Moving Home: An Energy Handover

A moving-home energy handover is a short, practical exchange: readings agreed, controls explained, documents passed on, and warranties and service arrangements introduced, so the next occupant starts from understanding rather than from guesswork. It serves sellers and buyers, landlords and tenants alike, and it costs little more than an hour of attention at a moment when attention is scarce. Yet it is routinely skipped, leaving the next occupant to decipher a programmer, hunt for a warranty, or dispute a first bill that an agreed reading would have settled. This guide sets out the handover in the order to do it, for the party leaving and the party arriving together. Both sides gain when the record is agreed before keys change hands, and that agreement is the whole point of the check. It is general guidance, and any formal duties for a specific move depend on its transaction or tenancy type.

A complete energy handover has five parts. Readings: gas, electricity and any other meters, dated and photographed by both sides where possible, with supplier and account arrangements clarified. Controls: heating, hot water and ventilation controls demonstrated in person, with programmes, setback settings and seasonal modes explained, and instructions left in the home. Documents: certificate, improvement evidence, warranties, service records, grant papers and installer contacts, passed on in a single file or folder. Condition notes: any known quirks, such as a room that heats slowly, a vent that must stay open, or a system that needs a seasonal change, stated honestly. Contacts: the outgoing party's note of who to call for servicing, warranties or scheme queries, where appropriate and consented.

Work the handover as a joint check where the parties can meet, or as a written pack where they cannot. Outgoing party: prepare the one-page handover note, gather the documents, demonstrate controls, and record readings. Incoming party: photograph readings, operate each control while it is demonstrated, read the certificate and evidence file, and note every question in writing on the day. Both: agree the reading record, keep a copy each, and confirm supplier transfer or registration steps. Where a letting agent or conveyancer handles the move, ask explicitly that the energy handover note and file are included in the handover pack, since general packs often omit them. A handover that is written and copied protects both sides equally.

Handover practice sits within national transaction and tenancy systems. In the UK, sale completion, tenancy start duties and inventory practice in each nation shape what is formally handed over, with EPC provision as a shared element. In EU member states, transaction and tenancy handover practices, certificate provision and inventory duties are national under the EPBD framework for certificates. The handover method here is portable: readings, controls, documents, condition notes and contacts, agreed in writing. The formal duties that require particular items are local, and a party should check them for the specific move rather than assuming a practice from another jurisdiction applies.

The most common handover mistake is leaving without agreed readings, which turns the first bill into a dispute. Another is demonstrating controls verbally without leaving instructions, so the knowledge leaves with the outgoing occupant. A third is passing keys without the evidence file, so improvements become unverifiable claims. A fourth is omitting quirks, such as a ventilation route that must stay clear, which the next occupant then blocks innocently. A fifth is treating handover as a courtesy rather than as part of the move, and skipping it under time pressure. Each mistake costs an hour to prevent and weeks to untangle, which is why the handover note should be prepared before moving day, not on it.

Keep the handover record with the home's energy file, and treat it as the baseline for the next occupant's first year: readings to compare, controls to learn, documents to consult, and contacts to use. If you are the incoming occupant, revisit the note after the first heating season and add your own observations, so the file grows with the home. If you are the outgoing party, a complete handover is also a kindness to your own record, since it documents the home as you left it. A move is a transfer of a home's energy story, and a handover note is what ensures the story arrives intact.