Self Storage When Moving House The Complete Guide

Stuck between two completion dates with nowhere to put your things?

The date has just moved again. The removal van is booked, the sellers want the keys, and the new place is not ready, or the chain has slipped and everything has shuffled by a fortnight. If that is you this week, you are not disorganised and you have not done anything wrong. Moving almost never happens in the neat sequence the diagrams promise.

That gap, the bit where your belongings have nowhere to be, is exactly what self storage is for. Not a warehouse you are tied to, but a flexible bit of breathing space you can start fast and close cleanly once the dust settles. This guide walks through when to use it, what size you need, what it costs, and how to make the one part of the move you can actually control feel calm.

The short version, if you are mid-move:

• Get a quote: quote.wigwamstorage.co.uk
• Two-week minimum, 14-day notice, unused days refunded.
• Smart entry, 6am to 10pm, seven days.
• Contents cover required: take our policy or prove your own.
• Find your nearest unit on our storage locations page.

Why a house move almost always needs a buffer

A move is a chain, and a chain has gaps. The completion dates do not line up, the new place needs work, or you need the house clear to sell it. In nearly every case, a storage unit is the thing that fills the gap so the rest of the move can close around it.

When the chain slips and dates stop matching

This is the classic one. You have to be out of the old place before you can get into the new one, and suddenly there is a week or a fortnight with a houseful of furniture and nowhere to put it. A unit holds it all safely in between, and because you are not committing to months, the cost matches the gap rather than dwarfing it.

Clearing the house so viewings go better

If you are still selling, a half-empty, tidy house photographs and shows far better than a full one. Moving the excess furniture and clutter into storage for the viewings window can genuinely help a house sell faster, and you only need the unit for the weeks it takes.

Storing furniture while the new place is worked on

Sometimes you have the keys but the new house needs decorating, flooring, or a wall moving before the furniture should go in. Rather than work around a stack of boxes in every room, store the bulk of it and bring it in once the place is ready for it.

Picking the right moment to book storage in your move

There are really three sensible moments to book, and because our terms are short and flexible, you do not have to decide far in advance.

Booking before you list

If presentation matters for the sale, book before the photos and viewings. Clearing the rooms that count buys you better first impressions, and you can end the storage the moment the house is sold and you are ready to move everything on.

Booking at exchange for the completion gap

If you already know there is a gap between exchange and completion, book to bridge it. A short stay covers the in-between cleanly, and you are not carrying a storage contract that outlasts the gap it was meant to fill.

Booking when the date moves

And if the date has just shifted, book then. You do not need to have planned for this. The two-week minimum and the 14-day notice mean storage can absorb a change you did not see coming, which is rather the point.

What size unit will fit your home

The quick rule: the bulk of a standard three-bedroom house fits in roughly a 75 to 100 square foot unit. Clearing a couple of rooms for viewings needs much less. Beyond that, it depends on what you are storing.

A rough guide by house size

A one or two bed home usually needs a modest unit, a three bed home a larger one, and a bigger family home more again. It is deliberately rough, because how much goes into store and how much travels straight to the new place varies hugely. We have a separate room-by-room sizing guide, and we will happily size it with you rather than have you guess.

Partial loads for viewings

If you are only clearing rooms to sell, you are storing a slice of the house, not all of it, so a smaller unit does the job. No need to move everything out to make the place show well.

Making the most of the space

A little planning goes a long way. Heavy items low, a clear path down the middle, and boxes labelled so you can reach what you need without unpacking the lot. It is the difference between a unit you dread opening and one that feels under control.

Starting quickly and giving notice when you are ready

These are the terms that matter most when your dates are uncertain, so here they are up front: a two-week minimum stay, 14 days’ notice to leave, and unused days refunded if you go early. You can give notice the moment your completion is confirmed.

The two-week minimum and a shifting date

The two-week minimum means you are never forced into a month you do not need for a gap that turns out to be a fortnight. For a move where the timeline keeps moving, that alone takes a lot of pressure off the decision to book.

Giving notice when your date is confirmed

The day you know your completion date, you can give your 14 days’ notice. No guessing months ahead, no committing to an end date you cannot yet see. The notice fits the move, not the other way round.

The refund of unused days and the deposit

If completion comes sooner than expected and you leave early, the unused days are refunded, so an early finish costs you nothing extra. There is a deposit, and it is refundable: once you have given notice, vacated, and settled the account, it comes back to you, less anything owed. The full detail is on our terms and conditions page. We do not advise on the move itself, so for anything about the sale or the chain, your solicitor is the right person to ask.

