Kent → France
Removals from Kent to France
Few places in Britain have a shorter or better-known way into France than Kent. That familiarity is where the trouble starts: it is easy to treat a French move as a long day trip, and the customs file does not see it that way.
What does moving from Kent to France involve?
Moving a household from Kent to France is a customs export from the UK and an import into France, even though the crossing itself is short. The first question is whether France is becoming your main home. If it is, your used personal belongings can enter without duty, provided the file proves the transfer of residence: a valued inventory in French signed by you, evidence that you lived in the UK, proof of your French address, and proof you are settling, such as a residence permit or work contract. If you are furnishing a second home instead, the goods are a normal import on their declared value. We survey the house, prepare the inventory and export paperwork, and pack for the road. The vehicle crosses by tunnel or ferry from Kent and delivers to the door, whether that is a Paris courtyard or a farmhouse track in the Dordogne.
What documents do you need to move to France?
This is the usual file for a household transferring its main residence from the UK to France. French customs set the final list, and the official page below is the place to confirm it.
| Document | What it is | Who issues it | When you need it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Valued inventory in French | A detailed list of the goods with estimated values, dated and signed by you. French customs ask for it in duplicate. | Prepared by us, checked and signed by you | Before loading in Kent |
| Proof you are settling in France | A residence permit or long-stay visa, an employment contract, or a transfer order from your employer. | French consulate (visa) or préfecture (residence permit); your employer | Before the goods are cleared into France |
| Proof of your UK residence | Evidence that you lived outside the EU before the move, such as council tax bills, utility bills or a tenancy agreement. | You, from your own records | Before clearance |
| Proof of the French address | The deed of sale (acte de vente) or a lease in your name. | Notaire, or your landlord | Before clearance |
| Passport | Identity document; the name must match the rest of the file. | HM Passport Office | Throughout |
Check the official source
- GOV.UK: Living in France visas, residency and healthcare for UK nationals
- French customs (douane.gouv.fr): transferring your primary residence to France the conditions and documents for duty-free entry of personal belongings
Requirements are set by the authorities above and can change. Treat their pages as the final word; we work to whatever they currently ask for.
A short crossing is not a day trip
Kent households have been popping across for lunch in Boulogne for generations, and that breeds a natural assumption: moving furniture over is the same thing in a bigger vehicle.
It is not, and has not been since the UK left the EU. A household leaving Britain is a customs export with an inventory, a value and a declaration in your name. The drive is still short. The file is not optional.
Which route does a Kent removal to France take?
Down the M20 to the tunnel terminal and through. On the French side the destination chooses the road: Normandy and Brittany are reached down the coast road past Boulogne and Abbeville; Champagne, Burgundy and the Alps by way of Reims; the Loire, Bordeaux and the Dordogne through the Rouen and Le Mans side of the country; and Provence and the Côte d'Azur by the Rhône valley.
From Kent none of that first stretch is guesswork. It is the road our vehicles know best.
Moving to France, or furnishing a second home?
We ask on the first call because the two are handled completely differently, and plenty of households in the south-east own a property in France before they ever move there.
- Transferring your residence. France becomes your main home. Personal belongings you have owned and used can enter without duty, provided the file demonstrates the move.
- Furnishing a second home. You remain UK-resident. The goods are a normal import assessed on their declared value, and describing them as a relocation creates a problem that lands on you.
If you genuinely do not know yet, say so. It just has to be decided before the inventory is valued.
Delivering in France
In the countryside, the approach matters more than the house. Send photographs of the lane and the gateway, and we will tell you whether a full-size vehicle reaches the door or the final stretch needs a smaller one.
City apartments are the opposite problem: a courtyard, a lift built for two people and nothing else, and a staircase that decides what has to come apart. In Paris an external window lift is ordinary, and it has to be booked in advance because it cannot be arranged on the morning.
Kent to Spain follows this same road as far as Bordeaux, and our international removals overview compares dedicated and shared loads. If the French property is not ready when your Kent sale completes, the household can wait in storage in Kent.
Questions
Moving from Kent to France: practical questions
Is a French move really easier from Kent?
For the first leg, yes. The Channel Tunnel terminal at Folkestone and the port at Dover are both in Kent, so a load from Maidstone or Ashford is at the crossing without a long motorway run first. It shortens the start of the journey and nothing else: clearance takes as long as it takes.
Which crossing do you use?
The tunnel for most household moves, because it is quicker, less affected by weather and simple to book for a removals vehicle. Dover ferries are the alternative from the same stretch of coast. For Brittany and western Normandy a western sailing can make sense, though starting from Kent the extra drive usually cancels out the saving.
We already own a house in France. Does that change things?
It changes the paperwork completely. Furnishing a second home is a normal import, assessed on declared value; transfer-of-residence relief applies only when France becomes your main home. We ask which applies at the first conversation for exactly that reason.
Do you deliver to rural France?
Regularly. The question is usually the approach rather than the house: if a long vehicle cannot turn at the end of the farm track, the goods transfer to a smaller one at the road, and that is arranged before we set off.
What about a Paris apartment?
A different kind of job. Courtyard access, a lift built for two people and no furniture, a staircase with a tight turn, and in many arrondissements a permit just to stand outside. An external lift through a window is a routine Paris solution, and it is costed at survey.
Can we move part of the household now and the rest later?
Yes, and with the crossing this short it is genuinely practical. Each trip is a separate customs movement, though, so the file has to be right every time, not just once.
Tell us whether France is becoming home.
That one answer decides the paperwork, the duty position and much of the planning. Everything else follows from it.