The moving timeline: eight weeks out to day one

Most moving checklists are lists. The useful information is not what is on the list — it is the order, because three or four items have lead times long enough that doing them in the wrong week is the difference between a smooth move and a bad fortnight.

This is the sequence for a London move, working backwards from the day.

Eight weeks out

Decide the area properly, if you have not. This is the last point where changing your mind is cheap. Once you have paid a holding deposit or instructed a solicitor, the cost of a rethink goes up sharply.

Crime, transport, schools and green space for every borough are on the borough pages, each figure ranked against the other 32. The map covers all 283 postcode districts. And bear in mind throughout that a borough figure is an average over somewhere very large — inner versus outer London is a way to narrow a longlist, not to choose a street.

Get removal quotes. Eight weeks sounds absurdly early. It is not, for end of month, a Friday, or anything in the last week of August, which is the single busiest week in the London calendar.

Quotes vary more than people expect because the awkward parts vary — floors without a lift, distance from the parking to the door, whether you are packing yourself. Comparing several quotes at once shows the spread quickly, and our directory of London removal firms marks which are British Association of Removers members.

Six weeks out

Book the mover. Prices rise and availability falls from here.

Check broadband availability at the exact address. Not the postcode — the full address, including the flat number. London installation lead times run to two or three weeks and considerably longer if an engineer has to pull new fibre or the freeholder has to grant permission.

This is the item most often left until after the move, and it is the one that causes the most day-to-day misery when it goes wrong. We wrote about why London broadband varies street by street; the short version is that the flat next door is not evidence of anything. Check what is actually available at your specific address now, while there is still time to act on a bad answer.

Tell your contents insurer. Some policies extend to cover a move only if you notify them in advance. Doing it afterwards is worth nothing.

Four weeks out

Order packing materials. Ordering now rather than the week before is what stops you buying tape from a corner shop on the Saturday morning at four times the price.

A two-bed flat needs roughly 25 large boxes, 40 medium and a few wardrobe boxes — the calculator on our packing supplies page does the arithmetic for each size of home, along with tape and paper quantities.

Start packing the room you use least. Spare room, loft, bookshelves, out-of-season clothes. Packing the kitchen first means a fortnight of takeaways, which costs more than the boxes did.

Book parking, if your borough requires it. Many London councils require a suspended bay or dispensation for a removal van, applied for days in advance. Notice periods and prices differ by borough — a suspension in Camden is a different process from one in Bromley or Hillingdon — so check the specific council now rather than discovering the requirement on the day.

Two weeks out

Confirm dates with everyone. Mover, agent or solicitor, and anyone helping.

Arrange storage if the dates might slip. If you are buying, completion dates move. A month of self-storage is far cheaper arranged calmly in advance than at two days' notice in peak season — and a unit near the new area can usually be booked and cancelled without much penalty, which makes it cheap insurance.

Redirect post. Royal Mail redirection takes several working days to set up.

Notify the essentials. Bank, employer, GP, DVLA, council tax at both addresses.

The final week

Pack everything except the survival box. Then pack the survival box last and label it obviously: kettle, mugs, tea, phone chargers, loo roll, hand soap, a towel each, bin bags, and the box cutter. Carry it in your own car.

Photograph the valuables. Timestamped photos before things go into boxes are what turn an insurance claim from an argument into a form.

Photograph the property. Both of them, on the day. This is what protects your deposit at check-out, and it is worth more than any amount of arguing later.

Moving day

Take meter readings at both properties. Gas, electricity and water, photographed with a timestamp. Then switch — if you do nothing you default onto the incoming supplier's standard tariff, which is rarely the best available. Comparing tariffs at that point takes ten minutes.

Check the inventory before the crew leaves. Count boxes against your list. A missing box discovered while the van is outside is a different problem from one discovered on Tuesday.

Do not sign the check-in inventory blind. Walk the property, note every mark, photograph anything the inventory does not mention. Ten minutes here is the difference between getting your deposit back and negotiating for it.

The first week

• Register for council tax at the new address. Backdated bills are unpleasant post.
• Register with a GP and dentist locally — waiting lists in parts of London are long enough that "later" becomes months.
• Find the bin collection day and the recycling rules, which differ by borough more than anyone expects.
• Update the address on your contents policy if you have not already.

The honest summary

Four things have lead times: removals (book eight weeks out in peak season), broadband (check six weeks out, at the exact address), parking suspensions (borough-dependent, days to weeks) and post redirection. Everything else can be done late without much cost.

Get those four right and the rest is just carrying boxes.

Still deciding where?

One 1-10 score for any London postcode — crime, transport, schools and green space, down to the street rather than the borough.

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