Moving house can be a busy time, often requiring plenty of careful planning and physical labor, as well as being a pretty stressful time. For many years, it has been claimed that moving house is more stressful than a relationship breakdown, a new job, or even a divorce.
Bearing this in mind, we have put together a moving house checklist of some of the things that you need to do before you close and lock your front door for the very last time.
Redirect your mail
According to the U.S. Postal Service, almost 30% of all undeliverable-as-addressed mail is from people moving to a new home and not leaving a forwarding address or leaving the wrong address. This is a significant problem as if someone moves house and leaves a trail of debt behind them, it can cause issues for the new people in the house. After all, no one wants bailiffs or debt collection agencies turning up at the door for someone else! If this happens to you, show proof that you are not the person they are looking for – they can use skip trace services to track down the people that they want.
By having your mail redirected to your new home, you can make sure that you do not leave any mess for the new owners or tenants to sort out, and means that you do not miss out on things like birthday cards (think of the money that is often inside!) or appointments.
Contact your utility suppliers
Unless you want to be paying for the gas, electricity, and water that the new occupiers of the house are going to use, it is recommended that as you are leaving, you take a meter reading (take a photo as well – it is good evidence!) and inform your utility companies of the reading and your new address so you can settle the bill.
Open all the cupboards and drawers
One of the very last things, if not the last thing, to do before you leave your old house for the very last time is to go around and open every single cupboard and drawer and check that you have left nothing in them. Once you have checked, leave it open, and get someone else to go around and double-check. You would be surprised how many people leave things in cupboards or drawers as they think someone else has picked it up!
Empty the trash can
in many house moves, the new occupier moves in on the same day the old one moves out, but in others, there can be some time where the house is unoccupied. Wither way, empty the trash can. No one wants to move into a house and have to face someone else’s rubbish, and if the property is going to be left empty for a while, think of the stink and vermin it will cause. Before you go, be nice and take your trash out.
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