Storage Between House Moves: When the Keys Aren't Ready
Need storage between house moves in Dublin? Store with your removals firm and get your furniture delivered as soon as the keys come through.
If you need storage between house moves, the simplest answer is to let your removals firm hold your furniture and bring it to the new house when the keys come through. That way your things are loaded once, stored by the people who loaded them, and delivered by the same crew. You don’t have to rent a self-storage unit, hire a van twice and carry every box in and out yourself.
We’re J Hanway Removals & Storage, a family-run Dublin firm since 1982. We run our own storage alongside our removals, so we see this problem all the time. Here’s why we think one firm for both jobs is the better way when the dates don’t line up.
Why the keys aren’t always ready on moving day
Moving in Ireland rarely runs to a neat timetable. You may have to be out of your old home on a fixed date, but the new place isn’t ready yet. Closing can slip at the last minute. A landlord may need the flat back before your new lease starts. Builders may still be finishing a kitchen.
None of that is anyone’s fault, but it leaves you with a full house of furniture and nowhere to put it. That gap might be a single night, a few days or a few months. The question is what happens to your belongings in the meantime.
The self-storage scramble
The first thing most people think of is a self-storage unit. It can work, but look at what it adds to your week:
- You find a unit, pick a size and sign a contract, often in a hurry.
- You load your furniture at the old house.
- You drive it to the storage site and unload it into the unit.
- When the keys come through, you go back, load it all again and drive it to the new house.
- Then you unload it a final time.
That’s two moves instead of one. Every extra lift is another chance for a scuffed table leg or a dropped box. If you’re paying a removals crew for each leg, you pay for that extra handling too. If you’re doing it yourself, it’s your weekends and your back.
We’ve written a separate guide on what to check before renting a storage unit in Dublin, and it’s worth a read if self-storage is your plan. But for a gap between two homes, there’s often a simpler route.
Store with your removals firm instead
When you book storage between house moves with your removals firm, the move becomes one job with a pause in the middle:
- Our crew packs and loads at your old home, just like a normal move.
- Your furniture goes into our storage, not into a unit you have to manage.
- You get on with the paperwork, the solicitors and the hand-over.
- When the keys come through, you ring us and we bring everything to the new house.
The same people who wrapped your sofa and loaded your boxes are the ones who carry them into the new place. They know what’s fragile, what’s heavy and what goes in which room. There’s no second team to brief and no unit to empty.
You can read more about how our storage service works, short term or long term.
A real Dublin move where the keys were late
This isn’t just a theory for us. Fintan Murphy moved house with us in May 2024 and had exactly this problem. In his review, he said Joey and the crew arrived on time, stored the furniture until the keys were ready, and delivered it the same afternoon the keys came through. He also said the price was as quoted.
That’s the whole point of using one firm. There was no second trip to a storage site and no hunt for another van. When the keys arrived, so did the furniture.
Short term storage in Dublin: what to ask
Whoever you use, ask these questions before you book short term storage in Dublin:
- Who handles my things at each stage? One crew from start to finish means fewer hands and fewer surprises.
- Is the quote for the whole job? Ask whether it covers loading, storage and delivery to the new house, so you know what you’re paying.
- Am I insured while my things are on the road? We’re licensed and carry goods in transit insurance and public liability insurance.
- What if my dates move again? Closing dates can slip more than once. Ask how the firm handles a change.
- How quickly can you deliver once I have the keys? You want a firm that’s ready to go as soon as you are.
We’re open Monday to Friday 8:00 to 18:00 and Saturday 9:00 to 16:00, and we can help with emergency moves. During business hours, we answer quote requests within one hour.
When self-storage still makes sense
We’ll be straight with you. A self-storage unit can be the right call in some cases. If you want to get into your things often during the gap, a unit you can visit yourself may suit you better. The same goes if you’re only storing a few boxes, not a full house.
But if you’re moving a whole home and simply waiting on keys, storing with your removals firm saves you the double handling. You book one job, deal with one firm and do one final delivery.
Packing for a stored move
If your things are going into storage for a while, good packing matters even more. Boxes may sit for weeks before they’re opened, so wrap items properly and label each box with the room it’s going to in the new house.
If you’d rather not do it yourself, our packing and unpacking service means the crew packs everything before it goes into storage. Then they unpack at the other end when the keys come through.
Why families pick us for both jobs
We’ve been moving Dublin homes since 1982. Three generations of the Hanway family have run the business, and we’ve helped more than 12,000 customers. We have 4.8 stars from 41 Google reviews.
We handle house removals and storage under one roof. That means your move and your storage are planned together from the first phone call, not stitched together at the last minute.
Questions people ask
How much does it cost to store furniture between moves?
It depends on how much you’re storing and for how long, so we price each job on its own. We give clear quotes with no hidden fees. Tell us what you’re moving and roughly how long the gap might be, and we’ll quote the whole job, from loading to storage to delivery.
How do you move stuff from one house to another when the dates don’t match?
Book one firm to load your old home, store your belongings and deliver them when the new house is ready. That avoids moving everything twice. If the dates do match, we simply move you straight from one door to the other.
Get a free quote
Keys not ready yet? Don’t rush into a storage unit. Get a free quote or call us on +353 85 194 9801, and we’ll plan your move and storage together.