Moving Day in Toronto: The Five Things That Go Wrong

Buying and selling is the part everybody worries about. Moving is the part that actually ruins the week.

I have watched a great many moving days from close range, into Toronto and out of it, and the same five things go wrong. All five are preventable, and none of them are about real estate. They are about logistics that nobody tells you are your responsibility until the morning they become your problem.

One: the keys do not arrive when you think they will

This is the big one, and it catches almost every first-time buyer.

You do not get your keys at nine o'clock in the morning on closing day. Keys are released once the transaction has actually closed, which happens after the lawyers have exchanged funds and the transfer has been registered. In practice that often lands in the afternoon, and occasionally late in the afternoon.

So if you have booked a removal firm for eight in the morning and told them to be at the new address by eleven, you have booked a truck full of your possessions to sit on a road for several hours at an hourly rate.

What to do: ask your lawyer, in the week before closing, what time they realistically expect to close and release keys. Then book the unloading around that answer rather than around your hopes. If you are moving out and in on the same day, ask the same question about both transactions.

Two: the condominium elevator is not booked

If either end of your move is a condominium or an apartment building, the service elevator almost certainly has to be reserved through the property management office, usually in a block of a few hours, and often with a deposit.

Those slots go quickly at the end of the month, which is when most closings happen. A move-in slot on the last Friday of a month can be gone weeks ahead.

What to do: contact property management at both ends as soon as you have a firm closing date. Ask what the slots are, what the deposit is, whether certificates of insurance are required from your removal firm, and whether there are restrictions on which entrance you may use. Get it in writing.

Three: there is nowhere to put the truck

Toronto streets were not designed with removal vans in mind. Many arterial roads that behave like ordinary parking lanes at midday convert into no-stopping zones during the afternoon rush, and a truck that is still loading when the restriction begins can be ticketed or towed.

The City of Toronto issues a street occupation permit for temporarily occupying the roadway or a parking lane, and this is the mechanism that legitimately reserves space for a move. Many established removal firms will arrange the permit and the temporary no-parking signage on your behalf, which is usually the easier route.

What to do: ask your removal firm directly whether they arrange permits, or whether you are expected to. Do not assume. If it falls to you, apply through the City well before the day rather than the week of, and check the current requirements and fees on the City of Toronto website, since these change.

Four: the utilities are in nobody's name

Hydro, water, gas, internet. Each one is a separate account with a separate provider and a separate lead time, and internet is routinely the worst of them. An installation appointment booked on closing day is an installation appointment in three weeks.

What to do: start the transfers about two weeks out. Make a single list with the provider, the account number, the date you want service to start at the new address, and the date you want it to stop at the old one. The overlap should be at least a day at both ends. Paying for one extra day of hydro is cheaper than arriving to a dark house.

Five: the address change is half done

People remember the bank and forget everything else. Then a renewal notice, a tax document or a replacement card goes to a house they no longer own.

What to do: work through a written list rather than from memory. Government identification and health card, the Canada Revenue Agency, your bank and every card, insurance for both the home and the car, your employer's payroll, your doctor, your dentist, your children's school, any subscription that arrives physically, and a mail redirection through Canada Post as a safety net for everything you forget. Set the redirection for longer than you think you need.

The one week countdown

• Two weeks out: utilities transferred, elevators booked at both ends, removal firm confirmed in writing with a note on permits
• One week out: ask your lawyer for a realistic closing and key release time, then confirm the removal timing around it
• Three days out: pack a single box you carry yourself with documents, chargers, medication, tools, toilet roll and coffee, and label it so it does not go in the truck
• The day before: confirm with the removal firm, confirm the elevator slot, check the weather, charge everything
• Closing day: keys when the lawyer says so, not before

If you are moving into or out of the GTA

Whether you are arriving from another city or leaving Toronto for somewhere quieter, the property decision and the logistics decision are two different problems and both are worth planning properly. Text me at 647-931-5151 and I will talk you through the sequence.

Danny Macedo, Macedo Real Estate Group, Royal LePage Supreme Realty, Brokerage. Selling in Toronto and York Region since 1996.

Permit and municipal requirements change. Confirm current rules, fees and application timelines with the City of Toronto, and confirm building rules with property management, before relying on anything above.