Your first week in a new home

• Get your completion or move-in date confirmed in writing. Verbal dates move; nothing is real until your solicitor or agent puts it in writing
• Book removals or a van for the afternoon, not first thing. Completion money often lands at lunchtime, so a 9am slot means a van sat outside doing nothing. Compare quotes on reallymoving.com; we are not paid for that
• Start your buildings insurance from exchange, not completion. From exchange you are legally committed and the risk is already yours
• Renting for now? Check your deposit scheme, your inventory date and who is holding what
• Set up a Royal Mail redirect before you move. Cheaper than the identity fraud that comes from a year of your post landing at a stranger's house
• Change your address with the bank, employer, HMRC, DVLA, GP and dentist
• Book the broadband install for the day you get the keys. Engineer slots often run a fortnight out
• Take final meter readings at the old place and photograph them
• Pack a first-night box and keep it in the car, not the van: kettle, mugs, tea, loo roll, chargers, bin bags, screwdriver, torch, any medication

• Photograph every meter before you carry a single box in. Your opening reads settle the first bill
• Find the stopcock, the fuse box and the gas shut-off, and check you can actually reach them
• Write down the meter readings and serial numbers, the stopcock and fuse box locations, and the boiler make, model and last service
• Test every key in every lock, including back doors and window locks
• Fire up the heating and the hot water, even in summer, while you can still get hold of the seller or agent
• Video-walk the whole property empty, room by room, including the garden. Buyers, that is your snagging record; renters, your inventory evidence
• Collect what has been left: manuals, warranties, alarm codes, spare keys, bin fobs

• Tell the council you have moved and set up council tax. They backdate it either way
• Contact whoever already supplies the energy and give your opening reads. You are their customer from the moment you get the keys
• Do not switch supplier until the first bill has landed. Switching mid-read is how opening balances get lost
• Set up water, and check whether you can even switch. Household water is regional
• Sort broadband, and a TV licence if you watch live TV or iPlayer
• Close old accounts and get final bills confirmed in writing
• Update the electoral roll at the new address. It is one of the first things credit checks look at
• Update your driving licence and your V5C logbook. Two separate jobs; the logbook one carries a fine
• Check your first mortgage payment date and that the direct debit is set up right

• Test every smoke alarm by pressing the button. A green light means powered, not working
• Check for a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a fixed combustion appliance
• Change the locks, or at least the barrels. You have no idea how many keys are out there
• Label the gas and water shut-offs so anyone in the house can find them
• Check the loft, the meter cupboard, the shed and the garage for what has been left behind, and what has been quietly hidden

• Start a defects list in one place on day one, with photos and dates
• New build? Get defects reported inside your warranty's defects period. Check the dates; do not assume you have years
• Run every tap, flush every toilet, look under every sink
• Check when the boiler was last serviced and book one if it is over 12 months
• Bleed the radiators before the first cold week, not during it
• Check the drains run clear and the gutters are not blocked

• Introduce yourself to the neighbours either side in the first week. Cheapest insurance policy there is
• Find the bin day and which bin goes out when
• Register with a local GP and dentist
• Locate the nearest pharmacy, tip, supermarket and petrol station

• Check your purchase is registered with HM Land Registry. Registration can take a long time; chase your solicitor rather than assume
• Put deeds, warranties, FENSA certificates and building regs paperwork in one folder. You will be asked for all of it the day you sell
• Check the start date of any service charge or estate management charge. Estate charges on new build sites can arrive months later, backdated
• Start a maintenance pot from month one. A common rule of thumb is around 1% of the property value a year
• Diarise your mortgage end date and set a reminder six months before. That is when you start looking, not when the rate ends
• Renting for now? Check the inventory line by line against your own photos before you sign it, write down every existing mark, confirm in writing who handles the garden and the boiler, get an out-of-hours number and sort contents insurance

Switching energy supplier before the first bill lands. Signing an inventory without your own photos. Delaying telling the council, then getting backdated. Reporting a fault by phone with nothing in writing. Letting the removals van go before you have checked for damage. Binning the paperwork left behind by the previous owner.

General information for England and Wales, not advice. Rules, deadlines and responsibilities differ by tenure, tenancy and lease, and they change, so check current guidance and your own paperwork. If something looks unsafe, stop and get a professional in before you use it.