Sevenoaks to France
Removals from Sevenoaks to France
A very short domestic leg and a long history of Kent households buying French houses. What makes this route particular from here is that both ends are frequently old: a Wealden cottage going into a Norman longère, with furniture that suits neither doorway.
Old house to old house. The furniture is the one thing that has to fit both.
Who takes this route from Sevenoaks
- Households buying rural property in Normandy, Brittany and the Charente, often with restoration already planned.
- Retirements to the Dordogne and the south-west, usually leaving a long tenure in the Weald.
- Second-home owners in the Pas-de-Calais and Normandy running part-loads both ways.
The road out of TN13
From TN13 the vehicle joins the M26 and the M20 and crosses on the Eurotunnel shuttle at Folkestone — one of the shortest domestic legs of any site in this network. For a loaded vehicle the shuttle is usually right: short crossing, vehicle sealed, driver stays with it.
Calais divides. The A16 west along the coast for Normandy and Brittany; the A28 through Rouen and Le Mans as the spine for everything south-west; and the A26 south-east for Reims and beyond.
Where we deliver
Customs, and what gets declared
France sits outside the UK customs union, so household goods are exported and imported even where every item is second-hand and two hundred years old. Transfer of residence relief keeps the move free of duty for somebody genuinely changing where they live, and it turns on the inventory.
Who obtains what
| Document | Obtained by | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Detailed inventory (valued) | Us | Written at the Sevenoaks survey and checked at loading. Anything of age or value is listed individually. |
| Proof the UK address has ended | You | A completion statement, a closing council tax bill, or an ending tenancy agreement. |
| Proof of the French address | You | Deeds, a signed lease, or an attestation from the mairie once you are registered. |
| Passport and residence status | You | Copies for the file. Your status decides whether the relief applies 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 are attached to you as a person and are what hold a load up when they are started late. Rows marked Us are built here from the inventory taken at your Sevenoaks property.
Two old houses, one set of furniture
The recurring problem on this route is not the border. It is that a household leaving a timber-framed house in the Weald is carrying furniture chosen for low door heads, uneven floors and small rooms — and is frequently arriving at a Norman or Breton house with exactly the same constraints in different places.
Take a tape to the new property at the viewing: the lowest door head, the clear diagonal at the stair turn, and the width of the entrance. Three numbers, and they tell us before the vehicle is loaded which pieces are going to be a problem at the far end.
The second point is restoration. A great many French purchases from this district are houses being worked on, and delivering a full household into a building site is the most avoidable mess in the trade. Holding the goods here, or in local storage there, is almost always cheaper and calmer than unpacking around scaffolding.
Sevenoaks to France
Questions on this route
- How close is Sevenoaks to the crossing?
- Very — the M26 joins the M20 within a few miles and Folkestone is a short run from there. It is one of the shortest domestic legs of any site we run.
- Our French house is mid-restoration. What should we do?
- Hold the goods rather than deliver into it. Unpacking a household around a half-laid floor is worse than a short wait, and it is the single most avoidable mess on this route.
- Will our furniture fit a French farmhouse?
- Measure the lowest door head, the stair turn and the entrance at the viewing and send us three numbers. Old English and old French houses are both awkward, just not in the same places.
- Can you do a part-load?
- Yes, and for a second home it is usually right. Less to pay, departing when the vehicle fills rather than when you choose.
- Do we pay duty on our own furniture?
- Not where you qualify for transfer of residence relief and the file is correct. It is conditional on your residence status and on an inventory that describes actual contents.
- What about antiques and anything of real age?
- Listed individually on the inventory and declared. Some very old items can attract additional formalities depending on their nature, and we would rather establish that at survey than at a border.
Moving from Sevenoaks to France?
Both addresses, roughly what is in the load, and whether the far end is ready. We will come back with the route, the documents and a written quote.