A job offer outside London starts a clock. Between signing the contract and the first morning at the new desk there is a notice period, a housing decision and a move, usually squeezed into a couple of months. This guide sets out a realistic timeline and a way of moving your belongings that does not force every decision at once.
The gap between offer and start date
Most people have between four and twelve weeks. A one month notice period is standard in many jobs, three months is common in senior roles, and the start date usually lands shortly after notice ends. That window has to cover handing over your current job, ending or passing on your London tenancy, finding somewhere to live, and the move itself.
The trap is treating all of those as one deadline. They are not. The only things that genuinely must happen by day one are you, your documents and two weeks of work clothes arriving in the right town. Everything else can follow.
Take temporary housing seriously
Committing to a twelve month tenancy in a town you do not know is the most common relocation regret. You do not yet know the good streets, the real commute from each area, or where the people you will want to see actually live.
The alternatives are all workable: a short let of one to three months, a room in a house share, employer help if it exists (some companies offer relocation support or temporary accommodation, and it is always worth asking HR directly), or family within reach of the new job. A few months in temporary housing while you learn the area, then a permanent choice made with real information, beats a long lease signed off the back of one weekend visit.
The three wave method
Staged sending is what makes temporary housing practical, because you are no longer trying to move a whole life into a short let.
Wave one travels with you: documents, laptop, medication, and enough work clothes for the first two weeks. Right to work documents belong in this wave, not in a box somewhere.
Wave two follows in the first week or two: the rest of your wardrobe, books, hobby gear, and your bike (£59) if it is going to be the new commute. Short lets are usually furnished, so kitchen kit can mostly wait.
Wave three goes when the permanent home is secured: furniture (£45, carried by a two person crew) and everything that was not worth moving twice. If wave three is looking large, that is also the moment to be honest about what simply is not coming.
How the weekly runs fit a staged move
Staged sending suits a fixed timetable. We collect and deliver in London every Wednesday, each of the 86 postcode areas we serve across England and Wales has its own weekly run day, and everything travels via our Oxfordshire hub. Because the timetable repeats, wave two is simply the same route a week or three after wave one, booked whenever you are ready rather than organised from scratch.
The runs go in both directions, which matters more than it first appears. Belongings that should sit out the temporary period somewhere stable can travel to a family address in any served area, then come forward to the permanent home later.
Kerbside or Assisted
For waves one and two, which are mostly boxes and bags, Kerbside (from £199) usually fits: you bring everything to the door at the collection end, and someone receives it at the door at the other. Wave three, with furniture in it, points to Assisted (from £349), where we carry from inside and furniture or bikes bring a two person crew. There is no need to pick one tier for the whole relocation; each wave can be booked on the tier it needs.
Admin that moves with you
Set up Royal Mail redirection before you leave rather than after, register with a GP in the new town early, close your old council tax account and open the new one, and update the electoral roll, your bank and the DVLA. Keep a single list and work through it; each item takes five minutes, and the cost of missing one is usually an important letter going to a flat you no longer live in.
On the work side, confirm what the employer needs on day one. Contracts, references and right to work checks are first morning business, and they are much easier when the paperwork travelled in your bag rather than in wave three.
If it does not work out
Probation runs both ways, and some relocations end with a move back. The staged approach keeps that door open: if most of your belongings have not yet made the trip, there is less to reverse, and the shuttle runs into London every week just as it runs out. Send what the next few months genuinely need, keep the rest where it is, and let the permanent decisions wait until the new life has proven itself.