Moving a smart home out, and setting one up again
The reset order is the whole job. Do it backwards and devices arrive at the new house still holding credentials for the old one.
Two jobs that look like one#
Moving a smart home is two separate projects that happen in the same week.
Decommissioning is about leaving nothing behind: no device still on your account, no account still on a device, no credential for a network you no longer own, no shared user who can still open a door. It is mostly deletion, it takes longer than people expect, and much of it has to happen while the internet is still connected.
Recommissioning is about getting back to a working house quickly, in an order that does not create work later. It is mostly about the network and the room structure, and it goes fast if you did the first job properly.
The two jobs share one artifact: the record you make before you unplug anything.
Before you unplug: what to photograph#
Capture all of this while everything is still installed and working:
- Every pairing code label. The Matter QR code and its 11 or 21 digit manual code, the Z-Wave DSK, the Zigbee install code where there is one. Photograph the label in place, with enough surroundings that you know which device it was.
- Model and serial numbers, in the same photo where possible.
- Wiring, for anything hardwired. Turn the breaker off, pull the switch or thermostat forward, and photograph the wire colors and terminals before you disconnect anything. Do this even if you plan to leave the device, because the next owner or your electrician will want it.
- Where each device physically was. A photo per room from the doorway is enough. You will not remember which of four identical sensors was on which window.
- Your automation list. Screenshot every automation, routine and scene, including the conditions. Almost nothing survives a platform move intact, and rebuilding from screenshots is much faster than rebuilding from memory. Switching platforms without rebuying covers the general migration case.
- Your structure. Room names, zone names, group memberships. This is what you will recreate first at the other end.
- Network details. Wi-Fi SSIDs and passwords, any IoT SSID, the Zigbee and Thread channels in use, VLAN configuration if you have one. See the network setup a smart home wants.
- A hub backup. If your controller supports exporting a backup, take one and store it somewhere that is not the hub.
Decide what leaves and what stays#
In a US sale, the rough default is that anything permanently attached to the structure conveys with the house and anything that unplugs is yours. That means hardwired switches, wired doorbells, hardwired thermostats and ceiling fixtures usually stay. Bulbs, plugs, sensors, cameras on shelves and the hub itself usually go.
That default causes arguments, so be explicit in the contract about anything expensive. Two practical points:
- If you take a hardwired device, replace it with a working dumb one before the walkthrough. A house with an empty thermostat plate or a light switch missing is a problem at closing.
- If you leave a device, leave it factory reset and leave the manual. A smart thermostat still linked to your account is worse than no smart thermostat, for both of you.
The order that actually matters#
Remove people before you remove anything else
Guest access, shared home members, family accounts, lock PIN codes, garage codes, keypad users, anyone with an app invitation. Do this first because it is the only step with a security consequence if you forget it, and because it gets harder once you start deleting devices those permissions attach to. Note that guest access on some platforms is all or nothing, so check what a shared user can still reach.
Unlink third-party services and voice assistants
Account links between your smart home platform and Alexa, Google, or any automation service. Unlinking after the devices are gone leaves stale entries in the assistant that are confusing to clear later, and a linked account is a live path into a home you no longer own.
Remove the device from every secondary controller first
This is the step people skip and the one that causes the ugliest problems. A Matter device shared to several ecosystems holds a separate fabric entry for each one. Devices are only required to support five fabrics, and Apple Home consumes two slots because it synchronizes accessories through iCloud Keychain. Remove the device from each secondary controller before the primary, because the primary is the one that can open a commissioning window and issue the removal. Sharing a Matter device across ecosystems explains the model.
Remove devices from the primary controller
For Zigbee and Z-Wave, this is an exclusion, and it must happen while both the device and the controller are powered and in range. A Z-Wave device that is packed in a box without being excluded stays associated with a network that no longer exists, and re-including it later requires an exclusion first anyway. For Wi-Fi devices, do this before you cancel the internet service, because many vendor apps cannot remove a device from an account while it is offline.
Factory reset each device physically
Do this even though you just removed it in the app. Removing a device in a controller's interface does not reliably send the remove-fabric command, which leaves orphaned fabric slots behind. Since devices may support only five fabrics, a device carrying two or three orphaned entries can fail to pair at the new house, and the failure is badly signaled: pairing appears to progress, then fails at the last step with no stated cause. A factory reset clears the fabric table completely, which is why it is not optional. Home Assistant is the rare controller that exposes a manage-fabrics interface if you need to repair one after the fact.
Reset the hub last
Once every device is off it. Export a final backup first if the platform supports one and you plan to restore at the new house. If you are also changing platforms, read switching platforms without rebuying before you reset anything, because some migrations are much easier with both systems briefly alive.
Delete the home, then check the app is actually empty
Delete the home or location object, then open every app on every phone in the household and confirm nothing is still listed. Old entries hiding in a second family member's app are the most common leftover. Also check the vendor apps, not just the platform app: a device can be gone from Apple Home and still sitting in the manufacturer's own account.
Only now, cancel the internet
Everything above that needs a cloud round trip has to happen while you still have one.
Transferring to the new owner#
The honest answer is that account transfer mostly does not exist. A few vendors have a transfer-of-ownership flow, usually built for the resale market and usually requiring both parties to act. Most do not, and support paths for "the previous owner still has this device on their account" are slow.
