The Complete Perth Moving House Checklist (8 Weeks to Moving Day)

Moving house has a funny way of feeling under control right up until it isn't. Most people start with good intentions, get buried in real life for a few weeks, and then find themselves the night before the truck arrives trying to find the right box for the coffee machine while the kids are asking where their school uniforms are.

We have helped thousands of Perth families move over the years and the ones who have the smoothest moving days are almost always the ones who started their checklist eight weeks out, not eight days. This guide is built from what we have seen work, what we have seen go wrong, and what is genuinely specific to moving in Perth, because this city has its own quirks that a generic checklist from a Sydney or Melbourne removalist will not cover.

Use this as your master list. Print it, save it to your phone, or go through it section by section. Either way, do not wait until week two to start.

8 Weeks Out: Lock in the Foundations

This is the stage most people skip because the move still feels far away. It is also the stage where the biggest decisions need to happen.

Book your removalists now

Perth's quality moving companies fill up fast, especially on weekends between October and March when the housing market peaks and everyone seems to be moving at once. If your move date is during school holidays or near a long weekend, book even earlier. Our furniture removals service in Perth books out weeks in advance during peak periods.

Give notice to your landlord or property manager

If you are renting. Most lease agreements in Western Australia require 21 days written notice for periodic tenancies, but fixed-term leases have their own rules under the Residential Tenancies Act. Check your agreement and send the notice in writing. A text message is not enough.

Book a building inspection

If you are buying. If it has not happened already, week eight is the time to get it done so you have room to negotiate or withdraw before the clock runs out.

Start the declutter

Do not pack things you do not want to take with you. Go room by room and make three piles: keep, donate, and get rid of. This is the highest-leverage thing you can do at this stage. Every bag you take to the Salvos or put out for council collection now is one less box to pack, load, transport, and unpack later.

Check your local council's hard rubbish collection schedule. In Perth, this varies by area and you often need to book a pickup rather than just leaving items on the verge. City of Stirling, City of Joondalup, City of Swan, and the Town of Victoria Park all run different systems. Look yours up now so you are not caught with a pile of stuff and a truck arriving in three days.

6 Weeks Out: Administration Starts Here

The administration side of moving is the part nobody enjoys but absolutely cannot leave until the last minute. Start it here.

Notify your bank and financial institutions

Update your address with your bank, superannuation fund, and any investment accounts. This often takes longer than you expect because some institutions require verified documentation before they will process an address change.

Contact Australia Post

To set up a mail redirect from your old address. Redirects can be arranged online and take a few days to activate. Set it for at least three months, ideally six. You will be surprised how many pieces of mail are still going to the old address three months after you have moved.

Start sourcing packing materials

Boxes, packing tape, bubble wrap, and packing paper all add up faster than expected. Liquor stores and supermarkets often have spare boxes if you ask, but the quality varies and they tend to be smaller than moving boxes. Purpose-made boxes with lids stack better and protect your things more reliably. We supply packing materials if you want them sorted alongside your move.

Book a storage unit if you need one

If there is a settlement gap between leaving one property and entering another, you need somewhere for your belongings to go. Perth storage facilities fill up too, particularly climate-controlled units for furniture and electronics. Do not leave this until week two.

Tell your children's schools about the move

If you are staying within the same school zone, the school just needs a new address. If you are changing zones, you will need to apply for enrolment at the new school, which requires proof of address. Some popular public schools have long waitlists so the sooner you start the process the better.

4 Weeks Out: Utilities and Services

This is the one everyone underestimates. Utilities in Perth are not automatically transferred when you move. They need to be actively cancelled at one address and set up at another, and the lead times can catch you off guard.

Contact Synergy or Horizon Power to arrange disconnection at your current home and connection at the new one. Synergy covers the metro area and most of the South West. You can do this online but give yourself at least five business days before your connection date. If you are moving into a property where the power has been off for a while, allow extra time because there may be a safety inspection required before it can be reconnected.

Sort out your gas connection. If your current or new property uses natural gas, contact ATCO Gas Australia for disconnection and reconnection. If the new property uses LPG bottles, find out whether the existing bottles belong to the property or the previous occupant.

