For internationals in The Hague

Expat movers in The Hague: your move handled in English, start to finish

Moving to a country whose language you are still learning is hard enough without having to guess what your movers agreed to. Westland Verhuisgroep is an English-speaking moving company working throughout The Hague and the surrounding towns. The survey, the quote, the emails and the crew at your door are all in English, you get one fixed price agreed in advance, and we arrange the things newcomers rarely see coming, from the parking permit for the truck to the moving lift at a canal house.

Everything in English, from the first phone call to the final walkthrough

Plenty of moving companies in The Hague will say they speak English. What that often means in practice is that the person on the phone does, and the three people carrying your sofa do not. That is exactly the moment when it matters: when someone needs to ask whether the glass cabinet goes on the truck or into storage.

With us the whole chain is in English. We survey your home in English, you receive the quote in English, and the team that turns up on moving day speaks it too. Everything we agree is written down in the quote, so nothing depends on what anyone thought was said. And if you would rather do it all in Dutch, we simply switch.

You also get one dedicated point of contact from the first call to the last box. Not a call centre, not a different name in every email: the same person, who knows your address, your dates and your building.

Moving into a Dutch rental: what surprises newcomers most

The single biggest shock for people arriving from abroad is how empty a Dutch home can be. Rentals here come in three flavours, and the words matter:

  • Gemeubileerd (furnished) — furniture, curtains and usually kitchenware included. You mostly move suitcases and personal belongings.
  • Gestoffeerd (semi-furnished) — flooring, curtains and light fittings are there, but no furniture.
  • Kaal (unfurnished) — often literally bare: concrete floor, no curtains, sometimes wires where the lights should be.

It cuts both ways. When you leave an unfurnished home, your tenancy agreement may require you to remove the flooring you laid and restore the walls, and the landlord's inspection happens on a fixed date. So tell us at the survey what the contract says about the handover. We then reserve time and hands for it in your fixed price, rather than discovering it on the morning of the move when the schedule has no room left.

Parking and lift permits in The Hague: we apply for them

In most streets in The Hague you cannot simply park a moving truck in front of the door, and the same applies to putting a moving lift on the public road. Space has to be reserved with the municipality in advance, and the application takes time to process. This catches out almost everyone moving here for the first time, because in many countries it is not a thing at all.

We apply for it on your behalf and we take the processing time into account when we agree your date. That is one of the reasons we like to hear from you a few weeks ahead. Rules, fees and lead times differ per municipality, so we check what applies for your specific street, whether that is The Hague, Rijswijk, Voorburg, Leidschendam or Wassenaar, and it goes into your quote.

Living in a modern apartment building instead? Then there is usually a service lift that has to be booked with the building manager, sometimes with protective covers and a time slot. We ask about it during the survey and coordinate it, so you are not the one chasing the caretaker the day before.

The Hague homes: canal houses, portiek flats and towers

The housing in this city is unusually varied, and each type asks for something different from a moving crew.

  • Canal and townhouses in the Archipelbuurt, Zeeheldenkwartier and Willemspark, with steep, narrow, turning staircases and often a hoisting beam above the facade.
  • Portiek flats and walk-ups where everything goes up a communal stairwell that was never designed for a three-seater sofa.
  • Family homes in Statenkwartier, Benoordenhout and Duinoord, usually easier inside but with tight parking outside.
  • Apartments in Scheveningen, where wind off the sea genuinely affects working with a lift on an exposed facade.
  • Modern towers in Bezuidenhout and the Beatrixkwartier, with a service lift, a loading bay and a building manager to arrange things with.

Where a staircase is impossible, we bring a moving lift and take the big items in through a window or over the balcony, operated by our own team. If a wardrobe will not go through either way, we take it apart properly and rebuild it at the new address, down to the last screw.

Arriving from abroad: we handle the Dutch leg

Let us be straight about what we do and do not do, because the phrase "international moving company" hides a lot. We are not a shipping line and we do not do customs paperwork. What we do is everything on this side of the water, and we do it alongside your international carrier or relocation agency.

In practice that means we collect your shipment from the port area or from your carrier's warehouse, bring it to your address in The Hague, carry it in, reassemble the furniture, unpack what you want unpacked and take the packing material away with us. If the container cannot reach your street, which is common in the older neighbourhoods, we shuttle it in with a smaller truck instead of leaving you to solve that.

And if your shipment arrives before your home is ready, which happens constantly, it goes into our storage until you have the keys.

Leaving the Netherlands: packing, inventory and the gap in between

Departures have their own rhythm. Your flight rarely lines up neatly with your container, and your landlord's inspection date rarely lines up with either.

We pack to shipping standard, which is a good deal sturdier than packing for a move across town, and we produce a written inventory of what went into which box, the kind your shipping company and your insurer will ask for. We deliver to your carrier's warehouse or load at your door, whichever your carrier prefers. And if you fly out before your belongings do, we store them in the meantime and hand them over on the agreed date, so you can leave without having to be there for it.

Storage between two homes

A large share of expat moves in The Hague involves a gap: a temporary flat for the first months, a permanent home found later, and a few weeks of nothing in between. Or a home that comes free two weeks after your current lease ends.

We collect your belongings, keep them in our secure, dry and insured storage, and bring them out again when your new address is ready. It is one company, one quote and one point of contact for the whole sequence, instead of a mover, a storage firm and a second mover who each blame the other.

Packing service: as much or as little as you want

Some people want to pack their own books and hand us the rest. Others want to come home to a house where the kitchen is already in its cupboards. Both are fine, and we would rather you choose deliberately than default to doing it all yourself at midnight.

