What to do before moving into a new apartment

Two weeks out: the paperwork that has a lead time

1. Put the utilities in your name, with a start date. Electricity and gas can take a few business days, and some providers need an appointment. Internet is the one with the longest lead — two weeks is not unusual for an install window, and the first weekend in a new apartment with no internet is a long one. Ask the landlord which utilities are included; water, trash and sometimes heat often are.

2. Buy renters insurance. Many leases require it, and it is one of the cheapest insurance products that exists — usually a few dollars a month. It covers your belongings, which the landlord’s policy does not, and it covers your liability if you flood the apartment below you. Have the certificate ready, because the leasing office will ask for it before handing over keys.

3. File your change of address. USPS mail forwarding, then the bank, your employer, the DMV and any subscription that ships physical things.

The day you get the keys, before anything comes in

This is the hour that decides your deposit, and it has to happen before the furniture arrives, because once there is a sofa in the room you cannot photograph the floor under it.

1. 4. Photograph and video everything. Every wall, every floor, inside every cabinet, the inside of the oven and fridge, every window, the bathroom grout, and a close-up of any existing damage. Narrate the video. Do not crop or edit anything — the metadata and the timestamp are part of the evidence. Email the set to yourself so there is a dated record off your phone.
2. 5. Fill in the move-in condition form and keep a copy. If the landlord does not provide one, write your own list of existing damage, date it, and email it to them the same day. An emailed list you can produce twelve months later is worth more than any conversation.
3. 6. Test the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. Press the test button on each one. Working alarms are the landlord’s responsibility in most jurisdictions, but a dead battery is a thirty-second fix and nobody else is going to find it. While you are at it, check whether there is a fire extinguisher — most apartments do not come with one, and the kitchen is where you want it.
4. 7. Find the breaker panel and the water shut-off. Learning where the breaker panel is at 11pm with the lights out is the hard way. The water shut-off matters even more: a supply line under a sink can fail, and knowing which valve stops it turns a disaster into a puddle.
5. 8. Ask about the locks. Whether they were re-keyed after the last tenant is a reasonable question and the answer should be yes. Never change a lock yourself without written permission.

9. Measure, because this is the only chance you get

Take these numbers while the apartment is empty and you are standing in it. They decide what you can buy and what will not fit through the door.

Photograph each measurement with your tape in frame. It is faster than writing them down and you will not misread your own handwriting in a hardware store three weeks later.

What to buy before move-in day, not after

Four things should be in the apartment before the boxes are, because you will need them within an hour of arriving:

• A basic tool kit. Flat-pack furniture, a loose cabinet handle, a curtain rod. A household kit with a hammer, pliers, an adjustable wrench, screwdrivers and a tape measure covers the first week.
• Toilet paper, hand soap, paper towels and trash bags. Obvious, and forgotten every single time.
• Adhesive hanging strips. So that hanging something does not become a drilling decision. Read how to hang things without damaging walls before you put a nail anywhere.
• A fire extinguisher for the kitchen. Cheap, and the one safety item most apartments do not include.

Everything else can wait for the first grocery run. If you want the full ordered list, moving day essentials covers the day itself and the first week in a new apartment picks up where this page stops.

Six questions worth asking before you move

• What exactly is included — which appliances, which utilities?
• Where does trash and recycling go, and on what day?
• Is there assigned parking, and where do guests park?
• How do maintenance requests work, and what counts as an emergency?
• What are the quiet hours and the move-in elevator rules?
• Which modifications are allowed — paint, shelves, a TV mount?

Ask these by email rather than in person. Not out of suspicion — simply because in eleven months, when the question comes up again, the email is the answer.