Are you getting ready to move to a new house? Well, it’s time to spread the word then!
In addition to the arduous task of packing and relocating all your stuff while moving house, you have the essential task of informing about the change of address.
The list doesn’t just stop with letting your friends and family know. There are a lot more authorities and many people in your life who should have an idea of where to reach you.
If you are wondering whom to inform when moving house, do not worry.
To make this work simple for you, we have prepared an elaborate change of address checklist that you can use to inform the required people without leaving anybody out.
You can use this checklist to make sure that all the critical people are updated about the change of your address.
The Ultimate Change of Address Checklist
The Ultimate Change of Address Checklist is the only checklist you need at your side when you need to inform many people about your new address.
Take a print out of the change of address checklist and start sending out your new addresses at least a week or two before your moving date.
Make sure to include the date you are moving and your contact number along with your new address.
Here is everybody you need to inform about your change of address.
1. Personal Checklist
Unlike the other checklist you will see below, the personal checklist is up to your choice.
Friends: Include all your friends who should know about where the new place you are moving to.
Family: Of course, all your family members and relatives must be informed about your move.
You can even include pictures of your new place and let them know the reason for the move if that is something you would like to boast!
Neighbors: Inform the neighbors around your house and let them where they can reach you.
In case if you fail to inform anyone or if your mails reach you after you have moved, your neighbors can give them the new address.
Make sure to inform the neighbors who probably stay the longest to make sure that someone from your old locality knows about your new address.
2. Government Authorities Checklist
This checklist is one of the most important ones. Even though you may have many things to do when moving house, this should be at the top of your priority.
Electoral Roll: When you are moving to a new location, it is vital to change your address in the electoral roll and inform the authorities about your new voting address.
In the UK, you can easily change your address on the electoral roll online by visiting their official website.
If you are moving from anywhere outside Europe to the UK, then you need to inform the Home Office.
Council Taxes: You should pay your current council tax and update your new address on the website.
Every location has its own website to provide information about the council tax and therefore, open the council tax website for your region and update the information about the change of your address.
Child Benefit: If you are getting any benefits for your children, then let them know about the new address and any more details about the child’s new school.
Department of Work and Pensions: If you are getting any pension amount from the government, you need to let them know about it too.
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Registry: When you have a license marked to your current address, you should change it to your new address.
You can do it easily online by visiting the DVLA section and update the new address.
Vehicle Tax: Make sure to update your new address for your vehicle tax. In case you forget to update it, you may be fined for that.
You can find the details of applying for a change of address online.
Inland Revenue: Inform the HMRC about the change in your address so that they can update it in your details given for income tax, national insurance and government benefits.
You can update your new address in the HMRC database online.
3. Utility Checklist
This is one of the most exhaustive checklists of all. Make sure to inform all of these utility providers a reasonable time before if you want to transfer the services to your new address.
Also, don’t mention your date of the move or the date from when you need the utility connections at your new address.
Water, Gas and Electricity Services: These three are the most important ones of all when you are transferring the same service to your new house.
Tell them the exact date you will stop using the service at the old address so that you can pay for it before you leave. Make sure to contact them a day or two before to remind them and check for the bill.
Mail Service: You may get many mails every month and it isn’t possible to inform everyone about the change of address.
Sometimes, there can be some mails that arrive late after you move and your private details can fall into the hands of strangers.
To avoid all this, it is best to set up a redirect post for a short time to get all the mails that are sent to your old address.
Please note that you can apply for the redirected post for about three months before your moving date and therefore, plan accordingly and make use of this option.
Cable Service: Your cable connection provider can change your connection to your new home if you can inform in advance.
Before that, make sure to check if your new home already has a cable connection available, else you will be wasting your money on taking out a new connection.
Landline and Broadband: Generally, most people get their landline and broadband connection from the same provider.
So you can inform them about the change of address and ask them to shift the connections to your new house.
Again, make sure to check if your new house already has a connection that just needs to attached.
