Moving Into A City Apartment? Follow These Tips
City apartments tend to be small, located on narrow streets, and outfitted with narrow staircases. If you're moving into one of these apartments, these factors are going to present a few challenges. Here are some tips to follow during the moving process to ensure it goes as smoothly as possible.
Verify where the moving truck can park before you arrive.
A week or two before your move-in date, contact the landlord or property manager and ask where the moving truck can safely park as items are unloaded into your new apartment. In some cities, there are limits as to how long a truck can "stand" on the side of the road, so you may find out that you need to unpack in a 1- or 2-hour time frame. If there is off-street parking available, the landlord may also make plans for other tenants to park elsewhere that day so you can park and unload your moving truck with ease.
As soon as you learn what the parking situation will be on moving day, pass this information on to your moving company so they'll be prepared.
Measure large furniture.
Ask the landlord or property manager if you can visit the apartment prior to your move-in date to make some measurements. Even if you can't get into the apartment itself, take measurements of stairways and doorways. Then, measure your larger furniture to ensure it will fit. It's better to find out that something won't fit now than when you're standing at your new doorway with it. This gives you some time to donate the too-big items and perhaps purchase some smaller replacements.
Get rid of excess items now.
Especially if you'll be living in an upstairs apartment, you really don't want to carry everything up the stairs, sort through it, and then carry the items you decide to donate or throw away back down again. You'll save yourself (or your moving company) a lot of time and effort by downsizing your stuff as you pack instead.
Verify the garbage disposal practices.
As soon as you move in, you're going to have a lot of boxes and other packing materials to dispose of. Contact your new landlord or the city garbage department to find out more about the garbage collection regulations. Will it be okay to put your items out to the curb and let them sit there until garbage day? Or is there a rule that you can't put trash out more than 12 or 24 hours before collection? If you find out that the city has strict regulations about putting items out to the curb — or that they'll only collect a certain amount of trash per week — you may want to consider unpacking big things as soon as you arrive and sending the packing materials away in the moving truck.
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