Advice: Moving to a New Apartment in France

It's been about one week and a half since we've moved from the 7ème arrondissement to the 2ème.. and it was an adventure where I have learned a lot.  There are few things that are similar to moving in the United States... France is definitely a different culture in that context.

Moving is something like this:

-Pack everything in cartons, seal tight.
-Rent a car for around €65 for a whole day.
-Move everything out of old apartment,
-Move everything up to new apartment,
-Call every utility and change the address,

But unfortunately a few things went array, so it was more like this:

-Pack everything.. (yadayada)
-Rent a car for €65, end up paying €1,000 because the streets are tiny and the front gets hit
-3 stories of moving, which is like 30 stairs (climbed about 5 times)
-4 stories of moving back up, 40 stairs, (climbed about 10 times)

It was tiring, but it's done.  Now onto some advice if you plan on moving around the city of Lyon:


UTILITIES in FRANCE

• When you call the utilities, ensure you know where to find the amount used so far, call as soon as possible (or they will come knock on your door), you need to call for the water, gas and electricity.
• The way that utilities work is they offer you to pay a flat fee every month, then at the end of one year you pay the difference used, or they credit your account with the difference used. For example, we pay €60 a month for electricity, no matter what we use, then at the end of the year we get money back or we pay the difference.
• Before moving call the internet company and ensure that it is compatible.  If you are changing addresses, sometimes you can get a free installation by signing for another year.
  

HIRING MOVERS

• Movers are expensive, but in our case would have been worth it.  Our quote for a 27m2 apartment was €600. 

 
CHANGING YOUR ADDRESS

• In the United States you change your address at the post office, all your mail is forwarded.  In France you don't.  They charge €34 for this service to change the address... you'll just have to let everyone and everything you can think of know you've changed your address.  Remember you'll need the attestation to prove your new living place... so makes lots of copies of this document.
  

CHANGING THE BANK LOCATION

• To change your main bank branch, call or visit and ask for a rendez-vous pour changer le location du banc.  When you go to this rendez-vouz, bring the copy of the rib page, your identification and attestation of new apartment.  It won't change your rib code, only the main location where you deal with bankers.

It seems like a simple list, but it's taken about a complete week to finish all these tasks.  Bon chance, bon courage with moving!

a+