moving into my first house on friday, what do i need to do?

Philz0r

Philz0r

Philz0r

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York
hey overclockers.

well the time has come and im picking up the house keys to my first house on friday and havent a clue what i need to do.

i know i need to phone the gas and electric companys and tell them the numbers on the meters but after this what do i do? do i phone around the electric companies and try and get a good deal or whatever or do i have to stay with the current ones for a few weeks?

what about the waterboard? do i phone those dudes up i really have no idea.

what do i do about landlines. i dont intend to get my phone and broadband set up for a couple of months just yet so do i still need to pay the 12.99 land line rental even if i dont want/use it?.

thats the only things i can think of atm.

anyone who has recently moved can you please give me a rundown of what to do and how to do it.


thanks Phil x
 
Pick your gas/electric providers, ring them, give them meter readings, sort out monthly estimates with them, done deal.

Ring your water supplier, sort out estimates, give readings, done deal.

Can do them straight away.
 
You won't pay a line rental until you want the line.

Read all meters, Gas, Water, Elec as appropriate. Take pictures if possible. This has helped me massively in the past with a gas dispute whereby with the evidence I provided, I was entitled to a £300 refund. Basically, my gas provider had not recorded the meter serial number correctly and were charging me for next doors gas when they came to read the meter.
 
I'd keep paying the line rental for the landline, as cancelling and then reconnecting it later can cost a lot with BT, although I'm not sure of the exact costs nowdays.

Got home insurance sorted? Deffo don't want to miss out on that.
 
ah sounds easy enough with the gas water and electric, as for the line rental theres no way they can charge me for it?
 
Yes good point about the line rental, BT charge I think £60 to reconnect you, maybe ven more, sometimes the fee is waved by whatever company you go with but a nasty expense if not.
 
don't forget your local council, as you really don't want a big council tax bill months down the line because you forgot to notify them of exactly when you moved in, & they've promptly decided you moved in much earlier than your letting on.
 
ah, ill just keep the landline ticking over then for the sake of £13 a month. ill more then likely be going with sky for tv phone and broadband and taking their linerental out too. and also yes i have my building insurance all sorted.

excited :D
 
If you're living alone, get down to the Council and get a single person occupancy discount right away. Far easier to do it now than try and convince them you aren't pulling a fast one!

Update car insurance if necessary.

Crack open a can of beer and enjoy your new home.
 
One tip in addition to the insurance/utility ones (well apart from make sure you've got contents cover) is to make sure you know where the utilities enter the house and how to turn them off/reset them.

Get a torch and long life batteries (a cheap maglite and some duracells are ideal), learn where the circuit breakers are and mark them if not already done.
If you trip a breaker or blow a fuse the chances are (sods law) that it will be the lighting circuit, at about 1am on a dark night*:p
Also find where the stop **** for the incoming water is, and make sure it works.
If you've got a gas supply, also find where the isolation valve for that is.

With those three things you're not going to be hunting around in the dark (possibly literally) in the event of something like a leak or breaker tripping.



*Certain styles of bulb seem to trip the breakers on a regular basis here when the bulb dies (Homebase R50's have about a 50% of tripping our lighting circuit, and 25% of shattering when they die).
 
If you are planning to move away from BT to Sky for your line rental, you almost certainly won't need to worry about any reconnection fees. Sky will most likely cover these as they want your business. Don't be too ready to carry on someone else's line rental that might be in arrears or similar.

Make a clean break if you don't need it for a few months.
 
The main things I would point out quickly:

- Don't forgot home insurance. Find cheap quotes, more than £20 a month and thats probably too much.

- Sign up to quidco and search for everything on there. In my first house signing up to contracts with Sky/VM, Gas, Leccy, etc, etc through Quidco really adds up some free monies.
 
iDroid84 said:
So your saying everyone should live with their parents?

@OP the first thing I did was put the kettle on while ringing up gas/elec companies to say I had moved into the house with meter readings.

I did things like phone, insurence, water, council tax and changed addresses on other bills like mobile phone, bank e.t.c.
Click to expand...

I think he means this is the sort of thing you'd ask your parents for advice on normally.
 
Congrats, picked up the keys for my first house on Saturday. I did building, contents insurance and mortgage payment protection insurance, if its a mortgage you have. Along with the others mentions above.
 
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