1st Tenancy quickly approaching - Help :)

Cemetery

Hello all,

I am due to move into a new place on the 3rd of Sept having finally managed to find a place & escape from the parents. Is there anything I can do ahead of moving it to speed things up when I am in such as sorting internet, phone, sky, electoral role, utilities & probably a number of things I haven't got a clue about?

Svenena

You can contact an internet/phone provider now to book them to come and install - shop around to find the cheapest (check the main site for info on this).

Utilities should have been informed by the previous occupant that they were leaving - you'll probably get a couple of letters from the providers when you move in, which will give you instructions (eg read your meter and then call them to give your details).

You will need to contact the council to tell them you've moved in to pay council tax. Your local council website will probably have a form you can print off and send in. I'd do this in the next week or two before moving in. You can also get a form to get on the electoral role (which is dealt with by a different department to council tax, so you'll need to contact them separately).

Check your finances carefully before getting Sky - you get lots of channels on freeview these days. I imagine you can book them in for an installation now too, but shop around first (eg you might have cable in your area). If you need to have a satellite dish installed, or cables for Virgin (they can tell you whether it's already there or not if you call them), you need to get your landlord's permission first.

hugheskevi

I always find the most annoying thing is not having a landline phone to call companies, and not having internet. That can make finding contact numbers, etc, very difficult.

Make a list now of all the companies you want to contact, and what product/service you want, along with contact telephone numbers.

A few days before moving in, go through all the companies you deal with/have accounts and change the address to the new place, eg banks, tax office, employer, etc.

You might want to do some online research about nearest post office, supermarket, etc, if you are not familiar with the area.

Plan for two weeks to have internet up and running - hopefully it will be less, but things often go awry.

It would also be helpful to have a few days off work after moving in - there are always things to sort out, unpack, etc. It is very helpful to have a few working days available to sort stuff out.

As a checklist of utilities to sort out: water, gas, electric, TV licence, council tax, electoral roll, landline, broadband, and contents insurance.

Agree re. Sky - careful about checking contract for minimum periods, it is often is 1 year.

Also, something I found useful was to check the address recorded on the electoral roll, and use that address with updating banks/credit cards. Sometimes the postal address can be different (eg one uses Flat A, other uses top floor flat), and one or two of the credit agencies stuggles to match addresses.

Cemetery

Cheers for those some good ideas. Tenancy is a year so year long contracts are ok and I need my sky sports, especially with Spurs making it to the Champions League

blackshirtuk

Cemetery wrote: »

Spurs making it to the Champions League

Isn't Champions League on ITV ?

Cemetery

blackshirtuk wrote: »

Isn't Champions League on ITV ?

Only 1 game a week normally, the rest are on Sky.