Mail redirection - best done before or after completion?

Ally_E.

Hello, we have finally exchanged with a completion date 10 days away. I'm going through a list of things to do like mail redirection, cancelling council tax etc 

Should I order mail redirection now or wait until completion in case something goes wrong? Is it prudent to be 100% sure the move is happening before redirecting mail?

Slithery

Do it now. The chances of any transaction falling through after exchange are miniscule, most conveyancers go through their whole careers without ever seeing it happen.

tinytiddles

Yep another vote for doing it now, you can set a start date so it won’t take effect until then but they do need 5 working days notice so the sooner the better. 

Gentoo365

Do it after exchange. 

Also go though every account you have and switch it to paper statements / online communications. 

martindow

Redirection takes a few days for RM to set up, so do it now that you have exchanged otherwise you will have post possibly going astray for a few days.

ka7e

Also enter your new address as the default on all online shops you use. It is unlikely you will be ordering stuff in the next few days and because the old address is so familiar, it's easy to order goods that end up there!

pinkteapot

They need five working days notice to set it up, so definitely do it if you've exchanged contracts. There's a field on the form that asks you for the date you want post to start being redirected, so you can put in the completion date. 

If you set it up with less than five days to go until the start date, they say they'll do their best but can't guarantee everything will get redirected. 

I've always left a couple of A4 envelopes with large letter stamps, addressed to my new address, with the new owner (along with a bottle of bubbly and a friendly note), asking them to forward on post that slips through the redirect if they wouldn't mind. 

london21

Better doing it now because Royal mail will send a letter to the house to confirm the redirection and you want to ensure the redirection goes smoothly.