Four things to do before you move house

A couple of weeks before the move, take some time to update your address details and redirect your mail with organisations and government authorities.  

Here’s a short list to get you started: 

• Vehicle registration and licence 
• Australian Taxation Office 
• Australian Electoral Commission 
• Banks 
• Medical centres, dentists and other healthcare clinics 
• Superannuation provider 
• Your employer 
• Medicare 
• Centrelink 
• Any membership or subscription services you hold. 

Thankfully, you can tackle a few of these using your Services Australia MyGov account. 

If you’re new to having to organise and pay for utilities: 
 
All you need to do is choose a plan from your preferred providers, let them know when you’re moving in and when your services need to be connected, and hey presto, you’re done (after you pay, of course). Gas and electricity usually only take a day or so to get connected, but telephone and NBN can vary, so get on those early. 

If you need to transfer utilities from one address to another: 
 
Simply contact your energy and telecommunications providers with the new address, the required connection date, and when the old address needs to be disconnected (so you don’t keep getting billed after the move). 

What do I do about water? 
 
To arrange or confirm water connection, contact your local water provider. For new home buys, you don’t need to worry — the connection should occur at settlement along with the change in title.

If you already have home insurance:

Look over your current insurance policy to make sure you’re adequately protected from financial damage or loss due to unforeseen events. You can do this by estimating the value of your property and contents and reviewing your sum insured. (The sum insured is the maximum amount your insurance company will pay you to help rebuild or replace your house and/or contents if an insured event occurs).  

If you’re new to home insurance:

If you’ve never had home insurance before, you might like to explore the different types of cover options available to help protect your home and the things you keep inside of it. Insurance exists to help cover the cost to repair or replace insured items in the event they’re damaged, lost or destroyed by a covered event.

Here are the three main types of cover options available for homeowners:

• Buildings Insurance for the structure of your home and its permanent fixtures.
• Contents Insurance for the items you keep inside of your home.
• Buildings and Contents Insurance for your home’s structure, its permanent fixtures, and the items you keep in the home.  

Once you decide on a policy, you can get a quote and choose what day you need your cover to start.

If it’s a newly built home: 
 
Before you move into a newly built home, make sure you know how everything works and double-check the home for any faults or issues that may have been missed by the builder so you can arrange for them to be fixed under the builder’s warranty. 

If it’s an older home: 
 
If you’ve bought an existing home, you may have arranged a building and pest inspection before putting in an offer. This is a great tool to help you know what issues have already been identified in the house that you can fix before you move in. If you didn’t arrange one, take time to carefully inspect all areas of the home for signs of wear and tear – are there any broken roof tiles? Are taps working as they should? Do doors and windows lock securely? Are there any signs of mould or mildew? If you notice anything, arrange for issues to be addressed in order of urgency.