Student Moving In Day Checklist UK: What to Do

Get your documents sorted before you touch a single box. On moving in day, you'll be distracted. Do this while you're still calm.

The non-negotiables: your signed tenancy agreement, your deposit receipt, your landlord's contact details, and your guarantor's details if one was required. Print them or screenshot them. Also bring your university acceptance letter, passport or photo ID, and any inventory documents the landlord sent in advance.

Deposit protection is worth checking right now. Your landlord must protect your deposit in a government-approved scheme within 30 days of receiving it. The three schemes are the Deposit Protection Service, MyDeposits, and the Tenancy Deposit Scheme. If you haven't had confirmation, ask for it in writing before you move in. You'll need this later if there's any dispute about deductions. See our student house deposit protection guide for the full breakdown.

Also confirm your move-in time with the landlord or letting agent at least 48 hours ahead. Showing up at noon when check-in isn't until 3pm wastes everyone's time, and on busy streets it creates genuine access problems.

This is the single most important thing students skip and regret. Walk through every room before you put anything down and photograph every mark, stain, scratch, and broken item you find. Don't rely on memory.

Timestamp your photos. Email them to your landlord the same day with a note saying 'please confirm you've received this record of the property's condition on arrival.' That email chain protects your deposit when you leave. Letting agents in the UK receive thousands of deposit disputes every year, and the ones students lose are almost always the ones with no photographic evidence.

Check the following specifically: walls for scuffs and holes, carpets for stains, kitchen appliances for damage, bathroom tiles for cracks, windows for locks that actually work, and smoke alarms. Test the smoke alarms by pressing the test button. If one doesn't work, tell your landlord in writing that day. You are not liable for pre-existing damage you document properly.

Also check the inventory list your landlord should have provided. If items listed as present are missing, note it immediately. Our student house checklist before you sign covers what should be in the property when you arrive.

Students routinely leave utilities two weeks before anyone takes action. That is how you end up sitting in a cold house arguing about who forgot to sort the gas.

On day one, take meter readings for gas, electricity, and water. Photograph them with a timestamp. Send them to the utility supplier and keep a copy. This is your protection against being charged for energy used by the previous tenants.

If your tenancy does not include bills, you need to set up accounts. Contact the existing supplier using the meter serial number and transfer the account into your house's name or one nominated tenant's name. Broadband activation can take time, so if you haven't ordered this yet, do it immediately. Virgin Media, BT, and Sky are common options, but check if a student-specific deal is available through your university first.

For shared bills, agree on how costs split before the first invoice arrives. Roome, the free student lifestyle app, has a built-in bill splitting feature so housemates can manage shared costs without spreadsheets or awkward reminders. Set it up on day one when everyone is still in a cooperative mood.

Council tax is one students frequently forget. Full-time students in the UK are exempt, but you need to apply for the exemption. Your university will issue a council tax exemption certificate. Get it and send it to your local council. See our council tax exemption students UK guide for exactly how to do this.

Every house that falls apart by February had one thing in common: no one set expectations on day one.

This doesn't require a formal sit-down or a printed constitution. It requires a 20-minute conversation while everyone is still reasonable. Cover four things: cleaning (who does what and how often), guests (overnight stays and noise cut-off times), kitchen use (labelled food or shared supplies), and bills (who pays what and when).

Writing this down matters more than it feels like it does. A simple shared note or group chat message is enough. The goal is that no one can claim they didn't know what was agreed. Roome's in-app group chats let housemates communicate on a permission-only basis, so you can coordinate without unsolicited messages cluttering the thread.

If you're moving in with people you don't know well, ask the compatibility questions now rather than discovering incompatibilities in month three. Sleep schedules, cleaning standards, and noise tolerance are the three biggest friction points in student shared houses. Sorting these early prevents most conflicts. Our housemate agreement UK students guide has a practical template you can use.

Every packing list tells you to bring bedding and kitchen utensils. Those lists are fine as far as they go. What they skip are the items you only notice are missing at 11pm on a Tuesday.

Bring a power strip with surge protection. Student houses rarely have enough sockets, and you'll want to charge a laptop, phone, and lamp at minimum in your bedroom. Bring a spare door key immediately, not two weeks later when you've been locked out twice.

For the kitchen: a can opener, a colander, a wooden spoon, and a decent chef's knife. Most shared kitchens accumulate six spatulas and zero can openers. Also bring washing-up liquid, a sponge, and a roll of kitchen towel because no one else will think of it either.

For your room: a mattress protector (always check whether the mattress is provided first), a lamp for when the overhead light is harsh, and a door stopper if you're on the ground floor and want air flow without the door slamming. A small first aid kit takes up no space and saves a trip to a late-night pharmacy.

For admin: a small folder with physical copies of your key documents. Digital is fine until your phone dies or the letting agent asks for a printed copy on the spot. One folder prevents that problem entirely.

Sometimes a housemate drops out between signing and moving in. It happens more often than landlords like to admit, and it usually creates a financial problem fast because the absent tenant's rent still needs covering.

Don't try to fill a spare room through word of mouth alone. The pool is too small and the timeline is usually too short. Roome lets verified students list spare rooms for free, with photos, videos, and a full description, and connects you with other verified students who are actively searching. Every Roome member verifies their account through a university email or code, so you're not inviting strangers in from a general flatshare board.

SpareRoom is another option students use, though it's not student-specific and the verification standards are different. For student-to-student matching specifically, a platform built around student verification gives you better protection.

If you're searching for accommodation or a housemate group from scratch, Roome also aggregates thousands of property listings refreshed daily, with filters for distance from campus, price, and number of bedrooms. The group collaboration feature lets you add friends, share favourite listings, and make group enquiries together inside the app rather than managing it across five different WhatsApp threads.

For more on how to approach this, see our guide on how to find housemates for uni in the UK.

Some problems get harder to resolve the longer you wait. Spot these early and act immediately.

Mould is the most common one. If you see black mould in the bathroom, bedroom, or around window frames, document it and notify your landlord in writing the same day you arrive. Mould is a health hazard and in most cases a landlord's responsibility to fix under the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018. Waiting means living with it longer and gives the landlord grounds to claim it developed during your tenancy.

Broken locks on windows or external doors are a security issue. Your landlord has an obligation to provide secure premises. Report in writing, keep the email chain.

If the property has a boiler, turn it on and run the hot water on your first evening. A boiler that doesn't work is not something you want to discover in October. The same goes for the heating. Fire escapes and fire exit routes should be clear and accessible. This is worth checking in older converted houses, which make up a large share of private student rentals in UK cities.

Finally, confirm your landlord is registered where required. In Wales, all landlords must be registered with Rent Smart Wales. In Scotland, the Scottish Landlord Register applies. In England, HMO licences are required for properties with five or more occupants from two or more separate households, OR three or more storeys with five or more occupants from three or more separate households (since 2018 changes). The threshold varies by local authority discretion for smaller properties. Ask for the licence number if your house qualifies. Your rights as a tenant depend on your landlord meeting these requirements.