Know your dates are wobbling? Get a quote at quote.wigwamstorage.co.uk. The terms are built to flex with a move, so booking now does not lock you in.

What it costs and how pricing works

We do not quote prices on this page, because the right number depends on the size of unit and the town. What we can do is explain how it is structured and point you to the proper place for real figures.

How we price self storage

Storage is charged by the fortnight and priced by unit size, so a smaller unit for a couple of rooms costs less than a larger one for a whole house. Our guide to how much self storage costs in the UK explains the structure clearly.

What affects the price

Three things mainly: the size of the unit, the location, and how long you stay. Because you only pay for the space and the time you use, the cost matches your move rather than a standard package you have to fit into.

Getting a quote for your move

When you want a real number, get a quote at quote.wigwamstorage.co.uk for your town and the size you need. That gives you a figure you can plan around, rather than a category page and a guess.

Packing and loading the unit around a house move

A move and a storage unit work best with a little order. The trick is to think about what you will and will not need before the dust settles.

What to put in storage first

Box up the things you will not need until after you are in: out-of-season clothes, books, spare kit, anything that is not part of daily life. Keep the essentials with you. That way the unit holds the bulk and your immediate life stays to hand.

How to load so you can get things out again

Heavy items on the base, a clear path down the centre, and the things you might need first nearest the door. Label every box. The aim is a unit you can walk into and retrieve from without unstacking the whole thing.

Contents cover: what is required

Cover for your goods is required while they are with us. You can take our own contents protection or prove your own cover. Declare the full replacement value, because under-insuring means a claim is settled in proportion. The detail is on our contents protection page. We will not advise you on a policy, and if your question is really about how your home insurance treats goods in storage, check with your own insurer or broker, since the detail can differ across England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Getting in and out during the move

Access is by smart entry, 6am to 10pm, seven days a week. Not 24-hour, but early and late enough to work around a removal van and a busy moving day. Our sites are unmanned, so you access your own goods.

Smart entry and loading around the van

If the removal van arrives at eight, you can be in the unit before or after it without waiting on office hours. Loading the unit around the van, rather than the other way round, is what the 6am to 10pm window is for.

How unmanned sites work for a first-time mover

If you have never used storage, the process is simpler than you might expect. You access your own unit with smart entry, in your own time. There is no front desk to queue at and no handover to schedule. We will walk you through it before the day so there are no surprises.

Deliveries to your unit

If you want furniture or purchases delivered to the unit while you are mid-move, plan for someone from your side to be there to receive them. Our sites are unmanned and we do not sign for or accept deliveries on your behalf, so the timing is yours to arrange.

Why a local team matters when a move goes sideways

This is the part a national chain cannot really write. When the chain breaks at five on a Friday, the difference between a call centre script and a local person who knows your town is the difference between another headache and one thing handled.

What a market-town team does differently

A local team picks up the phone, knows the area, and can talk you through size and timing like a neighbour rather than a queue position. The flexible terms, the notice period, the refund of unused days: those were designed around the way local moves actually go, not around a national product built for volume.

Finding your nearest Wigwam site

We run our sites in UK market towns, and you can find them all on our storage locations page. If you are moving near Wigwam Self Storage Bath at /locations/bath-self-storage/ or Wigwam Self Storage Lincoln at /locations/lincoln-self-storage/, start there, and use the locations page for everywhere else.

Starting your booking

When you are ready, get a quote at quote.wigwamstorage.co.uk. It takes a few minutes, and it turns the one part of your move you can control into one part that is already sorted.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I keep with me rather than put in the unit during a move?

Keep anything you cannot replace or will need before you are properly in. A move always involves a gap, the bit where your things are in store, and the worst time to discover something important is sealed in a box at the back of a unit is the evening you need it. So pack a separate essentials kit and keep it with you, not in storage.

That kit usually wants to hold a few categories. Paperwork: passports, the completion documents, anything legal or financial you might be asked for at short notice. Valuables: jewellery, laptops, anything small and worth a lot. Daily life: a change of clothes for everyone, medicines, chargers, phone, the kettle and a couple of mugs, bedding for the first night, school bits if there are children. And anything irreplaceable, photographs, a few sentimental items, that you would rather keep within arm’s reach than trust to any gap in any move.

