Happy tenant resting drinking coffee moving home sitting on the floor in the night

What to consider before moving into a new apartment

Moving into an apartment in Brisbane’s east? Our Bayside removalists have collated our top tips to get you ready for the move. There’s a lot to consider when you’re planning your move into a new apartment. Especially if you’re making the move from a house.  Considerations around access, security, and parking are all totally different now. Here are all the things to consider before calling your Bayside removalists.

Do you have parking?

Does your new apartment building have a car park reserved for you? Is it just one car park? Do you need a toggle or swipe access to get to the car park?

It’s important to factor in how you’ll be transporting your items from your car to your new apartment, where any helpers will park their cars, and what the trip to the elevator or stairs will look like.

Where is the new place? What’s parking like?

Are you moving to a sleepy Bayside street or a main road? It’s essential you factor in how and where you’ll park your own car, but it’s just as important you’ve considered where your removalist will park.

It’s unlikely a removalist truck will fit into your designated car park in your apartment’s underground parking. So, it’s good to plan for the truck’s parking ahead of time.Once you’ve worked out which day (and time) you’re planning to make the move, scope out the street to get an idea of how a truck will go parking there.

Moving in on a main road or busy street? The other option is a loading zone or a spare spot in your underground parking. Be sure to call your building manager ahead of time — they’ll be able to let you know where the truck can park as well as any height or turning circle restrictions. 

What's security like? Who needs a key on the day?

A big consideration when moving into an apartment is the building and its logistics. Security and access control is a big one in apartment buildings. There’s a chance a swipe card will be required to access the car park, the foyer, and the lift. 

Apartment doors will often lock automatically as well. So, do you have a second swipe card and key for the removalists? It might be worth having a friend or helper available to swipe people through doors and get them up any elevators. 

How accessible is the new place?

Especially if you’ve lived in a house previously, you’ll want to consider the difficulties in accessing your new Bayside apartment. 

Houses will usually have a front door, a larger back door, and a side door to the laundry at a minimum. It means you have three different access points to get your furniture and larger items through.It also often means you can take items through the door closest to their end destination. But, it’s a little bit different when it comes to an apartment move. 

Your apartment will definitely have a front door, accessible through a foyer or up a set of stairs.If you have another entrance or exit, is it fully accessible? Or can you only access the door from your balcony?

It’s a good idea to have worked out all your apartment’s access points ahead of time and know what you’re working with while you're still in the packing phase. Bonus points if you know which entrances are bigger. 

Is there a lift?

Potentially the biggest consideration in your big apartment move is whether or not there’s a lift and what you can fit in it. If you’re living above the third storey of your apartment building, or let’s face it, even the first — a lift is going to be a godsend. However, using the lift to move isn’t always as simple as it seems. There are a few considerations you need to make ahead of the move.

Do you need to book your lift?

In larger apartment buildings, you might be expected to book the lift. Call your building manager ahead of the move to let them know and ask if you’ll need to book it.

Booking the building’s lift means one of the lifts will prioritise your floor for a period of time, cutting out those long wait times. It’s also considered building etiquette to book and is respectful of your new neighbours.

Cover the lift

Lifts and their stainless steel are easily marked and scratched. Most buildings will have rules around what kind of items you can take in them. But regardless, while you’re booking the lift with your building manager ahead of your move, it’s a good idea to ask them if you can also hire the lift cover.

Lift covers are usually a kind of sheet that surrounds the lift’s surfaces with padding that you can hang by hooks. They’ll protect the entirety of the lift against your furniture and its knocks and scratches. It’s absolutely essential still, to brief your moving team on the lift to avoid expensive mishaps. 

​Will your furniture fit inside the lift?

Ask about the lift’s measurements while you’re organising your move with the building manager. You’ll want to have an idea ahead of time whether all your furniture can fit inside the lift.

This way you can have your backup plans in place. The thing with lifts is that they can’t be temporarily shifted and you can’t travel in them with furniture hanging out. So, where you might find a solution in a tricky stairway, in a lift, it fits or it doesn’t.

Having a really good idea ahead of time about which of your furniture pieces will fit in the lift and which won’t means you can dismantle anything you need to ahead of time or work out a backup plan, just in case.