Do you cover the whole of London?

Every borough, in both directions, plus out of London across the UK and abroad. What varies across the city is not whether we go but how long people there tend to stay.

Which part of London has the shortest horizons?

The centre and the Wharf, comfortably. Corporate lets and serviced apartments, nearly all furnished — and the part of the city where people most often ship far more than they need.

Where does the half-and-half split matter most?

The inner rental ring, which is the commonest horizon in London. A second move is coming whether it has been planned for or not.

Is leaving really the biggest job?

Consistently. Two or three years of accumulation plus whatever has been in a storage unit since the week people arrived, and almost nobody counts either.

Every borough

London, by horizon

The city described by how long people in each part of it tend to stay, which shapes a removals booking far more than a postcode does.

Landlords, agents, employers and universities appear here as categories. None is named and no relationship is claimed.

The same city, six different spans

Months in the centre and at the Wharf. A year or two across the inner rental ring. Three to five years or longer in the family belt. Terms in the university districts. Indefinitely wherever people are actually buying. And leaving, which is the biggest job of the six.

The centre and the Wharf EC · W1 · E14 · SE1 Months, mostly Corporate lets, serviced apartments and company-arranged flats, nearly all of them furnished. Almost nothing needs shipping here and almost everybody ships too much, because the arrangement was made before anybody saw the flat.

The inner rental ring N · E · SE inner · SW inner A year or two Conversions and purpose-built blocks on rolling tenancies. The commonest horizon in London and the one where the half-comes-half-stays split matters most, because the second move is coming whether anybody has planned for it or not.

The family belt Outer suburbs, all directions Three to five years, or longer Houses, schools and a genuine intention to stay. Everything travels, storage is short-term rather than structural, and the questions are about lofts and garages rather than about horizons.

University districts Across the city A term or a course Terms, not years, and a pattern of repeated small moves. The useful arrangement is storage between one address and the next rather than shipping a room back and forth across the country twice a year.

The buying belt Where chains actually happen Indefinitely Purchases, chains and completions. The smallest category in London by volume and the one that looks most like a move anywhere else in the country.

Out of London The rest of the UK, and abroad Leaving The reverse journey, and it is a bigger job than the one that brought people here. Two or three years of accumulation, plus a storage unit nobody has opened since the week they arrived.

The centre and the Wharf: months

Corporate lets, serviced apartments and company-arranged flats, nearly all furnished. The shortest horizons in the city and the place where the most unnecessary volume gets shipped.

The reason is always the same: the arrangement was made before anybody saw the flat. Photographs of the property before the survey remove more from a quotation here than anywhere else in London.

The inner rental ring: a year or two

Conversions and purpose-built blocks on rolling tenancies, mostly north, east and inner south. This is the commonest horizon in the city and where the half-comes-half-stays split matters most.

It is also where storage decisions go wrong, because a second move is coming and the arrangement made on arrival is rarely revisited when the tenancy rolls.

The family belt and the buying belt

Houses, schools and a genuine intention to stay. Everything travels, storage is short-term rather than structural, and the questions are about lofts and garages rather than about horizons.

Where a purchase is involved the job looks like a move anywhere else in the country — a chain, a completion, and a wait for keys that nobody controls.

Terms, and leaving

University districts run on terms rather than years, with repeated small moves. Storage between one address and the next beats shipping a room across the country twice a year.

And leaving, which is the biggest job on this page. Two or three years of accumulation plus a storage unit nobody has opened since the week they arrived.

Coverage

Questions about where we work

Do you cover the whole of London?: Every borough, in both directions, plus out of London across the UK and abroad. What varies across the city is not whether we go but how long people there tend to stay.
Which part of London has the shortest horizons?: The centre and the Wharf, comfortably. Corporate lets and serviced apartments, nearly all furnished — and the part of the city where people most often ship far more than they need.
Where does the half-and-half split matter most?: The inner rental ring, which is the commonest horizon in London. A second move is coming whether it has been planned for or not.
Is leaving really the biggest job?: Consistently. Two or three years of accumulation plus whatever has been in a storage unit since the week people arrived, and almost nobody counts either.
Do you handle university moves?: Regularly, and the useful arrangement there is storage between one address and the next rather than shipping a room back and forth across the country twice a year.

How long are you staying?

Both addresses, roughly what is going, and how long you expect to be here. A rough answer is enough — the boundaries between horizons are soft and the advice barely changes within one.

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