Moving to a new home involves more than saying, “We’re moving next week.” You may need to describe boxes, ask what a moving service includes, explain access to a building and report a missing item. This guide gives you the vocabulary and sentence patterns to handle those conversations in English.
Use move out for leaving your old home, move in for starting to live in the new one, and pack and unpack for putting belongings into boxes and taking them out. Useful moving-day terms include removal company or moving company, inventory, fragile, collection address, delivery address and meter reading.
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Moving Verbs and British and American Terms
In British English, you can say “We’re moving house.” In American English, “We’re moving” or “We’re moving to a new place” is more usual. Moving house means changing where you live, even if your new home is a flat.
| Expression | Meaning and example |
|---|---|
| move out of | Leave a home: “We’re moving out of our flat on Friday.” |
| move into | Start living somewhere: “We’re moving into a smaller house.” |
| move in | Start living in the new home, without naming it: “When can we move in?” |
| relocate | Move to another place, often used in work contexts: “I’m relocating to Bristol for work.” |
| settle in | Become comfortable in a new place: “We’re still settling in.” |
| downsize | Move to a smaller home: “They’re downsizing now that the children have left.” |
A removal company or removals company is a British term for a business that transports your belongings. Moving company is the usual American term, and movers can mean the people doing the work. Cambridge Dictionary records this British use of removals.
Keep move and remove separate: “We moved to Leeds” describes a change of home; “We removed the shelves” means we took the shelves away. Also say “We moved last week,” not “We moved house to last week.” A time expression does not need to in this sentence.
Packing, Containers and Box Labels
Your belongings or possessions are the things you own. Furniture is uncountable: say “some furniture,” “three pieces of furniture” or name the items, such as a sofa, a desk and a wardrobe. Do not say “three furnitures.”
| Word or phrase | How to use it |
|---|---|
| cardboard box | “We need two more cardboard boxes for the books.” |
| packing tape | “Seal the bottom with packing tape.” |
| packing paper | “Wrap each plate in packing paper.” |
| bubble wrap | “There’s bubble wrap around the vase.” |
| fragile | Easily damaged or broken: “This box contains fragile items.” |
| label | As a verb: “Label each box with the room name.” As a noun: “The label says Kitchen.” |
| dismantle / take apart | “Do we need to dismantle the bed before collection?” |
| reassemble / put back together | “Can your team reassemble the wardrobe?” |
Pack the glasses means put them into containers for transport. Pack up the kitchen means prepare the things in the kitchen for the move. Unpack reverses that action; it does not necessarily mean that everything is already in its final place.
Write a useful box label
A label can combine a destination, contents and handling instruction: “KITCHEN • MUGS • FRAGILE.” For a box you want immediately, write “OPEN FIRST.” “THIS WAY UP” indicates the intended upright position, while “DO NOT STACK” asks people not to put other boxes on top.
Compare “Please pack the bedroom” with “Please pack the books in the bedroom.” The second request is more specific and avoids including clothes, bedding and other items you may want to pack yourself.
Booking a Moving Service
When asking for a quote, describe the collection address, delivery address, moving date and main items. A quote is a proposed price for specified work; an estimate gives an approximate cost. To avoid assuming what a price covers, ask which services and extra charges are included.
Useful questions include “Does the price include packing materials?”, “Do you charge by the hour?” and “Is there an additional charge for stairs?” You can also ask “What happens if the moving date changes?” These are language models for asking about the company’s terms.
A booking conversation
Customer: I’d like a quote for moving from a two-bedroom flat to a house.
Coordinator: Is there a lift at the collection address?
Customer: No. It’s on the second floor, and the staircase is narrow.
Coordinator: Do you need a packing service?
Customer: We’ll pack the small items ourselves. Could you include dismantling and reassembling one bed?
Lift is British English; elevator is American English. Because floor numbering can differ between countries, a description such as “two flights of stairs above the entrance” may be clearer than a floor number alone. Access means the ability to reach or enter a place: “There is no vehicle access through the rear gate.”
