There is so much to do when you are moving house, this can be even more stressful if everything happens much more quickly than you expect. Most of us are very good at dealing with the practicalities’ such as packing, runs to the tips, decluttering etc but one thing that often gets left is changing your address and redirecting post.
This seems to be one of those jobs that gets left to the end of the list. But it is an important job and one that should not be left too late or forgotten. It’s now much easier than before as you now not notify utilities and some other services online, rather than having to spend hours on the phone trying to update the details. It can still be time-consuming though, if you can do a few each day and you will soon get them completed.
Who do I need to tell?
The first task is to decide who you need to inform of your change of address. Make a list of the organisations and contacts you need to inform. Split the list into organisations and then a separate one for family and friends etc. Start with the organisations list first as these are more time critical.
Not informing your insurance company may result in a loss of cover; not updating your driving licence could result in expensive fines. Some organisations may need notice to transfer, terminate or setup your service.
- Local council – for the old and new properties
- Doctor
- DVLA – driving licence and V5 car details
- Schools & nurseries
- Voting register
- Employer
- Bank
- Insurance – car, house, life, pet
- TV licence
- Utility providers – electricity, gas, water, telephone, TV, broadband, mobile phone
- Vets
- Opticians
- Dentists
- HMRC
- Service providers such as window cleaners, bin cleaning, gardeners
- Subscription services for regular purchases
- Online accounts where items are delivered to you (doing this in one go means that you don’t forget that you haven’t updated an address and place an order, only for it to go to your old house)
- Loyalty cards
- Clubs, gyms and other groups that require contact details
Redirecting your post
You may decide to leave your new address with the person moving into your house and ask them to forward any post to you. They may however be busy especially just after the move. Over a period of time they may not be happy to continue forwarding items.
Royal Mail offer a redirection service for personal and business mail for either 3, 6 or 12 months, there is a fee for this and an additional cost if there are multiple recipients. Redirecting post means that you won’t miss important documents, will prevent personal details falling into the wrong hands and help you to identify if you have missed a notification from your list.
To setup a redirection you will need the names and dates of birth for everyone in the household that needs their mail redirecting, as well as the addresses and posts for both the old and new properties. It does take at least 5 working days to arrange your redirection, so try not to leave it too late to do this. You can setup a redirection online or in person at a Post Office.
