Change of address checklist

Two to four weeks before you move. Forwarding does not begin the moment you file, so filing the week of the move leaves a gap. Filing months ahead creates the opposite problem: mail redirects to an address you are not living at yet. Pick a start date that matches the day you actually stop collecting post at the old address.

Start with anything that costs money to miss. Banks, credit cards and loan providers. Then government: tax authority, driving licence, vehicle registration, voter registration. Then insurance, since home and auto premiums are priced by address and a stale address can affect a claim. Then medical and dental, schools and employers. Subscriptions and retailers last, because those are the ones forwarding handles best.

More than most people expect. Forwarding is time-limited, so anything that arrives after it expires goes to the new occupant. Some mail classes do not forward at all. Anything addressed to a business at your home may be treated differently from personal mail. And forwarding does nothing for services that deliver rather than post, which have to be told directly.

Utilities are a separate job from a change of address and they are the one with a hard date. Contact each provider at both ends with the switch dates: electricity, gas, water, internet, waste collection. Ask for a final meter reading at the old address and note the reading yourself. Internet is the one to book earliest, since an installation appointment is scheduled by the provider and not by you.

The accounts that contact you rarely. A pension or retirement provider. An old savings account. A professional body or union. A vet. A prescription service. Anything with an annual renewal, which is the category most likely to arrive after forwarding has expired. Write those down while you still have the old post to remind you.