Rented House - Insurance / Utilities

Ingah

I'm hoping for some advice regarding moving into a student property within the next few months (they'll be 4 of us sharing the house in all):

Firstly, with regards to bills, utilities, etc.
How and when do we set these up/inform the suppliers to activate them?
I'm very conscious of not being stung for the previous tenant's usage of things like gas/water/electricity, and also have realised i'm totally unaware of whether we'll need to call a supplier to activate them (in good time?) or whether they'll just be on already and then we take a meter reading when we move in (and maybe tell the supplier, landlord, agency, photograph it? - important thing to note is that the agency is very poorly rated/reviewed online and so i don't want to give them any chances to show us why that's the case having been good to deal with thus far)
Phone line and broadband is another (important) thing that's occured to me and i'm aware BT charge a fair whack for reconnecting a landline, but considering we can't actually properly move in until September (we've secured permission to move our things in from July but we're not allowed to live there or even stay overnight until September), i assume this is an unavoidable charge and that we'll have to look for 10 months of broadband access (thereby a monthly rolling contract) rather than a 12 month.
As far as the bond goes, i'm aware of a need to take photographs of absolutely everything, in great detail (did i mention i don't trust the agency much?), but then what needs to be done with the pictures for them to be useable as "proof" in case that damage is unfairly claimed when we move out?
Any more important things that i've forgotten entirely?

With reference to insurances (and quite unusual circumstances for a student i'd imagine), the property has a garage, and i'll be needing to keep some tools there for quite regular use (i have a lot of decent quality tools, i'd estimate getting on toward £500 worth - not all of which has to be kept in the garage itself but to be frank it would be a huge pain to have to bring out the several containers of tools each time i work on the bikes - and am also aware of a potential problem with having them insured at all whether in the house or the garage). And so i was wondering how best to have them insured/covered in case the garage is broken into? (i'm quite security conscious and will ensure i've at least put an alarm in the garage, but it'll have a couple of (well-secured) motorbikes in it so i do want my easily taken tools covered against the possiblity of theft). I'm thinking i may end up having to take out an entirely separate policy just to cover the tools, but does anyone have any ideas as i've never had this particular need before?
I've also got motorbike gear (helmet/leathers - probably c£500s-worth again) that i would like covered as part of my student possessions too (adding a further complication to insurance shopping), and i unfortunately don't live at or have any links with my parental address outside term time, so i strongly doubt my parent's home insurance provider can help either.

Lokolo

I don't see the point in taking photographs on the meters just the readings will do. Then as soon as you phone up the supplier and give them the readings they will activate your account. Any usage before this is not your problem and you should just give the bills to your landlord who can sort it.

Broadband and phone. Rolling contracts are typically expensive. You can get a 12 month and just cancel early, thats what I did with Virgin. Works out cheaper if you get cashback with quidco (which ranges from £60-£100 depending on the time of year).

Not sure about insurance though.