Moving Do's and Don'ts

When people are moving it's often the same things they forget to do. We pulled together a short summary of the most common do's and don'ts to help keep you right.

Do
Ask the sellers to show you the location of the electricity and gas meters.

Make sure you know where the most important fuses for the electric system are and also the location of the stopcock for the water supply.

Make sure that, if you are purchasing a flat, you will not be turning off the water supply to all the other flats in the block if you turn off your own stopcock!

If there is a central heating system in the new house, find out how it works.

Ask if there is a service contract and if so, find out who it is with. If there is no service contract, find out who carries out such repairs as may be necessary. If the sellers tell you that there is no service contract and they have never carried out any repairs, this should put you on your guard.

Make arrangements to have an inspection of the central heating system carried out within a couple of days after the date of entry, particularly if there is no service contract, in order that any defects can be reported to the sellers and that they can be held liable for remedying them.

Find out who the appropriate person is to contact when any of the common services (such as lighting in passageways) requires attention if your new house is part of a block of properties which is covered by a factoring system or an owners’ association.

Ensure that if you require the services of an electrician or plumber that these have been arranged prior to the moving day.

Contact, not less than two weeks prior to the move the applicable service providers for your new property, e.g. Electricity, Telecommunications and Gas in order to have the electricity, telephone and gas services transferred into your name and your current supply billing concluded.

Let all people who need to know, your new address and if required arrange at least one week before moving day for automatic forwarding for a set period from the Royal Mail.

Inform your Solicitor immediately if anything has been removed that you believed to be included in the sale, in order that he can lodge a claim with the sellers’ Solicitor.

Do make sure that you have all the keys to the external doors. If in doubt replace the external locks. The Crime Prevention Officer of Grampian Police will be pleased to carry out a detailed and free security review and make appropriate recommendations.

Don't
Cancel the standing order for your current mortgage until your Solicitor advises you to do so.

Alter the date when you have agreed to move out of your present property without informing your Solicitor as he may require to obtain a new redemption statement from your Bank or building society in order that he knows the amount required to pay off your existing loan.

Forget to check on arrival at your new home to make sure that nothing that you believed was included in the purchase price has been removed.

Forget to recover all copies of the keys to your current home and hand them over to your Solicitor on the day the contracts are exchanged.

Download the PDF Moving Do's and Don'ts (371 KB).

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