Service 03
Flats & maisonettes
In a house, the furniture sets the plan. In a block, the building does — the lift, the window it will allow, the stairs, the porter and the bay outside. Sort the building out and the move is straightforward.
Pinner's flats fall into three groups and each behaves differently. The mansion blocks near the stations are generous inside and particular about their communal parts. The purpose-built blocks are simpler, with a lift that may or may not be big enough for a sofa. And the maisonettes above the parades are governed entirely by what is happening at street level.
What the building needs to have agreed
- Lift booking
- Who books it, how much notice the agent wants, and whether it can be held rather than shared.
- Loading window
- The hours the building or the parade allows a vehicle to stand. This sets the start time, not the furniture.
- Porter or concierge
- Whether one needs telling, and whether they hold a key or a fob you will need.
- Communal protection
- Floor covering, lift-corner protection and carpet cover, down before the first item moves.
- Parking
- A bay, a permit, a suspension, or nothing at all — in which case carrying distance becomes the plan.
Managing agents vary enormously in how much notice they want. Ask early; the answer occasionally decides which day you move rather than which hour.
No lift
Not unusual in a converted block or above a parade, and not a refusal. It changes the crew size rather than the method: more hands, fewer trips, and the communal staircase protected before anything goes up it.
It is worth saying plainly at survey which floor you are on and whether the stair turns. A straight flight and a dog-leg are different jobs.
Above the parade
Maisonettes over the shops at Rayners Lane, Pinner Green and the smaller parades share their frontage with deliveries, customers and, at certain hours, a great deal of traffic. The loading window follows the parade. We pick the quiet part of the day rather than the convenient one.
The sofa question
The commonest problem in a flat move is a piece that came in another way: through a window, before a partition went up, or up a staircase that has since been reconfigured. It is discoverable with a tape measure and a five-minute conversation, and undiscoverable from a photograph.
Where a piece genuinely will not come out, we will say so, and say what the alternatives cost you in time rather than pretending a different grip will solve it.
Related
A single item or a part-load is usually man with a van rather than this. Packing matters more in a flat than a house because the carrying distance is longer, and storage covers the gap between tenancies.
Questions
Flats and blocks, asked first
01 What does the building need to have arranged?
Usually a lift booking and a loading window, sometimes a porter and occasionally a bay suspension. Managing agents differ wildly in how much notice they want. Find out early: the building, not the furniture, is what sets the shape of the day.
02 There is no lift. Is that a problem?
It is a crew-size question, not a refusal. Carrying up a shared staircase is slower and heavier work, so we plan for more hands rather than fewer trips, and we protect the communal parts before anything goes up.
03 Can you move a maisonette above a shop?
Yes, and the parade below is the thing to plan around. The loading window is set by the shops, deliveries and the traffic through it, so the start time follows the parade rather than the flat.
04 Our block insists the communal areas are protected.
So do we. Floor protection, corner protection on the lift and cover on the communal carpet go down before the first item moves, and the building is left as it was found.
05 Will everything fit through the door?
That is what the measuring is for. Sofas are the usual casualty — the piece that went in through a window or before a partition wall existed. Measured at survey, it is a decision; discovered on the day, it is a problem with an audience.
Next step
Send the block name and the floor. We will ask the building the rest.
Half of a flat move is arranging things with the people who run the building. Tell us which building and we can start that early.