Between packing boxes and collecting keys, we know there’s plenty to think about when you move. Our moving home checklist covers the essentials, from redirecting your mail to signing up for your utilities in your new home.
Whether you’re renting your first flat or buying a new home, a little planning can make things easier. Here are five tips to help you prepare and settle in.
1. Add heating & hot water to your moving home checklist
Before moving in, find out if your new home is on a heat network. Heat networks provide an efficient and environmentally friendly way of delivering energy to buildings. Instead of every home needing its own gas or electric boiler, a central energy centre generates heating, hot water, and sometimes cooling, which is then supplied to all connected properties. You can find out more about heat networks in our FAQs.
Your heating & hot water account may therefore be separate from your electricity and water accounts. Head to our ‘Find your home’ page to find out who your heat supplier is.
If Insite Energy manages your new heating & hot water account, complete our moving in form. Have your tenancy start or completion date ready, along with your opening meter reading.
2. Get to know your new home and utilities
Once you arrive, take some time to get familiar with your new home. Find any instruction manuals and locate important controls, such as your thermostat and heating programmer, stop tap and fuse box. Check that your smoke alarms are working and that you know how and who to report an emergency or fault to. Read our helpful blog so you know who to contact. Also, check whether you’ll receive monthly bills or will need to top-up through a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) system.
If on PAYG, make sure you know how to top-up your account to access your energy supply. Where Insite Energy is the metering & billing provider for your heat network, the easiest way to top-up is through ‘my insite’, where you can also check your account balance, set-up an automatic top-up, view your payment history and more. If your account is still being set-up and you have no heating & hot water, please call us straight away.
3. Update your details and arrange your utilities
Now get into the details. Make a list of who needs to know you’re moving. This could include your bank, employer, DVLA, insurers and any subscription services.
Next, arrange for your broadband to be transferred to your new home and tell your utility providers the exact date you’re moving in. This should be the legal date on your tenancy or leasehold/freehold agreement, which may not be the actual date you physically move-in.
If you’re renting your new home, first check if any bills are included in your rent so you know which accounts you need to set-up yourself. Remember to ask about heating & hot water, as these may be billed separately from electricity. If Insite manages your heating & hot water or cooling account at your new home, complete our moving in form so we can set-up your account.
Moving home is a good time to compare deals and switch utility providers where you can. However, heat networks work differently. Your home is connected to a shared heating system, with one heat supplier serving all connected properties. This means you can’t freely switch to a different supplier like you can with other utilities.
4. Redirect your post
To ensure you keep receiving all your mail, consider using the Royal Mail’s redirection service. This service forwards post sent to your old address to your new one for a fee. You can choose cover for three, six or twelve months, helping you avoid missing important letters.
However, you should still update your address with each company directly. Remember to change saved delivery addresses on your shopping apps too, so your next parcel arrives at the right door.
5. Don’t forget to tell us before you leave
If Insite manages your utility accounts, please complete our moving out form as soon as you know your move-out date. This lets us close your account on the right day. To save you time on your move-out day, you can fill this out in advance and simply provide us with a final meter reading on the day your tenancy or lease agreement ends. If you cannot access your meter, ask your landlord or building manager for help.
Keep a photo of your final meter read for your records and ensure that any outstanding balance is paid off. Then, look out for your account closure confirmation and final bill. If you’re a PAYG resident, you should receive this within 48 hours. Where a credit billed resident, this may take up to 21 days. Either way, our end of residency comms will confirm if you have any outstanding balance and provide instructions on how to pay this off.
With these tasks ticked off your moving home checklist, you can focus on unpacking and making yourself at home.