We bring the boxes and materials, we pack glass, art and electronics properly, and we label per room so unpacking follows a logic. Bikes, wine, musical instruments and anything else that needs care: mention it at the survey and it is planned for, not improvised.

The area we cover around The Hague

We work throughout the city, which you will see written as Den Haag on every Dutch form you fill in, and in the towns around it: Scheveningen, Rijswijk, Voorburg, Leidschendam, Wassenaar and Delft, and just as easily to the rest of the Netherlands. That includes the neighbourhoods most internationals end up in, close to the International Zone around the World Forum and to the international schools in Wassenaar, Voorburg and Leidschendam.

Our base is in 's-Gravenzande, twenty minutes from the city, which is also why we are just as comfortable moving you out to a house in Westland or down to Rotterdam as we are moving you across The Hague.

What it costs, and what changes the price

You get one fixed price, agreed before we start. No hourly rate that quietly grows because the stairs were slower than expected, and no line items appearing afterwards. What we saw at the survey is what you pay.

What that price depends on:

  • The volume of your belongings, in cubic metres. Our volume calculator gives you a rough idea in a couple of minutes.
  • The floor you live on, and whether there is a usable lift or staircase at both addresses.
  • Whether a moving lift is needed, including the operator.
  • How much packing you want us to do, and whether furniture has to be taken apart and rebuilt.
  • The distance between the two addresses, and whether storage bridges a gap between them.
  • What the municipality charges for reserving the parking space.

A survey is free and puts you under no obligation. We come to you, or we do a video walkthrough on your phone if you are still abroad. That last one is how most of our arriving expats start.

English on the day itselfNot just on the phone: the crew at your door speaks English too, so nothing gets lost between the quote and the truck.
Permits arranged for youWe apply for the parking space with the municipality and plan around the processing time.
Fixed price, no surprisesOne price agreed in advance after a free survey, in person or by video walkthrough from abroad.
NIWO-certified and insuredYour belongings are insured for the whole move, including the time they spend in our storage.

Planning

From your first email to the keys, step by step

You do not need to know the Dutch system to plan a move well. This is the order things usually happen in, and where we take over. It works the same whether you are arranging the relocation yourself or your employer has put a relocation agency in charge of it.

  • Six to eight weeks ahead — get in touch, even if your dates are not fixed yet. We respond within 24 hours and can hold a provisional date.
  • Four to six weeks ahead — the free survey, in person or by video if you are still abroad. You receive your fixed price in writing, in English. This is also when the parking permit application starts, which is the part that needs the most lead time.
  • Two to three weeks ahead — we confirm the details: lift or stairs, what we pack and what you pack, what goes into storage, the building manager's time slot if you are moving into a tower.
  • The week before — boxes and materials are delivered if we are packing for you. Good moment to set aside what should travel with you personally: passports, residence documents, laptops, medication.
  • Moving day — our team arrives on time with the truck, the materials and the lift if it is needed. You do not have to lift anything or translate anything.
  • The same day — furniture is reassembled and put where you want it. We walk through the house with you and only then are we finished.
  • Within five days after moving — register your new address with your municipality. In the Netherlands this is a legal obligation and you can do it from four weeks before the move up to five days after it. Almost everything else, from your bank to your health insurer, follows from that registration.

If your timeline is shorter than this, call us anyway. Short-notice moves are a normal part of our week, and we would rather tell you honestly what is still available than let you plan around a date we cannot make.

Frequently asked questions

Questions about moving to or from The Hague as an expat

Yes. The survey, the quote, the emails and the crew at your door are all in English. You never have to translate for us, and you never have to guess what was agreed. If you would rather have everything in Dutch, that works too: we simply switch.

No, and we would rather tell you that up front. We do the Dutch part of an international move: collecting from or delivering to the port or the warehouse of your international carrier, carrying everything in, assembling furniture and unpacking. Customs paperwork and the sea or air freight itself stay with your international shipping company or relocation agency. We work alongside them and take our instructions from your schedule.

We do. In most streets in The Hague a moving truck or a moving lift may not simply stand on the public road, and space has to be reserved with the municipality in advance. We apply for that for you and we allow for the processing time when we plan your date. The rules and fees differ per municipality, so we check what applies for your street and put it in your quote.

Yes, and it is worth mentioning it at the survey. Unfurnished rentals in the Netherlands are often handed over without flooring, curtains or even light fittings, and when you leave, your contract may require you to take out what you installed. Tell us during the survey and we allow time and hands for it in your fixed price, instead of discovering it on the day.

That is normal in the older parts of The Hague and we plan for it. Where the stairs are too steep or too narrow, we bring a moving lift and take the large items in through the window or the balcony. If a wardrobe will not go through either way, we take it apart professionally and reassemble it at your new address.

Yes. We collect and store your belongings in our secure, dry and insured storage, and we deliver them to your new address or to your carrier when the time comes. That also works the other way round: if your shipment arrives before your Dutch home is ready, we keep it until you have the keys.

You get a response to your request within 24 hours and we can usually do the survey the same week. For the move itself, four to six weeks ahead is comfortable, mainly because of the permit for the parking space. Shorter notice is often possible; call us and we will tell you honestly what is still free.

Yes. We work throughout the whole of The Hague region, including Scheveningen, Rijswijk, Voorburg, Leidschendam and Wassenaar, and just as easily to the rest of the Netherlands. Many of our expat moves are between a temporary flat in the city and a permanent home just outside it.

Moving to or from The Hague? Request your free quote in English

Call 0174 - 261 269 (Mon–Fri 08:00 - 18:00), email info@westlandverhuisgroep.nl or fill in the quote form; you will hear from us within 24 hours. Still abroad? Ask for a video walkthrough.