Home moves
Student removals in London, sized for one room and a deadline
One room is never as small as it looks the night before. A bike, a monitor, a crate of kitchen things and eight months of accumulated stuff do not go in a parent's car, and the halls move-out window does not move.
Best for
Halls, house shares, one room
Also
Summer storage between years
We cover
Every London postcode
What it costs
What student removals actually cost in London
Small jobs are priced by time, so everything that costs time costs money. The good news is that most of it is inside your control, and knowing which parts are is the difference between a two-hour booking and a four-hour one.
How much there actually is
Almost everyone underestimates. Bedding, a bike, a desk chair, a printer, and the kitchen shelf that turned out to be yours. Send us a photo of the room and we will give you an honest read.
Which floor the room is on
Purpose-built halls usually have a lift. Converted house shares almost never do, and a third-floor room in a terrace is carried down three flights item by item.
Where the van is allowed to stop
Halls have loading bays with time slots and a barrier code. Streets around universities are permit-only most of the day. Both are solvable, and both need knowing in advance.
The weekend everybody leaves on
Halls set the same move-out window for the whole building, so demand for vans in that postcode triples for three days. Booking a fortnight out is genuinely cheaper than booking on the Thursday.
Whether it is boxed before we arrive
On a short booking, a crew waiting while you empty a wardrobe is the most expensive thing in the job. Boxed and stacked by the door is the whole saving.
Whether you are splitting it with a housemate
Two rooms in the same house going to two addresses is usually one booking, not two. Say so at the start and it is priced as one job with two drops.
So what would yours cost?
Ten minutes on a video call and you will have it in writing. No obligation, and no number invented over the phone.
Before the day
If you are flying home, storage is the real question
A lot of student moves are not really moves. The tenancy ends in June, the new one starts in September, and the flight home is somewhere in between. What you actually need is somewhere for your things to sit for ten weeks.
We can collect from your room, take it into storage and deliver it to the new address when you land, so the whole thing is one arrangement rather than three. You do not need to be in the country for the middle part of it.
Get the dates to us early. Summer storage in London fills from May, and the week the halls empty is the week everything is booked.
On the day
How a student move runs
Three things that happen on every job, before and after the lifting.
- 01
We size it from a photo
Send pictures of the room and anything awkward. That is usually enough to price a single room properly, without a visit and without a guess.
- 02
The slot is booked around your building
If your halls need the bay reserved or the lift booked, you are told what to ask for and how much notice they want. The request has to come from the resident.
- 03
One booking, however many stops
Room to storage, room to a new address, or a shared van with a housemate. It is priced once, in writing, before anybody turns up.
The quote
What the price covers, and what it does not
Both lists go on the written quote, so there is nothing to discover afterwards.
Included
- A price agreed in writing before the booking, not an hourly rate and a shrug
- Blankets and straps, and a trolley for the heavy things
- Loading, driving and unloading, into the room rather than onto the pavement
- Collection into storage and redelivery later, arranged as one job
Not included
- Permission from your halls or landlord for the bay, the lift or the loading window
- Boxes and tape unless you ask for them when you book
- Cleaning the room to get the deposit back — that is end of tenancy cleaning
- Taking anything away as waste
From our Google profile
What people said about their move
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
Before you book
Questions people actually ask
I have one room. Is that too small a job?
No. A single room is one of the most common jobs we do in term time. It is priced as a short booking rather than as a removal, so you are not paying for a service built for a three-bedroom house.
Can you store my things over the summer?
Yes. We collect from your room, hold it and deliver it to the new address when you are back. Give us the dates as early as you can — London storage fills from May, and the week the halls empty is the busiest of the year.
Can two of us share a van?
Yes, and it is usually much cheaper than two bookings. Tell us both addresses when you enquire so it is priced as one job with two drops rather than quoted twice.
Do I need to be there?
Somebody does, at both ends, to let us in and say where things go. If you are flying out, a housemate with your keys is fine as long as we know who they are beforehand.
Do you take the bike?
Yes. Mention it when you book so it is in the plan — bikes take floor space in the van and are the single most commonly forgotten item on a student enquiry.
What if my hall will not let the van in?
Most will, with the bay booked. Where they will not, we park as close as the road allows and carry, and we tell you that before you book so it is in the price rather than added on the day.
Related reading
The things that catch people out
Parking, vans and packing — the rules read from the source, dated when checked.
- Guide
Moving without a removal company: the honest guide, and the hybrid
When you genuinely do not need a removals firm, when a DIY move costs more than it saves, and the hybrid option where you pack and a man and van drives.
Read it - Guide
How to pack electronics for moving
Back up first, photograph the cables, remove the batteries, wrap each device in anti-static bubble wrap and keep every screen upright. The full order.
Read it - Guide
Removal van sizes: Luton, 3.5-tonne, and when to go one bigger
How removal van sizes map to homes, what a Category B licence lets you drive, and why a Luton is too tall and too long for Hackney's parking dispensation.
Read it - Guide
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 six boroughs, compared.
Read it - Guide
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.
Read it - Guide
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.
Read it
Get it priced properly
A survey first, then the number in writing. Answered at any hour.