✓Ready-made checklist

Your first day in a new home

What to get done on day one after a move: sleep, water and food, meters, locks, utilities and safety. The rest of the unpacking can safely wait.

Items inside: 17

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Walk through with a camera before anything is carried in It is a rental
Walls, plumbing, appliances, windows, furniture — in detail and with the date. This is your protection against arguments about what was already there.

Filming before anything is carried in is the only moment when the flat's condition is not yet mixed with your own move.
Read and photograph the meters
Water, electricity, gas, heating. A dated photo settles the \u201cwhere did that come from\u201d question a month later.
Find the water stopcock and the fuse box
Find them and show everyone who lives there. Hunting for them at night during a leak is the worst possible scenario.

Five minutes of looking now is the difference between a puddle and a flood in the flat below.
Test the water, electricity and heating
Run the taps, switch on the lights in every room, test the sockets and the radiators. Report anything broken today.
Change or rekey the locks
You do not know how many people still have keys. While you are at it, count the sets you were given and check the entry phone and letterbox.
Unpack the first-night box
Kettle, mugs, towels, soap, toilet paper, chargers, first-aid kit. This is the only box that has to be opened today.
Assemble the bed and make it up
This is the first piece of furniture to deal with, and it is easier in daylight. Hunting for the bedding box at midnight is its own adventure.
Set up the bathroom: towels, soap, paper, curtain
A minimal set for the first evening matters more than a tidy cupboard. While you are there, check the drainage and look for leaks under the basin.
Sort out food and water for today
Delivery or something simple is a perfectly good choice on moving day. Cooking properly in an unpacked kitchen costs you the evening.
Check the internet and mobile signal
If a provider needs to be connected, submit the request straight away: connection times are usually measured in days, not hours.
Set up a corner for children and pets Moving with children or a pet
A familiar toy, the usual bowl, a place to sleep. In a new space that reduces anxiety faster than any explanation.
Check safety: sockets, windows, balcony, gas Moving with children or a pet
Especially with small children. Socket covers, window restrictors and checking for a gas smell belong to day one, not \u201csometime\u201d.
Sign the handover record with readings and inventory It is a rental
A list of furniture and appliances, their condition, meter readings, the number of key sets. Without it there is nothing to argue with a year later.
Get rid of the packaging and find where the bins are
Boxes eat all your free space fast. While you are there, find out about recycling and the rules for bulky waste.
Note the contacts: management company, emergencies, neighbours
Have them before you need them. Ask how meter readings are submitted and who to call about a household emergency.
Update your address where it matters
Deliveries, bank, work, doctor, subscriptions. Make the list once, or parcels will keep arriving at the old address for months.
Start a separate \u201cafter the move\u201d list
Shelves, curtains, pictures, the furniture you still need, the storage cupboard. None of it should block closing the first day.

A separate list is how you stop pretending the move is over without keeping all of it in your head.

The first day is not about unpacking

The urge to unpack everything in one evening always ends the same way: three in the morning, surrounded by boxes, exhausted, convinced the new flat was a mistake. In reality the first day has three questions to answer: where you sleep, where you wash and what you eat. Everything else can wait.

The second layer of the first day is technical. Meters, water, electricity, heating, locks, internet. It is the least appealing task right after a move, and it is exactly what decides whether you will later be arguing with a landlord or a management company.

What to do before the boxes are opened

Task	Why in the first hours
Read the meters and photograph them	Later this is your only proof of where you started
Find the stopcock and the fuse box	Looking for them during a leak is a bad plan
Test water, power and heating	A repair request today beats one next week
Assemble the bed	Sleeping on a mattress among boxes is possible, not necessary
Unpack the first-night box	That is what it travelled with you for

About locks and access

Changing or rekeying the locks on day one is ordinary caution rather than paranoia: you have no idea how many people still hold keys from the previous owner or tenant. While you are at it, check the entry phone, the building key, the letterbox and the parking access — and note how many sets you were given.

If you are renting

Walk through with a camera before anything is carried in: walls, appliances, plumbing, windows, furniture. Photograph in detail, with the date. A handover record with an inventory and meter readings is not a formality — it is the only way not to pay for someone else’s scratches a year later.

What can safely wait

Sorting the wardrobe, hanging pictures, buying the furniture you are missing, organising the storage cupboard and choosing curtains. Nobody but you is looking at those boxes. Start a separate “after the move” list and push everything that blocks closing the first day into it.

When the first day is done

You have somewhere to sleep and wash, water, power and heating work, meter readings are recorded, the first-night box is unpacked, the locks are sorted and the packaging is out. After that comes ordinary life, where unpacking happens one box a day and is in no hurry.

Frequently asked questions

What should I do on the first day after moving in?

Sort out sleep, washing and food, record the meter readings, test water, power and heating, find the stopcock and fuse box, and deal with the locks. Spread the rest of the unpacking out: trying to finish in one evening ends in a sleepless night among boxes.

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