Changing my address between house moves

Jmm

Hi 
I am moving house but due to matters beyond my control, there will be a gap of a few weeks between my sale and purchase. In this time i will just be at my parents with my stuff in storage. 

My question is what do i do about changing my address? Things such as banking and dvla etc need an accurate address and I am not sure whether to just wait a few weeks then change it or to change it to my parents and then again to the new property.

I cannot see information on temporary addresses of a few weeks online.

Thanks in advance 😊

Brie

I can't imagine that the DVLA would be able to update your address and get a driver's licence back to you in time for you to change it a second time so I'd be leaving that until you know where you are going to be permanently.  Same with bank details - of course you could just turn off all post with the bank until after you get to your own new home.

I'd be giving the new owners of your old place a contact number so that you get told if/when there's post to pick up.  

And log a change of address with the post office too.  

mebu60

I'd suggest doing a post redirection with Royal Mail for a year from your old address to your parents' address. Then start doing all your change of addresses to the new place once you have exchanged (assuming the gap to completion is no more than a couple of weeks or so). Many service providers will write to your old address as well as your new when confirming the change (a useful security measure to prevent unexpected changes happening without someone's knowledge). 

I would also leave a nice bottle of something, possibly bubbly, welcoming your buyers to their new home and including a note of your contact details for any postal items that Royal Mail fail to redirect (which will almost certainly happen and when you complain pointing out their advertising literature for redirection emphasises the importance of using their service to avoid the risk of being defrauded etc they will just shrug their shoulders and basically say 'what do you expect with the volumes of post we deal with?' to which you will say 'I expect the service I paid for' before they just ignore you). 

Jmm

Brie said:

I can't imagine that the DVLA would be able to update your address and get a driver's licence back to you in time for you to change it a second time so I'd be leaving that until you know where you are going to be permanently.  Same with bank details - of course you could just turn off all post with the bank until after you get to your own new home.

I'd be giving the new owners of your old place a contact number so that you get told if/when there's post to pick up.  

And log a change of address with the post office too.  

Thanks, this is what i was thinking in terms of dvla etc not being able to get anything new out for the sake of a few weeks. 
Good idea with turning off post from the bank, i will definitely be doing this 👍 

Jmm

mebu60 said:

I'd suggest doing a post redirection with Royal Mail for a year from your old address to your parents' address. Then start doing all your change of addresses to the new place once you have exchanged (assuming the gap to completion is no more than a couple of weeks or so). Many service providers will write to your old address as well as your new when confirming the change (a useful security measure to prevent unexpected changes happening without someone's knowledge). 

I would also leave a nice bottle of something, possibly bubbly, welcoming your buyers to their new home and including a note of your contact details for any postal items that Royal Mail fail to redirect (which will almost certainly happen and when you complain pointing out their advertising literature for redirection emphasises the importance of using their service to avoid the risk of being defrauded etc they will just shrug their shoulders and basically say 'what do you expect with the volumes of post we deal with?' to which you will say 'I expect the service I paid for' before they just ignore you). 

Thanks 😊 a good idea to do it for a year, im sure theres things i will have forgotten about that pop up. That will hopefully cover any issues just for a couple if weeks. I think i will probably inform my car insurance incase something happens and they use it as a get out clause.

I did have a thought about popping a house warming gift on the side especially as they are 1st time buyers 🏡

Brie

I would think a bit more about informing the car insurance provider. 

If your time at your parents' is just a couple of weeks it's really no different than you being on holiday with your car somewhere so shouldn't be needed. 

If it's going to be 2 months then yes they probably should be informed and then again when you move to your own place.  Be aware that each time will generate a different price for your year's insurance plus an admin fee.  You may find that it is more economical to cancel the policy and start a new one but check to see if that's the case.

Realistically this is the sort of thing that I would ring up and ask them about.  Note the number you ring, time, date and who you talk to.  Ask them what you should do and how much it might cost.  They might tell you that a short period elsewhere in between permanent homes is immaterial.  Keep a record of the conversation safe so that you can refer to it if required.  I put things like this is draft emails so I don't have to search out a piece of paper that I've put somewhere "safe".

mlz1413

I did the post redirection last year when I had a gap between selling and buying, highly recommend it.

The buyers so our house were lovely and kept post and parcels for us to collect. The parcels were things when you buy online and automatically click Buy to realise later that it's gone to our old address by courier...

I never thought about car insurance,  but had an online policy so I changed that via the portal once I had moved.

House insurance may let you suspend the policy.

I went through my bank and listed my SO and DDs so I got the bulk changed in one day

Albermarle

Jmm said:

Brie said:

I can't imagine that the DVLA would be able to update your address and get a driver's licence back to you in time for you to change it a second time so I'd be leaving that until you know where you are going to be permanently.  Same with bank details - of course you could just turn off all post with the bank until after you get to your own new home.

I'd be giving the new owners of your old place a contact number so that you get told if/when there's post to pick up.  

And log a change of address with the post office too.  

Thanks, this is what i was thinking in terms of dvla etc not being able to get anything new out for the sake of a few weeks. 
Good idea with turning off post from the bank, i will definitely be doing this 👍 

If you go paperless with your bank, credit cards etc. then the only things they might send you are marketing stuff, which is not important.

Jmm

Brie said:

I would think a bit more about informing the car insurance provider. 

If your time at your parents' is just a couple of weeks it's really no different than you being on holiday with your car somewhere so shouldn't be needed. 

If it's going to be 2 months then yes they probably should be informed and then again when you move to your own place.  Be aware that each time will generate a different price for your year's insurance plus an admin fee.  You may find that it is more economical to cancel the policy and start a new one but check to see if that's the case.

Realistically this is the sort of thing that I would ring up and ask them about.  Note the number you ring, time, date and who you talk to.  Ask them what you should do and how much it might cost.  They might tell you that a short period elsewhere in between permanent homes is immaterial.  Keep a record of the conversation safe so that you can refer to it if required.  I put things like this is draft emails so I don't have to search out a piece of paper that I've put somewhere "safe".

Stupidly i never thought about that 🫢 like you say, it's only like a holiday so racking up additional costs might be unnecessary... Hmm youv definitely given me pause for thought 🤔

Jmm

mlz1413 said:

I did the post redirection last year when I had a gap between selling and buying, highly recommend it.

The buyers so our house were lovely and kept post and parcels for us to collect. The parcels were things when you buy online and automatically click Buy to realise later that it's gone to our old address by courier...

I never thought about car insurance,  but had an online policy so I changed that via the portal once I had moved.

House insurance may let you suspend the policy.

I went through my bank and listed my SO and DDs so I got the bulk changed in one day

Luckily my house insurance is up in the same month so i wont have to worry about that too much.
I definitely need to make my buyers happy to save things if i make a purchase mistake... I kind of feel like id do something like that 🫣😂