Moved in with the last owner's smart devices?

Smart home kit is managed through an online account that records which devices belong to whom. Physically owning the doorbell doesn't change that record. Ring is blunt about it: cancelling a subscription, unscrewing the device or deleting the app does not release ownership; the owner has to remove or transfer it in the Ring app.

Two practical consequences follow:

• The old owner may still have access. Until a device is released it is still on their account, so with a camera or doorbell, sort this first.
• Some things keep working anyway. Hive, for example, says a new occupant can control the heating and hot water manually using the thermostat on the wall; you only need your own account to control it remotely.

Walk round the house and outside walls and list every connected device: doorbell, cameras, wall thermostat, any hub near where the old router sat, smart speakers, a smart lock. Note each brand and model and which app it uses. Check your sale paperwork or tenancy inventory to see what was meant to be left.

Then message the seller, agent or landlord before you lose contact. Releasing a device is quick for them; without them it can take weeks. A simple request that works across brands: "Please remove or transfer every smart device at the property from your account, and leave the Home in the app if it has one."

Ring gives new occupants two routes. Both are in its help article on transferring ownership.

Google's Moving guide for Google Home and Nest devices has a section for people who've moved into a home with devices left by a previous resident. The steps differ by device type, and by which app the device was set up in: the Google Home app or the older Nest app.

Hive's moving-home page (updated 14 May 2026) splits Hive kit into two groups. The receiver, thermostat and any signal booster are part of the property's heating system and are left behind. The hub, the box that connects the system to the internet, may be left or taken by the previous owner.

If the hub is there, Hive's steps are below. Its detach instructions are written for the owner who is leaving the hub behind, but Hive's moving-in page sends new occupants to the same article.

1. Create your own Hive account in the app or at hivehome.com.
2. Detach the hub from the previous owner. With it online, press and hold the button on the back for 5 seconds until the red light flashes 3 times, wait 5 seconds, then do it again. All the lights should go off. If the detach worked, Hive says the hub then shows solid green for 5 seconds, then red or amber while it runs its restore, and finally flashing green as it starts up with no account linked. If instead it shows solid red for 5 seconds, start again from the first press.
3. Link the hub to your account in the Hive app. Hive's note is to make sure the hub has turned solid green before you do.

Hive says the Hub 360 is Wi-Fi based, so you go through the "Change WiFi" process in the app and place it centrally. The Nano 2 can simply be plugged in once you have internet, on a table or shelf near the router but at least 50cm away from it, not on the floor, in a cupboard or surrounded by too many other electrical items. If the previous owner took the hub, Hive's answer is to buy a new one.

tado runs separate help centres for its tado X range and for V3+ and earlier devices. Both work through an Admin, the person who controls the tado Home in the app.

If you can reach the previous owner. tado's steps are the same in both help centres: they invite you to join their tado Home, you accept, they transfer their Admin rights to you (in tado X this is under Settings > People > Transfer Admin rights) and then they leave the Home. tado X's help says only an Admin can transfer ownership, and not if the devices are rented.

If you can't. tado's V3+ help has an article for exactly this case. If you don't have the previous owner's contact details, install the tado app, create a new account, sign in and add the devices by their serial numbers. If the app then says a device is already registered, tado's help says to send tado your tado account email with photos (PDF or JPG) of the devices showing their serial numbers clearly. tado also says it can't share any user's contact details, so it won't put you in touch with the previous owner.

Finding the serial numbers is the fiddly part. tado says the serial number, auth code and QR code are printed on each device: on the bottom or back of the bridge or internet bridge (usually near the router), and behind the cover (or, on a tado X radiator thermostat, under the battery pack) of the other devices. V3+ devices also came with a removable sticker holding the registration details, so look through any manuals the previous owner left.

If you're renting, tado's process is different: the landlord stays Admin, invites tenants (who get more limited access) and removes previous tenants each time people move out and in. So a tenant should ask the landlord or letting agent, not the last tenant.

For other speakers, locks, lights or cameras, search the maker's help for "previous owner", "transfer ownership" or "factory reset". The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) gives a general rule that fits here: if you think someone else has taken control of a device in your home, reset it using the manufacturer's instructions. For anything that controls access to the house, such as a smart lock, don't rely on it until you're sure the old account is gone.

Once each device is on your account, work through these checks. Most come from the NCSC's advice on smart devices; the first is our own suggestion based on how the makers' apps share access.

• Look for leftover people. Open each app's users, people or sharing settings and remove anyone you don't know. tado's help, for example, says someone removed from a Home can only rejoin if an Admin invites them back.
• Set your own passwords. The NCSC says to change any default password and create a secure one, for example by combining three random words.
• Turn on 2-step verification (a second check, such as a code to your phone) if the app offers it.
• Switch on automatic updates if available.
• Switch off remote access on any device you don't need to reach away from home.
• Check the support end date, which the NCSC suggests treating like a "use by" date. Since 29 April 2024, UK law has required makers of new smart products to publish a minimum security-update period, so look it up on the maker's site.

Your router is the other half of this. Our guide to securing your home router and Wi-Fi covers the admin password, Wi-Fi security and guest networks, and how to log in to your router's settings shows where to find them.

The devices were set up on the old occupant's Wi-Fi. Yours will have a different name and password, so each device joins it as part of setting it up on your account: Ring's setup after release, Google's re-add or reset, Hive's "Change WiFi" for a Hub 360. That makes it easier to sort your broadband first:

• Moving your existing service? See our guides to moving home with BT, EE or Plusnet, Sky or NOW or Virgin Media.
• Starting a new contract? Compare deals at your postcode, or browse broadband deals by area and the broadband providers that cover it. Doorbells and cameras send video out of the house, so look at the upload speed as well as download.

Choose your Wi-Fi name and password before you add the devices, and keep them. If you change provider later, our guide to keeping smart devices connected after a router change explains how to avoid redoing everything.

A camera or doorbell you've taken over becomes yours to run. The ICO, the UK's data protection regulator, covers smart doorbells as well as fixed cameras in its home CCTV guidance. (It has formally been the Information Commission since 30 September 2026, but still uses the ICO name.) The guidance advises you to position cameras, where possible, to capture only your own property. If one captures a neighbour's property, a public area or a communal space, data protection law applies, with duties such as signs and responding to requests for footage.

The previous owner chose where their cameras point, not you, so look at what each one sees before you switch recording on. Our guides to home camera and doorbell privacy rules and viewing home cameras remotely and safely go further.

1. List every smart device, its brand and its app.
2. Ask the seller, agent or landlord to transfer or remove every device and leave any shared Home, ideally before completion.
3. With Hive, use the wall thermostat for heating in the meantime; check your maker's help for other brands.
4. Get your own broadband live, or book it early.
5. Ring: wait for the transfer, or use Request Ownership (up to 15 days; Ring Alarm isn't released automatically).
6. Google Nest: disconnect and re-add a Google Home thermostat, or reset Nest app devices and set them up; allow up to 60 days for a camera still on another account.
7. Hive: create an account, detach the hub, link it; buy a hub if it's gone.
8. tado: get Admin rights transferred, or ask the landlord for an invitation; otherwise create your own account, add the devices by serial number and send tado serial-number photos if they show as registered.
9. Remove unknown users, set passwords, turn on 2-step verification and updates, and check what each camera sees.

We compare broadband deals through a partner's comparison tool; we don't switch you, set up equipment or speak to device makers for you. For problems with a particular device, the maker's support team is the right contact.