You book your move in date and time on the e-1132 system, available on the Defence Intranet.

The appointment should take no more than an hour and is there to help you get settled in as quickly as possible.

If you are moving to a new Service Family Home, due to a new assignment or transferring home due to personal or service reasons, it is important to factor into your plans and the dates attached to your move, that you can only be the licensee for both homes for a period of 14 days at any one time before you are dual charged for both homes.

On the day of your move in, your Housing Officer will meet you at your home and show you where everything is. They will work with you to complete the digital Move In Form to record any important information, such as any faults found at move in and the action taken to resolve them, meter readings, details of recent safety inspections and your contact details. At the end of the move in appointment, you will be asked to sign the Move In Form to confirm that you are satisfied your new home meets the move in standard.

Your Housing Officer will take you on a tour of your home. As you walk around, they will show you where important appliances and utilities are within your home, such as:

• Hot water immersion switch and thermostat operation (if able to be adjusted)
• Type of fuel your home has, such as gas, LPG, oil, air source heat pumps or ground source heat pumps
• Boiler and how to use the central heating programmes / thermostats, testing the radiators
• Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, and test them with you
• Electricity unit and how to safely isolate and reset electrical trip switches
• Mains water stopcock and how to isolate the water supply
• Gas emergency cut off and how to operate it
• Gas meter key (where applicable)
• Cooker and show you the cooker controls
• Where any extractor fans are and how to use them
• Switches for external lights
• How to access any garages or sheds and check they are empty with you
• Any locks, how to work them and check them with you

This time is for you to become familiar with your new home, so if you have any queries at all please don’t hesitate to raise them with your Housing Officer (link) at this appointment.

Don’t worry, if you can’t be there as the licenced serving person, you can officially nominate someone to attend on your behalf. This can be a spouse/civil partner/partner or another serving person. To nominate a proxy to attend and act on your behalf please add them to the e-1132 system. Please be aware, if you nominate a proxy, they will be required to show identification at the appointment they attend on your behalf. If for any reason you need to change your move in date you can do this via the e-1132 system. If you can’t access this system to make the amendment, then please get in touch with our Home Services team as soon as possible.

If for any reason you can’t make this visit in person, we will complete it remotely. However, we find that in-person visits are the best way to do this where possible. You will make any arrangements for this visit with your Housing Officer at the move in appointment.

During your move in we will also provide you with important documents relating to your home. This includes all relevant manuals and operating instructions for your boiler, heating and domestic hot water and cooker controls, as well as copies of the landlord’s gas safety inspection (form CP12) and the electrical inspection.

We know your home should be a place where you feel safe and are comfortable. It is important to us that we do everything we can to make this happen and our teams work hard to get your home ready for you. Our partners at Amey (in the North and Central regions) and VIVO (in the South East and South West regions) carry out preparations, repairs and upgrades on your home before you move in. We all follow a set of move in standards so that every home goes through the same checks before we give you the keys and welcome you to your home. These standards have been developed by all of the key delivery partners providing your Service Family Accommodation (SFA) and are in line with the Government Decent Homes Standard. The delivery partners are Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), Pinnacle, Amey and VIVO. When you move in, your Housing Officer will give you a full tour of your home and check you are satisfied it meets the move in standards that have been set. You will have the opportunity to raise any issues that arise after this at the 14 day welcome visit with the Housing Officer. If any repairs are required, please log them here  – do not wait until the 14 day welcome visit.

On your move in day, your Housing Officer will take photographs of your gas and electric meters and record your meter readings. One of the first things you must do is contact the gas and electricity suppliers to give these readings, so that you are only billed for your own family’s usage and to create your personal account with them. Unfortunately, we can’t do this for you. If you have moved into a MOD fuel-supplied property, however, please find relevant info here In my home – Gas and energy - Pinnacle Service Families. If you need to find out who supplies energy to your home, visit Ofgem. Once you have informed the current energy suppliers of the meter readings you are free to transfer the supply to an energy provider of your choice. You are responsible for paying your energy bills from the date you or your proxy signed for the keys to your home. For more on gas and energy management click here.

If a fault is found during the tour of your new home but it isn’t something that prevents you from moving in, your Housing Officer will record it on your Move In Form as a ‘habitable fault’. We will arrange for this fault to be rectified for you by DIO’s maintenance contractors Amey or Vivo. If your new home hasn’t met the move in standard, in certain circumstances you may be eligible for compensation for the inconvenience caused.

In the rare instance that a home does not meet the move in standard, we work with DIO’s maintenance contractors Amey and Vivo to make it right as quickly as we can. This can involve temporary accommodation, potential compensation and, of course, our apologies. Your home is classed as unsuitable to live in (uninhabitable) if any one or more of the following faults are found:

• Glass in doors, screens, windows etc that is not toughened or laminated in accordance with current health and safety requirements (Building Regulations)
• Flats that are lacking ‘½ hour fire check’ rated doors, where required by Building Regulations
• All or any staircases not possessing appropriate balustrades or handrails that comply with the Building Regulations and/or are in an unsafe condition
• Faults within the kitchen, including a
• • Kitchen without a minimum of one worktop length of 900mm or a minimum of 300mm of tiling above work surfaces and above the cooker (or suitable alternative)
  • Cooker space sited behind a door so it becomes a Health and Safety issue
  • Minimum appliance space for a washing machine and refrigerator, with appropriate plumbing and electrics
  • A refrigerator space sited next to a cooker
• A faulty heating system that is not fully working (between October to May) or all year when a vulnerable person is present
• Any major internal disruption, such as a collapsed ceiling due to internal flooding
• A lack of one or more utilities at move in - water, gas (including LPG) or electricity that only impacts your home and is not a utility company issue
• A major health and safety issue or environmental factor that would cause a direct and immediate risk to the family in the home
• A significant hygiene problem with the home that poses a health and safety issue
• The presence of a significant roof leak causing water to penetrate the home
• The electrical system being in an unsafe condition

At your move in appointment, your Housing Officer will perform several secondary checks to demonstrate that things are safe and operational within your new home. In the unlikely event that any of these faults are found, you will not be able to move in until the fault is resolved. This will be carried out by DIO’s maintenance contractors Amey or VIVO. In this case, you and your family will be provided with alternative accommodation.

In the unlikely event there is an uninhabitable fault that DIO’s maintenance contractors cannot fix before or at your move in appointment, your Housing Officer will arrange alternative accommodation for you. The alternative accommodation is either:

• Another temporary, fully-furnished Service Family Accommodation if available in the same area
• An alternative, permanent Service Family Accommodation

If you must move into alternative accommodation, our Home Services team will, if necessary, arrange for your removals company to store your removal items and for them to be re-delivered when your home is ready.

In the absence of temporary Service Family Accommodation being available we will arrange for you and your family to stay in a nearby hotel. If this happens, your Housing Officer will stay in close contact.