Moving house soon? Don’t commit to a long broadband contract…

The UK’s housing market is uniquely troubled at the moment.

House prices are higher than ever, yet mortgage affordability is being squeezed by rising lender rates, while soaring utility prices eat into disposable incomes.

Simultaneously, changes to rental laws have seen landlords abandoning the sector in droves, while demographic factors are increasing competition for a dwindling pool of rental properties.

Yet regardless of these unsatisfactory market conditions, millions of people will need to move house in the next year.

Reasons vary from new relationships starting to old ones ending, and from final-year students moving out of shared lodgings to families relocating after private school closures.

Whether you’re relocating to secure a job, downsizing to save money or moving up the ladder to accommodate a growing family, you’re going to need home broadband.

And that becomes a problem if your existing ISP doesn’t service your future home postcode, can’t match your current line speed or isn’t flexible about a change of address.

It’s an even bigger problem if you’re only partway through a contract, which you’ll be expected to maintain – or pay up in full should you attempt to cancel it early, even if services can’t be transferred.

Contractual obligations

Although home broadband ought to be fully portable, it’s surprising how many issues can derail a supposedly seamless relocation.

First of all, there’s availability.

A full fibre provider clearly can’t service a property in an area they haven’t cabled, while Openreach line speeds could plummet depending on local networks.

New estates are a major source of problems. Your correspondent was once told that the two-year-old house he was calling from to migrate his broadband to didn’t exist.

This was a database failure on the ISP’s part, but newly issued postcodes and incorrectly installed cables could also jeopardise obtaining broadband in new homes.

Buildings with thick walls might need mesh extenders to distribute signals to every room, and older homes may have electrical circuits which aren’t compatible with Powerline adaptors.

Existing routers and supplied hardware might be superfluous or inadequate in your next home, leaving you paying for unused/unsuitable equipment.

A moving story

The best way to avoid such challenges is by ensuring your existing home broadband contract ends before the removal van pulls up outside.

Is it likely you’ll be moving house soon? Could a new job, school catchment issues or other personal circumstances necessitate a change of address in the next year or so?

Younger people tend to lead relatively itinerant lives, particularly during academic studies or the early years of their careers, meaning a two-year ISP commitment might be inadvisable.

If there’s any likelihood of moving house soon, let your existing broadband contract run down and expire.

ISPs will always offer a standard tariff to out-of-contract customers. Rates tend to be less competitive than a fixed term deal, though they won’t incur early repayment fees.

Some ISPs offer no-contract broadband, where rolling 30-day contracts can be terminated with minimal fuss.

If you’re moving house soon, the appeal of mobile broadband shouldn’t be underestimated.

MiFi hubs and USB dongles provide connectivity anywhere with a decent indoor 4G or 5G signal, keeping devices connected even on moving day itself.

And if you’d still prefer a new fixed-line contract, search our site to find 12-month deals, rather than the more restrictive 18 and 24-month packages ISPs tend to favour nowadays.