Plain answers to what people ask.

Peckham SE15 is the core but the catchment runs a bit wider. Nunhead, East Dulwich edges (around SE22), Camberwell south (SE5), Honor Oak west, New Cross edges, Forest Hill edges. If you're calling from one of those and the destination is France, Italy, Spain, or Portugal, we're the right shape of firm. If you're calling from Bromley, Bexley, or the Kent commuter belt — different network sites cover those areas with proper local depth, and we'll point you toward them.

Four destinations: France, Italy, Spain, Portugal. France, Italy, and Spain each have their own page with the Peckham angle. Portugal is on the hub page in prose only — for Portugal-specific moves there's a dedicated single-corridor specialist (UK Portugal Removals) which we'll happily refer you to if your move is Portugal-only. We're not the kind of firm that pretends to do every European route. Four corridors, done well.

Anyone. The Peckham SE15 catchment has a lot of artists, designers, musicians, young families, and first-time-movers-abroad, and the way we talk about moves reflects that. But we'll move a retired teacher to a Spanish villa with the same care, and we'll move a corporate relocation through the same workflow. We just don't pretend we're a corporate-relocation specialist — that's a different firm.

A surveyor visits your Peckham property (or video-walks it with you if a visit doesn't suit), walks the inventory item by item, asks about access at both ends, looks at the studio kit or specialist items, and listens to what you want from the move. Free. No obligation. The written quote follows by email a day or two later. We don't do high-pressure sales — if we're not the right firm we'll say so.

Yes. Studio relocations are a substantial part of our work — we've moved electric kilns, large-format printers, screen-printing rigs, complete darkrooms, lathes, ceramics setups, full music studios including upright pianos and serious amplifier rigs. The survey conversation covers what the kit is, how it'll be crated, what insurance value it needs, and how it'll be powered up at the destination. We treat the studio as the most important thing in the move because for most makers, it is.

Most aren't, when they first call. The survey is the conversation where the details come out. You don't need to know the final move date, the final inventory, or the final destination address before you talk to us. Roughly when, roughly where, roughly what — that's enough to start.

Procedural rather than scary. Your stuff still crosses duty-free under transfer-of-residence (ToR) relief on every EU corridor, provided you have owned it at least six months and are establishing residence at the destination. UK side we file ToR1 to HMRC. Destination side we file the country-specific declaration with the inventory. You sign and provide the residency evidence — visa, address contract, that kind of thing. For most Peckham moves the customs side is the quietest part of the project.

We work with what you have. The customs side accepts a residency-evidence pack that may include: visa application in progress, signed rental contract, employment letter, fiscal-representative confirmation. If something is missing entirely (e.g. NIE for Spain) we'll flag the risk and may recommend holding the move until the document is in place. We don't push moves through customs that are likely to get queried — query response time eats into your settling time at the other end.

Most Peckham families try to align with the UK summer or the European September start. The move happens in August or early September, kids start the new school year in September at the new place. Realistically this is the busiest period for the corridor and the most predictable date pressure. We book moves in August up to six months in advance for this reason. If your timing is flexible, off-season moves (October, January, March, May) are easier to schedule and sometimes more cost-effective.

We pack the kids' rooms last and unpack them first. Toys, books, the comfort items go in clearly-labelled boxes that come off the truck early at the destination. The bunk-bed gets reassembled before the lounge sofa. Standard order of operations for family moves. If your kids have a specific item that needs particular care — the dolls house, the model planes, an instrument — flag it at survey and we'll crate it separately.

Yes. Some Peckham customers move with less than a full vehicle — a solo creative, a downsizing couple, someone moving to a furnished flat. Partial loads share a vehicle with another move heading to the same country, which makes the per-cubic-metre cost work for smaller consignments. The trade is that the move date isn't entirely yours — it sits within a consolidated schedule. We'll set out both options in the written quote where relevant.

Same process, dedicated vehicle. The quote is higher per cubic metre than a shared load but the date is yours, the route is direct, and the delivery window is tight. Most family moves go this way. Solo-creative moves split roughly half-and-half between dedicated and consolidated.

We don't transport animals. Different regulatory regime, different vehicle requirements. We work alongside specialist pet-transport firms — Animalcouriers, Pets2Travel, a couple of others — and can refer you to one that fits your route. UK pet passports are no longer valid for EU post-Brexit; you need an Animal Health Certificate (AHC) issued in the UK within 10 days of travel, plus microchip and current rabies vaccination at least 21 days old.

Yes, vehicle shipping is one of our services. Under ToR relief the car qualifies for duty-free import on the same six-month ownership + residence transfer basis as your household stuff. Re-registration on the destination country's plates is a separate post-move task (the country-specific DVLA equivalent — Cartes grises in France, ACI in Italy, DGT in Spain). We handle the customs paperwork; you handle the re-registration after arrival.

It depends. If the car is recent, the local market value gap is small, and the destination has decent public transport, sometimes selling in the UK and buying locally works out cheaper and simpler. If the car is older or particularly valuable to you, shipping is sensible. We'll talk it through in the survey if you're unsure. We won't push the vehicle ship if it's not the right call for you.