Before moving into a new house...list of things to do?

[Mamabear12]

My mother mentioned before we move into a new house we should get a pest control person to come in and spray. Is this normal? She said best to do before you move in just to make sure to get rid of the bugs.

Does everyone do this? I also thought of the following (in addition to some works needed to be done to sort leaks). Am I missing anything from the list.

• Have gas, electric and heating checked
• Profissional cleaning
• Steam clean carpets
• Change keys to the door

Never had a house sprayed and I've lived in about 10+ different rentals! However maybe it's a case of once you've been bitten (literally) you want to be on the safe side! We did have trouble with slugs rampaging through the lounge of one house at night...
However I'd say the things would be take photos of the meter readings, check it's clean especially the kitchen, and work out how to use the appliances and shut off taps.
We changed the locks to avocet abs locks as you can get them all on the same key and they're unnecessarily secure, so you can give keys to people and know they haven't copied them. Also change the alarm code or get an alarm fitted.
Professional cleaning sounds OTT but maybe you can make your own decision based on how it looks and how much time you have.
Checking electrics is another one you have to decide yourself- ours was dodgy and we knew it, but I didn't class it as urgent.
At the end of the day just enjoy your house, don't fret too much, and do things in your own time!

Spraying is sensible if they had pets.

I moved to a rental where they'd had a dog and within weeks I was covered in flea bites. Proper covered. Fleas find me very tasty.

Ooo, yes! Change locks.

There's been some amazing stories on MN about about Estate Agents and previous owners not quite understanding they can no longer let themselves in.

I've never had anywhere sprayed either and I've moved a few times. I guess it depends on the state of it when you went to view? I've also never had a professional clean but again depends on the state of the place.

The rest is sensible yes, inc carpet cleaning before the furniture goes down. I'd strongly advice the electrics, we had ours checked and found the previous owners had had it checked but not provided the certificate, as it wasn't safe. It really pissed me off as that could have resulted in tragedy. Utter bastards in my view. You don't put people's lives at risk to save a couple of hundred quid.

I've never had a house sprayed - tbh don't much fancy having harsh chemicals sprayed around my home when there may be no need at all.

Check gas, water and electricity meters.
Change alarm code if there is one.

Take the opportunity to get everything cleaned whilst it's empty.
Considering doing any decorating whilst it's empty if that is feasible as it's much easier when the place is empty.

I've never got a house sprayed and never been infested. Unless you know they've had pets with fleas?

If you are buying and you have an overlap between completing and moving in then cleaning carpets might be nice.
If there is no overlap then you won't get keys until midday at the earliest, maybe later so it may be hard to book professional cleaners for the day as you won't know what time. Your seller may leave house immaculate or grubby it's hard to know. Fingers crossed.

On our recent move copies of certificates for installation or servicing of gas, electric and heating had to be provided.

nice list here
www.mumsnet.com/home-and-garden/moving-house-checklist

I'd look in to changing your phone / internet / TV as soon as possible, as if it's BT they can be shocking!

Also don't forget postal redirection.

We moved this year - we didn't get the keys till about quarter to 4 and our removal company were champing at the bit to get the van unloaded. Thankfully it was pretty clean (not perfect but not so bad we couldn't get everything in and get the beds made up). If you're having to live in it straight away then I'd assume it will be clean enough (there are always horror stories, but statistically I think most people clean when they move out).

We didn't get the locks changed till the start of the next week just because it was so late - we did have numbers of people to call out on the day if we'd got in earlier. We took meter photos early as well, and had taken our old ones just before we left.

Carpet steam cleaning etc I'd probably only have done if I thought the place was going to be grim. And I'd probably arrange to be staying somewhere else until it was done, so it could be done before all the furniture was in.

Thanks for the responses. We have bought the house and I would professionally clean any house before moving in and make sure carpets steamed cleaned! Esp when people walk in with shoes on when viewing the house. We have young kids who are always on the carpets and floor and we never wear shoes inside on the carpets. We have two months to sort the house out, as we need to get some things fixed and hoping to update the side return and we do not want to do work while living in there. We live walking distance so can easily check up on the house and work. I am hoping most of the work or all of it will be complete by the time we move in! But at least two months worth of work will be done :-)

Ah in that case I would get as much as you can done before moving in. We were lucky enough to have a month and we got whole house painted, when floored restored, tiled flrs cleaned, woodburner fitted etc.

Still wouldn't treat for fleas unless they jumped up on me when I walked in. As pp said I wouldn't want the chemicals if not needed

Make sure your house insurance covers you for empty property. Normal house insurance often only covers you for 30 days.

Shirtless, I will check! I can understand if you just leave the house and never enter it. But we live one minute walk away and would be entering Im sure every day to check on things and making sure works are progressing nicely etc.

Popping in every day will not cover you.

I've just been looking into this and my insurance only covers me up to 30 days of the property being uniccupied. After that, the insurance demands that windows are boarded up, all utilities are turned off and everythjng drained down.

Some policies will cover you if property is empty up to 60 days. I suggest you check your policy.

You can easily get insurance for unoccupied properties, but I'm just saying that a regular house insuranc policy won't necessarily cover you.

You can also look into refurbishment insurance. I am planning to do this.