Moving house change of address checklist

Congrats! You've bagged your dream home – even better if it’s through Shared Ownership –  and naturally you’ll want to shout about it and spread the word! But with so much to do and think about, you can often forget who to inform when moving house. Whilst friends and family are of course one of the most important groups of people who need to know about your move, there's also a hefty list of other organisations that need to know your new address. And it’s always better to do this earlier rather than later. After all, we don’t want you to be hit with any nasty surprises later down the line like missed bills or service lapses!

To keep you sane and keep the moving process as stress-free as possible, we’ve created a change of address checklist, so you can keep track of who you have and haven't told.

Change of address list: Insurance

Most insurers will need to know when you move to a new pad since they take your postcode into consideration when they work out your premium and cost of cover.

Still, some insurance policies don’t consider where you live and only need your new address to update your contact information, so they know where to send your bills. And thanks to technology, when it comes to doing this, it’s easy peasy! Just head to each insurer’s website or give them a call and arrange for your address to be updated.

Remember to let the following insurers know:

• Health insurance – if you’ve taken out private medical insurance.
• Travel insurance – if you get ill whilst soaking up the sun abroad, you’ll want medical support ASAP, and having already updated your address is key for this so the hospital can get quick access to your medical records.
• Pet insurance
• Home insurance
• Car insurance – if you have separate breakdown cover with a different firm to your car insurer, you need to let them know of your new address too. They may need to alter their rate based on the longer/shorter distance they'll have to cover, when taking you and car back home if you breakdown.
• Life insurance

Remember – if you don’t tell your insurance companies of your address change, you may end up with a voided policy, and in more severe cases, insurance fraud charges.

Change of address list: TV Licence

If you had a TV licence at your old address, don’t assume that it’ll “move with you” to your new home… it won’t! Your TV licence won't be valid until you’ve updated your address on the TV Licensing website. Remember – you could be prosecuted and fined £1,000 if you watch, record or download programmes at your home without a TV licence.

You can change your address for your TV licence online for free, up to 3 months before moving. This is plenty of time to make sure you’re on the ball, so you don’t miss out on any of your favourite TV shows once you’re in your shiny new pad.

What about TV packages?

Don’t forget – you’ll need to transfer your TV packages (Sky TV, Virgin Media etc) to your new address too! Your provider can set you up at your new home once you’ve let them know the move in date.

But if you’ve felt like your TV bills were unusually pricey at your old address, you may want to think about switching to a better deal when you move. Use websites like GoCompare, MoneySuperMarket and Uswitch to compare TV package options. Instead, look forward to using that extra saved money to treat your new pad, or even yourself!

Change of address list: Driving licence

One of the most important organisations to notify of your change of address is the DVLA. Best of all, you can do this free of charge on the DVLA website. Once you’ve done that, they’ll send you an updated licence to your new home between two to four weeks. But if it still hasn’t arrived after three weeks, make sure to contact DVLA.

Don’t forget – you’ll also need to update your V5C Vehicle Log Book of your new address for your vehicle tax. Not only could you get a fine up to £1000, but important documents may also continue to be sent to your old address, including your vehicle tax reminder letter (V11) and any vehicle tax refunds. You can either do a V5C change of address online or by post (DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1BA). Fear not though – you can still drive whilst you wait for your new documents to arrive!

If you pay your vehicle tax by Direct Debit, you’ll also need to tell DVLA about this when you change address:

• Phone – 0300 790 6802
• Email – DVLA email service
• Post – Vehicle Customer Services, DVLA, Swansea SA99 1AR

Remember – it may take 4 to 6 weeks to process updates to direct debit information for your vehicle tax.

Change of address list: Utilities

No change of address checklist would be complete without a shoutout to the utilities side of things. And there’s nothing more important than knowing you’re moving into a home that’s going to be warm enough to keep you snug! The utility providers you’ll need to inform of your address change include:

• Electricity – it can take up to 48 hours for your energy supplier to update your information, so make sure to be on the ball and do this way before the big day comes. But keep in mind that you may be charged for ending early (depending on the type of account you have). If this is the case, you need to check to see if they'll let you move the deal to your new house.
• Gas – make sure your supplier knows the date of the big move and then don’t forget to take a reading of your gas and electricity on the day you leave, so you can send it to them. After all, you don’t want any surprise bills sent to you for gas and electricity that you haven’t used! Take this opportunity tocompare providers as you may be able to bag a bargain elsewhere. 
• Water – similar to your gas and electricity, you need to let your water supplier know that you're going to be moving and therefore won't be using water outside a specific date.

We understand that when you move house, there’s not always enough time to change your postal address for everything. Luckily, you can set up a postal redirect to give you that extra precious time. This’ll mean that any post sent to your old address will be redirected and delivered to your new one. Plus, you can apply for it up to 3 months before the big move (though it can take 10 days to implement). But not everything lasts forever! The redirect is only temporary which means you can't rely on it until the end of time. And it's via Royal Mail, so you’ll still need to contact everyone who sends you the post to inform them.

If you’re still eager to know more about utilities when it comes to moving house, we’ve done the hard work for you, so you don’t have to!

Change of address list: Banks

Letting your bank know about your change of address should be top of your priority list! And you should aim to do this as close as possible to your moving date. They’ll do you a big favour not only by changing your billing address for any payments you make, but in doing so, you’ll also be protected from identity fraud. Picture this – your bank statements get sent to your old address. The new homeowners may just chuck them in the bin, maybe even a public bin! Regardless of where it ends up, you don’t want it to get into the wrong hands.

Your new address plays an important role in proving your identity. So, forgetting to update this information may put you at risk of identity theft. Make sure you don’t delay changing your new address with your bank! Do it ASAP by logging into your bank’s online account, or pop to the local branch to do it in person.

Change of address list: Other

You’d be surprised by how many people actually forget to let their friends, family and workplaces know that they’ve moved home! Here’s a checklist of other people you may want to update:

• Employer – your workplace needs to know your new address, so they can update your contact details, but more importantly they need to know for your payroll.
• Inland revenue – they’ll need to know for your taxes, and you can find out how to update this information on gov.uk.
• Parents
• Siblings
• Close friends

Now you know who to inform when moving house! We hope we’ve swotted you up on all the need to knows when it comes to changing your address before moving. Changing addresses can be stressful and take a lot of time. But if you use our handy checklist to get you ahead of the game, you’ll have let everyone know your new address in no time!