You have been through a lot: browsing; viewing; choosing; offering; paying holding deposit; passing referencing checks and arranging move in date. All seems pretty finished. Well, not at all. Usually the day you move in is the day you move out from your previous home, this offers a hundred of ways for confusions. What you can do to avoid them? Prepare yourself. How exactly?
- Try to pack the most of your luggage the night before the moving out. Leave just the papers, documents, keys, phones, your clothes for the day – you don’t really need your entire wardrobe out.
- Arrange exact time of moving out and moving in – this way you won’t need to stand on the street waiting for the previous tenants to walk out. Try to get one day between your moving in and their moving out.
- Learn from where you will get the keys; sign the documents and pay the fees and deposits.
- Is there parking space for the vehicle that will bring your luggage?
- Get the tenancy agreement and read it carefully. If you have any disagreements or issues, raise them before the signing. If you live with a couple of friends and some of them can’t be there when the moving in begins, bring their signed tenancies.
- Get the money ready – deposit for the new property; contract, inventory and letting agent fee. Don’t rely on the deposit from the previous landlords, they have term to give it back, usually 30 days, so it’s hardly possible to get it on the move out day. If your deposit is not mentioned in the contract (exact amount, date and way of payment), you should receive a receipt as a proof.
- Check if pre tenancy cleaning has been performed, this will save you a lot of worries.
- Try to make the inventory with the landlord or the letting agent. Spot all possible issues – cracks, electricity shortcuts, etc. If the place is furnished, check the condition of all furniture. Open, close, lock and unlock all doors and windows to see if they need some repairs or not.
- Take pictures of the place, when it’s time to move out you won’t pay for previous tenants’ damages.
- Check if there is water, electricity, internet and everything that is offered with the house.
- Before you unpack anything, leave yourself some time for domestic sanitising. Yes it will take efforts and time, but if you do it now you will save yourself a lot of troubles later, no matter if the landlord says that it was cleaned after the previous tenants. It’s about your own health and safety.
If you have done all these task and you have survived… Congratulations and welcome to your new home!
