Property Pundit UK
You've picked up the keys, the boxes are half-unpacked, and every instinct says the hard part is over. It isn't. The first month of owning a home is when the paperwork you ignore turns into a bill, a gap in cover, or a legal problem you can't undo. None of these seven tasks are complicated. All of them have a deadline, a cost, or both — and missing them rarely announces itself until something goes wrong.
This isn't a generic "settling in" list. Every item below has a number attached, because vague advice doesn't stop you underinsuring your home or missing a council tax deadline. Work through it in order, tick each one off, and you'll have covered the things that actually carry financial or legal weight.
1. Register for council tax
Your local authority needs to know you're the new owner from completion day, not from whenever you get round to it. Councils generally expect notification promptly, and if you don't tell them, the bill can default to being chased through the previous owner's account or land on you as a backdated demand once the council catches up via Land Registry data. Register online with your council using your completion date and the property address — it takes ten minutes.
Miss this and you risk a backdated bill landing all at once, plus the hassle of a reminder notice and, in the worst case, a liability order application if it drags on unresolved. Get it done in week one and it's a non-issue for the rest of your time in the property.
2. Switch your utilities — don't inherit the previous owner's rate
New homeowners routinely get moved onto a supplier's standard "deemed" tariff the moment they move in — this is usually one of the more expensive rates on the market, precisely because it assumes you haven't shopped around. Take meter readings on day one, photograph them, and give your energy and water suppliers a call or go online to confirm the account is now in your name.
Comparing tariffs at this point rather than defaulting to the deemed rate is where most of the saving sits — OFGEM's price cap data consistently shows deemed rates sitting above the best fixed or tracker tariffs available on the open market. Leave it three months and you'll have paid the premium rate the whole time with nothing to show for it.
3. Sort buildings and contents insurance — properly, not just "enough"
Buildings insurance should technically already be in place from exchange of contracts — your solicitor will have flagged this — but the first 30 days is when it's worth checking the sum insured is realistic, not just whatever figure a comparison site defaulted to. The most common mistake, according to ABI-style industry cost surveys, is basing the buildings sum insured on the purchase price rather than the actual rebuild cost, which is usually lower for flats and can be higher for older or listed properties with non-standard construction.
Underinsuring your buildings cover means a partial claim gets reduced pro-rata under what's called the "average clause" — so if you're insured for 75% of the true rebuild cost, a £10,000 claim might only pay out £7,500. Get the rebuild figure right in month one and every future claim pays out in full instead of being quietly cut down.
4. Book your first boiler service
If the previous owner can't produce a service record from the last 12 months, book a service before winter regardless of the time of year you complete. A standard boiler service (Which?'s cost surveys put a typical annual service in this range for most gas combi boilers) covers a visual inspection, flue check, and efficiency test — it does not cover replacing worn parts, which is billed separately, and it doesn't extend the manufacturer's warranty on its own.
Skip it and you're relying on an appliance with an unknown maintenance history heading into the coldest months, which is when boiler breakdowns spike and emergency call-out rates are highest. A £100 service now is considerably cheaper than an emergency callout in January, so this is one of the easiest wins on this whole list.
5. New build only — read your NHBC Buildmark warranty properly
If you've bought new, NHBC Buildmark (or an equivalent warranty provider) gives you two years of builder-backed cover for most defects, followed by an insurance-backed structural warranty running to year 10. The common pitfall is assuming everything is covered for the full ten years — cosmetic snagging, appliances and most fittings are only covered in year one, and the structural element from year three onwards has a significant excess and only covers defined "major damage", not general wear.
Log every snag you find in the first two years in writing to the developer, with photos and dates — verbal reports get forgotten and Buildmark claims outside the early window need to meet a materially higher bar. Miss the early cosmetic-defect window and you'll likely be paying for that fix yourself.
6. Leasehold buyers only — check your first service charge demand line by line
Your first service charge demand after completion is worth more scrutiny than most buyers give it — this is your baseline for every future increase, and errors or unreasonably high charges are far easier to challenge early than after you've paid several years without comment. Citizens Advice guidance is clear that leaseholders have the right to see a summary of costs behind the charge and can challenge unreasonable charges via the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) if the freeholder or managing agent won't engage.
If you let this first demand go unchallenged, you've effectively set a precedent of acceptance that makes it harder to query the same line items later — so read it properly now, even though it's the least exciting envelope you'll open all month.
7. Help to Buy borrowers only — know when the interest clock starts
If you used the Help to Buy equity loan (closed to new applicants since February 2023, but still live for anyone who used it between 2013 and 2023), the loan is interest-free for the first five years only. From year six, GOV.UK's scheme rules confirm interest kicks in at 1.75% of the loan amount, then rises annually each April in line with RPI inflation plus 1% — meaning the effective cost compounds well ahead of general inflation over time.
The first 30 days is the right moment to note your exact completion date and diary a reminder for month 54–58, because working out whether to start repaying the equity loan before interest bites is a decision that needs planning, not a scramble in year six. If you're anywhere near that five-year mark already, treat this as urgent rather than routine.
Run through these seven in order and you've covered every task in the first month that carries a genuine cost, deadline or legal consequence if ignored. From here, the priorities shift to the slower rhythm of annual maintenance — worth reading alongside our annual home maintenance calendar so you know what's coming in month two and beyond. If you bought using a mortgage and are still getting to grips with the wider process, our new homeowner checklist pairs well with a read of how Stamp Duty thresholds applied to your purchase, and if leasehold ownership is new to you, our leasehold vs freehold guide explains the wider structure behind that service charge demand.
Most people miss this
The task everyone skips is reading the first leasehold service charge demand properly, or — if you used Help to Buy — realising the interest-free period is only five years, not the whole term of the loan. Both feel like "future you's problem" on day one. Both come with a bill attached the moment you stop paying attention. Diary the Help to Buy year-five review now, and read the service charge breakdown this week rather than filing it unread.