Removals in London, planned around your building

Mansion blocks and porters

Red-brick mansion blocks in Marylebone, Maida Vale, Battersea and Earl’s Court often have a porter, a house manager and written rules about moves: approved hours, a booked lift, protection for the lift car and the common parts, and sometimes a deposit against damage. The lifts themselves are frequently small and old, with brass gates, so long sofas and wardrobes go up the main stair instead.

What to do: Ask the porter or managing agent for the building’s move rules and send them to us. We fit the move to their window and protect the common parts.

Victorian conversions and sash windows

A terraced house split into flats is the most common London move and often the trickiest. Expect a shared front door, a narrow hall, a stair that doubles back at each landing and a top-floor flat under the eaves. A sofa that came in before the partition walls went up may not leave the same way. Sometimes a sash window can be taken out of its frame so a piece can be lowered by rope, but only when the frame and the drop allow it, and only with your agreement.

What to do: Measure the tightest turn on the stair and the largest pieces. We check at the survey whether anything needs to come apart or leave by another route.

Tower blocks, booked lifts and loading bays

Towers in Nine Elms, Canary Wharf, Stratford, Wembley Park and along the Greenwich Peninsula usually run moves through a concierge or building management desk. You reserve the goods lift and a slot in the loading bay, the lift car is padded before anything goes in, and many buildings ask for the remover’s insurance certificate and a risk assessment in advance. The loading bay is often underground or behind a barrier, and its height clearance may be too low for a full-size removals lorry, so the vehicle is chosen to suit the bay as much as the volume of furniture. Older council tower blocks work differently. There is rarely anyone to book with, the lifts stay in use by residents throughout the move, and the nearest legal place to stand a vehicle can be a service road some way from the entrance. Either way the shape of the whole day hangs on access, and missing a booked slot can mean waiting until the building can offer another.

What to do: Once the date is fixed, book the lift and bay at both ends, ask the building for its height clearance, and pass on its paperwork requirements. We confirm what we can supply.

Mews and narrow streets

Mews houses in Kensington, Belgravia and Marylebone, and the tight Georgian streets of Islington and Clerkenwell, often have no room for a full-size removals lorry at all. Cobbles, bollards, gates and parked cars all get in the way. The answer is usually a shuttle: the main vehicle waits on a wider road while a smaller van runs between it and the front door.

What to do: Tell us about gates, bollards, width limits and private road rules. We size the vehicle, and arrange any shuttle, around them.

Red routes, CPZs and parking suspensions

Red routes are the main roads managed by Transport for London. You cannot stop to load or unload on a red line while it is in operation, although some red routes have marked loading bays with their own time plates. Most residential streets sit instead inside a borough controlled parking zone, where bays are kept for permit holders during the controlled hours shown on the zone signs. Single and double yellow lines usually allow loading for a limited period while it is being observed, unless stripes on the kerb show a loading ban, and a council can grant a dispensation in advance when a job needs longer. A household removal rarely fits inside those limits, so the usual answer is a parking bay suspension, which reserves the space outside your door for the move. Every London borough, and the City of London, runs its own suspension process with its own application and notice rules, which is why the request needs to go in early.

What to do: Give us both addresses as soon as the date is known. We check the restrictions at each address and say whether either kerb needs a suspension.

Official guidance: London Councils: loading and unloading

ULEZ, the congestion charge and London lorry rules

Several London-wide rules decide which vehicle can do a move and which way it drives. The Ultra Low Emission Zone covers every London borough, and the separate Low Emission Zone sets emission standards for larger vans, lorries and other large vehicles across most of Greater London. The Direct Vision Standard requires heavier lorries to hold a safety permit before they are driven in Greater London. The congestion charge applies in central London during its charging hours. The London Lorry Control Scheme, run by London Councils, restricts heavier lorries from using many residential roads overnight and through the weekend, unless the vehicle holds a permission or keeps to the excluded route network. Red routes, managed by Transport for London, add their own stopping rules on top. So a move from Hackney to Hammersmith can route around the central zone or straight through it, and which is better comes down to the vehicle, the traffic and the time of day it sets off.

What to do: We plan the vehicle and the route around those rules before we price the move, and any charge that applies is shown on your quote.

Official guidance: London Councils: what is the London Lorry Control Scheme? ; London Councils: LLCS frequently asked questions