Student removals
Student moves, and the summer in between
A student move is a small load with a hard deadline, usually on the same weekend as several thousand other people in the same city. The load is easy. The timing is the job.
Almost everything in a student move fits in a van. What makes it awkward is that it happens at exactly the same time as everyone else's, in a city where the accommodation office controls the vehicle access and the lift, and usually with a tenancy end date that cannot move.
So book earlier than feels necessary. The last week of a summer term is the single busiest stretch in the domestic moving calendar, and it is not a week where turning up hopefully works.
The four moments
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Moving in
Usually the easiest one — a car boot plus whatever would not fit. If you are starting somewhere a long way from home, a small van beats two car journeys and a roof box, and it means the desk lamp arrives in one piece.
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Halls to a house share
The classic second-year move, and usually a short hop across the same city. Halls almost always have booked move-out slots and restricted vehicle access, so the timing is set by the accommodation office rather than by you.
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End of tenancy, start of summer
The awkward one. The contract ends in June and the next starts in September, and nobody wants to drive a room's worth of things home and back again. Storage over the summer is the obvious answer and it is what most people here are actually asking about.
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Finishing entirely
A room in a university city going to a first flat, a parental address, or into storage while you work out which. Often a long-distance job with one small load, which is exactly what a shared van is for.
Storage over the summer
This is the reason most students get in touch, and it is a straightforward service rather than a favour. We collect from your room, list what there is, seal it, and hold it until your new place is available. You book a redelivery date and it comes back.
It removes the entire problem of shifting a room's worth of belongings across the country twice for no reason. It also means the things you use constantly — the desk chair, the monitor, the kettle — do not spend three months in a parental garage getting damp.
Worth knowing what will not go into storage: nothing perishable, nothing with fuel in it, no plants, and nothing you will need before September. Take your documents and anything valuable with you.
Sharing a van
If several of you are going broadly the same way at the same time, sharing a vehicle is usually the sensible and cheapest approach. It needs organising in advance so the drop order makes sense, and one person has to be the point of contact on the day — a group chat is not a plan.
Halls have rules
Most university accommodation runs booked move-out slots, restricts vehicle access to particular hours, and wants the lift reserved. Some require the move to be registered in advance with the residence office.
Check with your accommodation team and tell us what they say — we will work to their window. It is far easier than arriving and discovering the barrier is down.
Packing your own room
You almost certainly will, and it is easy enough. Bikes travel better with the pedals off and the bars turned, ideally boxed. Desktop PCs and monitors want their original boxes if you kept them. Musical instruments, anything glass, and anything you would be genuinely upset to lose should be flagged when you book rather than wedged between suitcases.
If this is really a single-item or very small job, the man and van page is the same service without the term-time framing. For a whole shared house moving together, look at house removals.
Good to know
Student moves, the practical bits
Can you move just one room?
That is most of what student moving is. A room out of halls, a room out of a shared house, sometimes into storage and sometimes straight to a parental address at the other end of the country. It is usually a man-and-van sized job rather than a full removal.
Can you store things over the summer?
Yes, and it is the usual answer when a tenancy ends in June and the next one starts in September. Goods are inventoried and sealed, held, and redelivered when your new place is available. It beats carting everything home and back again.
Do halls have rules about moving?
Usually, yes. Many university halls run booked move-out slots, restrict vehicle access to certain times, and want the lift reserved. Check with your accommodation office and tell us what they say — we will work to their window.
Can several of us share a van?
If you are all going broadly the same way, that is often the sensible and cheaper approach. It needs organising in advance so the load and the drop order make sense, and one person needs to be the point of contact on the day.
What about bikes and awkward items?
Bikes travel better with the pedals off and the bars turned, ideally boxed. Musical instruments, desktop PCs and anything fragile should be flagged when you book so they are packed properly rather than wedged between suitcases.
Term ending? Book before everyone else does.
Tell us the city, the date your tenancy ends, and whether you need somewhere for it all to go over the summer.