Removals from Southwark, London SE1
Moving from the UK to Portugal
On a move to Portugal, the paperwork sets the date more often than the road does. We move households from London and across Great Britain to Lisbon, Porto, the Algarve and the Silver Coast, and the lorry is booked once your NIF and residence documents are in place. After that, the work is about villas, condominiums and steep old city streets.
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Anywhere on the mainland is fine. In practice, British households settle in four areas, and the property types in each are different enough to change the delivery plan.
Lisbon, Cascais, Estoril, Sintra, Ericeira, Setúbal
Apartments in older buildings with small lifts and steep, cobbled streets, especially in Alfama, Graça and Príncipe Real. Parking for a lorry is scarce, so the final stretch is often by smaller van.
Porto, Vila Nova de Gaia, Matosinhos, Braga, Viana do Castelo, the Douro valley
Narrow terraced townhouses with tall, tight staircases in the city, and quintas reached by winding vineyard roads in the Douro.
Faro, Loulé, Tavira, Albufeira, Lagoa, Carvoeiro, Vilamoura
Detached villas with gated drives, and holiday-let condominiums with their own management rules. Inland, the lanes into the hills get narrow quickly.
Óbidos, Caldas da Rainha, Foz do Arelho, Nazaré, São Martinho do Porto, Peniche
Newer villas and resort developments, plus rural houses on unmade tracks. Usually good access, sometimes a long way from a paved road.
Four things, and usually in this order.
Step 1
The NIF is your Portuguese tax number. You need it to sign a lease or deed, open a bank account and set up utilities, and Portuguese customs uses it to identify you on the import paperwork. Many people arrange it before they move, often through a representative.
Step 2
Since Brexit, UK nationals moving to Portugal generally apply for a national residence visa at a Portuguese consulate before travelling, then for a residence permit after arrival. Customs relief on your belongings depends on becoming resident, so the timing of this sets the timing of the move.
Step 3
A rental contract, a property deed or a certificate of residence from the local parish council (the junta de freguesia) all help show customs that this is now your home.
Step 4
Only now does the lorry go in the diary. Everything after this point, from the packing to the Portuguese customs file, leans on documents you already hold, which is why it comes last. Relief from duty covers belongings you have owned and used for a qualifying period.
For visas, residence, healthcare and driving, see GOV.UK's guide to living in Portugal, and its checklist for moving or retiring abroad.
Most properties British buyers choose in Portugal fall into one of three types, and each needs a different delivery plan. A villa, common in the Algarve and on the Silver Coast, usually has space around it but may sit behind an electric gate, at the top of a steep drive or at the end of a rural track, so we check gate widths and turning room before deciding on the vehicle. A condominium apartment comes with an administrator and a set of rules: when moves can happen, how the lift must be protected, and where a vehicle may stop. A flat in central Lisbon or Porto is the hardest of the three. Streets are steep, cobbled and narrow, parking for a lorry rarely exists, and older buildings have small lifts or none. There, we transfer to a smaller van and carry from the nearest point. Photos of the approach, the entrance and the stairs make the plan accurate.
Across the Channel and the length of France and Spain. It suits shared loads that drop elsewhere on the way, and collections from London and the south east.
A ferry from the south of England to northern Spain, then the drive into Portugal. Fewer road miles, and often the better option for Porto and the north, or for loads collected in the West Country.
Already in it
What moves the figure is mostly geography. A villa near Loulé with a wide gate and a flat in Alfama up a cobbled hill can hold the same furniture and still be priced apart, because the second needs a shuttle van and a long hand carry. The volume you are sending sets the base, the choice between a full and a part load decides how much of the route you are paying for, and the region decides how far the vehicle travels once it reaches Portugal. Lifts, stairs, gates and condominium rules come next, then packing, any crating, and storage if you arrive before the house is ready.
Deciding between Portugal and Spain? Read removals to Spain or go back to the international removals overview.
You can still get a quote; the NIF only decides when collection makes sense. The número de identificação fiscal is the Portuguese tax number, and the customs paperwork for your belongings is filed against it, as are leases, deeds, bank accounts and utility contracts. Many people arrange it through a fiscal representative before leaving the UK. Until it arrives, we would rather hold your goods in storage than send them to wait at the far end.
Yes. Many Algarve apartments and townhouses sit inside a condomínio, a building or development run by an administrator. Some ask for notice before a move, set times when removals are allowed, or require protection in the lift and communal areas. Gated developments may also limit vehicle size. If the administrator has a written regulamento for the condomínio, a copy is the most useful thing you can forward; photos of the gate and the entrance come a close second.
It is possible, but it is rarely the easy option. Customs relief on household goods is tied to you becoming resident, so a load that lands before your residence paperwork is in place can need extra formalities or sit waiting. Most people find it simpler to time collection so the goods follow the paperwork, with storage in Britain covering any gap. If you do need things there first, tell us at quote stage and we will explain what Portuguese customs would expect.
Yes, and on a drive this long it is worth considering. Sharing spreads the cost of the whole route across several homes, with each household billed for its own share of the space. The catch is the order of drops: Lisbon, the Algarve and Porto are a long way apart, so you are given a delivery window rather than a single day. A whole house, a remote quinta or a tied handover date generally points to a vehicle of your own.
Yes. We are based in Southwark and most Portugal loads leave from London, but Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol are all regular collection points. A northern pickup is routed so the vehicle heads south once, and it can tip the balance towards the ferry to northern Spain rather than the full drive through France.
Tell us your UK address, your Portuguese address and where you are with the NIF and residence paperwork.