A collection window or arrival window is a range of possible times. “The team will arrive between nine and eleven” is different from “The team will arrive at nine.” If timing matters, ask “Is that a confirmed arrival time or an estimated window?”
Moving Day, Inventories and Delivery Problems
Load means put things into the van or truck; unload means take them out. Carry describes moving something while supporting it: “Could you carry this box upstairs?” A storage unit is a rented space for keeping belongings when you cannot take them straight to your new home.
An inventory is a detailed list of items, as defined in Cambridge Dictionary. During a move, it can help you identify what was collected and what arrived. A rental property inventory may instead describe the property’s contents and condition, so specify which list you mean.
Give clear directions
“Please put the desk in the room on the left.” “Those boxes go upstairs, in the back bedroom.” “Please leave this suitcase by the front door; it’s staying with me.” Directions become easier to follow when you name the item and its destination together.
Describe a problem precisely
Use missing when you cannot find something, damaged when it has been harmed, scratched for marks on a surface and dented for a surface pushed inward. “The table is damaged” is broad; “There is a deep scratch on the tabletop” gives a clearer description.
Customer: One box appears to be missing. It’s number twelve on the inventory.
Mover: What was in it?
Customer: Kitchen equipment. Also, this chair leg is cracked. How should I report it?
If you are describing the condition before transport, say “That scratch was already there” or “This is the condition before collection.” The language identifies when damage was observed without making an unsupported claim about who caused it.
Utilities, Meter Readings and Changes of Address
Utilities are services such as electricity, gas and water. A supplier or provider supplies a service, while an account identifies your customer relationship with that company. Broadband or internet service is another service you may need to discuss when moving.
A meter reading is the number shown on a meter that records usage. A final reading relates to the end of your time at the old property; an opening reading relates to the start at the new one. A final bill is the bill that closes out the old period of service.
You can say “I’m moving out on 18 November and need to close my account” or “Can I transfer my service to the new address?” Transfer, cancel and set up are different requests: transferring moves an existing service arrangement, cancelling ends it, and setting up starts one.
A short change-of-address message
Hello,
I’m moving on 18 November. Please update my correspondence address to 24 Willow Road, Flat 3, York. My account reference is ABC123. Could you confirm when the change will take effect?
Thank you,
Alex
A correspondence address is where you receive letters. A forwarding address is an address to which mail can be sent after you leave; mail forwarding or redirection is the service that sends mail onward. “Please update my address” asks an organisation to change its records, while “Please forward my mail” asks for mail to be sent elsewhere.
For the language of deposits, leases and tenancy arrangements, see Renting a Home: English Vocabulary for Tenants. Once you have settled in and want to invite friends over, the housewarming vocabulary guide covers the social side.
Moving House Vocabulary Practice and Common Questions
Choose the right expression
Complete each sentence with one expression: inventory, fragile, move into, unpack, meter reading, forwarding address.
- We leave our old flat on Friday and ______ the new one on Saturday.
- Please handle this box carefully. The contents are ______.
- Check the ______ to see whether all twelve boxes have arrived.
- I can’t find the kettle. Which box should I ______ first?
- The electricity supplier asked for a final ______.
- We gave the old landlord our ______ so they could send us letters.
Answers: 1. move into; 2. fragile; 3. inventory; 4. unpack; 5. meter reading; 6. forwarding address. Notice that move into is followed by the new home, while move in can stand alone.
Is it “move in” or “move into”?
Say “We move in tomorrow” when you do not name the home after the verb. Say “We move into the flat tomorrow” when you name it. “Move in with someone” means begin living with that person.
Is a housewarming the same as moving day?
No. Moving day is the day you move your belongings or change homes. A housewarming is a celebration of a new home and may happen later, after you have unpacked.
How can I practise this vocabulary?
Describe an imaginary move in five sentences: where you are moving from, where you are moving to, what needs packing, what access is like and which service needs updating. Then make one request to a mover and report one delivery problem. Use specific items and locations so that another person could act on your instructions.
