Moving abroad from Putney: your questions answered.

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.

We are a removal company built around Putney rather than London as a whole. Every move we run starts on SW15 streets or in the postcodes next to them, so the local parts — Wandsworth parking suspensions, the mansion blocks on Putney Hill, the terraces off Lower Richmond Road, the loading bays by the bridge — are things we deal with all the time. A firm covering all of London tends to learn them on the day.

Because four routes run properly are worth more than a long list run badly. France, Italy, Spain and Portugal are where we deliver: Paris, Milan, the Italian lakes, Madrid, Barcelona, Mallorca, Lisbon, Cascais, Porto and the towns around them. We know the customs paperwork, the access problems and the partners at the far end for these four. We do not deliver anywhere else, and we will tell you so straight away rather than take a booking we cannot carry out.

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. We can survey before exchange. The written quote covers the move, and you book once the collection date is confirmed. Surveying early means you have the figures and the move plan before you commit to the property abroad.

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 split into separate 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 and used the items for the qualifying period and are setting up your main home at the destination. We confirm the current rules for your route at survey. 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 (older artwork, works above value thresholds, 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 — on Lower Richmond Road near the river, up Putney Hill, along the Putney Heath edge — often have several floors of shared stairs and either no lift or a very small one. 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, at the Putney end. Wandsworth Council needs notice before it will suspend bays on a residential street, so we apply as soon as the collection date is confirmed. The suspension is 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) rules. UK pet passports are no longer valid for EU travel. Your pet needs a microchip and a rabies vaccination. The AHC itself is issued by an Official Veterinarian shortly before travel, and the vaccination has to be given well before the travel date. Your vet will confirm the exact timings. We do not transport pets ourselves: they travel with you or with a specialist pet-transport firm, and we can suggest one at survey.

Usually, yes. A UK-registered car that meets the transfer-of-residence ownership test can travel with 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.

Because the river shapes the job. Homes near the Thames in Putney, Wandsworth and Barnes are mostly mansion blocks, Victorian terraces and newer riverside developments with managed loading bays. The Embankment road can flood on the highest tides. Putney Bridge and the roads leading to it are among the busiest in SW15. Planning a collection around all of that is our everyday work, which is why we name it.

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.