Man and van · Camden
Man and van in Camden, where the drive is short and the doors take the time
A man and van in Camden is normally a short journey between two addresses inside the same borough. West Hampstead to Swiss Cottage. Chalk Farm to Fitzrovia. A single room leaving a flat-share near King's Cross. The driving is the smallest part of the arrangement. The booking disappears at the doors instead: a staircase that turns, a bedroom door narrower than the hallway, an entryphone nobody answers, a porter nobody warned. We therefore ask about both doorways before we ask about the route, because the doorways decide how the booking is planned.
Written by Daniel, founder, Metro City Moves
The usual job
One room out of a shared flat
Where the time goes
The doors, not the driving
Quote
In writing, after a survey
What is different here
Man and van in Camden is its own job
What changes the plan and the price here, rather than a list that would fit any London postcode.
One room leaving a flat the housemates are still living in
Much of this work around West Hampstead and Swiss Cottage is a single room departing rather than an entire flat. The remaining rooms are let, and the people occupying them are staying exactly where they are. That alters the day considerably. The hallway is not yours to fill, so boxes cannot accumulate along it while we load, because another resident still has to reach the bathroom. We stage on the landing instead, or directly into the van. Ownership is the second complication. A let room generally contains the landlord's furniture alongside your own, and the desk you bought sits against a chest of drawers that arrived with the tenancy. Walk the room with us beforehand and identify what actually travels. The doorway is the third. A bedroom door in a converted flat is frequently narrower than the staircase it opens onto, so a wardrobe is stopped at the doorway rather than halfway down it.
Where the van can stand decides how much of the booking is carrying
A booking is one van and a crew, and carrying is the activity that consumes it. Around Belsize Park and Chalk Farm the nearest position a Luton can legally occupy is frequently around the corner rather than immediately outside your entrance. That is manageable, and it is the reason to stage the load beforehand. Bring the boxes down to the hallway or the front step before we arrive. The longest portion of the carry then happens once, on a trolley, instead of repeatedly with an armful. Tell us the street name at both ends when you book, and we will say what the kerb there permits. The regulations behind that answer, including who actually owns which kerb, belong to [removals in Camden](/areas/camden). We read them in advance rather than on the morning itself.
Two Camden addresses, and the second one belongs to a stranger
A considerable number of these jobs collect from somebody you have never met. A sofa from a flat in Fitzrovia, a desk from a house near King's Cross, and a seller with a job and a short lunch break. Collections fail at the entryphone far more frequently than they fail at the kerb. Send us a mobile number for whoever is admitting us, rather than only a flat number, and tell that person approximately when we are expected. Porters matter equally. The larger purpose-built blocks in Camden often keep a porter's desk, and a porter informed the previous day will hold the lift and indicate the correct door. A porter informed of nothing simply returns the crew to the street to ring the entryphone again.
Short notice, and an hour somebody else has already decided
Camden bookings frequently arrive with the time already determined by a third party. A room handover, because the incoming tenant collects the keys that afternoon. A university term date around Euston and King's Cross, where halls empty on a stated morning and a great many people need a van on the same one. A purchase that has to be collected before the seller departs. Tell us the deadline rather than the starting time you imagine it needs. We plan backwards from the deadline, and if the booking you are asking for cannot reach it, we say so while you are still deciding. Short notice is ordinary here. An undeclared deadline is the thing that breaks a short-notice job.
Where this applies
The parts of Camden this page is about
Named, because a page about an area in general is no use to anyone standing in one. These are the places where what is written above is what we actually find.
- West Hampstead
- Swiss Cottage
- Belsize Park
- Chalk Farm
- Fitzrovia
- King's Cross
- Before you fix a date
- Walk the room with us and identify what belongs to you, because a let room generally contains the landlord's furniture as well.
- Measure the bedroom doorway rather than only the staircase. In a Camden conversion the room door is usually the narrower of the two.
- Give us both street names when you book, and we will say what the kerb there permits before the morning arrives.
- Stage the load the evening before: boxes down to the hallway or the front step, so the longest portion of the carry happens only once.
- For a collection, send a mobile number for the person admitting us, and inform the porter's desk the previous day.
Questions
Man and van in Camden, answered
- I am moving one room out of a flat-share. Does everybody else have to be out?
- No. We work to your room and leave the remainder of the flat undisturbed. Identify which pieces are yours before we begin, because a let room frequently contains the landlord's furniture as well. Tell your housemates approximately when we are expected, since the hallway is in use throughout the carry.
- Can you collect something from another Camden address and deliver it to mine?
- Yes, and both ends sitting inside the borough is the ordinary shape of this job. The part that generally goes wrong is access at the collection end, where nobody is expecting us. Send a mobile number for the person admitting us, and where the building keeps a porter's desk, inform them the previous day.
- We need a van at short notice. Is that workable?
- Frequently, and short notice is ordinary for this kind of booking. What we need from you is the deadline rather than a preferred starting time, so a room handover, a university term date or a departing seller all count. We plan backwards from it and tell you immediately if the booking you want cannot reach it.
- What decides the cost of a man and van in Camden?
- The doors at either end, considerably more than the journey between them. The floor, the turn, the carry between your entrance and wherever the van can stand, and whether you are ready when we arrive. We survey before we quote, the quote comes in writing, and the number you accept is the number you pay.
Keep reading
Everything else on man and van and on Camden
Man and van elsewhere in London
Related reading
Before you book in Camden
Parking suspensions, red routes and the ULEZ — read from the councils' and TfL's own pages, with the date each fact set was checked.
- Guide
Camden parking suspension: the free first day and the £200 tow
Camden waives the first-day space charge and the £349.81 short-notice fee for house moves, so a one-day suspension costs £66.66. The real notice is 17 days.
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London parking suspensions for moving house: what every borough charges
The same one-day parking suspension costs £66.66 in Camden and £360 in Haringey. Fees, notice periods and removals concessions for nine boroughs, compared.
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Parking suspension vs dispensation: which one a house move needs
A suspension reserves the parking bay; a dispensation only stops the ticket. That difference decides what a house move needs, and what each borough charges.
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Red route dispensations: moving house where the council cannot help
TfL sells no parking suspensions on red routes at any price. A dispensation costs £48 a day, needs 6 working days, and red lines take no late applications.
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ULEZ, removals vans and the Congestion Charge on moving day
ULEZ charges a non-compliant removals van £12.50 a day, everywhere in London, and the Congestion Charge is £18 in the centre. What applies on moving day.
Read it
What people say
Reviews left by people we have moved
Left on our Google profile. Every card links back to it, so you can read the rest — including any we would rather you did not.
Good experience with Metro City Moves. 4 bedroom house seemed bit difficult to move from London to Liverpool, but they planned well and successfully executed. Thank you.
Saqib AwanRead on Google, opens in a new tab
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Tell us where you are moving from
Send a postcode and we will come back to arrange the survey, which we can do on a video call.
What you get before you commit
- A survey first, by video call or in person, so the price is built on what is actually there.
- The quote in writing, listing what is included and what is not, so both sides read the same list.
- Anything you add before you accept is priced into the quote you sign off.
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