So the reliable approach is: reset it and let them set it up. Leave the manual, the original packaging if you have it, and a note listing what is installed. Do not hand over your login credentials. A shared account means they can see your other homes and you remain responsible for a device you no longer control.
One exception worth planning for: anything with a subscription, such as camera storage, ends when your subscription ends, and the new owner will need their own. Say so in writing rather than letting them discover it.
The other direction: your first day in the new house#
Then, in this order:
- Get the network up, and reuse your old SSID and password. This is the single biggest time saver of the entire move. Every Wi-Fi smart device you brought will reconnect on its own, with no re-pairing, as soon as it sees a network it recognizes. Set up the IoT SSID the same way it was too. If you also run VLANs, get the mDNS reflector working before you pair anything, because Matter, HomeKit and Thread discovery all depend on multicast crossing your boundaries.
- Place and power the hub. Central, out of a metal cabinet, on Ethernet if you can. If it is also a Thread border router, its position matters more than it did in the old place, because the walls are different. Thread border routers covers what the box does and does not provide.
- Create rooms before you pair anything. Every room in the house, including the ones with nothing smart in them yet. Then assign each device at pairing time. This takes ten minutes now and saves an evening later. Naming and room structure that survives 100 devices is the full version.
- Pair the safety devices first. Leak sensors near the water heater, the washing machine and under sinks. In an unfamiliar house you do not yet know where water goes when something fails, which is exactly why they go in on day one.
- Then the daily-use lighting, one room at a time, starting with the room you will use most.
- Add a mains-powered relay or two per floor before you scatter battery sensors, because sleepy Thread and Zigbee devices never relay for each other. A couple of smart plugs in the right places do more for reliability than a second hub.
- Live in the house for a week before writing any automations. Your old automations were tuned to a different floor plan, different light, different door positions and a different daily path. Rebuilding them from screenshots on day two produces automations that annoy everyone by day four. Automations people do not turn off covers why.
A realistic timeline#
| When | Do this |
|---|---|
| Two weeks before | Photograph everything, export backups, list what stays and what goes |
| One week before | Remove shared users, unlink services, buy dumb replacements for anything hardwired you are taking |
| Two days before | Remove devices from secondary controllers, then the primary, then factory reset each one |
| Moving day | Hub reset last, then delete the home. Keep the internet on until this is done |
| New house, day one | Network with the old SSID, hub placed, previous occupant's devices reset, safety devices in |
| New house, week one | Rooms, lighting, sensors. No automations yet |
| New house, week two | Rebuild automations from your screenshots, adapted to the new floor plan |
If you are renting rather than buying, the removal side has extra requirements around original hardware and adhesive, covered in smart home for renters. If the move is also a chance to replace aging cloud-dependent gear, upgrading an old smart home covers the order, and run any new purchase past the pre-purchase checklist first.
Do I have to factory reset smart devices before moving?
Yes, and removing them in the app is not enough. Removing a device in a controller's interface does not reliably send the remove-fabric command, so the device can carry orphaned fabric entries to the new house. Since devices are only required to support five fabrics, those leftovers can cause pairing to fail with no useful error message. A physical factory reset clears the fabric table.
In what order should I remove smart home devices?
People, then service links, then secondary controllers, then the primary controller, then a physical factory reset of each device, then the hub, then the home itself. The principle is to work from the outside in, so that every step still has a working system underneath it to act through. Doing it in reverse strands credentials on devices with nothing left to remove them.
Should I keep the same Wi-Fi name at the new house?
Yes, if you can. Reusing the SSID and password means every Wi-Fi smart device you brought reconnects automatically instead of needing to be re-paired, which can save hours across a house. The one caveat is that any device you did not reset will also reconnect, so finish the decommissioning first.
Can I transfer my smart home account to the new owner?
Usually not. A few vendors offer ownership transfer flows and most do not, so the practical approach is to factory reset the device and let the new owner add it to their own account. Never hand over your login. Also tell them in writing about anything that depends on a subscription, because that stops when yours does.
What should I do about smart devices the previous owner left?
Factory reset all of them before you use them, and change every code on locks, keypads and garage openers. Until a device is reset it may still be reporting to somebody else's account, and its access control entries are still theirs. Cameras and video doorbells deserve particular attention, and so do any keypad users you did not create.
What if I lost the QR code for a Matter device?
Check the device body, the battery compartment, the underside and the original packaging, because the label is often printed in more than one place. Many devices also accept the 11 or 21 digit manual pairing code, which is printed next to the QR code. If it is genuinely gone, some vendor apps can regenerate a setup code for devices already on your account, which is another reason to do your removals before, not after, you lose access.
Do Zigbee and Z-Wave devices need anything special before a move?
Yes. Exclude or remove them from the controller while both are powered and in range. A Z-Wave device that leaves the house still included in a network cannot simply be added elsewhere; it has to be excluded first, and any controller can perform an exclusion. Zigbee devices should be removed from the coordinator so the coordinator does not keep routing entries for something that no longer exists.
Primary sources
Specification and vendor documentation we checked while writing this page. Where a claim depends on firmware behaviour rather than a published spec, the page says so inline.