Change of address when you move

This guide works wherever you live. The order and the questions are the same everywhere; the deadlines, fees and forms aren’t — each country sets its own, and some leave part of it to each town. So before each step, check your country’s official government portal or your local authority’s website: that’s where the rules for your address are. Print this page or save it as a PDF and use it as your change of address checklist.

The order that saves weeks

Four rules decide what comes first:

1. What needs an appointment goes first. An internet installation can take weeks to schedule; if you only ask on moving day, you spend the first weeks without it.
2. What you need on day one is set up before you go. Electricity, gas and water should be on at the new home the day you arrive, and off at the old one the day after you leave.
3. Mail forwarding starts before you leave. It catches what you forget — and it’s how you find out who you forgot.
4. Official records come right after you move in. Many offices only accept an address you already live at, and many count their deadline from moving day. Put them in your first week.

What to have at hand

Before the first call, gather what nearly everyone asks for:

• The new address, written exactly as it will appear on official records — floor, apartment number, postal code. Write it the same way everywhere, or you end up with records that don’t match.
• Your ID document and, for each provider, your customer or account number — it’s on the bills.
• Proof that you can live at the new address: the lease, the deed or purchase contract, or a letter from your landlord. Offices and providers ask for it; later, the first bill at the new address often serves as proof.
• The dates: when you get the keys, moving day, and the day you hand back the old home.
• The list of people to notify — everyone who has your address. Go through the last twelve months of bank statements and email: every regular payment and every sender who writes to you is someone to tell.

Internet, TV and phone

It’s the one that takes longest, because the new home may need an installation. Call your provider as soon as you have the date — four weeks ahead if you can — and ask:

• Is there service at the new address, and at what speed? Check this before anything else: coverage changes from street to street.
• Does the contract move with you, or is it a new one? A new contract often starts a new minimum term.
• Is there a fee for moving the service or for the installation?
• When is the first installation slot, and does someone need to be home?
• Can you keep your landline number, if you have one?
• What happens to the equipment: does the router go with you, or do you return it?
• If the provider can’t serve the new address, can you end the contract without an early-termination fee? In many countries you can, but it depends on the law and on your contract — ask in writing and keep the reply.

Your mobile phone moves with you, but update its billing address.

Electricity and gas

Two to three weeks before the move:

• Check that the new home is connected and the supply is active. If it was cut off or never connected, getting it connected takes much longer than signing a contract — ask the landlord or the seller, or the local network operator.
• Find the supply point number. Every electricity and gas connection has an identifier, printed on the bills for that address. Ask the previous occupant, the landlord or the seller for a recent bill: with that number, any supplier can identify the home without doubt.
• Stay or switch. Your current supplier can usually move the contract with you. Where you can choose your supplier, a move is a good time to compare — the old contract ends anyway.
• What suppliers usually ask for: your ID, the new address and supply point number, the start date, a meter reading, your bank details if you pay by direct debit, and sometimes the lease or deed.
• At the old home, set the end date to the day after you leave — not before, or you’ll pack in the dark. Give a final meter reading, and ask where the final bill and any deposit refund will go. On a fixed-term contract, ask whether there’s a fee for ending it early.
• Gas has two more questions. If the gas has to be turned on, many places require a qualified technician to check the installation first — book it before moving day. If the home uses bottled gas or a tank, ask the landlord or the seller who supplies it and how to order.

Photograph the meters — electricity, gas and water — on the day you leave and the day you arrive. A dated photo settles any argument about the last bill.

Water

Water usually comes from a local or regional utility, so it isn’t something you choose: who supplies the new home depends on where it is. If you’re moving to another town, it may well be a different one.

• Find out who supplies the new address — on your local authority’s website, or from the landlord, the seller or the previous occupant.
• Ask whether the water will be in your name at all. In some buildings it’s paid in the rent or in the building’s shared costs.
• What they usually ask for: your ID, proof that you can live there (the lease or the deed), a meter reading — a photo is best — and sometimes the owner’s details.
• Close the account at the old home from the day after you leave, with a final reading taken on the day you leave.

Mail and parcels

Many postal services offer mail forwarding: for a few months, sometimes up to a year, letters sent to the old address are delivered to the new one. It’s usually paid, and it can take several business days to start — order it a week or two before moving day.

• Order it only on the postal service’s own website or at a post office. Some sites charge many times the price to fill in the same form for you.
• Ask how long it lasts, whether it can be extended, whether it includes parcels, and whether one request covers everyone in the household.
• Parcels may not follow it. Forwarding covers what that postal service delivers; a parcel delivered by another carrier goes to the address on the order. So change the delivery address in your online shopping accounts before the next order — and if you track deliveries with a carrier account, such as DHL, UPS or FedEx, change it there too.
• Put your name on the new mailbox on the first day. In many places, mail for a name that isn’t on the box can go back to the sender.

