Moving to France
On the list of preparations for a move to France, this one always comes last, if it comes at all. Yet it is the only one that, on the day, can bring a whole crew and a lorry to a halt outside a building where it cannot stop. This dossier says whom to ask, when, who takes care of it and what to check that morning.
By Jean Mascla, founder of Home Select Updated · 5 min read
A temporary permit to occupy the public highway, issued by the commune, reserving a few parking spaces outside the address on a given date. It takes the form of signs put up on site before the day, and it makes the space enforceable against other drivers.
Without it, the lorry parks where it can. That sounds harmless, and it is not: a longer carrying distance is charged for, sometimes heavily, and a lorry double-parked may be fined or ordered to move on.
To the town hall of the commune, or to whichever department handles parking in larger cities. The formalities, the timescales and the charges vary from one commune to the next, which is precisely why you cannot reason by analogy with what a friend experienced elsewhere.
The order of magnitude to hold on to is weeks, not days. Reckon on two to three weeks in the ordinary case, more in a city centre, in periods of high demand and through the summer months when moves pile up. An application filed four days out stands every chance of arriving after the date.
That depends on what the quote says, and it is the question to ask before signing. Many firms take care of it, some only at the departure address, others charge it as an extra, and others leave it to the client.
In an international move the split is rarely symmetrical: the company loading abroad has no reason to know the practice of the French commune where it will deliver, and the local correspondent sometimes only appears a few days beforehand. The quote is the document that must settle this point, line by line, naming whoever files the application.
The documents asked for are simple: the address, the date, the duration, the length of space wanted, the applicant’s identity and, depending on the commune, the vehicle registration or the firm’s certificate. A charge is payable, the amount depending on the commune and on the area occupied.
None of that is difficult. The only genuinely critical point is the lead time, and it cannot be made up: a permit is not obtained in a hurry because the lorry is already on the road.
Saint-Malo, Bretagne
In an old town centre, a pedestrian street or a road closed to heavy vehicles, reserving the space does not settle everything: access for the lorry itself may require a traffic exemption, issued by the town, sometimes by a department other than parking. A remover who knows the town is aware of it; one delivering from abroad is not always.
The same reasoning applies to the size of the vehicle: if the street cannot take the planned lorry, the remover transfers the load to a smaller vehicle, which lengthens the day and is charged for. Send them a photo of the street and the building’s entrance early: it decides the lorry as much as the volume to move.
Three things, in order.
That the signs have been put up on the planned date, usually one or two days before. It is often for the applicant to make sure of it, and a permit granted without signage installed is worth nothing on the pavement.
That a photograph of the signs exists, with a date on it. It is your only proof if a vehicle is occupying the space on the morning of the move.
That someone is there when the lorry arrives. A buyer not yet living in France often delegates that presence, and it is exactly the kind of task a local caretaker settles in an hour where it would otherwise cost a flight.
It is a minor administrative step with a major capacity for harm. It is dealt with at the moment the delivery date is fixed, in the same gesture, not in the week before. An international move is prepared months ahead on freight, customs and inventory; it is sometimes lost over twenty metres of pavement.
Settling in is prepared during the search: the date of the deed sets that of the delivery, and the contracts are opened before the arrival. Your Home Select property finder keeps that calendar with you, from the preliminary contract to the first night.
We introduce the international remover, the tradespeople of the fit-out and the concierge service that receives deliveries and prepares the house. Transport, customs and works are theirs, under their responsibility: our role is that you arrive in a house that is ready.
Often, but not always, and rarely for both addresses when they are in two countries. The quote should say so in black and white. When it is silent, the step is usually yours, and you will only find out too late.
It is the commonest scenario, and it is settled on the spot by calling the municipal police, provided you can show the signs were put up in time. Photograph the signs with their date as soon as they go up: without that proof, having the vehicle removed becomes hard to obtain.
Yes, and it covers a wider footprint than a lorry, sometimes including the pavement. Some councils deal with it in the same application, others require a separate one. Ask the question explicitly, because a hoist cancelled for want of permission idles the whole crew.
A temporary permit to occupy the public highway, issued by the commune, reserving a few parking spaces outside the address on a given date. It takes the form of signs put up on site before the day, and it makes the space enforceable against other drivers.
To the town hall of the commune, or to whichever department handles parking in larger cities. The formalities, the timescales and the charges vary from one commune to the next, which is precisely why you cannot reason by analogy with what a friend experienced elsewhere.
The documents asked for are simple: the address, the date, the duration, the length of space wanted, the applicant’s identity and, depending on the commune, the vehicle registration or the firm’s certificate. A charge is payable, the amount depending on the commune and on the area occupied.
Further reading
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