Moving home involves many tedious and complicated preparations. There are various things to consider including when, where, and how to move. Once these decisions are made, it is important to inform the appropriate Government departments and other relevant parties to ensure that all of your records are kept up to date. This will save you from future inconvenience.

Consider making use of the Change of Address Service to update your address record with various Government departments and non-governmental organisations in one go. You may need a Digital Certificate for authentication for some Government departments.

• More on Change of Address Service
  http://www.gov.hk/en/residents/housing/home/coa.htm
• More on Digital Certificates
  http://www.gov.hk/en/about/helpdesk/faq/digitalcert/index.shtml

Most of the public utility companies in Hong Kong offer online services which allow you to close your accounts for the previous address, transfer your accounts and open new accounts for your new address.

If you are closing an account with no intention of opening a new one, remember to claim back the deposit (if any) you paid to open that account. To close a water account and request refund of deposit, you should notify the Water Supplies Department at least 14 days in advance.

Here is the list of public utility service providers that you may need to inform about your move:

• Water Supplies Department
• Electricity company
• Gas company
• Fixed and mobile telecommunication network operator
• Internet service provider
• Paid TV service provider

• Apply for closing of water accounts
  http://www.wsd.gov.hk/en/html/acct/eservices/wwo243On.htm
• Apply for taking up of water accounts
  http://www.wsd.gov.hk/en/html/acct/eservices/takeup_online.htm
• Open and close account with CLP and other customer services
  https://www.clponline.com.hk/CustomerService/Pages/Default.aspx?lang=en
• Open account and other service requests with Hongkong Electric
  http://www.hec.com.hk/hehWeb/DomesticServices/OpenAccountAndServiceRequest/Index_en.htm
• Open and close account with Towngas
  http://www.hkcg.com/tgweb/eng/vcc/vcc_open_account.asp?level=16&position=left

Informing all your family, friends and other organisations of your new address may be time consuming. In the interim, you may find the Mail Redirection Service provided by Hongkong Post a useful way to ensure none of your mail is lost. This costs HK$100 to cover 3 months of service, extendable for another year.

• Hongkong Post mail redirection service
  http://www.hongkongpost.com/eng/services/supplementary/index.htm#redirection

How to handle any unwanted but reusable items during your process of moving home? You may try the Hong Kong Second-hand Exchange community service provided by the Environmental Protection Department for donation or for sale at a nominal charge. You may also drop the items at collection points provided by other organisations in your vicinity. It helps to reduce, reuse and recycle waste in Hong Kong.

• Hong Kong Second-hand Exchange
  https://wasteexchange.wastereduction.gov.hk/english/index.php
• Location of collection points
  https://www.wastereduction.gov.hk/en/quickaccess/vicinity.htm