Moving In

Instructions For Moving Into Your Accommodation

Please read the following very carefully. Make sure all the people sharing your house have read it and telephone or e-mail us if you have any queries

Collecting Your Keys

You may collect your house keys from our office between 2.00 p.m. and 5.00 p.m. after the 7-day vacant period date (see your lease.) If you do not wish to collect your keys on this day, you may collect them at a later date. The office is open between 9.00 a.m. and 5.00 p.m., Monday to Friday, but if you expect to arrive back during the evening or on a weekend, we have an alternative method of collection. Please ring the office for details.

Gas, Electricity, Water, Council Tax and Telephone

The old tenants will have contacted the utility companies to close the accounts in their names and arranged to have the final bills sent to their home addresses, so you will start your lease with a zero account. After you move in you must also contact the gas and electricity companies to put the accounts in your own names and to give them meter readings. You must open your accounts from the date your lease commences NOT the date you move into your property. Unfortunately, some of last year's tenants may have changed companies more than once during their tenancy. Therefore, it is difficult for us to keep up with which company supplies your house. The following telephone numbers will give you this information:-

  • To find out your gas supplier telephone: 0870 6081524
  • To find out your electricity supplier telephone: 0845 6015467

You are also responsible for water bills. To open your account you will need to contact the two companies listed below:-

  • Southern Kent Water (Sewerage): 0845 2720845
  • South East Water (Water): 0845 8506060

Houses which are wholly occupied by students in full time education are not liable for Council Tax, but each tenant must collect a Council Tax Exemption Certificate from the registry at their college, bring it to our office and hand to Jan, who will deal with it on your behalf. Failure to do this by anyone in the house will result in all of you in the house being liable for Council Tax.

Most of the houses have internet included. Therefore, telephone lines to these houses are set up in DMS's name and SHOULD NOT BE CHANGED.

If you have any trouble with the above, ring us and we will help you.

What We Do For You

When the old tenants vacate the house we will check the following:-

  • The inventory
  • The decor (for Blu Tak marks etc.)
  • The cleanliness of the property
  • The general condition of the property
  • The meter readings
  • The light bulbs and smoke detectors

We make every effort to ensure that all the houses are clean and presentable for new tenants moving in, but some houses may have been left in a very poor condition and it is impossible for us to attend to everything at once. Our workmen will have been given lists of jobs to attend to and they will work through these lists during the summer, so don't panic if everything is not to your liking on the first day! Similarly, will tenants moving in on the first day of the lease please consider those house mates who may not be moving in until a later date, by ensuring that the house does not degenerate into a 'tip'. Moving into a house that is littered with rubbish and dirty dishes is not nice.

Unless the property has been left in an immaculately clean condition by the previous tenants, a cleaning company will give the house a good, basic clean to enable you to move in, but extras like carpet or upholstery cleaning may be left until a later date. As above, repairs, painting and general maintenance work will be put on our workman's list.

Before moving in you may find it useful to swot up on the basic principles of changing a light bulb and vacuum cleaner bag, reading a gas and electricity meter, lighting a pilot light, turning off a stop cock, unblocking a sink and a vacuum cleaner hose (or not blocking them in the first place!) de-scaling a shower and kettle, putting out the dustbin, keeping music and late night noise to an acceptable level and all the other boring essentials of living on your own in a residential area.