After a move, you want your post, bills and important letters to simply arrive at your new address. Some of it happens automatically once you are registered with the municipality (gemeente), the rest you have to pass on yourself. Below you can read who needs to know what, and when.
The municipality first
The most important step is registering your move with the municipality you are moving to. You must do this no later than five days after your moving date, and you can do it from four weeks before. You usually do it online with DigiD (the Dutch digital ID), on your new municipality's website. If you are moving within the same municipality, you register it there too.
If more people will be living at the address, you can often register the whole household in one go. Children under 16 are included in your own registration. Sometimes the municipality asks for a tenancy agreement, deed of purchase or permission from the main occupant, so keep those papers to hand.
What happens automatically after that
As soon as your new address is in the BRP (the Dutch population register), a number of government bodies receive it automatically. Think of the Belastingdienst (Dutch Tax Administration), DUO (student finance), the UWV (employee insurance agency), the SVB (social insurance bank), the RDW (vehicle authority) and the water board (waterschap). So you do not need to email or call them separately.
If you receive benefits (toeslagen), do check that your new situation is correct. If anything changes in your rent, your income or the number of people living with you, you report it yourself through Mijn toeslagen.
Having your post forwarded
Post will always keep arriving at the old address, from a forgotten subscription or a web shop you once ordered from. With the PostNL moving service (verhuisservice), your post is forwarded to your new address for a while. It is a paid service, best requested a few weeks before the move. The forwarded post shows you straight away which senders you still need to inform.
Passing it on yourself: money and insurance
- Bank: update your address in the app or online banking. Also do this for a savings account or mortgage with another provider.
- Health insurer: some insurers take the new address from the BRP, but check it in your account. If you are moving further away, check whether a GP, dentist and pharmacy nearby are in the network.
- Contents and buildings insurance: pass on the new address in good time. The premium may change because of the size or location of the home. Also ask how you are covered during the move itself.
- Car insurance: your postcode counts towards the premium, so they want to know too.
- Pension fund and employer: your employer needs your address for payroll, and a travel allowance may change.
Energy, water and internet
Call or email your energy supplier well in advance with your moving date. You can often take your contract with you to the new address. On the day itself, write down the meter readings in the old and the new home, ideally with a photo.
The same goes for internet, TV and landline: report the move early. An engineer or a new connection can take a few weeks. In most regions, water is arranged through the drinking water company, it is not part of your energy contract.
Subscriptions and everything else
Go through your statements from the last few months. Anything that goes out monthly is a candidate for updating:
- newspapers and magazines;
- gym and clubs;
- charities you give to;
- web shops and delivery services that have your address saved;
- school, childcare and the GP.
Don't forget your own circle either. Family and friends who send you a card are not in the BRP.
A handy order
- Four weeks before: municipality, PostNL moving service, energy and internet.
- Two weeks before: bank, insurance, employer.
- After the move: subscriptions, web shops and everything that arrives through the forwarded post.
If you move with us, the free moving check also gives you an overview of what to arrange when.
