Moving into a London flat: lifts, porters and walk-ups

A passenger lift in a 1930s mansion block is often 1.0m by 1.2m with a 1.9m ceiling. A three-seat sofa is 2.1m long. The maths does not work, and no amount of goodwill on the day changes it.

Measure the internal depth, width and height, and the door aperture — which is usually narrower than the car. Then measure your longest item diagonally. If the diagonal exceeds the lift's, the item goes down the stairs, comes apart, or goes out through a window on a hoist.

Managed blocks almost always require the goods lift to be booked, often with 48 hours' notice, a deposit against damage and proof of the mover's public liability insurance. Some restrict moves to weekdays 09:00–16:00; new-build towers frequently ban Sunday moves entirely.

Get the booking in writing with a time window, and give the crew the building manager's number. A booked lift held on a key switch turns a stressful move into a straightforward one.

Introduce yourself before the day, not on it. A concierge who knows your name, your slot and your mover will hold a door, release the bay and point the crew at the right service corridor. One who is surprised by a van will follow the rulebook, and the rulebook says no.

In a Victorian conversion the failure point is the winder — the fan of triangular treads at the turn. Sofas, mattresses and wardrobes fail there. A competent crew tells you this at the quote stage and prices the answer: dismantle, hoist, or leave it behind.

Sofa-through-window is a legitimate, insured technique and not a disaster. It needs planning, a clear pavement, and sometimes a sash removed. It cannot be improvised at 4pm.

A loading bay is faster, safer and usually free — if it is booked. On-street loading in a controlled parking zone needs a suspension, and unsuspended kerbs in inner London are gone by 08:00. Where there is genuinely no space, the crew works a shuttle: a smaller van close in, a larger one further out.

Damage to a shared hallway is charged to the resident, not the mover, in most leases. Insist on floor runners, doorframe protection and lift blankets, and photograph the communal areas before and after. It takes four minutes and settles every argument.

Do the same inside the flat for the inventory check-out. Photographs with a timestamp are the cheapest deposit insurance there is.

Before you commit to a flat, not after.

• Front-door and internal-door widths, and the hallway turn
• Lift internal depth, width, height and door aperture
• Stair width at the narrowest point and the winder radius
• Distance from the nearest legal van position to the front door
• Whether the building permits weekend moves