Planning a move
This moving house checklist is the one I would hand to my own family: week by week, from offer accepted to the first Sunday in the new place. It is built from the moves our crew does across the West Midlands every week, including the bits that go wrong.
Most moving checklists are written by people who have never carried a wardrobe down a staircase. This one is different: every line on it exists because skipping it has cost one of our customers time, money or sleep. I answer the phone for Brewood Removals 24 hours a day, and the calls that start with "I wish I had known" almost always trace back to one of the steps below.
Prefer to tick it off as you go? Our interactive moving planner turns this checklist into a personal countdown from your move date, saved in your browser, that you can print or email to yourself for moving day.
Work from the top. The weeks are counted back from your expected completion or tenancy start date, and if your dates shift (they often do), the order still holds even when the gaps shrink. If you are reading this with a week to go rather than eight, jump straight to our guide to moving at short notice instead; it compresses this list into days.
If you want the packing side broken down properly, our packing guide covers boxes, wrapping and labelling in the order the crew would do it.
This is the admin fortnight. None of it is hard; all of it is forgettable. The table below is the notification list we give customers who ask, in rough order of how painful each one is to fix later.
| Who to tell | What to do |
|---|---|
| Council tax | Tell the council you are leaving and register at the new address. Two councils if you are crossing a boundary. |
| Energy and water | Give your suppliers the move date and your new address. Water companies with meters want around five working days of notice for a final reading. |
| DVLA | GOV.UK is blunt about this one: "You must update your driving licence, vehicle log book (V5C), Direct Debit for vehicle tax and other details when you move home." It is free, and an out-of-date V5C invalidates more than people think. |
| Electoral register | Also GOV.UK: "You'll need to register again if you've changed your name, address or nationality." Five minutes online. |
| Bank, insurer, pension | Banks are quick. Home insurers matter more: you usually need cover at BOTH addresses on completion day. |
| GP, dentist, school, vet | Register at the new surgery rather than just deregistering; repeat prescriptions need an overlap plan. |
| Broadband and TV | Installation lead times run to two weeks or more. Book the engineer now or budget for a fortnight of mobile data. |
Then keep packing: anything you will not touch before the move should be in a labelled box by the end of this week.
Here is the part most checklists skip: you will probably wait for keys. Money moves between solicitors in a chain, and until it lands you do not get in. Midday is typical; two o'clock is not unusual. A good crew plans for this rather than being surprised by it. The two jobs below show what that looks like in practice.
February 2026
Bridgnorth Road, Wombourne WV5Church Road, Coven WV9
3 bedroomsThe keys were delayed by nearly two hours, so the team used the time to re-check room labels and protect the hallway ready for the unload. Once the call finally came, everything went in quickly and in the right rooms.
"The delay could have ruined the day, but they kept it all under control."
June 2025
Park Road, Cannock WS11Sandy Lane, Brewood ST19
2 bedroomsThe lift was out when the team arrived, which was a lovely little gift from the moving gods. The lighter items went by stairs while the larger pieces were held until the lift engineer sorted it. Mrs Kaur kept everyone going with samosas and tea.
"They adapted without moaning and treated everything like it mattered."
That is the whole list. If a question is still nagging, the FAQs below cover the ones we hear most, and the phone is on 24 hours a day for the rest.
Moving planner stories
Local customers who turned this checklist into a tickable plan with the free Moving Planner. Names as given, with where they were heading.
Planned with the Moving Planner
"The moving-week checklist was the bit I kept going back to. It helped with cleaning, meter photos and redirecting post before the Easter Monday move to Willenhall."
Planned with the Moving Planner
"We used the planner like a family command centre. It kept school bits, swimming bags and bedroom boxes separate, which meant our move to Kingswinford started with a lot less shouting."
Planned with the Moving Planner
"The planner was brilliant for all the things nobody tells you about buying your first home. It reminded me about meter readings, solicitor dates and not filling the freezer the week before moving."
Planned with the Moving Planner
"The planner stopped us packing the dog food and insurance papers into the unknown. Moving to Baswich after Easter was much easier because the important bits were all marked as do-not-pack."
Moving planner
This whole checklist becomes a live, tickable plan in the Moving Planner: set your date and every job lands in the right week, saved in your browser to print or email.
Just mention it when you get in touch and the discount comes straight off your written quote, on any move from a single item to a full house.
Four to six weeks before your expected completion date, and earlier for Fridays, month-ends and school holidays, which fill first. Booking is not the same as getting quotes: quotes can start at eight weeks, but the date is only yours once you confirm.
Declutter, before you pack a single box. Every shelf you clear shrinks the job, the cost and the unpacking. Start with the loft, the garage and the shed, because they hide the things nobody has touched in years.
The big ones are your council (for council tax), energy and water suppliers, DVLA for your licence and V5C, the electoral register, your bank and insurers, and your GP and dentist. A Royal Mail redirection catches everyone you forget.
Kettle, mugs, tea, milk, phone chargers, toilet roll, medication, bin bags, basic tools, important documents and a change of clothes for each person. Keep it in your own car so it cannot disappear into the back of the van.
Usually around midday, once the money has moved between solicitors, and later if the chain is long. Plan for the wait: an experienced crew loads in the morning and uses the gap to protect floors and re-check labels at the destination end.
Yes, ideally on the day you get the keys. You have no way of knowing how many copies of the old keys exist or who holds them. A locksmith can change or rekey the main doors in an hour or so, and it is the cheapest peace of mind in the whole move.
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