Moving home can be an extremely stressful experience and it is easy to forget to ask previous occupants/sellers of your new house a few simple, yet potentially incredibly important questions. To make sure you don’t end up with problems that have you scratching your head in bewilderment, here are 10 questions you should ask before moving into a new home.
Things You Should Ask Before Moving into a New Home
The top seven questions you must ask when moving into a new home are fairly basic, but knowing the answers could save you a great deal of trouble – and money. These questions are:
- Where is the main stopcock for the water supply? Knowing where your stopcock is located is vital in cases of emergency and could potentially prevent your new home being flooded if a pipe breaks or is accidentally damaged.
- Where are the electricity and gas meters? Knowing this is important a) because you may need to provide providers with readings on the date you moved in and b) because you may need to shut either one of them off in an emergency – and relevant valves/威而鋼
switches are usually situated close to these meters. - Which companies supply gas, electricity, water and phone/broadband services? Again, this is important because you may need to inform companies of the date you moved in and relevant readings. You will also need to know who to contact in case of problems/emergencies.
- Where is the central heating (if applicable) thermostat? Knowing where to adjust temperatures will prevent you baking in summer and freezing in winter, as well as keeping your energy bills under control.
- Do you have warranties and/or instruction manuals for electrical/gas appliances? This will help you work out how to safely operate appliances like boilers, heaters, etc. Valid warranties could potentially save you a great deal of money if something unexpected should go wrong with such appliances.
- What day/s are bins collected? Unless you want to risk having to ‘stockpile’ your rubbish and maybe getting into trouble with your neighbours, you really do need to know when bins are collected as soon as possible.
- Do any surfaces (wooden flooring or panels; stone flooring/worktops, etc.) require special cleaning products? It would be bad enough ruining expensive flooring or worktops in your own home, but making a serious mistake in a rental property could land you in all kinds of trouble, so making sure you know what cleaning materials to use where is imperative.
Unless you intend to immediately (or very soon) changing all the decor within your new home, you may also want to ask if previous owners/occupiers still have a tin of paint matching the walls/woodwork’s current colour they can let you have in case you need to do a spot of ‘touching up’.
Knowing where bathroom/kitchen tiles, fitted furniture and other fixtures around the house came from will also be helpful in case of accidental damage, for instance.
Minimising the Stress of Moving into a New Home
You can, by the way, minimise the stress of moving into a new home by taking advantage of our extensive packing and moving services. Learn more about our services and/or get a moving quote by calling us 08000 741 741 or contacting us online today.