Moving Checklist | Four Weeks to Moving Day

Almost every bad moving day in Nairobi can be traced back to something that should have been done two or three weeks earlier. The service lift was never booked, so your crew carries a fridge down eight flights. The landlord turns up for the inspection while boxes are still in the corridor, and suddenly your deposit is a negotiation. The KPLC bill was never closed, so it follows you to the new place.

None of that is bad luck. It is a moving checklist that was never written down. Here is ours — the same sequence our crews wish every customer had run through before we arrive.

Four weeks out: lock in the dates

This is the week where you buy yourself options. Everything after it is easier if these four things are done.

1. Give your landlord written notice. Most Kenyan tenancy agreements want a full calendar month, in writing. Send it on paper or by email, keep a copy, and ask in the same message how and when the deposit will be refunded and what condition they expect the unit to be handed over in. Getting that answer in writing now is what protects you later.
2. Pick your moving date — and understand what you are picking. The last Saturday of the month is the busiest moving day in Nairobi, full stop. Leases turn over at month end, everyone wants a weekend, and every decent crew in town is booked. A mid-month weekday is quieter, cheaper to service, and far less likely to end with a crew arriving at 4pm because the job before yours overran.
3. Book your movers. Get quotes early enough that you are choosing, not begging. Anything bigger than a one-bedroom should be surveyed — in person or over a video call — before anyone gives you a number. If a company quotes a firm price over the phone without seeing your house, read how to choose a moving company before you pay a deposit.
4. Tell both caretakers. The one you are leaving and the one you are moving to. Ask each the same three questions: can the truck come to the door, is there a service lift, and what does the estate need from us at the gate.

Three weeks out: decide what is actually coming with you

The single cheapest thing you can do for your move is own less on the day. Volume is the biggest driver of what a move costs, so every item you sell, give away or bin is money and time saved. Go room by room and put everything into one of four piles: coming, selling, giving away, throwing out.

• Be honest about the sofa that has been sagging since 2022. Moving it costs real money. Replacing it may cost less than you think.
• Gas cylinders, paint, thinner, aerosols and anything else flammable will not travel in a loaded truck with your mattress. Use them up, give them away, or plan to carry them yourself.
• Anything you cannot replace — title deeds, passports, academic certificates, jewellery, the hard drive with your business on it — goes in a separate bag that never leaves your hand. Not in a box. Not on the truck.
• Take photos of the back of your TV and any furniture you are dismantling. You will not remember which cable went where at 8pm in a new house.

This is also the week to order boxes, tape, bubble wrap and markers, or to ask your movers to drop them off. We can deliver materials ahead of the move so you can pack at your own pace — see packing services if you would rather we did the whole thing.

Two weeks out: the paperwork nobody enjoys

This is the part people skip, and it is the part that follows them for months. Work through it in one sitting.

• KPLC. Take a clear photo of the meter reading on the day you hand over, and settle the final bill so the account is closed cleanly. If you are on a token meter, note the meter number and the balance. Never leave an unpaid balance sitting on an account attached to your name.
• Water. Same again — photograph the meter, notify the caretaker or the water utility, and clear the final bill. Water is the most common thing landlords deduct from a deposit because nobody read the meter.
• Internet. Ask your provider whether they can transfer the line to the new address or whether you need a fresh installation. If it is a fresh installation, book it now for the day after you move, not the day of — the technician and the movers will not thrive in the same corridor.
• Change your address where it matters. Bank and card statements, your employer or HR system, NHIF and NSSF records, insurance policies, the school, and your Huduma details if they are tied to your residence. Do the bank first — a card sent to an old address is a fortnight of your life.
• Redirect deliveries. Update the address on the apps you actually use, and warn anyone who ships to you regularly.

One week out: pack in the right order

Pack from the least used room to the most used. Guest bedroom, store, and the top of every wardrobe first. Kitchen and bathroom last, because you will keep needing them.