If so, it will be easy to do that instead of laying out the groundwork for a new connection.
TV License: While we take care of all the other change of address stuff, we tend to leave this the most.
It just takes a few minutes to do it online by visiting the official website for TV Licensing.
4. Healthcare Checklist
When you are moving with your family, you need to think about every medical person or facility to inform about the change in your address.
Apart from informing the regular doctors, dentists, optician, physiotherapists, child specialists and the medical shops, there are also a few more people to inform.
NHS: If you get regular posts from NHS, then it is vital to inform the authority about the change in your address. You can do so online by visiting the NHS website.
Vet: If you have pets, you can let the vet know that you are moving and give the change of address.
5. Financial Checklist
It is important to let all the financial institutions know about the change of address. Else, your financial details may fall into the hands of unscrupulous persons who may misuse it.
Insurance: You may find various insurances for you, your family and your property and you will have to inform every one of the insurance providers about the change in the address.
Please note that for a particular type of insurances, your insurance premium amount is subjected to change depending on the region you are living in and the risk factors associated with it.
Therefore, once your move is confirmed, let all the insurance providers know about the change in your address. Generally, a family will have medical insurance, life insurance, travel insurance, vehicle insurance, pet insurance and home insurance.
If you have any other insurance, make a note of it in the change of address checklist and let them know.
Banks & Loan Providers: Please inform the banks where you maintain the savings account and current account. Also, let the loan and credit card providers know where to send your monthly bill along with the month from which they should use the new address for communication.
6. Educational Checklist
If you have any children studying in school or college, then it is vital to let these educational institutions know about where they can contact you.
Some colleges may send the details of tuition fees or details about the next semester.
If you fail to provide them your new address, you can miss out such valuable information.
7. Business Checklist
Aside from informing authorities about your relocation, few more people on the business front should also know your current address.
Though there is rarely any need for sending a post or a direct visit from your office to your home, it is best to keep your address updated.
You can contact the HR department to change your address on the contact details. In case, if your landline number is also changing, make sure to give them the new number.
8. Miscellaneous Checklist
Once you have informed all of the above people about the relocation, you should start with the secondary set of people who should know.
These are people who provide you regular services or from whom you have subscribed. So here are some of the common list of people to inform.
Subscription Services: If you are living long enough in a location, then you will definitely have more than a couple of subscription services in that location.
It may be your gym membership, spa membership, club membership, library subscription or any local meetup subscriptions.
Though this isn’t essential, it is important to let them know where you have moved. Else, they could be sending out mails to your old address.
You may have availed the newspaper or magazine subscriptions. So you can write to them to send it all to your new address.
Cleaning Services: Have you hired a cleaning service to clean your home regularly? Alternatively, a local part-time student to clean your lawn weekly? If you have hired any of such people regularly, then inform them that you no longer need their services starting from a particular date.
Maintenance Services: If you have hired regular pest control maintenance or any handyman to visit you regularly for small repairs, it is essential to let them know.
Apart from these people, if your accountant, financial advisor or any other such person visits your home regularly, then make sure to inform them about where to find you the next time.
For all these above services, some people would have set up regular automatic payments.
If you are one of those people, then stop these automatic payments as soon as you have informed them. Else, you will be paying for a service which you actually don’t avail.
These are all the people, services and authorities you need to inform when you relocate. Keep a copy of this change of address checklist handy and tick off one by one as you inform.
As this could take some time to ensure that all these people have successfully got the message about your new address, it is advised to start early.
Did you miss out to inform many people and still have too much relocation work to complete? Fret not! Hire some of the best removal companies London to help you pack and relocate your stuff while you take care of informing all the vital people about the change of your address.
CBD Movers UK is one of the most experienced and reliable relocation companies in London who have helped many families to relocate safely at the last minute. Leave the main job of packing and relocating to us while you take care of the administrative aspects of the move! Contact us now to get a free online quote.