AIBU to think there must be an alternative to hiring a removals van?

I’d pay for a removal service. They know how to get large bits of furniture down awkward stairs which is something most of us would struggle with. They will be far more efficient and quicker than you doing it yourself. Plus they are insured.

There isn't. Don't even try.

You're not paying for the driving part so much as well, removal, though? Literally removing things from one location to another. It's no easier to wrangle a sofa out of a door and back into another one because there's a short distance between the two properties.

We moved 3 miles away and needed 3 Luton vans. Worth every penny

We hired a shipping container for 4 weeks for £100, and boxed as much and we could in that time and stored it. Then hired 2 trucks on the day for the rest of the house for £500. Moved it all then emptied the shipping container into 1 truck and done. Our best removal quote was £3k though.

Do you actually have any experience buying a property? No solicitor would let you do that!

We always DIY it - hired a 7.5 ton truck last time, a friend to pack it then another to help unpack.

You’ll need to move some non-essential boxes to a friends or relatives house a few days before. Hire a van, load as much as you can into the van the night before but you’re going to need to leave space for big things like mattresses. Get a couple of friends or relatives round the morning to move the remaining things out, have a panic when van Tetris isn’t working.

Move the van up the street on completion (you’ll want to be carrying your washing machine, couch, mattresses, wardrobes as short a distance as possible at both ends). Unload. Thank your friends or relatives and get everyone some pizza and beer in to thank them for helping you. Collect your non-essentials as quick as possible.

Echoing everyone else though - removals are a luxury I’d insist on. Especially if you don’t have friends or relatives nearby to help you. We moved ourselves once (which is how I know you want as little distance as possible to carry your heavy stuff) and I’m never doing it again.

I think you can hire those big flat trolleys they use to move film equipment and stuff. That plus shopping trolleys from a supermarket plus one man and van. But that would need several people and trips.

We were in a similar situation, Moving 1 street away, we hired a van and did it ourselves. It was horrible mainly because there was a massive storm that day, our possessions blowing down the road.

But our biggest problem was that our sellers despite having no onward chain were very late moving out, way after the money had gone through and it had a massive stressful knock on effect. As a PP said I do think movers are a luxury worth paying for in hindsight. Or if you can hire a man with a van and then an additional van yourself that might work.

We moved the same distance once, and got everything boxed up, moved downstairs, then to the end of the garden and then we and friends moved it to the side of the road and shuttled back and forth to the front garden and then inside. It was all very straightforward in the end, fortunatly it wasn't raining

A lot of people seem to be missing the fact that OP is in the middle of a chain so doesn't the keys to the new house until she's handed over the keys to her current house. There's no going back and forward over several trips.

We had this recently.
Luckily we had a weekend in between exchange and completion, and the house we were moving to was empty. Seller offered to give us the keys on the exchange day, so we moved everything over weekend with help from friends.

Our back up was to hire a Luton van, put all the furniture in it the day before moving, park it outside the new property to unload, and then move the smaller bits.

Our friends moved across the road from their old house so they hired a van, loaded it with the white goods and heavy things the night before completion and we all moved the smaller stuff onto the lawn the next morning and into the new house as soon as keys were exchanged. The van didn't move, it just got unloaded into the new house after completion.

We hired a 7.5 ton truck (I'm old enough for my driving license to cover it) and did it ourselves over two days.

We're getting quotes of 3.5 grand from removal firms. We were lucky though. We had the luxury of moving to an already empty house with a couple of weeks until the buyers of our old house were moving in, so were able to take our time and flit back and forth in yhe car for the last few little bits and pieces

Um, not really - might be cheaper to hire a large van yourself for a day but the largest you can get as a private hire vehicle is probably a LWB transit type and that might not be big enough for an entire house.

Its the time and the space you're hiring, not the distance it then covers.

Some people make the classic mistake of under-estimating how long it takes to empty a house. See previous threads about new owners turning up to find vendors sitting having lunch in the kitchen and not having packed a thing.

Get all the neighbours to come and stand in the street and form a human chain to empty the house?

To be honest even if it was just a few doors away I would still get a removal company to do it, I’m never moving myself again.

I genuinely think, having done moves with and without movers, this is a luxury worth paying for. It’s one of the most traumatic and labour intensive things to do yourself!

Get 1000 friends to turn up, grab one thing out of your house each, stand around while all the legal stuff gets done and then carry it to the new house.

Forming a chain and passing the items along would be more efficient than each person carrying one thing. You might be able to hire trolleys for the heavier stuff.

But all your stuff must be out of the house before the new owners come to take possession. That's what you pay the professionals for - emptying a house quickly and efficiently. With insurance. Who pays if one of your mates smashes something of yours?

Could you get rid of some non essential stuff in advance ( someone’s garage, storage unit) etc and only keep what you need

I’d just pay for removal and try and negotiate as it’s a short distance. There’s always more stuff than you think. The logistics. If you start carrying it across and leave outside it might get taken/people think it’s free. It will probably rain. People offer to help them back out. At least everything boxed and loaded in van and then taken in new house you know it’s safe.
We have diy moved when young flat to house ‘not much stuff’ and it was exhausting.
We moved next door but one at work and had professional movers and we needed it. Boss initially had suggested we all help carrying across.