Pinner → Spain
Pinner to Spain
Every Spanish move follows the same sequence, and transport sits at the end of it. Understand the order and the whole thing becomes manageable; ignore it and you have a loaded vehicle and an unfinished file.
The sequence, in order
- NIE. The foreigner identification number — start it the day you decide to go.
- The property. A deed or a signed lease in your name.
- Padrón. Town-hall registration, generally only possible once you are living there.
- Consulate certificate. Change of residence, before the goods travel.
- Inventory. Itemised, valued, in Spanish, signed by you.
- The load. Which we schedule.
The route and the fork
Out through Kent and across, then the long western run down France to Bordeaux — dull and reliable. Bordeaux is where it splits: Irún for the Basque country, Burgos and Madrid; or La Jonquera across the eastern Pyrenees for Catalonia and the coast.
Why storage is usually part of the plan
A completion date is set by solicitors. The Spanish file finishes when it finishes. Holding the household in store here reconciles the two and means the load exports once, correctly.
Delivering in Spain
Coastal urbanisations are generally easy — room to park, often a lift. Old city centres are not: narrow streets, bollards and time-restricted access, which usually means a transfer to a smaller vehicle for the last stretch. For the Balearics, a ferry leg is booked into the plan.
Portugal shares most of this drive before turning west at Salamanca.
Worth knowing
Pinner to Spain, asked properly
What is the critical path?
NIE, then the property, then the padrón, then the consulate certificate, then the inventory, then the load. Transport is last and is the only item anybody can schedule reliably.
Can we pack before the paperwork is done?
Packing yes, exporting no. Plenty of households pack, load and store while the Spanish end catches up. What cannot happen is a vehicle leaving without the documents that let the goods enter.
Irún or La Jonquera?
Irún for Madrid, Burgos and the centre and south; La Jonquera for Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante and the coast. The fork is at Bordeaux and the destination decides it.
Is a shared load realistic?
More so than on any other route we run. Spain carries enough British household traffic that consolidated vehicles go regularly, so a part-load is not waiting indefinitely.
What does the inventory have to look like?
Itemised, valued, in Spanish and signed by you. Spanish customs reconcile it against the load closely, and a reconciliation query at the far end is a delay nobody is paid to sit through.
We are keeping a UK property.
Then relief does not apply and the goods are a conventional import on declared value. Declared as such, that is entirely ordinary.
Can the load wait in Pinner?
It is the normal arrangement here. Goods sit inventoried in store and leave when the Spanish paperwork is genuinely finished rather than nearly finished.
Start the NIE now. Schedule the transport later.
Transport is the one part of a Spanish move that can be scheduled. Everything ahead of it takes as long as it takes.