If moving seems too daunting for your tenants, don't panic! Being prepared for this journey is half the battle. Encourage your tenants to make a checklist and stick to it.
Here are three useful tips to help make the moving experience seamless.
Share the following information with your tenants to help them with the moving process. Let's go!
1. Preparation
- To begin with, pick a moving day and exact time.
- Avoid Fridays and bank holidays, when moving companies are busy and usually charge more money for their services. It's better to choose days in the middle of the week.
- If you have no time to carry the packing responsibilities all the way along, call the professionals. You can also ask friends or relatives to recommend movers.
2. Packing
- It is strongly recommended to double-check that your possessions are insured for transit. Most moving companies provide this, but it's best to check what they cover. Sometimes there are exclusions. For example, if you pack something yourself, it may not be covered by the mover's insurance. Also, if you have any precious items, make notices and hang them on stuff you want to keep an eye on.
- Before you move in, make sure your new apartment is clean. You can hire a cleaning company for that. Nobody wants to arrive at a new place just to start cleaning.
- The day before the moving company arrives, do a total clear out. If there are valuable items that you don't need anymore, they can be auctioned or sold on any website that sells second-hand stuff. Other items can be donated or recycled.
- If you have children, ask someone to look after them or try to plan your moving while they are at school or busy at after-school classes. If you are a pet owner, ask your friends to look after your pets. If you decide to book them into kennels or a cattery, don't send them with the moving company. While moving, pets usually experience a lot of stress.
- Be nice and make a list for people who are moving into your property, such as instruction pamphlets and service information for the heating and appliances (if there are any), recycling programs, trash collection days - basically, anything related to the property.
- Collect all the keys to your home. Give the keys to your real estate agent or landlord, or leave them with your neighbors after having notified both.
- It would be great to make a scale plan of each room in your new home to give to the moving professionals so that they know exactly where to put your belongings. But prior to that, leave notes on each room plan so they understand your message and put the right stuff in the right places.
- Last, but not least, have a serious conversation with your postman. Leave a new address where all your letters should be redirected.
3. Moving
- Ensure the moving company can enter your new home without problems. How awkward it is when they arrive to unpack, but the door is locked. Make sure this doesn't happen to you. When you arrive, check that the phone, security alarm, electricity, gas, central heating, water, and of course, the internet, work properly.
- Check whether all the furniture, appliances, and decor elements the apartment came with (curtains, carpets, etc.) are in. If something is missing from the list, contact your agent and resolve the issue immediately.
- If everything went smoothly, then there is nothing left to do except collapse onto the sofa and enjoy your new place.
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