The guide
Moving Out of London: The Six-Week Checklist in full
Six weeks out: decisions and bookings
Book the move first, not last. Long-distance lorries are committed for the whole day and sometimes two, so capacity disappears earlier than for a local job. Get a fixed price in writing while you still have a choice of dates.
This is also when you decide what is genuinely coming. Mileage is charged per mile regardless of load, but crew hours are not — and the sofa you do not love is the sofa you should not be paying to carry down three flights and up two more.
- Book the lorry and confirm the fixed price in writing
- Give notice to your landlord or confirm the completion date
- Apply for school places at the far end — this is the long lead item
- Decide what is being sold, donated or cleared rather than moved
Four weeks out: the paperwork nobody enjoys
Redirection, council tax at both ends, and the utilities. Royal Mail redirection takes about five working days to set up, so applying now means it is live before you need it.
If you are leaving a London borough with a resident permit, check whether it must be surrendered — several boroughs will not refund once the move date passes.
- Royal Mail redirection (minimum three months on a long move)
- Close the London council tax account, open the new one
- Utilities: final meter readings booked, new supply confirmed
- Insurance: contents cover at the new address from move day
- Surrender or cancel the resident parking permit
Three weeks out: pack the rooms you do not use
Packing in the wrong order is what turns a calm move into a 2am one. Start with the rooms you barely touch — spare bedroom, loft, garage, the tops of wardrobes — and label every box by room at the destination rather than the room it came from.
On a long-distance run, packing quality matters more than usual. Two hundred miles of motorway is thousands more small vibrations than a cross-London hop, and a badly packed box of glassware finds out.
Two weeks out: access at both ends
Confirm where the lorry stands in London and where it stands at the far end. A rural lane with a low branch or a new-build estate with a barrier is exactly as much of a problem as a Camden CPZ, and it is discovered far too late far too often.
If a bay suspension is needed, most London boroughs want at least five working days and some want ten. Apply now.
- Apply for the bay suspension or dispensation
- Book the goods lift at either end if it is a managed block
- Measure the awkward items against the new doorways
- Confirm key handover times with both agents
The final week
Run the freezer down, defrost it 24 hours before, and empty the fridge. Wash and dry anything that will be sealed for two days. Pack the essentials box last and carry it in the car, not the lorry.
On a two-day run your load is on the lorry overnight, so anything you need that evening must travel with you: medication, chargers, documents, a change of clothes, kettle and mugs, and the children's or pets' things.
- Defrost and dry the freezer
- Essentials box in the car: documents, medication, chargers, kettle
- Photograph meter readings at both ends
- Confirm arrival window with the crew the night before
Load day itself
Be there for the walk-round at the start, be reachable at the far end, and let the crew work. The single most useful thing you can do is keep the route from the door to the lorry clear.
Do a final sweep before the lorry closes: loft hatch, garden shed, under-stairs cupboard, the back of the airing cupboard. On a local move a forgotten box is an inconvenience. Two hundred miles away it is a courier bill.