Home care & seasonal
Just moved in? Do these ten things first
The boxes can wait an hour. A new house tells you almost nothing about itself, and the previous owners took most of the answers with them. These ten jobs, done in the first week, replace guesswork with knowledge before you need it at speed.
By the Tickover team · Published 10 June 2026 · 4 min read
Moving day flattens everyone, and nobody expects you to fix anything this week. But a handful of small discoveries, made now while the house is still a stranger, will pay you back the first time something drips, trips or beeps.
Day one: five discoveries before the kettle is found
The day-one five
Find the stopcock and turn it
Under the kitchen sink, in a hall cupboard or under the stairs are the usual suspects. Turn it gently both ways so you know it moves.
Press the test button on every alarm
Smoke and carbon monoxide, all of them, before the first night. Silence means new batteries or new alarms today, not at the weekend.
Photograph both meter readings
Gas and electricity, on day one. Send the readings to the suppliers so the previous owner’s bills end cleanly and yours start honestly.
Find the consumer unit and read its labels
Learn which switch is the main one and what each circuit claims to feed. Looking and flipping breakers is fine; anything further is an electrician’s job.
Run the heating for ten minutes
Even in July. You want to meet the thermostat and hear the boiler now, not discover a fault in the first cold week of October.
If any alarm fails its test, treat it as today’s job rather than the week’s. Decode the beeps if one is already chirping at you, and add carbon monoxide cover if the house has none. If day one’s stopcock hunt drew a blank, the full guide lists every classic hiding place.
The full first-week ten
Ten jobs, one week
- Find the stopcock and exercise it with a gentle turn
- Test every smoke and carbon monoxide alarm
- Photograph meter readings and send them off
- Change the locks, front and back
- Read the consumer unit and label its circuits
- Hunt down the boiler’s service history
- Learn the thermostat and the heating timer
- Find out bin day and what goes in which bin
- Walk the outside and photograph anything odd
- Start a house file for certificates and receipts
The locks deserve a word. You have no idea how many keys exist for your new front door or who holds them: previous owners, their cleaners, a neighbour from 2019. A locksmith swaps a standard cylinder quickly, and anti-snap cylinders are the sensible upgrade on uPVC doors. It is the least sentimental job on the list and the one that buys the most sleep.
First-week spends
Lock change (standard)
anti-snap cylinders cost more
Boiler service
if there is no recent record
Typical UK ranges, mid-2026, as a guide only. Your home, your area and the job itself all move the number — always compare real quotes.
While the paperwork surfaces, hunt for the boiler’s service history: stickers on the casing, a folder in a kitchen drawer, a line in the sale pack. Nothing from the last twelve months means booking a service with a Gas Safe registered engineer; it protects any warranty and puts expert eyes on the most expensive machine you have inherited. And if you ever smell gas: open doors and windows, leave switches alone, go outside and call 0800 111 999.
Everything you find, and everything new you generate, goes in one place. The house paperwork guide covers what to keep and why it matters years from now, at sale time, when a solicitor asks for a certificate you have never heard of.
After the first week
Once the ten are done the house stops being a stranger, and the ordinary rhythm takes over: the maintenance calendar maps the whole year in small, cheap jobs. For now, order something hot and unpack the good glasses. You know where the stopcock is, which puts you ahead of most of the street.
One home, remembered for you
Tell Tickover about the new place once: boiler, alarms, meter shots, that photo of the stopcock. The app builds your maintenance calendar and keeps every document where the next emergency, or the next owner, can find it.
Quick answers
Should I change the locks when I move in?
Yes, ideally in the first week. There is no register of how many keys exist or who holds them, and insurance claims get complicated when there is no sign of forced entry. A standard cylinder change costs £80–£160 as a guide; anti-snap cylinders on uPVC doors cost a little more and are a sensible upgrade while the locksmith is there.
What should I check first in a new house?
The stopcock, the alarms and the meters, in that order. The stopcock is what makes any future leak small, working alarms are the only first-night safety job, and dated meter photos stop billing disputes before they start. Everything else, from bin day to the boiler history, can wait for the rest of the week.
Do I need a boiler service when I move in?
If there is no evidence of a service in the last twelve months, book one with a Gas Safe registered engineer. It typically costs £80–£120, keeps any remaining warranty valid, and gives a professional the first look at the appliance you now depend on. Sellers rarely leave perfect records, so assume nothing.
How do I find the stopcock in a new home?
Start under the kitchen sink, then hall and understairs cupboards, then bathrooms and the garage. You are looking for a brass valve on the incoming cold pipe. Turn it gently to check it has not seized, and label it. If it never turns up, the outside meter valve is the backup, and a plumber can fit an internal valve.
This guide is general information for UK homes, not advice about your specific property. Anything involving gas must be done by a Gas Safe registered engineer, and notifiable electrical work by a qualified electrician. If you smell gas, call the National Gas Emergency line on 0800 111 999. If you’re ever unsure, stop and get a professional in — that’s exactly what Tickover is for.
Keep reading
Home care & seasonalFull guide
The home maintenance calendar: a year of small wins
Month-by-month home maintenance for UK homes: what to do each season, what it costs, and why small routine jobs beat expensive emergency repairs.
6 min read
Plumbing & water
Find your stopcock before you need it
Where UK stopcocks hide, how to test that yours actually turns, and the yearly quarter-turn habit that stops it seizing. Ten minutes now saves a ceiling.
4 min read
Doors, windows & security
Smoke alarm beeping? Decode it and make it stop
One chirp a minute, three beeps, or a full siren at 2am: what each smoke alarm sound means, which battery fixes it, and when the unit has expired.
4 min read