Route · Romford to France
Removals from Romford to France
The shortest of the four routes, and the one most Havering households take first. It is also where the question this site is built around — in what capacity are you moving — stops being administrative and starts having legal consequences at a border.
A retirement to the west and a second home in Normandy are the two patterns we see most from this borough.
Who takes this route from Romford
- Retirements and semi-retirements to Normandy, Brittany and the Charente, frequently after decades in the same Havering house.
- Families relocating to Paris and the Île-de-France for work, trading a suburban house for a considerably smaller flat.
- Second-home owners moving part-loads out to the west, and occasionally clearing one back.
Getting out of the borough
Out of the borough to the M25, round the eastern side and through the Dartford Crossing, then anticlockwise to the M20 and the Eurotunnel shuttle at Folkestone. The crossing at Dartford is the variable on this leg and it is why departure times from RM postcodes are set early.
From Calais the A16 runs west along the coast and the A26 drops south-east towards Reims. For the south-west it is the A16 then the A28 through Rouen and Le Mans; for the Mediterranean, the A26 to the A6 and the long run down the Rhône on the A7.
Where we deliver
Customs, and who it attaches to
France sits outside the UK customs union, so a household move is an export and an import even where everything in it is used. Transfer of residence relief is what keeps it duty-free — and the relief attaches to a person who is genuinely changing residence, which is precisely why capacity matters here.
Who obtains what
| Document | Obtained by | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Detailed inventory (valued) | Us | Written at survey and checked at loading. Customs reads this one, so it names contents rather than counting boxes. |
| Proof the UK address has ended | You | Closing council tax bill, an ending tenancy, or completion paperwork on the Romford property. |
| Proof of the French address | You | Deeds, a lease, or an attestation from the mairie once registered. |
| Passport and residence status | You | Copies for the file. Your status decides whether the relief is available at all. |
| Export declaration | Us | Raised on the UK side against the inventory before the vehicle reaches the terminal. |
| Import entry and relief claim | Us | Lodged with French customs through our agent against the same inventory. |
Rows marked You stall a load when they are left late, so begin those first. Rows marked Us are prepared here and lodged against the inventory made at the property.
Whose goods are these?
Transfer of residence relief exists so that a person moving home is not taxed on their own possessions. The wording matters: their own possessions, and their own move. An owner relocating to France fits that description exactly and the relief is straightforward.
It gets more complicated where somebody is acting for another party. Goods belonging to an estate, or furnishings owned by a landlord, are not a person's household effects accompanying a change of residence, and treating them as though they were is not something we will do on a declaration.
That does not mean such goods cannot be exported. It means the basis is different and it needs establishing before the vehicle is loaded rather than at a border. If you are moving in any capacity other than as the owner, say so at the first conversation — it is the single most useful thing you can tell us about an international job.
Romford to France
Questions on this route
- We are moving my late mother's furniture to our house in France. Is that the same thing?
- No, and it is worth getting right. Relief for a change of residence attaches to your own household effects accompanying your own move. Inherited goods being exported are a different basis. Tell us the situation and we will establish what the declaration actually needs before anything is loaded.
- Can you do a part-load?
- Yes, and for a second home it is normally right. A part-load shares a vehicle with other consignments on the route: lower cost, and it departs when the route fills rather than when you choose.
- How does the Dartford Crossing affect us?
- It sets the departure time rather than the price. Everything leaving an RM postcode for the Channel goes through it or a long way round, and getting that hour right is most of the planning on this leg.
- Will our furniture fit a French house?
- Measure the stairs and the door heads at the viewing and send us the numbers. Old French houses and Havering semis are furnished on completely different assumptions.
- Do we pay duty on our own furniture?
- Not where you qualify for transfer of residence relief and the file is right. It is conditional on your residence status and on an accurate inventory.
- Can you hold goods here first?
- Frequently, and where an estate or a sale is still being settled it is the sensible order. Goods are collected, listed and held, and the export file is built from that list.
Moving from Romford to France?
Both addresses, what is going, in what capacity, and whether the far end has a date. We will come back with the route, the documents and a written quote.