The failure this page exists to prevent
There is a specific and common way a move goes wrong that has nothing to do with boxes. The truck arrives at the new address in the afternoon, the crew carries things into rooms with no lights, the heating does not work, and the internet installation appointment is eleven days away. Every part of that was decided weeks earlier by treating utilities as one task with one date.
They are not one task. They have different lead times, different processes, and different people who have to be present. A supply that transfers with a phone call and an account number is a different kind of thing from an installation that needs an engineer, a slot in a diary, and somebody in the house for a morning. Working backwards from the move date, service by service, turns that into a list of dates you can put in a calendar.
Working backwards, and what backwards means here
The chain has three points in it. The date you want the service live, which is normally a day or so before the move rather than on the day itself, so that the lights and heating are working when the truck arrives. The lead time, which is the provider's own figure for your address. And the order-by date, which is simply the first minus the second.
The reason to set the live date before the move date rather than on it is that a day of overlap costs one day of supply and removes an entire class of problem. If the switch-on happens on the day and something goes wrong, there is nobody to call and nothing to do. If it happens the day before, you find out in time to fix it.
At the other end, the old address needs an overlap too, and it is a different length for each service. Trash is the clearest case: the collection after a move-out is the biggest one of the year, and stopping the service on the move date guarantees a pile of packing waste with nowhere to go.
Why no lead time is printed on this page
Every lead time here is a blank you fill in, and that is deliberate rather than lazy. Lead times differ by service, by provider, by whether the property has an existing connection, by whether an engineer visit is needed, and by how busy the region is. A figure that is accurate for one address can be wrong by a factor of three for another one in the same city. There is no number that could be printed here that would be safe to act on.
What can be said generally is the shape: connections that need physical work at the property take longest and are the ones to start first, and services that transfer between accounts are quicker. Internet installation is the usual longest pole and the usual last thought. Ring each provider, ask what their lead time is for your specific address, and put their answer in the field.
The questions to ask on each call
One call per service can settle everything if you know what to ask. What is the lead time for this address. Does somebody need to be there, for how long, and can it be anybody. Is there a deposit or a connection fee, how much, and on what terms is the deposit held. Whose name is the account in — water, sewer and trash are frequently held by a property owner or a municipality rather than the occupier, and if that is the case at your new address, half of this list is not your job at all.
Write the answers down as you go, with the date of the call and the name of the person you spoke to. The one thing that reliably resolves a service that has not appeared on the promised day is being able to say when it was ordered and what you were told. The utilities setup guide goes through what a new account should have on it, and the deposits due at the new address in the same weeks are totalled on the move-in cost checklist.
Questions people ask
How far ahead should I set up utilities before moving?
Far enough ahead for the service with the longest lead time, which is what this page works out rather than assumes. The order is what matters more than the absolute figure: anything needing physical work at the property or an engineer visit goes first, and simple account transfers can go later. Ring each provider and ask for their lead time for your address, then enter it above. The one general point worth making is that people consistently underestimate broadband, which is frequently the longest of the set and is usually left until last because it does not feel like an installation.
Should the old address keep its supply after I move out?
Usually for at least a day or two on the utilities, and longer on trash, but the right answer depends on your tenancy or sale terms rather than on a rule of thumb. Keeping power and water on for a short overlap covers the cleaning, the final walkthrough, anything left to collect, and the possibility that the handover slips. Trash is the one people get wrong: the collection after a move-out is much larger than a normal week, and stopping the service on the move date leaves the packing waste with nowhere to go. Check what your lease or sale contract says about when the supply must be transferred.
Will I have to pay a deposit on a new account?
Sometimes, and the amount and the conditions vary so much between providers and services that no figure could usefully be printed here. That is why every deposit on this page is a field you fill in. What is worth doing is asking the question explicitly on each call — how much, when it is taken, on what terms it is held, and what would release it — because the total across several services can be large enough to matter to the week you move in, and it appears on no moving quote anywhere.
Who is responsible for water and trash, me or the landlord?
It depends on the property and the agreement, and it is a genuinely common source of a service that nobody set up because each party assumed the other had. Water, sewer and refuse are frequently billed to the property owner or included in a municipal charge rather than held in the occupier's name, and the arrangement can differ between two apartments in the same city. Ask the question directly of the landlord, agent or seller and get the answer in writing, then use this page for the services that turn out to be yours.
What should I do about meter readings?
Photograph every meter at the old address on the day you leave and every meter at the new one on the day you arrive, with something in the frame that fixes the date, and submit the readings to each provider rather than waiting to be asked. Final bills are settled against readings, and estimated readings are the origin of most of the disputes that follow a move. It takes five minutes on a day when five minutes feels expensive, and it is the cheapest insurance available on the whole move.