Everything else, the bulk of the furniture, the out-of-season clothes, the books, the spare kit, goes into the unit. The split is simple once you think about it as “life for the next fortnight” versus “everything I will not touch until I am in.” Pack the unit so the things you are most likely to want are nearest the door, label every box, and you turn the storage gap from a worry into the calm part of the move. We store household goods, by the way, not pets, plants or perishables, so those travel with you too.

Can a removal van and my own car both get to the unit on moving day?

Yes. Our market-town sites are built to be reached by a van or a hire lorry, which is rather the point of using storage during a move. You drive in, you load or unload at your unit, you drive out. Access is by smart entry between 6am and 10pm, seven days a week, so the timing fits around the removal firm rather than around office hours. If the van is booked for eight in the morning, you can be at the unit before or after it without waiting for anyone to open up.

A practical tip for the day itself: plan the order. If the van is going to the unit first and the new house second, load the unit so the things bound for the new place are reachable, not buried. If you are splitting the load, things you need soon near the door, things for later at the back. A clear path down the middle of the unit saves a surprising amount of time when two people are carrying a sofa.

One thing to arrange in advance. Our sites are unmanned, so there is no member of staff to direct the van, hold a door, or sign for anything. You access your own unit. If the removal firm is delivering while you are not there, someone from your side needs to be present with smart entry access to oversee it, because we do not sign for or take in deliveries on your behalf. Tell your removal company that clearly when you book them, and the day runs smoothly.

What happens to my storage if the move falls through completely?

You are not stuck with it. The terms are built so that a move which collapses does not leave you tied to a unit you no longer need. There is a two-week minimum stay, which is the floor on how long you pay for. Beyond that, you give 14 days notice when you want to leave, and once you have cleared the unit and settled the account, the refundable deposit comes back to you, less anything owed. If you go before a period you have paid for runs out, unused days are refunded. So a move that falls apart costs you the time you actually used, not a long contract.

That flexibility is exactly why storage suits a move better than, say, renting a bigger temporary place on a six-month tenancy. If the chain breaks for good and you decide to stay put, or to start the search again, you give notice and step away. If it breaks and reforms, the unit simply holds your things for the extra weeks it takes. Either way you are not penalised for a delay that was never in your control.

The one thing worth doing is keeping a record of any extra costs the delay forces on you, storage included, if you have already exchanged contracts. Whether any of that is recoverable depends on the contract and who caused the delay, and that is a question for your solicitor, not for us. We can keep your things safe and flexible while it sorts itself out. The legal side belongs with the person handling your conveyancing.

Can I store things in stages, sell-then-buy style, with a long gap between?

Yes, and it is one of the more deliberate ways to use a unit during a move. If you complete your sale, move your belongings into storage, and become a chain-free buyer, the unit holds everything for as long as the search and purchase take. There is no fixed maximum stay. The two-week minimum is the only floor; after that you continue on a rolling basis for as long as you need, paying for the time you use.

This works because the terms flex in both directions. If the right house appears quickly, you give 14 days notice, clear the unit, and unused days are refunded. If the search drags into months, the unit simply keeps holding your things in a clean, dry, individually alarmed space, and you keep access by smart entry between 6am and 10pm whenever you want to reach something. You are not locked into an end date you cannot yet see.

A word of caution worth naming honestly. Selling first and buying later means paying for storage and for somewhere to live in the meantime, and moving twice. For some people, the strength of being a chain-free buyer is worth that. For others it is not. Bridging finance can cover the gap but is expensive, and that is a decision for your solicitor or a financial adviser, not your storekeeper. Weigh it with your eyes open. What we can promise is that the storage side will not be the part that traps you.

How quickly can I actually get a unit if my dates have just changed?

Often the same week, sometimes the same day, depending on what is free at your nearest site. Storage is one of the few parts of a move you can sort at short notice, which is exactly what you need when a date has just shifted under you. You do not have to plan it weeks ahead. The two-week minimum and the 14-day notice mean the arrangement is designed to absorb a change you did not see coming, rather than punish you for not predicting it.

The fastest route is a quote at quote.wigwamstorage.co.uk. Put in your town and the size you think you need, and you get a real figure for a real unit in a couple of minutes, rather than a category page and a guess. If you are not sure on size, our team can work it out with you from a description of what you are storing, which is quicker and more accurate than estimating from an article.

What helps most is having your essentials packed separately and a rough idea of volume before you call, so booking and loading can happen close together. Because the sites are local market-town locations rather than warehouses on a distant ring road, the drive from the old house to the unit is usually short, which matters on a day when everything else is already running late. You can find your nearest site on our storage locations page.