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Moving house: a checklist
Moving goes smoothly when you start about two months ahead and work through the tasks in order. The most important jobs are giving notice on time, booking movers early, and getting your deposit or sale paperwork sorted. The checklist below runs from eight weeks out to your first week in the new place.
Six to eight weeks before
- Check your notice period. If you rent, read your lease for the notice you must give. See ending a lease early if you are leaving before it ends.
- If you own with a bond, check your bond agreement for the notice the bank requires. Bank agreements often ask for 90 days. A consumer can settle a bond at any time, but without notice the bank may charge up to three months’ interest as an early termination charge. A longer notice period can reduce or remove that. Your conveyancer’s cancellation fee is separate.
- Agree the occupation date. If you are buying, a move-in before registration usually means you pay the seller occupational rent, and the date and amount belong in the offer. Transfers are often about 8 to 12 weeks, and longer if complicated. See how long property transfer takes.
- Set a budget. Include movers, deposits, connection fees and the cost of cleaning. For buyers, the transfer costs calculator helps.
- Start sorting. Sell, donate or throw away what you will not take.
Four to six weeks before
- Get at least three written quotes from moving companies. Ask whether the quote is fixed or an estimate, and what insurance applies to your goods.
- Book your mover and a date. Month-ends are busy.
- Collect packing boxes, tape and marker pens.
- Measure the new place, including doorways and stairs, to check your furniture will fit.
- Check with your home insurer about cover during the move and at the new address. See homeowners insurance explained.
Two weeks before
- Tell your bank, medical aid, insurers, employer, schools and subscription services your new address.
- Arrange the electricity, water and internet at the new home, and cancel or transfer them at the old one. Ask for final meter readings.
- Arrange for mail to be redirected.
- Pack rooms you rarely use. Label each box by room.
- If you are selling, remember that the municipal rates clearance and, for sectional title, the levy clearance are needed before transfer can register. Your conveyancer will arrange them, and you must have your accounts paid up.
- Keep a bag of important papers, medicines, chargers and valuables with you, not on the truck.
The last few days
- Defrost the fridge and freezer. Disconnect appliances.
- Take photos of the home before you leave, and of your furniture before it is loaded.
- Clean the home, or book a cleaner.
- If you rent, arrange the joint inspection with your landlord. The law requires one within the three days before the lease expires. Attend it, because a landlord who does not inspect with you present is treated as accepting the home is in good repair, and the full deposit plus interest is due back.
- Pack a box for the first night: bedding, kettle, toilet paper, basic tools and snacks.
Moving day and after
- Be at the old place to check the movers load everything, and at the new place to direct them.
- Do a walk-through of the old place when empty. Hand over every key and remote, and keep a record.
- If you are renting the new home, do the joint inspection before you move in. Note every defect in writing.
- Check each item against your list, and report any damage to the movers straight away, in writing.
- Within a week, update your address with SARS, the bank, the licensing department and your employer.
Deposit refunds follow a timetable. If nothing is owed, the deposit and interest are due within 7 days of the lease ending. If amounts are deducted, the balance is due within 14 days of the dwelling being handed back, with receipts available to you. Diary those dates.
What to do next
Print this list and put a date next to each item. If you are still deciding where to move, search properties, and read the full cost of buying a home to budget for the move.
This article is general information for South African readers, not legal, financial or tax advice. Rules and rates change, so check your own situation with an attorney, your bank or a tax practitioner. Our property calculators can help you work out the numbers.