1. Label on the side, not the top. Once boxes are stacked, you cannot read the top of anything. Write the room and one line about the contents on two sides of every box.
2. Heavy things in small boxes. Books, tools and tinned food in a big box will burst the base — usually on the stairs. Small box, heavy items. Big box, light items.
3. Mark fragile boxes on every face and tell the crew which ones they are when they arrive. Plates go on their edge, not stacked flat. Glass shelves and mirrors travel upright. Our packing tips guide goes through this properly.
4. Keep screws with their furniture. Bolts from the bed frame go in a labelled bag taped to the bed frame itself. Not in a communal bag of screws. That bag always disappears.
5. Defrost the fridge two days before. A fridge that goes on a truck full of water arrives as a fridge full of water, and the box next to it pays for it.

Pack an essentials box — and keep it with you

This box does not travel on the truck. It travels in your car, or in your hands. Bedding for the first night, towels, a change of clothes for everyone, phone chargers, medication, tea and something to make it in, toilet roll, soap, a torch, basic tools, cleaning cloths, and the keys and paperwork for the new place. On the night you move in, you will be too tired to hunt for any of it.

Two days out: clear the access

This is the Nairobi-specific part, and it is the part that decides whether your move runs to time.

• Confirm the gate. Most gated estates want notice before a truck comes in. Some want a written access permit from the management, some want the plate number and the driver’s ID in advance, and some will not admit a commercial vehicle at all on certain days. Ask, in writing, and forward whatever they send you to your movers.
• Confirm the security check. At the far end, expect the guards to inspect the truck on the way out and on the way in. Some estates require a gate pass signed by the caretaker before anything leaves the compound. If your landlord or the management holds that pass hostage until the unit is inspected, you need to know that now, not with a loaded truck idling at the barrier.
• Confirm the lift booking. Again. Caretakers change, bookings get double-allocated, and lifts break. Ask what the plan is if the lift is out.
• Confirm where the truck will actually stand. If the closest a truck can get is fifty metres from your door, tell your movers now. That distance is real work and it belongs in the quote, not in an argument on the day.
• Reconfirm the crew. Time of arrival, number of people, phone number of the person leading the job.

The day before

• Finish packing. Everything except the essentials box and the beds you are sleeping in.
• Charge your phone and a power bank. You will be on it all day.
• Withdraw or arrange whatever you need to settle the balance, and agree with your mover exactly when payment happens.
• Empty the bins. You do not want to be carrying rubbish out during a landlord inspection.
• Do a full sweep of the top of every wardrobe, the back of every cupboard and the store. That is where things get left.
• Plan the route with the traffic in mind. Thika Road at 7am and Mombasa Road on a Friday evening are not the same road they are at 11am.

Moving day

Be there before the crew, or send someone who can make decisions. Walk the whole house with the crew leader before anything is lifted — show them the fragile boxes, the items that must not be dismantled, and anything that is not coming. Then let them work.

• Take meter photos for KPLC and water before you lock the door for the last time.
• Walk every room, cupboard and the balcony one final time once the truck is loaded. Then check the store.
• Hand over keys only after the landlord inspection, and get the condition of the unit agreed in writing or by photo. That is your deposit.
• At the new place, stand where you can direct boxes into the right rooms. A box that lands in the wrong room gets moved twice.
• Check the beds are reassembled and the fridge is standing upright before the crew leaves. Leave a fridge lying down and you can wait hours before it is safe to switch on.

For a proper hour-by-hour picture of what a well-run day looks like, read the moving day timeline.

The week after

Chase the deposit refund, in writing, referencing the inspection you agreed. Confirm the old KPLC and water accounts are closed. Update your address anywhere you missed. And break down the boxes — we take empties away on request if you would rather not live with a cardboard mountain for a month.

If you would rather not run this list alone, that is the whole point of hiring a crew. Look at house and apartment moving, or just tell us about your move and we will tell you what it costs.