For as long as forwarding lasts, every envelope with the old address is someone still to tell.

Your address with the authorities

This is where the deadlines are, and where countries differ most. Find your country’s official portal before you move — many have a single page on moving house — and look for the answers to these questions:

• Do you have to register the new address? In many countries you register with the town hall or a local registry within days or weeks of moving; in others there’s no registration, and each office is told separately. Ask what the deadline is, whether it can be done online and what proof is needed — usually your ID and the lease, the deed or a confirmation from your landlord.
• Is your address on your identity card? In some countries it’s printed on the card or stored in its chip, and changing it is a procedure of its own. Some send a confirmation code by letter to the new address — one more reason to do it once you live there.
• Does one change reach the others? In some countries, updating your address in one place passes it on to the tax office, social security and the electoral roll. In others, every office has to be informed separately. Know which before you start, and keep the receipt or confirmation.
• Tax. The tax authority needs your new address — sometimes within a deadline, sometimes simply on your next tax return.
• Social security, pensions and benefits. Tell each one that pays you something, unless the registration already reaches it.
• Local taxes and fees charged by address — property tax, waste collection or a broadcasting fee, where they exist: ask whether they follow your registration or have to be changed separately.
• If you’re a foreign resident, the immigration authority may have a deadline of its own, sometimes only a few days, and in some countries changing your address elsewhere doesn’t reach it. Check its official page first.

Health and voting

• Health. Tell your doctor, dentist and pharmacy, and your health insurer or public health service. In some countries your family doctor or health center depends on where you live: ask whether you need to register somewhere new, and how your medical records are transferred.
• Voting. In some countries the electoral roll follows your registered address; in others you have to register again at the new address, with a cut-off date before each election. Check it now, not in the week of the next vote.

Driver’s license and vehicle

• The driver’s license. In some countries it shows your address and has to be updated within a deadline, and not doing so can mean a fine; in others it carries no address at all. Ask the authority that issued it.
• The vehicle registration. The address on it rarely updates by itself, even when your other records do. Ask the vehicle authority about the deadline and the fee — from free to a small charge, depending on the country.
• Moving to another region or country can mean more than a new address: exchanging the license or registering the vehicle again. Check before the move, not after.
• Car insurance and parking. Tell the insurer, because the address can change the price; and if you park on the street, ask the local authority about resident parking permits.

Bank, insurance and employer

• Bank and cards. Change the address in online banking, or ask what the bank needs — some ask for proof, such as the lease or a recent utility bill. Do it before a new card is due: a card sent to the old address is a card in someone else’s mailbox.
• Home or renters insurance. The policy covers an address. Ask from what date the new home is covered, whether your things are covered while they’re being moved, and whether the price changes. Don’t cancel the old home’s policy before you’ve handed back the keys.
• Other insurance, pensions and investments — car, health, life, pension plans: each one separately.
• Employer. Payslips and tax documents go to the address your employer has on file.

Schools, subscriptions and everyone else

• Schools and childcare. If the children are changing school, start early: places often depend on the address and can take months. Tell the current school when they’re leaving, and ask how their records are passed on.
• Subscriptions and memberships — magazines, deliveries, streaming services, the gym, loyalty cards, clubs, the vet.
• Online shops and apps where your address is saved, so the next parcel doesn’t go to the old door.
• Friends and family — and anyone who still sends you letters.

In order

• As soon as you have the date: book the internet move; if the children are changing school, ask about places.
• Four weeks before: gather the documents and make the list of who has your address.
• Two to three weeks before: set up electricity, gas and water at the new home from moving day, and schedule the old ones to end the day after you leave.
• One to two weeks before: order mail forwarding; change the delivery address in your shopping accounts.
• On moving day: photograph the meters at both homes; put your name on the new mailbox.
• In the first week — or within your country’s deadline: register the new address with the authorities if your country asks for it; change it on your identity card, if the card shows it, and with the tax office, unless the registration reaches it; and tell the immigration authority if that applies to you.
• Then: driver’s license and vehicle, health, voting, bank, insurance, employer, schools, subscriptions.
• While forwarding lasts: every envelope with the old address is someone still to tell.

Where to check the rules for your address

• Your country’s official government portal. Many have a page on moving house or changing your address that lists what applies and links to each office. If it doesn’t answer your question, ask the office itself — by phone, at its front desk or through its help page.
• Your local authority’s website — the town hall or municipality of the new home: registration, water, waste collection, parking and schools.
• The authority that issued your driver’s license, and the one that registers vehicles.
• The postal service’s own website for mail forwarding — never an intermediary.
• Your contracts with each provider: the notice periods, and the fees for moving the service and for ending it early.