Setting up my new home
To make sure the move into your new home is a smooth transition, we’ve put together this guide to help you with the essential parts of settling in – like setting up utilities and finding local healthcare services.
Setting up utilities
Gas and electric
Identify your property’s current electricity and gas providers. When you move into your new home, you’ll have to let the current energy supplier know. If you don’t know who currently supplies the gas and electricity to your new home, you can find out online.
- Electricity: Who is my electricity supplier and what’s my MPAN? | UK Power Networks
- Gas: Find My Supplier
You’ll need to let the current supplier know when you’ve moved in, provide them with your contact details and, depending on the type of meter that’s in your home, set up payments. The meters for your home are owned by the current energy provider, if you have any problems with the meter in your home you’ll need to call the energy supplier.
Water
You can identify your water and wastewater suppliers via this link: Find Your Supplier | Water UK
Always check with your water supplier if there’s any help they can provide towards the cost of your bill. Many offer a discount for people on certain benefits and can provide free water-saving gadgets to help to save money on your bills.
Benefits
Once you’ve signed your tenancy, you’ll need to let the benefits you receive know that you’ve moved. If you don’t do this, your benefits will be stopped, missed or suspended:
- Child Benefit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/child-benefit or call 0300 200 3100 (this is the same telephone number to contact re. Child Tax Credits)
- Child Tax Credits: https://www.gov.uk/tell-hmrc-change-address or call 0300 200 3100
- DLA if born after 8 April 1948: 0800 731 0317
- DLA if born on or before 8 April 1948: 0800 731 0122
- ESA: call 0800 169 0310
- Healthy Start Vouchers: healthy.start@nhsbsa.nhs.uk or call 0300 330 7010
- Pensions Service: 0800 731 0469
- PIP: call 0800 121 4433
- Universal Credit: https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit/changes-of-circumstances
If you need help with benefit changes, or applying for benefits, our Moneywise team can help.
Housing Benefit and Council Tax support
Some households are eligible for support towards their council tax costs, click here.
You can’t make a new claim for Housing Benefit unless you’re of pension age. If you’re moving from a different local authority or this is your first claim, you’ll have to apply for housing costs through the housing element of Universal Credit.
Reporting your change of address
Make sure you let your council know your change of address.
Crawley Borough Council – Council Tax: online here or call: 01293 438 611
Crawley Borough Council – Housing Benefit: online here or call: 01293 438 611
Epsom & Ewell Borough Council: online here or call: 01372 732 000
Horsham District Council: online here or call: 01403 215 100
Lewes Council: online here or call: 01273 471 600
Mid Sussex District Council: online here or call 01444 477 264
Mole Valley District Council: online here or call: 01306 885 001
Reigate and Banstead Borough Council: online here or call 01737 276 497
Tandridge District Council: online here or call: 01883 722 000
If you need help with benefit changes, or applying for benefits the our Moneywise team can help.
Budgeting
It’s a good idea to work out what changes your new home will make to your budget before you move.
If you don’t already have one, you can use this handy Budget Planner online: Budget Planner | Free online budget planning tool | MoneyHelper
Average bills
Any prices listed below should only be used as a guide when planning your budget before you move. Prices can vary depending on factors such as usage, tariff and location.
Gas and electric
| Average monthly cost (in 2023) | Direct Debit | Pay on receipt (key/card) |
|---|---|---|
| Low (flat or 1-bedroom house / 1-2 people) | £120 | £185 |
| Medium (3-bedroom house / 2-3 people) | £170 | £265 |
| High (5-bedroom house / 4-5 people) | £240 | £365 |
Water
| Average monthly cost (in 2023) | |
|---|---|
| 1 bedroom | £20 |
| 2 bedrooms | £22 |
| 3 bedrooms | £25 |
| 4 bedrooms | £26 |
| 5 bedrooms | £27 |
Contents insurance
The cost of contents insurance varies greatly depending on the location of the property, it’s size, the value of your belongings and even what type of front door you have. Bear this in mind while you are budgeting. Many providers are willing to give you a quote before you move into the property.
A 1 bed flat may cost around £5/month, while a 2 bed house could cost around £11/month.
You can find more information about finding the best contents insurance policy for you further down the page.
Average food costs
| Weekly cost per person | Weekly cost per household (2/3 people) | |
|---|---|---|
| Food at home | £34 | £79 |
| Food out (for example at restaurants, takeaway etc) | £10 | £23 |
| Total | £44 | £102 |
Income
A benefits calculator can help to show what benefits you may be entitled to in your new home: Benefits calculator | MoneyHelper
If you need help applying for benefits then our Moneywise team can help.
Registering with local health services
Find your local GP: Find a GP – NHS (www.nhs.uk)
Find your nearest NHS dentist: How to find an NHS dentist – NHS (www.nhs.uk)
Accessing local mental health support: Find an NHS talking therapies services – NHS (www.nhs.uk)
Urgent mental health helpline: Mental Health Helpline for Urgent Help – NHS (www.nhs.uk)
School admissions and childcare
School admissions: School admissions: How to apply – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Free early education and childcare: Find free early education and childcare – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Find a nursery school place: Find a nursery school place – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Find a registered childminder: Find a registered childminder – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
TV License
If you plug an aerial into a television in your home and/or use the BBC app on a device in your home, you need to sign up for a TV license here.
If you already have a TV license, you can let them know you’ve moved here.
Driving License
It’s important to let the DVLA know you, and anyone else in your household with a driving license, have moved here.
Contents insurance
When signing your tenancy, you agree to hold contents insurance to cover the value of your belongings.
Start by calculating how much contents insurance you’ll need here. When you’re filling out the form, think about how much it would cost you to replace the items in your home, rather than how much you paid for them.
Once you have the amount of insurance you need, you also need to consider how much excess you would be happy to pay if you made a claim. Normally the smaller the excess, the higher the monthly or yearly cost of the policy – but you don’t want to set the excess higher than an amount you could afford to pay if you needed to make a claim.
Finally, many companies offer ‘extras’ such as home legal cover and accidental damage cover. It’s worth thinking about whether you need these extras as sometimes removing them from the policy will save you some money.
Here are a few comparison websites that can give you quotes for contents insurance:
Getting furniture
Second hand furniture in all Raven areas
- British Heart Foundation online here or call 0300 330 3322
- Preloved
- Gumtree
- Facebook Marketplace
- Olio
- eBay
Furnihelp Mid Sussex
Furnihelp has stock of second-hand furniture, household goods and equipment from donated items and make these available to local people in need. The furniture is supplied free of charge, although they are always happy to accept a donation to help towards their running costs.
Online here or call 01342 811 755.
Furnistore Surrey
Furnistore gifts items to families most in need in the community. This need might be because of a council housing situation, homelessness, refuge, or because individuals or families have fallen on hard times. They offer the remaining items at a 50% discount price to anyone who is on means tested benefits. Any other member of the public, who are not on benefits, can also purchase from a wide range of good-quality furniture and household items from Furnistore at extremely affordable, but undiscounted, prices.
Online here or call 01737 773 133.
Grants for furniture and white goods
- Surrey Crisis Fund (for those living in the administrative borough of Surrey): Online here or call 0345 600 9009
To find other grants that may be available in your area or due to your specific circumstances visit Turn2Us: online here or call 0808 802 2000.
If you need help applying for grants, or require a professional referral, our Moneywise team can help from the date your tenancy starts. Raise an enquiry through your MyRaven online account or call 0300 123 3399.