Considered answers to what people ask.

Putney and SW-London-riverside households — SW15, SW18, SW13, SW6-edge, SW19-edge — moving to France, Italy, Spain, or Portugal. The customer base skews professional and family-stage: banking and tech couples making career-driven moves, pre-children couples making lifestyle moves to Provence or the Italian lakes, school-age families relocating to European cosmopolitan cities, pre-retirement professionals still working. Considered moves, not impulsive. Not budget-positioned, not premium-positioned — practical and considered.

Geographically we are the SW-London specialist — the postcode catchment we know, the riverside customer demographic we are built for. The other London removals sites we work alongside cover different catchments: Bromley for SE-London established, Bexley for SE-London technical-professional, Peckham for SE15 creative-class, Romford for East-London working-family, Pinner for NW-London local-residential, London Moving for the broader cosmopolitan London register. None of them cover Putney and SW-London-riverside properly. We do.

Four corridors run well is more useful than fifteen run passably. France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal cover the destinations Putney households actually move to in volume — Paris, Milan, the Italian lakes, Madrid, Barcelona, Mallorca, Lisbon, Cascais, Porto. We do not run Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, or Scandinavia; sister network firms do. If your move is to a country outside the four we will say so honestly and refer.

A surveyor visits your Putney-area property, walks the inventory with you, looks at access at both ends, and discusses the practical move plan. Often the survey conversation includes the destination address details too — the access at the European end is frequently the operational unknown (Paris fifth-floor walkup, Milan Brera narrow stairs, Mallorca village shuttle). Survey is free, no obligation. Written quote follows by email.

It is the most common timing constraint we work with. Pre-school families targeting maternelle / Italian / Spanish / Portuguese school-year starts; school-age families targeting international-school admissions calendars (St. Julian's in Cascais, the British International schools in Milan and Madrid, the international-school networks in Paris and Lisbon). Survey conversation includes the school-term anchor and the written quote is structured around it.

Yes. The written move plan includes a depot-storage provision in our UK-side depot — common because European property completions slip more often than UK completions. The included window is documented in the quote; extension storage is at the rate also documented in the quote, agreed in advance. We do not bill surprises.

No — the survey can happen before exchange. The written quote covers the move; the actual booking happens once you have a confirmed load-out date. Many of our Putney customers survey two or three months ahead so they have the figures and the move plan in hand before they commit to the destination property.

Yes, where it suits the household. Sometimes the working partner moves ahead with the essentials and the family follows once schools and accommodation are settled; sometimes the move is staged over two or three consignments to spread the practicalities. Each stage has its own written quote and customs filing. We do not penalise staged moves; for some Putney households it is the practical shape.

Procedural rather than dramatic. Household goods cross duty-free under Transfer-of-Residence (ToR) relief on all four corridors, provided you have owned the items for six months and are establishing residence at the destination. We file the UK-side ToR1 with HMRC and the destination-country declaration (French Douanes, Italian Agenzia delle Dogane, Spanish Aduana, Portuguese Autoridade Tributária). You provide the residency-evidence pack.

Yes — codice fiscale (Italy), NIE (Spain), NIF (Portugal). France does not require an equivalent on the customs declaration itself, though most Putney → France customers will end up with one for residency purposes. All four can be obtained through the relevant London consulate before the move; we ask for these at quote stage.

The customs side runs the same regardless of whether the move is corporate-funded or self-funded — ToR relief applies to the household goods either way. What differs is the broader relocation package: the employer often handles destination property, school fees, visa filing, language support. We focus on the household side and coordinate with the relocation manager where the corporate side prefers.

Itemised separately at survey and declared at higher cover than the standard transit insurance. For cultural-property pieces (artwork over 70 years old, named-artist works above threshold values, antique furniture) UK export-licence requirements may apply — we flag this at survey and refer to a specialist art-shipping firm when the cultural-property side warrants. Household-side ordinary high-value items (watches, jewellery, instruments declared at survey rather than carried with the customer) sit on the standard inventory at their declared values.

Standard work for the catchment. Putney Victorian and Edwardian mansion flats — the riverside ones along the Embankment, the Putney Hill side, the Putney Heath edge — are typically three to five floors without lifts and the survey covers the practical implications (crew sizing, lorry positioning, parking suspension if needed, the move-day sequence). Same applies for the Wandsworth Victorian terraces and the Barnes village period stock. We have worked the catchment enough that the access is conversation rather than improvisation.

