Moving home is one of the most stressful experiences an average person will experience in their lives. If you're one of the people moving to Hatfield, hopefully, the information in this section will help reduce some of that stress.
If you have the cash to spare after buying your new home, consider doing any building work (repairs or alterations) and/or landscaping before you move in.
Decide upon a date (Fridays, bank holiday weekends are peak times for moving companies so they may not have capacity unless you have booked well in advance – which can be a bit of a gamble).
Chose a moving company carefully – cheapest is not necessarily the best (especially if they damage / destroy your goods and don’t have any insurance). You may want to use members of the British Association of Removers (BAR) and National Guild of Removers and Storers (NGRS).
Ensure you advise the removal company in advance of any items that may need special handling (paintings or bulky items like a four-poster bed).
At both addresses, check whether there is enough parking space and room to manoeuvre a large truck (a smaller one may mean more journeys).
Get quotations from 3-4 companies.
Get quotations in writing.
Ensure that your goods are protected by insurance in transit (check terms of your household insurance, although a good moving company should provide this).
Consider leaving essential, valuable and sentimental items (like passports, jewellery, photo albums) with a bank or with family / friends until after the chaos of the move is over. However, remember that you may need to access important personal documents, like your passport, quickly.
The less you have to move the easier it will be (and possibly cheaper). Consider disposing of unwanted items – donate to charity shops and or raise some cash to help pay for the move by selling at a car boot sale or on eBay.
It may help to get a professional cleaning company to clean your new home before you move in. Then you can concentrate on unpacking and settling in.
If you have pets or young children it will probably be best to keep them out of the way on the day. So consider leaving with friends or at a kennel / cattery (the pets, not the kids, tempting as that may be). Dogs and cats have been known to get lost / return to familiar surroundings during or shortly after a move, so it is a good idea to have their new address details on their collars (especially, if they have not been ‘chipped’).
You may want to spare a thought for the people moving into your old home and compile a factsheet with information on things like rubbish collection and recycling schemes (as much of this kind of information will be available on council websites perhaps just a list of URLs / web addresses. And you may want to ask the people you're buying or renting the house from to do the same).
Check you’ve returned any library books, DVDs or CDs that you have borrowed.
Give all the keys (including any left under a stone or with friends / neighbours) to your estate agent or solicitors.
Keep any medication handy – including repeat prescriptions, or getting an advanced supply from your GP before you move.
Take a kettle with you (but only if the electricity and water are connected!)
Depending on how much stuff you’ve got and whether the utilities (gas, electricity or water) need to be reconnected / turned on, it may be worth hiring rooms nearby where you can sleep overnight.
People and organisations to notify of your change of address (doing it early can be a benefit but it could mean double work if, for any reason, there are delays or cancellations – especially a chain falling through):
Good luck with your move to Hatfield!