The things people actually ask

We move to the contingency, which was agreed before the day rather than invented during it. The load either stays sealed on the vehicle or goes into containerised storage, and we deliver when the chain moves.

The important part is that this is written into your plan from the start. A completion that does not happen is a normal feature of English conveyancing, not an emergency — it only becomes one when nobody has thought about it.

Somewhere legal that we arrange in advance. In London that is not a trivial question — you cannot simply park a loaded removal lorry on a residential street and wait.

The crew stays with the load rather than going off to another job. You should be free to get a coffee rather than to worry about it.

Completely, yes. Loading out is the one stage of completion day that is entirely within your control, and being ready is what buys flexibility for everything that follows.

If packing is the part you would rather not do, we will do it — but it happens ahead of completion, not on the morning.

We work to what your solicitor tells you, which is not quite the same thing. Solicitors generally will not brief a removal company directly, so the information reaches us through you.

What we need from you on the day is simple: tell us the moment you hear that your sale has completed, and the moment you hear about your purchase. Early information is what lets us adjust.

Yes, and we would rather you knew that Fridays and month-ends are when the whole London market completes at once. If your date is flexible, avoiding them gets you a better crew and a calmer day.

If it is not flexible, which it usually is not, we plan for it. That is what the runbook is for.

For a whole house, always. A London house move is decided by the staircase, the street and the chain, and none of those can be assessed from a room count over the phone.

Video surveys are fine for smaller jobs. For a three- or four-bedroom house with a loft conversion, we would rather come and look.

Usually, and where it will not we say so before it is packed. Victorian terraces have a return at the half-landing that defeats a surprising number of wardrobes and sofas, and loft conversions are reached by a stair that was fitted after the furniture went up.

Where a piece genuinely will not pass, the options are to dismantle and rebuild it, to take it out through a window with a hoist, or to accept it is staying. We will tell you which applies at survey.

We survey them as separate spaces with their own inventory. They are consistently under-counted, and on a London house they hold the awkward items — paint, tools, garden chemicals, things stored by a previous owner.

Anything holding fuel or gas cannot travel with household goods, so it is better found at survey than on the morning.

Yes, and it is included rather than an extra. Fixings are bagged and labelled to the specific item, which is the difference between a bed that goes back together and a bag of anonymous bolts.

Beds are reassembled first at the new house, so the place is sleepable whatever else is still in boxes.

No, we do. Most inner-London streets are in a controlled parking zone and need bays formally suspended rather than hopefully empty. Each borough runs its own system with its own fee and its own notice requirement.

On a London move the two ends are frequently in different boroughs, so there are usually two applications. That is ours to handle.

It changes the plan rather than stopping it. A red route cannot be suspended the way a residents bay can, so we load from the nearest side street and crew for the longer carry.

What we will not do is load on a red route and hope, which is an immediate penalty and a vehicle that has to move mid-load.

No. Our vehicles are compliant and the charges are in the quote rather than appearing afterwards.

All of it, and the boroughs we work through most often are listed on the coverage page.

We also do a great deal of work in the other direction — London houses moving out to Surrey, Kent, Hertfordshire, Essex, Sussex and further. That is its own chain position with its own plan.

As soon as you have a likely date, even an uncertain one. Holding a provisional slot costs you nothing and the good crews in London go first, particularly at month-end.

A provisional booking that moves is entirely normal. A last-minute booking on a Friday month-end is where the options run out.

We read everything that comes in and reply by email once we have been through it, normally within a working day or two.

If you are already in a chain with a date in play, say so and we will treat it as urgent.

Yes. Goods in transit and public liability cover are in place, and the level applying to your move is set out in writing with your quote rather than buried in a link.

Higher-value items — art, instruments, anything you would not want to replace — should be declared at survey so they are covered on their actual value and handled accordingly.

Yes, containerised. Your goods are loaded into the container once and stay sealed in it rather than being handled in and out of a warehouse, which is where damage happens.

On a slipping chain this is usually the answer, and it is far better than trying to force two sets of solicitors to agree with each other.