Into Europe
Not every move stops at the coast. We take households out of the UK to France, Spain, Italy and Portugal — packed at your address, loaded at your address, and delivered at the other end by the same firm.
There is a version of European removals where your things are collected by one firm, tipped into a warehouse, re-handled by a second, and delivered by a third who has never spoken to anybody involved. It is cheap, and it is where almost every horror story comes from.
Our version is simpler. The load goes on at your UK address and that consignment stays together — down to Folkestone, through the tunnel, and on to the destination. The customs paperwork is prepared before the vehicle moves rather than improvised at a border.
Because these are the four we can stand behind end to end. It would be easy to list twenty destinations and quietly sub-contract eighteen of them to firms we have never met, and plenty of sites do exactly that. We would rather run four routes properly.
If you are moving somewhere else in Europe, say so anyway. We will tell you honestly whether we can help or point you towards someone who can.
The shortest crossing and the one most British households do first — a posting to Paris, a house in the south-west, a second home being furnished at last.
Île-de-France · Normandy · Brittany · Nouvelle-Aquitaine · Occitanie · Provence
The UK–France routeThe busiest British route in Europe by a distance. Retirement to the coast, work in Madrid or Barcelona, and a growing number of people working remotely from Valencia.
Madrid · Catalonia · Valencia · Andalusia · Murcia · the Balearics by ferry
The UK–Spain routeFewer moves, more complicated ones. Northern cities for work, Tuscany and Umbria for restoration projects, and the lakes for retirement.
Lombardy · Piedmont · Veneto · Tuscany · Umbria · Lazio
The UK–Italy routeThe longest drive in western Europe, and increasingly a full relocation rather than a holiday home being kitted out.
Lisbon · Cascais & Estoril · Porto · the Silver Coast · the Algarve
The UK–Portugal routeA household leaving the country is almost never all in one place. There is usually a storage unit somewhere, a parent's garage, a flat a grown-up child has been using. We collect from London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Bristol — and from wherever else the things actually are — and consolidate before the vehicle heads for the coast.
Arrange that early. Adding a collection in Leeds to a move that is already loaded is a very different proposition from building it into the plan at the start.
Moving a household out of the UK is now a customs export, and arriving is an import. In practice that means three things.
An inventory, itemised and valued line by line — not "box of kitchen" but a list a customs officer can reconcile against what is on the vehicle. Transit paperwork raised before the vehicle leaves, so the load is declared rather than discovered. And evidence for transfer of residence: proof you are genuinely leaving the UK and taking up residence at the destination, which is what allows used personal effects to move without import duty.
We prepare and lodge the export side and tell you exactly which documents to obtain and when. The pieces only you can get — your residency application, your address proof at the other end, anything requiring your signature — have the longest lead times and are worth starting first. Each country page sets out what that looks like, because France, Spain, Italy and Portugal all want it slightly differently.
This distinction matters more than anything else on this page. Transfer of residence relief applies when the destination becomes your primary residence. If you are staying UK-resident and furnishing a holiday house, that relief does not apply and the goods are a conventional import, with duty and VAT assessed on declared value.
Plenty of people genuinely do not know which category they are in when they first ring, and that is fine. It just needs settling before we finalise the inventory valuation, because correcting it afterwards is painful.
A dedicated vehicle carries your household alone. It leaves when you are ready and drives directly there, which is the right answer for a full house and for anyone with a firm date at the other end.
A shared load consolidates your goods with other moves going the same way, so you pay for your share of the vehicle rather than all of it. The trade is timing: you wait for the load to fill and your delivery slots in among the others. For a flat's worth of furniture with a flexible date it is often the sensible choice.
Neither comes with a day count from us. Transit depends on the route, the consolidation schedule and how clearance runs at both ends — your written quote sets out the expected window for your specific move and says plainly what would shift it.
Export packing is not domestic packing. Things are on a vehicle far longer, over rougher roads, with more handling at each end. Upholstery gets wrapped and sealed rather than blanketed. Mirrors, marble and artwork get purpose-built crates. Voids get filled so nothing can shift. The packing page covers the detail.
If your UK property has to be emptied before the destination is ready, goods can be held in sealed storage here and exported when you say.
Good to know
Yes. Since Brexit a household move out of the UK is a customs export, so there is an itemised and valued inventory, transit paperwork raised before the vehicle moves, and a transfer-of-residence process at the destination. We prepare and lodge the export side. What we need from you is the documentation proving you are leaving the UK and taking up residence at the other end.
It depends on the route, on whether your load has its own vehicle or is sharing one, and on how clearance runs at both ends. Rather than publish a figure we cannot stand behind, your written quote sets out an expected window for your specific move and says plainly what would shift it.
A dedicated vehicle carries your household and nothing else, so it leaves when you are ready and drives straight there. A shared load consolidates your goods with other moves on the same route, which costs less because you are only paying for your share of the vehicle — the trade is waiting for it to fill and fitting around the other deliveries.
Anywhere. A household leaving the country is rarely all in one place, so we routinely collect from London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Bristol and consolidate before the vehicle heads for the coast. Arrange multi-address collections early rather than once the load is on.
Those are the four European routes we run properly and can stand behind end to end. We would rather do four routes well than list twenty and sub-contract most of them. If you are going somewhere else, say so and we will tell you honestly whether we can help or point you elsewhere.
Sometimes, depending on the route and vehicle. It changes the paperwork significantly — a vehicle has its own import requirements separate from household goods — so raise it at survey rather than on loading day.
The paperwork has a longer lead time than the packing. Tell us where you are going and roughly when, and we will tell you what to get moving on now.