Common challenge on Italian lakes, Provence villages, Mallorca interior, hillside Côte d'Azur, and the older central Lisbon and Madrid addresses. Where survey indicates that the UK lorry cannot make the final leg, the written move plan includes a destination-side shuttle vehicle — typically a smaller box truck operated by our destination partner. Documented in the quote in advance, not improvised on the day.

We do, on the move-day end. Wandsworth Council parking suspensions on Putney residential streets require a few working days' notice — we book the suspension once the load-out date is confirmed, and the cost sits in the written quote. The destination-side parking is the destination crew's responsibility (Paris Mairie, Milan Comune, Madrid Ayuntamiento, Lisbon Câmara) and similarly documented.

No. We are not premium-positioned, and we do not use premium-framing vocabulary (bespoke, concierge, private-client, white-glove). We are considered and practical. The written quote reflects the actual cost of running the corridor properly — same crew door to door, customs filings included, depot storage window for property-completion slippage, destination-side shuttle vehicles where the access requires them. We do not undercut by skipping the work; we do not premium-position by inventing services.

Yes, provided the scope is materially the same as surveyed. If you discover an extra wardrobe of clothing or an additional study room of books between survey and load-out, that is a scope adjustment and is requoted in writing before the work is done. We do not absorb scope creep, and we do not surprise customers with day-of variations. Material scope means material — a few extra boxes does not trigger a requote.

We are not financial or tax advisers and we will not pretend to be. What we can say is that the move itself is a one-off cost; the ongoing differential (cost of living, taxation, healthcare, schooling) is a separate calculation for a specialist. Talk to a UK-and-destination-country tax adviser for that part of the picture, and to an international-school admissions adviser if the family side drives the calendar.

Yes, under the post-Brexit Animal Health Certificate (AHC) framework. UK pet passports are no longer valid for EU travel. The current paperwork is an AHC issued in the UK by an Official Veterinarian within the 10-day pre-travel window, microchip, and a current rabies vaccination at least 21 days old. We do not transport pets — they travel via dedicated pet-transport firms or with you. We refer to specialists at survey.

Yes. A UK-registered car owned for six months or more qualifies for ToR alongside the household goods. Re-registration on destination plates is a separate post-move task with the destination-country vehicle authority (French Préfecture, Italian Motorizzazione, Spanish Tráfico, Portuguese IMT). We handle the customs paperwork on the vehicle as part of the move; we refer to a vehicle-registration specialist where the customer prefers.

The route, the cubic metres surveyed, customs filings (UK ToR1 + destination-country declaration), packing scope (we pack everything, you pack books-and-clothes only, or a mixed approach), insurance summary with declared values for any itemised high-value pieces, contingency held for property-completion slippage or customs query, depot-storage window, any destination-side shuttle-vehicle requirement. Held in writing — it does not move upward unless scope materially changes.

The vehicle that loads at your Putney property is the vehicle that arrives at your destination address. The crew that packs the inventory is the crew that unloads it. We do not hand off the consignment to a third-party at the Channel or at a continental depot. Less handling, less risk, clearer accountability. For high-value items and for moves where the household is large enough to fill a lorry, this is the practical assurance that matters.

Packed by us or by you. We discuss preferences at survey. Many Putney customers prefer to pack their own books, papers, and personal effects (the home library, the photo albums, the children's school folders) and have us pack everything else. Own-packed boxes are covered for external impact damage but not for packing-side damage; the survey conversation includes this distinction.

The SW-London riverside corridor — Putney, Wandsworth, Barnes, Fulham-edge — is its own demographic. The Putney rowing-club community has continental connections (sailing clubs in Italy and France, riverside life that some customers want to preserve in the destination); the Putney professional family stage often coincides with Putney becoming the wrong-sized property (mansion flat too small for the school-age family, riverside Victorian terrace too maintenance-intensive). We are built for that specific catchment register, not generic SW-London.

Barnes village stock is older, lower-density, more conservation-area-protected than the Putney mansion-flat or Edwardian terrace. The practical move-side reality is that Barnes addresses are often village-narrow and require care on lorry positioning; the demographic skews slightly older and more established, but the destination patterns (Provence, Italian lakes, Cascais, Madrid family addresses) are similar. We work both equally; the survey adapts.