We prepare and lodge
The export declaration, the transit paperwork, and the inventory — written as the packing happens rather than reconstructed afterwards, itemised and valued in the destination language.
Into Europe
Four countries, one customs file
A European move is an ordinary removal with a file attached. The useful thing to understand before you book anybody is who prepares which part of that file — and which parts only you can obtain.
You obtain
The address proof at the far end, the residency or tax registration, and any consulate certificate. Only you can apply for these, and they take the longest.
You sign
The inventory and the declarations. They carry your name and your valuation, which is why we ask you to read them rather than initial them.
Nobody controls
Clearance queues, inspections, port operations and weather. These are why your quote gives an expected window and states what would shift it.
What being in Kent is worth
The tunnel terminal and the port are in this county. A load leaving Maidstone or Ashford reaches the crossing while a firm starting inland is still on the motorway network — worth several hours on the first leg and a departure at a civilised time.
It is worth nothing against a clearance queue, an incomplete file or a missing residency document. We would rather write that plainly than let proximity imply speed it cannot deliver.
Where we go
Kent to France
The shortest export route in Britain, and the one where the second-home question decides the whole file.
Île-de-France · Normandy · Brittany · the Loire · Nouvelle-Aquitaine · Occitanie · Provence
The file and the route →Kent to Spain
Where the inventory is reconciled most closely, and where the paperwork runs on its own timetable.
Madrid · Catalonia · Valencia · Costa Blanca · Andalucía · the Balearics
The file and the route →Kent to Italy
Where the comune has a say, the tax code comes first, and the delivery address may sit in a restricted zone.
Lombardy · Piedmont · the Lakes · Tuscany · Umbria · Lazio
The file and the route →Kent to Portugal
Where a single certificate, built from the inventory, governs whether the load clears.
Lisbon · Cascais · Porto · the Silver Coast · the Alentejo · the Algarve
The file and the route →Transferring residence, or furnishing a property
The single distinction that governs duty. Where the destination becomes your primary residence, used household effects you owned and used before the move enter without duty — and the documentation exists to demonstrate exactly that.
Where you remain UK-resident and are furnishing a second home, the goods are a conventional import assessed on declared value. Both are ordinary; describing one as the other is not, and it is your name on the declaration.
Collections elsewhere in the UK
Households leaving the country are seldom all in one place. London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Bristol are ordinary collection points, consolidated with the Kent load before the crossing — arranged in advance rather than added once a vehicle is loaded.
Dedicated or shared
A dedicated vehicle carries your household alone and departs when you are ready. A shared load consolidates with other households on the same route, costs less, and delivers within a window rather than on a date.
Storage before departure
Common on every route. The UK sale completes before the destination is habitable, so the household waits in store in Kent and exports when you say — simpler and cheaper than arranging storage in a country whose procedures you are still learning.
Worth knowing
Moving abroad from Kent, questions first
Does being in Kent help on a European move?
It removes hours of driving before the crossing, which is worth having. It does nothing for clearance, documentation or a queue at a border, and we would rather say so than imply otherwise.
What does the customs file consist of?
An itemised, valued inventory; transit paperwork raised before departure; and evidence of transfer of residence, which is what allows used household effects to enter without duty. We prepare and lodge the export side.
What if the destination is a second home?
Then relief does not apply and the goods are a conventional import assessed on declared value. The distinction has to be settled before the inventory is valued, because the declaration carries your name.
Can you collect from several UK addresses?
Yes — a storage unit, a relative's garage, a flat someone has been using. London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Bristol are ordinary collection points, consolidated with the Kent load before the crossing.
How long does a European move take?
Your quote gives an expected window for your route and says what would shift it. A general figure would be invented, and inventing one is how firms end up explaining themselves at a border.
Can the load wait in Kent?
Frequently the right answer. The UK sale completes before the destination is habitable, so the household waits in store here and exports when the far end is ready.
Start the documents you own. We'll start ours.
Your residency and address paperwork has the longest lead time on any European move. Tell us the country and roughly when.