Utilities setup — the hidden admin marathon after you get the keys

The chicken-and-egg nearly broke me: half the utilities wanted a local bank account, which wanted a local address, which wanted proof of a utility bill. I unpicked it by getting the bank sorted first with a temporary address, then everything else fell in line.

Ask the previous tenant or landlord which providers were already connected — sometimes you just transfer the account rather than starting from scratch, which skips the worst of the waiting periods.

Internet was the long pole for me — weeks of lead time. Order it the day you sign, before you even move your boxes, or you'll be tethering off your phone for a month like I was.

Take meter readings (electricity, water, gas) the day you get the keys and photograph them with a timestamp. It stopped me being billed for the previous tenant's usage, which they'd tried to pin on me.

OP here — the 'bank first, then everything unlocks' sequence is exactly the map I wish I'd had. And the meter-reading photos, brilliant. Adding both to the list for the next person who asks me.

Don't forget the boring registrations — waste collection, the local residence registration, building/community fees. Those were the ones nobody mentioned and that quietly generate a fine if you skip them.

Some comparison sites let you switch to a cheaper energy provider once you're set up. I stayed on the expensive default for a year out of pure inertia before realising I could halve the bill in ten minutes.

Keep every confirmation email and account number in one folder from day one. When a provider 'lost' my setup, having the reference number was the difference between a five-minute call and starting over.