General guidance, not legal or official advice. Rules differ from city to city and can change. Check with the responsible office.
About 8 to 12 weeks before
- Check your lease: the notice period for tenants is usually three months. Your contract decides.
- Measure the new flat: rooms, doors, stairwell, kitchen connections. Here is how.
- Take stock: what moves, what is sold or thrown away? The moving planner helps, and the inventory guide explains what matters.
- Decide on the kitchen: take it, buy the previous tenant's or order a new one. New kitchens often take several weeks, see kitchen and moving in.
- Get quotes and reserve a date.
About 4 to 6 weeks before
- Book the city's bulky-waste collection, often needed weeks in advance. More here.
- Apply for a no-parking zone, for both the old and new address. More here.
- Sort out time off and help from friends.
- Transfer or cancel contracts: electricity, gas, internet, insurance. Request internet especially early; activation can take weeks.
- Set up mail forwarding.
One to two weeks before
- Start packing: cellar, guest room and books first, the kitchen last. Which boxes for what.
- Label boxes by destination room and keep a packing list.
- Set aside bags for screws and fittings for taking furniture apart.
Last week
- Pack and label the remaining boxes room by room.
- Defrost the fridge, disconnect the washing machine.
- Carry valuables and key documents yourself.
- Photograph the meter readings.
Moving day and after
- Handover record with the landlord, in the old and the new flat.
- Count and hand over keys.
- Report visible damage immediately at the handover.
- Register at the residents' registration office, normally within two weeks. Details.
- Update your address with bank, employer and insurers.
In the moving planner
The moving planner covers the first items on this list: addresses, floors and parking, room sizes and furniture. You send your summary by WhatsApp or e-mail, and the quote follows within 24 hours.
Plan your move