First time buyer questions

ajwposh

Good evening,

I am just in the process of buying a house and should be completing on August 2nd and had a few questions which I would appreciate people answering if they have the time:

1) Do I need to arrange gas, electric and water suppliers prior to moving in or ring the current supplier on the day we move in to set up an account? I am currently living with parents so don't have any bills at the moment

2) I presume we can order telephone/broadband prior to moving in and specify a move in date, or do we need to wait till we move in and the sellers has canceled their current service?

3) I know we need to register for council tax. Is this also something we do before we have moved or on the day of doing so?

Many thanks for your time

grifferz

ajwposh wrote: »

I am just in the process of buying a house and should be completing on August 2nd

Congratulations!

You say "should be" - have you exchanged contracts yet? Remember the date is not set until completion, and then it's pretty safe (not 100% - see some notorious threads on here - but close). So don't start making plans until after exchange when you know the completion date.

ajwposh wrote: »

had a few questions which I would appreciate people answering if they have the time:

1) Do I need to arrange gas, electric and water suppliers prior to moving in or ring the current supplier on the day we move in to set up an account? I am currently living with parents so don't have any bills at the moment

Provided the property already has water, electricity and gas to it and those utilities have not been disconnected, you can just take a meter reading when you move in and then call your chosen supplier to get it set up from that reading.

If you don't do this then you will start to get threatening letters from the existing supplier for the property.

ajwposh wrote: »

2) I presume we can order telephone/broadband prior to moving in and specify a move in date, or do we need to wait till we move in and the sellers has canceled their current service?

Usually you can make the order in advance to be fulfilled after completion date. I expect different suppliers will have different processes. BT have a whole process for moving into a new home. Any such supplier is going to be well familiar with this as obviously everyone who ever moves into a new home goes through it. Just call them!

Getting your phone and Internet working can take a couple of weeks if you're unlucky, so be prepared for that.

ajwposh wrote: »

3) I know we need to register for council tax. Is this also something we do before we have moved or on the day of doing so?

Most local authorities have an online form for moving out of a property and another one for moving in. So you can do all this online. If you are unlucky enough to have an authority that does not have an online form (would be surprised if there are any left since this is a money saver), I suppose you'll have to phone and do it all by post.

You can fill in the form for moving out in advance, since you know the date.

You probably need to fill in the form for moving in after the fact. That is the case with my local authority. It doesn't matter, as they just bill you from the date you say you moved in. They might ask for proof of when you moved in if it was a long time after the date you moved out of your previous address.

Like with the utility companies, if you forget to notify of moving in then they will eventually work it out and send a demand. Best not to let it get that far.

hazyjo

Just as a blunt extra to spell it out, do not organise anything until you have exchanged!

Good luck

Jx

cattie

grifferz covers all of your questions very well but I just thought I'd add my experience regarding broadband & telephone.

I notified BT of my impending move & was told line would be up & running in my new home the morning of the move. However, they said they were unable to give me the new phone number I would be allocated, which really surprised me as when I've moved in the past I've always been given my new phone number in advance. I was told I'd receive confirmation of my new number by letter at my new home.

This meant that I couldn't arrange broadband set up with my provider prior to the move as they needed to know what my phone number would be. As this meant that I couldn't arrange for internet connection to be up and running from the date or close to the date I moved in, I had to wait about 3 weeks after moving in to have my broadband connected by my provider.

ajwposh

Thanks for all the responses. We haven't exchanged yet and we are aware not to do anything until we have done so but just wanted to get a bit of information to put us in the best position when we do exchange.