Leaving London has its own choreography. The flat has to go back in the state the inventory describes, the deposit has to come back, the post has to follow you, and you have to decide which of your possessions are worth moving across the country. Work backwards from your key return date and the rest falls into place.
Give notice properly
Check your tenancy agreement first. If you are inside a fixed term, you cannot normally leave early unless there is a break clause, though landlords will sometimes agree an early surrender if you ask in writing. If your fixed term has ended and you are on a rolling periodic tenancy, you usually need to give at least one month's notice, timed to end on the correct day of your rental period. Give notice in writing, by email as well as anything else your contract requires, and keep a copy. A muddled notice date is the most common way people end up responsible for a flat they no longer live in.
Get your deposit back
Your deposit should be held in one of the government approved protection schemes, and your landlord was required to protect it within 30 days of receiving it. Look up which scheme holds yours now, not on moving day.
The deposit comes back faster if the flat matches the check-in inventory. Dig that document out and clean to it, room by room. Photograph everything on the day you leave, with the date visible on the images. Once you and the landlord agree the amount to be returned, it must be paid back within ten days. If you disagree, every scheme runs a dispute service, and the evidence that wins disputes is the inventory plus your dated photos.
Redirect your post
Set up a Royal Mail redirection before you go. It needs at least five working days to start, so this is a second-to-last week job, not a final day one. Choose the twelve month option; the things you forgot to update will keep surfacing for most of a year. Separately, update your bank, your employer, HMRC, the electoral register and the DVLA, since keeping your licence and logbook address current is a legal requirement.
Close the flat down cleanly
- Take final meter readings on your last day and photograph the meters
- Tell the council you are leaving so council tax stops on the right date
- Check your broadband contract end date, since leaving mid contract needs agreeing with the provider in advance
- Claim back any pay as you go credit left on your Oyster card through TfL
Sell or send: deciding what travels
Be unsentimental about furniture. Flat pack pieces rarely survive a second assembly, sofas and beds are bulky to move and easy to replace, and most of it was bought to fit London room sizes anyway. Sell or give away anything big that you do not genuinely love, and start a fortnight out, because buyers for larger items take time to appear.
What earns its place on the van is the dense, personal stuff: books, kitchen equipment you actually use, clothes, records, tools, photographs and the two or three pieces of furniture with a story. Per piece pricing keeps the maths honest. Five to ten pieces go at £15 each, eleven or more at £12 each, a furniture item at £45 and a bike at £59. If the whole flat is coming, a conventional removal firm is the right tool. If what is really moving is twenty boxes and a chest of drawers, a shared shuttle is built for exactly that.
How the collection works
London collections run on Wednesdays. Your destination has its own weekly run day, and everything travels between the two via our Oxfordshire hub, so door to door takes days rather than hours. The clean plan for most tenancies: book collection for the final Wednesday you hold the keys, hand the flat back after the van has been, and your boxes arrive at the new address on that area's next run day.
Kerbside, from £199, suits a ground floor flat or anywhere you can stage boxes by the front door. Assisted, from £349, means we carry from inside, which is worth it from a third floor walk up, and it is the tier that covers furniture and bikes with a two person crew.
The final week, day by day
- Seven days out: confirm your collection booking, start packing non essentials, and book the Royal Mail redirection if you have not already
- Five days out: finish selling furniture and arrange a charity collection for whatever did not sell
- Three days out: pack everything except a suitcase of essentials, and label every box with your name and the destination postcode
- Collection day: pieces ready at the door for the four hour window, phone on and ringer up
- Last day: clean to the inventory, photograph every room and the meters, return the keys, and close the door on London in good order
Leaving the city is mostly admin plus one honest decision about what deserves to travel. Settle both early and the last week becomes surprisingly calm.