How to Update Your DVLA Licence and Log Book When You Move

gov.uk runs one page, Tell DVLA you’ve changed address, that lists everything a move can touch. It’s worth being precise about what that page actually is: a routing hub, not one combined form. It sends you on to a separate online service for each item, and completing one doesn’t complete the others.

One genuinely reassuring line from the same page: you’re not stuck waiting on paperwork before you can drive.

This is a genuine legal requirement, not a courtesy update. gov.uk’s wording is direct about the consequence, and near-identical text appears on both the driving licence and V5C address-change pages:

What’s worth being precise about, rather than guessing at to sound more authoritative than it is: gov.uk doesn’t publish a fixed number of days by which an address change specifically has to be reported — just that you must do it, backed by that fine. That’s a real gap compared with other DVLA rules that do carry a specific stated timeframe — for example, when you sell or transfer a vehicle, you’re required to tell DVLA straight away using the V5C’s new keeper section, a much more precise instruction than exists for a simple house move. In practice, that makes “as soon as your moving dates are confirmed” the sensible target here — there’s no grace period written down to rely on instead.

For most photocard licence holders, this is the quickest item on the list. You apply online by signing in with your driving licence number, and may need to verify your identity with a passport. Updating your address alone is free; changing your photo at the same time costs £14, waived if you’re over 70 or hold a short-period medical licence. You must be resident in Great Britain and not currently banned from driving to use this route at all — different rules apply in Northern Ireland, covered further down.

Online doesn’t cover everyone. You’ll need to apply by post if you still hold an old-style paper licence, or if you’re changing your name at the same time as your address — the online service handles address changes alone, not a name change alongside one. Photocard holders use the letter DVLA sends (form D741) alongside their licence; paper licence holders use form D1 (cars and motorcycles) or D2 (lorries and buses). A photo change by post costs £17 by cheque, again waived over 70, and everything goes to DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1BN.

Worth stating plainly, because it’s an easy assumption to get wrong: updating your driving licence address does not update your V5C, and changing your V5C address is its own online service, open Monday to Friday 7am–9pm and weekends 7am–8pm. You’ll need your vehicle’s registration number and the log book’s own reference number, and you must be the vehicle’s registered keeper to use it — the same £1,000 fine wording applies here as on the licence. It’s usually free; a new log book should arrive within about 4 weeks, and if it hasn’t turned up after 6 weeks without you having contacted DVLA in the meantime, a replacement costs £25.

A Direct Debit for vehicle tax is linked to your record, but it doesn’t quietly update itself just because your V5C address has. For an address change alone, the route is a phone call to DVLA’s vehicle tax line rather than an online form. A name change at the same time — after a deed poll, for instance — needs a written request instead, giving your address and date of birth, your bank or building society name, account number and sort code, and a copy of the deed poll itself, sent to DDC, DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1ZZ — a different Swansea postcode from the licence address above, so it’s worth double-checking which one you’re actually writing to.

If you hold a personalised registration, DVLA keeps a separate certificate of entitlement against your address: a V750 if you bought the number, or a V778 if you retained one from a vehicle you already owned. Both are managed through the same DVLA personalised registrations service you’d use to renew, transfer or assign the number — and you’re required to renew your right to use it every 10 years regardless. gov.uk doesn’t publish a separate fee specifically for updating the address on this certificate the way it does for a photo change, so the sensible approach is to update it through that service and not assume it’s covered by changing your V5C.

A registered trailer is a similar, separate record. If you tow a trailer over 750kg to most of Europe (Ireland, Cyprus, Malta and Spain are the main exceptions), it needs its own DVLA trailer registration, managed through the trailer registration service and detailed in gov.uk’s INF291 guidance. First-time registration costs £26, a new certificate for a new keeper is £21, and a replacement for one that’s lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed is £10 — the same online account lets you update your name or address against an existing registration.

It’s a reasonable assumption, since it’s a vehicle-related permit — but a Blue Badge is issued and administered by your local council, not DVLA, which is exactly why it doesn’t appear anywhere on DVLA’s own “tell us you’ve moved” hub. gov.uk’s own guidance here is noticeably thinner than on the licence or V5C — it doesn’t spell out an address-change process in the same detail it gives for a name change, where you can request a replacement badge and keep using your old one until the new one arrives. The practical answer is the same either way: contact your local council directly to update a Blue Badge, not DVLA.

If you hold a Northern Ireland driving licence, the agency you need isn’t DVLA at all — it’s the Driver & Vehicle Agency (DVA), and nidirect’s own guidance is specific about the limit that creates: a Northern Ireland licence can only ever carry a Northern Ireland address.

Interestingly, the DVA’s own wording on timing is actually more specific than DVLA’s — it says to update your details “immediately,” rather than leaving the timing as open as gov.uk’s GB guidance does. Moving the other way is worth flagging too: DVLA still handles vehicle registration, tax and SORN for Northern Ireland, exactly as it does for the rest of the UK — it’s specifically driving licences where the two agencies split. If you’re moving permanently between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, that’s not a simple address update on your existing licence either way — it’s worth checking directly with whichever agency now covers where you live.

None of this is small-scale record-keeping. DVLA’s own Annual Report and Accounts 2024–25 describes an agency responsible for maintaining accurate records of nearly 53 million drivers in Great Britain and more than 47 million vehicles across the UK, issuing 12.5 million driving licences and 17.9 million V5Cs that year alone, across 99.4 million individual customer transactions in total. At that scale, an out-of-date address isn’t a rounding error the system quietly absorbs — it’s exactly the kind of stale record the fine exists to discourage.

1. 1

   Confirm your moving dates

   There's no stated grace period for an address change, so there's no reason to wait until moving day.

2. 2

   Update your driving licence

   Free online for an address-only change; by post if you're changing your name too or hold a paper licence.

3. 3

   Update your V5C separately

   A different online service, registered keeper only — completing the licence change doesn't do this for you.

4. 4

   Call DVLA about vehicle tax Direct Debit

   It doesn't update itself alongside your V5C address.

5. 5

   Check anything else that applies

   A personalised plate, a registered trailer, or (via your council, not DVLA) a Blue Badge.