? suggests notes on the boiler and the alarm, and on where to find the meters, the fuse box and the stopcock. Label every key. Ask the people you’re buying from to do the same.

Questions we get asked

How far ahead should I book a removal company?

With us, one to two weeks is usually enough for a weekday move, and three to four weeks for the last Saturday of the month. Royal Mail’s checklist puts booking at six weeks out, which makes sense if your date is fixed. A 50% deposit holds the date, and you can change it free up to 48 hours before.

When should I tell the council I’m moving?

Once you know the date; Royal Mail’s checklist puts it about a month before. Tell the council you’re leaving and the one you’re moving to. Royal Greenwich, for one, asks for the moving date and both addresses, and you keep paying the old council until its final bill arrives.

Can I move out and have the flat cleaned on the same day?

Yes. The crew loads in the morning, the cleaners start once the flat is empty, and the keys can go back to the agent that evening. If the day runs long, we clean the next morning. You book both on one call.

Do I have to tell the DVLA when I move?

Yes, for your driving licence and for the log book of any vehicle registered to you. Both are usually free online, and you can keep driving while the new licence comes. GOV.UK says you can be fined up to £1,000 if you don’t tell the DVLA.

Moving house checklist: what to do from eight weeks out to moving day