Calgary moving and housing checklist: eight weeks out to the end of your first month

This checklist is designed to be printed or ticked on your phone. It assumes a move to Calgary from another city, but it works for a move across town too; skip what does not apply. Every item with a rule behind it links to the official source. For a personalised version that remembers your progress, use the interactive newcomer journey.

Eight weeks out

• Confirm your possession date (buyers: from the purchase contract; renters: from the lease) and work backwards from it.
• If you rent now, give written notice. In Alberta a monthly tenancy needs one full tenancy month from you; a fixed term ends on its date. Check your current province’s rules if you are moving from elsewhere.
• Get three moving quotes, or book a truck. Long-distance movers from Quebec and Ontario fill up in summer; book early.
• Start a “move binder” (paper or digital): contracts, lease, quotes, receipts, the inspection report, insurance.
• Decide what you will not move. Sell, donate, or arrange a City of Calgary cart or Eco Centre drop-off at the other end.
• If you have children, shortlist schools: Calgary Board of Education and Calgary Catholic School District (both with French immersion) and the Conseil scolaire FrancoSud (French-language). Catchments can shape where you live.
• If you have pets, get vaccination records and ask your new landlord or condo board about pet rules.
• Buyers: confirm your lawyer, your lender’s closing requirements and your home insurance effective date.

Four weeks out

• Set up Canada Post mail forwarding from your old address (permanent or temporary; parcels are not forwarded).
• Open electricity and natural gas accounts with a retailer for your possession date, and water/wastewater/waste through the City of Calgary (buyers; renters ask the landlord which accounts transfer).
• Book internet and mobile installation for the first days.
• Renters: arrange tenant insurance effective on possession day; many landlords require it.
• Change your address with your bank, employer, CRA, your current provincial health plan and driver’s licensing body, insurance, subscriptions.
• Register children for school with the board you chose; bring birth certificates, proof of address and immunization records.
• Transfer or arrange prescriptions and medical records.
• Buyers: confirm the seller is providing a Real Property Report with a City Certificate of Compliance; your lawyer will chase it.
• Start packing non-essentials; label boxes by room and mark anything that cannot freeze if you are moving in winter.

One week out

• Confirm the movers’ date, time, access (elevator booking for condos and apartments, parking for the truck) and payment.
• Confirm key handover: renters, when and where you sign the move-in inspection report; buyers, when the lawyer expects keys to be released (usually noon).
• Pack an “open first” box: kettle, toilet paper, basic tools, chargers, bedding, a change of clothes, medication, documents.
• Defrost and clean the fridge and freezer; drain the washer hoses.
• Take meter readings and dated photos at your old place; do the move-out inspection if you rent.
• Withdraw some cash and keep your move binder with you, not in a box.

Moving day

• Renters: walk through with the landlord and complete the move-in inspection report. It is mandatory in Alberta and protects your deposit. Take your own dated photos of every room, appliance and existing mark.
• Buyers: wait for your lawyer’s confirmation that keys are released, then collect them. Change the locks or rekey.
• Check that heat, hot water, electricity and water run. Locate the main water shut-off, the electrical panel and the furnace filter.
• Note the location of your City carts (black, blue, green) and look up your pickup schedule online.
• Set up beds first. Everything else can wait.

First week

• Apply for the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan at a registry agent or online; the province’s newcomer page explains the window and documents.
• If you do not have one, apply for a Social Insurance Number through Service Canada.
• Open or update your bank account with your new address.
• Call 3-1-1 or read the City’s newcomers page for anything municipal; translation is available in more than 200 languages.
• Get a Calgary Public Library card (free; French collections and programs exist).
• Walk your community: grocery, pharmacy, transit stop, playground, community association.
• Buyers: enrol in the City’s monthly property tax instalment plan (TIPP) if you prefer monthly payments.
• Introduce yourself to the neighbours. Calgarians will tell you where the wind comes from and which way the driveway drains.

First month

• Exchange your driver’s licence at a registry agent within 90 days of becoming a resident. You surrender your old licence.
• Register your vehicle in Alberta within the same 90 days: get an inspection request from a registry agent, pass the out-of-province inspection, insure, then register.
• Update your address with the CRA and your former province’s tax authority; tell your former provincial health plan you have left.
• Find a family doctor or a walk-in clinic and a pharmacy; ask the directory for French-speaking options.
• Register for recreation programs or a recreation centre membership; sign up for the City’s waste pickup reminders.
• Winter prep (October to April): winter tires, a snow brush and scraper, a shovel and grit, a block heater cord, a car emergency kit; check the furnace filter and the humidifier.
• Find your people: the events calendar, the French-language directory, the learning section if you are building your English or your French.
• Review your budget after the first bills arrive, especially heating.

What belongs in the move binder

Keep these together, in paper or in one folder on your phone, because you will be asked for them in the first month, often by someone standing at a counter:

• Identity: passports, permanent-resident or work documents if applicable, birth certificates, marriage certificate if names differ.
• Housing: the lease or purchase contract, the signed move-in inspection report, the deposit receipt or the lawyer’s statement of adjustments, the Real Property Report if you bought.
• Vehicle: registration, insurance history letter from your previous insurer, driver’s abstract, the Alberta inspection request and certificate.
• Health: previous provincial health cards, immunization records, prescriptions, the AHCIP confirmation.
• Money: proof of income or job offer, bank confirmation, a recent credit report, tax notices of assessment.
• Children: school records, report cards, proof of address for registration, any specialised learning plans.

Condos and apartments: three extra lines

• Book the moving elevator and ask the building manager about move-in hours, loading-zone access and any move-in fee or deposit set by the corporation.
• Get a copy of the condo bylaws (noise, pets, balconies, parking, short-term rentals); as a tenant or owner, you are bound by them.
• Find out how utilities are split: many Calgary condos include heat and water in the fees but not electricity; confirm before you set up accounts.

Your next steps

• Use the interactive newcomer journey to personalise and save this list.
• Read Renting in Calgary or Buying a home in Alberta for the housing side.
• Relocating for work? The Relocation guide sets the 90-day sequence.
• Winter is a season, not an emergency: read the seasons and winter guide.
• Questions about any of it, in French or English? Contact Frank.