A moving house checklist for London, built around the dates

Planning your move

Written by Daniel, founder, Metro City Moves

Most of a moving house checklist is the same in London as anywhere: tell the council, redirect the post, defrost the freezer. What is not the same is the timing. A London move has hard deadlines set by other people — your borough decides how much notice it needs to hold the parking bay, and some of them want more than two weeks. Miss that one date and the van has nowhere legal to stand on the day, which is the single most expensive thing that can go wrong. So this checklist is ordered by deadline rather than by topic. The London-specific items are marked, because they are the ones with someone else's clock on them.

The short version

The parking is the deadline that bites. Some boroughs want 14 to 17 days' notice for a bay suspension.
Check the van's emissions status before you book anything. ULEZ applies across all London boroughs.
Book the lift in a managed block as early as the building will let you.
Everything else — post, council, utilities — is flexible by comparison.

Six weeks out

Nothing here is urgent yet, but these are the items that get expensive when they are left.

Get quotes, and get them in writing after a survey rather than over the phone.
If you are renting, re-read the notice period in your tenancy and diarise the date you must give it.
Start using up the freezer. It is a small thing that saves a bin bag of waste later.
Book time off for moving day, and the day after. The day after is the one people forget.

Three to four weeks out — the London deadlines

This is the block that has other people's dates in it. Everything else on this page can slip a little. These cannot.

Find out what your borough needs for parking. Boroughs differ enormously on both notice and fee, and a few do not offer removals suspensions at all. Our parking suspension guide has the fees and notice periods side by side, with the date each was checked.
Work out whether you need a suspension or a dispensation. They are not the same thing — one reserves the bay, the other only stops the ticket. The difference decides which to apply for, and in some boroughs a dispensation cannot legally cover a removals van at all.
If either address is on a red route, start now. TfL sells no suspensions on red routes at any price, and the dispensation route needs working days of notice.
Check the van against ULEZ. It applies across every London borough, and what it costs a removals van depends on the vehicle, not the size of your move.
Book the goods lift if either building has one. Managed blocks often require it in advance and will not make an exception on the day.
Give notice to your landlord or letting agent, if you have not already.
Tell the schools, if children are changing them.

Two weeks out

Redirect your post with Royal Mail. It takes a few working days to start.
Tell the council you are moving, for council tax at both ends.
Contact the water, gas, electricity and broadband suppliers. Broadband is the one that routinely takes longest to switch.
Update the address on your driving licence and vehicle documents.
Confirm the removals booking, and confirm the parking application has been granted rather than just submitted.

One week out

Start packing the rooms you do not use daily. Label by the room it is going to, not the room it came from — that is what saves an hour at the other end.
Pack a box you keep with you: kettle, mugs, tea, chargers, medicine, toilet roll, a knife for boxes.
Photograph the back of the TV and anything else with cables. Our guide to packing electronics covers the order properly.
Arrange the cleaning, if the tenancy requires it against a check-out report.
Take meter readings when you get the chance, and again on the day.

The day before

Charge everything, including the drill if furniture is coming apart.
Defrost and dry the freezer. A wet freezer on a van is a bad afternoon.
Confirm the crew's arrival time and the parking arrangement.
Put the parking suspension notice up if your borough issued one to display.
Set aside the things that are not going on the van: passports, keys, valuables.

Moving day

Final meter readings at the old place, photographed.
Walk each room with the crew before they start, and point out anything fragile or awkward.
Keep the door keys separate and hand them over deliberately.
Check every cupboard, the loft hatch and the garden shed before you leave.
At the new place, decide where the big furniture goes before it comes off the van. Moving a wardrobe twice is a waste of everybody's afternoon.

Common questions

Which item on this list is the one people get wrong? The parking. It is the only one with a fixed deadline set by somebody else, and it is the only one where being late has no workaround on the day.

How much notice does a parking suspension need in London? It depends entirely on the borough — some want a week, others want more than a fortnight, and a couple do not offer them for removals at all. The parking suspension guide lists them with the date each was checked.

Do I need to be there on the day? Someone does, at both ends, with authority to make decisions. Access questions come up and a crew that has to ring you and wait is a crew standing still.

When should I book the removals firm? As soon as you have a date you believe in. Fridays and month-ends go first. Booking early also leaves room for the survey, which is what makes the quote a real one.

What if my completion date moves? Tell the removals firm the moment you suspect it, not when it is confirmed. Parking applications may need resubmitting, and some boroughs charge again.