Update your driver's licence address with the Department of Transport. In Western Australia you are legally required to update your licence address within five days of moving. You can do this online through the DoT website. Your vehicle registration address also needs to be updated, though you have a bit more time for this one.

Update your enrolment with the Western Australian Electoral Commission (WAEC). Federal electoral roll changes can be done online through the AEC. State roll updates go through the WAEC. Your old address continues to count for the next election you are enrolled in, but getting it right now saves confusion later.

Contact your internet provider and find out whether your service can be transferred to the new address or whether you need a new connection. In Perth, NBN availability varies significantly depending on the suburb. Some areas have fibre to the premise, others are on fibre to the node or fixed wireless. Check the NBN Co address checker for the new property and confirm with your provider what the connection timeframe looks like. A gap in internet access at the new home is one of the most disruptive things that can happen, especially if anyone in the house works remotely.

2 Weeks Out: The Packing Push

With two weeks to go, the move starts to feel real. This is when the physical preparation needs to become the priority.

Pack everything you do not use daily. Books, seasonal clothing, spare linen, decorative items, tools, anything in the garage or shed that is not used regularly. Label every box with the room it is going to at the new house, not the room it came from. This seems like a small distinction until you are directing a removal crew and need to tell them instantly where each box goes.

Use a numbering system alongside the room labels. A simple spreadsheet that logs Box 14 - Kitchen - Pots and pans takes five minutes to set up and saves enormous amounts of stress when you are looking for the one thing you need at the other end. We see this pay off on almost every large move we do.

Arrange for someone to take pets on moving day. Moving day is stressful for animals. Dogs and cats exposed to the disruption of doors constantly opening, strangers moving through the house, and the noise of furniture being shifted can become unpredictable. Ask a family member or friend to take them for the day, or book them into a pet hotel if needed.

Start using up food in the freezer. You cannot take a full chest freezer on a moving truck. Start planning meals around what you have. Defrost the fridge and freezer at least 24 hours before the truck arrives. A freezer that has not been defrosted properly leaks water across everything around it.

Organise junk removal for anything that is not making the move and cannot go to a charity shop. We offer a junk removal service in Perth that takes care of old furniture, white goods, and general rubbish so you are not leaving a mess for the next occupant or scrambling for a trailer at the last minute.

1 Week Out: Final Preparation

You are close enough now that the details matter.

Confirm everything with your removalists. Call or email to confirm the move date, start time, address at both ends, and any access instructions for either property. If there is a narrow driveway, a gate code, a body corporate requirement for lifts, or a specific delivery window, now is the time to make sure it is all in the brief.

Pack a moving day essentials box and keep it separate from everything else. This box rides in your car, not on the truck. It should contain:

• Medications for everyone in the family
• Phone and laptop chargers
• One set of clothing per person for the next day
• Kids' comfort items if relevant
• Toilet paper, hand soap, and a towel for the new house
• Coffee, kettle, mugs, and something easy for lunch
• Important documents: lease or settlement papers, passports, Medicare cards
• Keys for both properties

Do a final walkthrough of the house with fresh eyes. Open every cupboard, every built-in wardrobe, the garden shed, the letterbox, the subfloor access if there is one. Check the roof space if you use it for storage. We have reunited people with Christmas decorations, tools, and in one memorable case an entire patio setting that had been forgotten in a garden storage box because it was moved there two years ago and never moved back.

Clean out your car to make room for the essentials box, the kids, the pets, or whatever else needs to travel separately.

Moving Day: What to Do and What to Leave to Us

Moving day works best when you have one clear role: be available to direct and make decisions, and let the removalists handle the physical work.

Be there at the start. The crew needs to know where to park, how to access the property, and whether there is anything fragile or requiring special handling. A ten-minute walk-through at the beginning saves time and prevents misunderstandings.

Keep the moving day essentials box in your car from the moment the truck arrives. Once the truck is loaded and the box is on it, you are sending your coffee and your medication across town in a vehicle you are not in.

