Moving personal belongings to Portugal

migdsb

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Hello

I will soon be moving back to my birth country, Portugal, and am mulling over the pros and cons between hiring a professional removals company and doing it myself.

I've had a negative experience in the past with a company specialising in removals and, for this reason, am leaning towards doing the move myself this time. Turns out, it's (likely) not only safer to do it myself but, barring a road accident or any unforeseen tax charges or fines, also significantly more economical. The idea, then, is to hire a van in Portugal and pick up my belongings in the UK, crossing the channel by ferry.

The items I'll be moving take up less than 3 m3 of space and consist of mostly boxes (10-15). There are some appliances too like a fairly recent large TV, printer and microwave, but not much else. None of my belongings are in the government's banned and dangerous items list.

Has anyone done this before? In particular, I'd be super grateful for any pointers on the following:

1. Will I be able to drive a left hand-side van in the UK for no longer than 2 days?
2. If I do the move myself will I have to produce some sort of documentation at the UK or French borders; if so, what kind?
3. Might fines or VAT charges apply and how do I avoid them?

Many thanks
 

That might be of use to you.
 
Upvote 0
Hello

I will soon be moving back to my birth country, Portugal, and am mulling over the pros and cons between hiring a professional removals company and doing it myself.

I've had a negative experience in the past with a company specialising in removals and, for this reason, am leaning towards doing the move myself this time. Turns out, it's (likely) not only safer to do it myself but, barring a road accident or any unforeseen tax charges or fines, also significantly more economical. The idea, then, is to hire a van in Portugal and pick up my belongings in the UK, crossing the channel by ferry.

The items I'll be moving take up less than 3 m3 of space and consist of mostly boxes (10-15). There are some appliances too like a fairly recent large TV, printer and microwave, but not much else. None of my belongings are in the government's banned and dangerous items list.

Has anyone done this before? In particular, I'd be super grateful for any pointers on the following:

1. Will I be able to drive a left hand-side van in the UK for no longer than 2 days?
2. If I do the move myself will I have to produce some sort of documentation at the UK or French borders; if so, what kind?
3. Might fines or VAT charges apply and how do I avoid them?

Many thanks
Do you get your move done.?? How did it go and what paperwork did you need laving the UK / entering Spain / France.?
 
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I just heard from an ex-colleague, he has left the UK for a job in the EU. Whilst he's yet to sort out his residency status, he is having a mountain of a job to get his possessions into the country.

If he doesn't have the correct paperwork, he has been told he'll be subject to import costs.

So much winning
 
Upvote 0
I just heard from an ex-colleague, he has left the UK for a job in the EU. Whilst he's yet to sort out his residency status, he is having a mountain of a job to get his possessions into the country.

If he doesn't have the correct paperwork, he has been told he'll be subject to import costs.

So much winning

I think they'd have been wiser to put everything in Storage and then sort out the Residency first I think you need to do that in-order to qualify for transfer of relief for residency

 
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I sent a large van load to the UK from Spain post brexit using a UK based removals firm. They did a great job and sorted all the paperwork. It was cheaper than hiring a van myself. PM me if you want their details.
 
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