Moving home with a removal firm

Moving home takes planning, and many people hire a removal firm to carry the furniture on the day. Before booking one, it helps to know what the trade bodies ask of their members and what the law gives you.

Two trade bodies

The British Association of Removers (BAR) says its members must follow a code of practice approved by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute. BAR says a mover must pass an external audit each year to keep its membership.

BAR says that if you move home within the UK, or into or out of it, any prepayment you make to a BAR member is protected by a payment guarantee scheme. It says an independent consumer ombudsman can deal with a dispute that a member and its customer cannot resolve between them.

The National Guild of Removers and Storers says it was formed in 1992, and that it helped to found the Removals Industry Ombudsman Scheme. The Guild says the scheme resolves disputes between its member companies and their clients who are moving home. It says the scheme investigates complaints against its members free of charge.

BAR's website has a search to check whether a firm is a BAR member. The Guild's website lists its members by location.

Quotes, cover and liability

BAR's code of practice says its members must assess the work and give a fixed price written quotation, without charge. Where the items to be moved are listed, the code says the member must make clear that the quotation covers only those items.

BAR's code says its members must offer either insurance against loss or damage to household goods, or another form of protection. Under that other form, the member accepts liability under the removal contract, once the customer has declared the value of the goods. The code also says members must point out the contract terms on cancellation, limits of liability and the time limit for making claims.

Your rights under the Consumer Rights Act

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 applies across the UK. Section 49 says every contract to supply a service includes a term that the trader must perform the service with reasonable care and skill.

Section 52 covers timing. It applies where the contract fixes no time for the service and does not say how a time is to be fixed, and where nothing else that counts as part of the contract fixes the time either. In that case, section 52 says the trader must perform the service within a reasonable time.

If the service falls short of the contract, section 54 gives the consumer the right to require repeat performance, and in some cases the right to a price reduction. Section 55 says the trader must provide repeat performance within a reasonable time, without significant inconvenience to the consumer, and must bear the necessary costs. Section 55 also says the consumer cannot require repeat performance where completing the service properly is impossible.

Under section 56, the consumer can claim a price reduction in two cases. One is where repeat performance is impossible. The other is where the trader does not repeat the service within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience to the consumer.

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