A change of address is an exciting time. You might have just sold your place and bought a new one, you might be moving out of your parents place to finally live on your own, or you might be renting a spot in a new city. Regardless of your unique situation, it’s a time of change that takes a certain amount of organization to ensure your move goes smoothly. You’ll need to coordinate moving supplies, movers, get rid of stuff if you have too much, or buy new stuff if you have too little. On top of all this, you need to inform a large number of people, organizations, and government agencies of your move. If you haven’t already updated your ID’s and travel documents, check out our blog for everything you need to know. In this blog, we’ll review everyone else you need to inform.
Update the CRA and My Service Canada
The CRA and My Service Canada are both essential groups that you’ll need to inform of your address change. This may not be the most exciting part of your move, but it’s an important one. The CRA requires you to inform them of your address change within 10 days of your move and My Service Canada requires at least ten days advance notice. The easiest way to update your address with the CRA is via My Account, where you can do it online. As for My Service Canada, you can also do it online via their various sign in options. Of course, for both, you’ll need to have an account. If you don’t already, you’ll need to sign up for one in order to update your address online.
Informing care providers of your address change
One of the most important groups of people to inform about your address change are the care providers that you engage with. Tell your family doctor, your dentist, and your chiropractor, just to name a few. Think of all the care services you engage with on a regular basis and they most likely should be informed of your move. Have family members that are moving along with you? Make sure you let their care providers know as well. Have a furry friend that’s a part of your family? Let your vet know about your change of address.
While we are absolutely in an era of digital services, most of the care providers you engage with will require in-person interaction. If you’re moving within your neighbourhood, town, or city you’re likely to stick with the same folks but if you’re making a significant move, you may need to find new care providers. As much as you might love your family doctor, it probably doesn’t make sense to drive (or fly) a couple hours every time you want to see them. Do some research ahead of your move to find new care providers as it’s certainly not something you’ll want to waste time on when you actually need them. Depending on where you’re moving to, it may not be the easiest to find these services so it’s important to get on top of ASAP.
Your service providers should know your new address too
I bet you like the internet that you have access to. Internet is such an important part of our everyday lives that you probably don’t want to go even a couple days without it in your new home. Get ahead of transferring your account with your internet provider so that you can settle into your new pad with an hour (or two) of Netflix. Speaking of Netflix, you should also let your cable provider know about your address change. Again, that service will have to be redirected to your new address. Now I know we’re well into the 2020’s, but some of you still have a landline. If, for some reason, you still want to keep that landline, that’s another service provider you should keep in the loop.
Luckily for most of you, your internet, cable, and landline providers are probably all the same company so it shouldn’t take too much effort to let them know. In Canada, the big telco’s dominate this space and they do a great job of incentivizing you to bundle all these services together. Check out how to coordinate your move with Rogers, Bell, and Telus. While we’re on the topic of market dominance, you should probably let your bank know that you’re moving too.
Transfer your utilities to your new address
As much as we all like the internet, I’d suggest that water, heat, and electricity are a little more important. If you’re moving within the same area of service, be sure to transfer these utilities to your new address. If you’re moving elsewhere, you’ll need to notify your current utility service providers of your move date so that you’re not paying for services you don’t need. On top of that, make sure to get in touch with the utility companies in your new area to set up accounts. After a long day of moving, you don’t want to miss out on the opportunity to have a nice hot shower.
Tell your employer that you’re moving
We are most definitely in a world where remote work is more prevalent, but regardless of whether you work at home or not, your employer needs to know your new address. Not only do they need to know how to get a hold of you if they ever had to, but there could be tax implications that come along with your move. If you’re moving from province to province or out of the country, it will be incredibly important to work with your HR team to facilitate this change. In some instances, it might be tempting to hide your move, but this is a bad idea. In some way or another, the tax consequences of your move are likely to catch up to you and it won’t be worth it.
Changing your address? You might need a real estate lawyer
If you’re buying or selling a home in Ontario, you must engage a real estate closing service to complete your transaction. Up until recently, this meant you had to coordinate over phone, email, in-person, and even fax; but not anymore. At Doormat, we facilitate your property closing virtually and all the details of your transaction flow through your own personalized dashboard. Doormat’s platform keeps you in the know on the progress of your closing, stores all your documents in one place, and provides support when and how you need it.
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