Moving in: your first-week checklist

Meter readings, deposit protection, and the admin worth doing in your first seven days in a new room.

Your first week in a new room sets the tone for the entire tenancy. A few hours of admin upfront prevents expensive disputes later. Work through this checklist before you unpack.

Day one: take meter readings. Photograph the gas, electricity, and water meters on the day you move in. Send the readings to your landlord or housemate and keep copies. This protects you from paying for energy used before you arrived.

Day one: check the inventory. If the landlord provided an inventory, walk through it room by room and note any discrepancies within 48 hours. Photograph existing damage — scuffed floors, marked walls, chipped worktops — before your belongings cover them.

Day two: confirm deposit protection. Your deposit must be in a government-approved scheme. You should receive a certificate within 30 days of paying. If it has not arrived by day seven, ask your landlord directly.

Day three: test everything. Heating, hot water, locks on your room door, windows, smoke alarms, and Wi-Fi. Report issues immediately — early documentation matters if disputes arise later.

Day four: meet your housemates properly. Agree on bin rotas, shared cleaning, quiet hours, and guest policies. Most house-share conflicts come from unspoken assumptions, not malice.

Day five: update your address. Bank, employer, GP, and electoral roll. Set up a standing order for rent so the first payment is never late. On RoomForRent, rent collection through the platform handles this automatically if your landlord uses a boost plan.