Do a room-by-room check before the truck leaves. Walk through every room, every cupboard, the laundry, the garage, the garden. Look at the walls for anything hanging, check behind doors, under beds, and in corners. This takes ten minutes and has saved people from leaving behind televisions, picture frames, and garden tools more times than we can count.

Hand back the keys only after you are certain the property is empty and clean. Your lease requires you to leave the property in the same condition it was in when you moved in, fair wear and tear excepted. If there is a bond involved, take dated photographs of every room after you have cleaned and before you hand the keys over.

At the new house, direct boxes and furniture to the right rooms as they come off the truck. This is where the room labels on your boxes pay off. Tell the crew where each item goes. Getting things to the right room on the first pass takes minutes. Moving a heavy bookcase from the wrong room later takes much longer.

The Day After: Settle In

The day after a move is one of the most underrated days in the whole process. Use it.

Set up the beds and the bathroom first. Everything else can wait. A made bed and a functional bathroom make the house feel liveable even when the rest of it is still boxes.

Check that utilities are working before you need them. Run the hot water, test the oven, check the stovetop, turn on the heating or cooling. If something is not working, you want to know now, not at 7pm when the kids are hungry.

Locate the fuse box and water shutoff valve. Know where they are before you need them urgently.

Introduce yourself to the neighbours if you feel comfortable doing so. It is a small thing but it tends to make the neighbourhood feel less foreign faster.

Return any borrowed equipment (trailer, trolley, borrowed tools) and wash the removalist blankets if they were left with you.

The Week After: Tie Up the Loose Ends

Most people stop the checklist at moving day. The week after is where the important administrative tasks get finished.

Confirm your mail redirect is working. Send a test letter to yourself at the old address if you want peace of mind.

Update your address with Medicare and Centrelink if applicable. Medicare address updates can be done through MyGov. Centrelink also needs to be notified within fourteen days if you are receiving any payments or benefits.

Notify your health insurer, car insurer, and home and contents insurer. Your home and contents policy in particular needs to reflect your new address immediately. Coverage may not be valid if the address on the policy does not match where the contents actually are.

Update your address with any subscriptions and regular deliveries. Go through your bank statements and look for anything that ships to your home: meal kits, online shopping accounts, magazine subscriptions, pet food deliveries, anything regular.

Register at a GP near the new home if you have changed suburbs significantly. This is one of the most consistently forgotten tasks. You do not want to need a doctor urgently and discover your old clinic is forty minutes away.

Check the NP Movers service areas to see which Perth suburbs we cover and what routes we regularly run across the metro area if you are planning another move or recommending us to someone you know.

A Few Perth-Specific Things Worth Knowing

Council hard rubbish collections are not uniform. Each local government in Perth runs its own schedule and its own rules. Some require bookings, some have specific item restrictions, and some only run once or twice a year. Do not assume you can leave something on the verge and it will be collected. Check with your council directly.

Synergy connection delays happen. Particularly in older suburbs where the meter may need to be inspected. If you are moving into a property that has been vacant, call Synergy early and ask whether a technician will need to attend before the power can be connected. Waiting in an unlit house because the connection was not ready is avoidable.

Perth summers make moving harder than people plan for. Moving in January or February means extreme heat, and that affects both your team and your belongings. Hire professionals for summer moves, start as early in the morning as possible, and do not try to move electronics, wax candles, vinyl records, or anything heat-sensitive in the back of an unventilated trailer.

Some Perth suburbs have traffic restrictions during school pick-up and drop-off times. If you are moving into a suburb near a primary or high school, check whether your delivery address sits on a road that gets blocked or restricted between 3pm and 4pm.

Need Help with Any Part of the Move?

This checklist covers the planning, but we can cover the rest.

Whether you need a full furniture removal service in Perth, help from our packing services team, or someone to take away the things that are not making the move through our junk removal service, we are set up to handle all of it or just the parts you need.

Get in touch with NP Movers to get a quote or ask any questions about your upcoming move. We cover the full Perth metro area and can talk you through what makes sense for your situation.