Moving House: The Renter's Timeline

Moving is mostly logistics, and the parts that go wrong are almost always the ones nobody wrote down. This is the renter's version: what to do, when, and the bits that cost money if you forget them.

The short version

• Two months' notice, in writing. That's the standard now, with no fixed term to escape.
• Budget for the overlap. Your old deposit almost certainly won't come back before the new one is due.
• Photograph the old place empty and clean, and the new one on day one.
• Meter readings on both properties, photographed, on the day.

Eight weeks out: give notice properly

Tenancies are periodic now, so there's no fixed term to break and no early termination fee. You give two months' notice in writing, whenever you like.

Do it in writing even if you've told them verbally, keep a copy, and note the date. If you're in a joint tenancy, agree it with your housemates first, because notice given by one tenant can end the tenancy for everyone.

Staying or moving on.

The budget, honestly

The single biggest cause of moving stress is not having planned for the overlap.

• New deposit, up to five weeks' rent
• Rent in advance, up to one month, which is now the legal cap
• Holding deposit, up to one week's rent, offset against the above
• Removals or a van
• Overlapping rent, if the dates don't align
• Cleaning and making good at the old place
• Setting up, broadband installation, anything that doesn't fit

Your old deposit typically takes ten days to a few weeks after check-out, and you need the new one before you get the keys. Plan for both at once.

Nothing else is chargeable. No admin fee, no referencing fee, no inventory fee, no check-out fee. What the Tenant Fees Act bans.

Six weeks out

• Book removals, or the van. Fridays and month-ends go first.
• Dig out your move-in photographs and the inventory. You'll want to know what state things were in.
• Start the paperwork for the new place: ID, proof of address, payslips, previous landlord's details.
• Book time off, and more than you think.

Four weeks out

• Set up Royal Mail redirection. Cheap, and it catches the things you'll forget.
• Start the address list. Bank, employer, GP, dentist, DVLA licence and V5C, HMRC, Universal Credit or benefits, insurance, TV licence, electoral roll, subscriptions, pension, phone.
• Sort the broadband. Installation dates are the thing most likely to slip. Check whether you can transfer or need to cancel, and whether you're in contract.
• Declutter. Charity shops, selling, tip runs. Moving things you don't want costs money twice.

Two weeks out

• Contact your energy and water suppliers with the move dates.
• Council tax, both councils, so you close one account and open the other.
• Start packing the things you don't use. Label by room, and write what's in the box rather than just "kitchen".
• Pack an essentials box separately, and mark it clearly. Kettle, mugs, tea, loo roll, phone chargers, bedding, a torch, painkillers, basic tools, cleaning things.
• Confirm the check-out appointment, and try to be there for it. Being present is worth a lot in any later deposit dispute.

The final week at the old place

This is where your deposit is won or lost.

1. Read the inventory and the check-in report properly, room by room, and put things back where they started. Furniture moved, shelves added, pictures hung.
2. Clean to the standard you found it in. Not better, not worse. You can't be required to pay for professional cleaning, and a landlord can only expect the property back in the condition it was in, allowing for fair wear and tear.
3. Don't forget the ignored places. Inside the oven, the fridge seals, behind the toilet, extractor filters, window tracks, skirting boards, the inside of kitchen cupboards.
4. Photograph every room empty and clean, with a timestamp, and match the angles from your move-in photos. Include the oven and the fridge.
5. Photograph the meters, gas, electricity and water, on the final day.
6. Return every key, and get a written receipt.

Getting your deposit back and your deposit rights.

Moving day

• Meter readings at both properties, photographed.
• Check the new place before unloading, if you possibly can. It's much easier to note a problem in an empty room.
• Keep documents and valuables with you, not on the van.
• Test the essentials: hot water, heating, every tap, the toilet, the oven, the hob.
• Find the stopcock, the consumer unit and the gas valve before you do anything else.
• Test the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. They must be working on day one.

The first week in the new place

The most valuable week of the whole tenancy, and the easiest to waste.

• Photograph everything, thoroughly, before you unpack. Every room, every wall, every appliance, close-ups of every existing mark. Timestamped. Documenting the condition.
• Complete and return the inventory inside the deadline, adding anything they missed. Don't sign it as accurate if it isn't.
• Report all the snags in one email, in the first fortnight.
• Check the deposit is protected within 30 days, and that you've had the prescribed information. All three schemes let you check free. Your deposit rights.
• Check you've had the gas safety certificate, the EPC and the written information about your tenancy's key terms. The How to Rent guide was withdrawn on 1 May 2026 and replaced by that. What replaced it.
• Register for council tax, and claim any single person discount.
• Set up the standing order, dated a couple of days before the rent is due.
• Sort contents insurance, since the landlord's policy covers nothing of yours. Renters' insurance.

Chasing the old deposit

Don't let it drift. Ask in writing for its return within a week or so of check-out.

If deductions are proposed, ask for an itemised breakdown with evidence, including how old each item was and how the figure has been adjusted for age. Use the scheme's free adjudication if you can't agree. The burden of proof sits with the landlord throughout.

How often things should be replaced.

The honest summary

Two months' notice in writing, and budget for the overlap because your old deposit won't be back in time.

Photograph the old place empty and clean, photograph the meters, and photograph the new place before a single box comes in. Return the inventory inside the deadline and report snags in one go.

And when it's done, review the place you've just left. Everything you learned in two years about that landlord and that flat is worth an enormous amount to whoever views it next week.

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This guide covers England and reflects the position at August 2026. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland differ. General information rather than legal advice. Sources: GOV.UK, assured periodic tenancies: a guide for tenants, GOV.UK, deposit protection schemes.