Your moving week checklist: utilities, mail and address updates

The physical move — the truck, the boxes, the furniture — tends to get most of the attention when people plan a house move, but the admin running alongside it is just as capable of causing headaches if left until the last minute. None of the following is individually complicated, but doing it in roughly the right order, starting a few weeks out rather than the night before, makes moving week noticeably less stressful.

Utilities are worth locking in early, ideally two to three weeks ahead of moving day. Electricity, gas, water (where separately billed rather than through a landlord or strata scheme), internet and pay TV all need to be disconnected at your old address and connected at the new one, and providers commonly need meaningful notice, particularly internet connections, which can take longer to activate than expected if a technician visit is required. Take a final meter reading on the day you leave your old address, and photograph it, since this avoids disputes over a final bill later. If you are moving into a strata-titled apartment, it is also worth checking with the strata manager ahead of time about lift bookings, loading dock access and any move-in time restrictions, since these can affect how your removalist plans the day.

Redirecting your mail is one of the more straightforward pieces of admin, and Australia Post runs a dedicated service for exactly this. Mail redirection is available for one, three, six or twelve months, with personal pricing that increases with the length of the period, and concession rates for eligible cardholders. It is worth applying two to three weeks before your move rather than at the last minute, since activating the service is not instant and needs a short processing window. A shorter redirection covers the immediate gap while you update your address with banks and other senders; a longer period gives more buffer if mail from less frequent senders keeps trickling in.

Updating your address with government bodies and key accounts is worth treating as its own checklist item. The Australian Electoral Commission requires you to update your enrolled address within eight weeks of moving, and missing this can leave you enrolled at your old address for the next election. Medicare, your bank, your employer, your vehicle registration and driver's licence details, and any insurance policies are also worth updating around the same time, since an out-of-date address can cause real problems later, from misdirected correspondence to a claim complicated by mismatched details.

If you are leaving a rental property, the timing of your exit clean is worth coordinating deliberately rather than as an afterthought. Most tenancy agreements expect the property returned in a similar condition to how it was received, reasonable wear and tear aside, and your bond is assessed against that standard at final inspection. Booking an exit clean for after the furniture is out, but with enough buffer before your final inspection to fix anything the cleaners flag, tends to avoid the last-minute scramble of cleaning around boxes still waiting to be moved.

None of this needs to happen in a single day, and starting the utilities and mail steps a few weeks out rather than the week of the move is the single biggest thing that makes moving week feel manageable rather than chaotic. This article is general information rather than a complete list for every situation, and requirements can vary by state, provider and building. Our directory lists Australian removalists by area if the physical move itself is the piece you are still organising.

Frequently asked questions