What is housing like in Watford?

Watford grew with the railway and with its printing and brewing works, and the town's homes show it. West Watford, Callowland and the streets around Vicarage Road and Queens Road are rows of Victorian and Edwardian terraces, with a front door on to the pavement, a narrow hall with the stairs straight ahead, and a back door on to a yard or an alley. Cassiobury, west of the town centre, was laid out from the 1920s on land that had belonged to the Cassiobury estate, with wide tree-lined roads of semis and detached houses that have drives and, in most cases, a garage. North Watford and Garston have inter-war and post-war semis and council-built estates, and Oxhey and South Oxhey, across the river, mix Victorian village streets with a large post-war estate.

Around the town centre, Watford Junction and the High Street the picture is flats: purpose-built blocks of the last twenty years, some of them tall, some with podium car parks and lifts, and converted houses in the older streets where a flat may be the second floor of what was once one home. Watford is a borough in its own right, and Watford Borough Council enforces parking in it.

What does a terrace mean for the move?

A terrace with no front garden means the lorry stops in the street, and in much of inner Watford that street is in a controlled parking zone. Watford Borough Council deals with bay suspensions and dispensations, and the firm will probably want one for a full house move. A Victorian terrace also has a staircase that turns at the top, a landing that is sometimes too tight for a double mattress to go up flat, and bedroom doors narrower than modern ones. Furniture that came in through the front window, or was built in the room, is common in these houses. Say in the enquiry whether the house has side access to the garden, because taking garden furniture, bikes and the contents of a shed through the house is slow.

On match days the streets around Vicarage Road fill up and move slowly, so check Watford Football Club's fixtures before you settle on a date, and tell the firm if your street is near the ground.

What about Cassiobury and the larger houses?

A drive and a wide road make the lorry's job easy, but the houses are big and the lofts, garages and garden rooms fill up over a lifetime. A survey matters here, because the firm will want to allow for the loft and the garage, not just the rooms you show first. Many 1930s houses in Cassiobury have had a loft conversion with a narrow staircase, and some have original timber windows and a tiled porch that a crew needs to protect while they work.

What about flats near the centre?

In the newer blocks, ask the managing agent about booking the lift, protecting it, where a lorry can wait and whether there is a loading bay. The undercroft and podium car parks nearly all have a height barrier, so the lorry stops on the street, which around the High Street, Clarendon Road and the Junction may mean a short-stay bay or a bus lane. For a converted house, the questions are the floor, the stairs and whether the shared front door can be propped open while the crew work, which the other residents may or may not accept.

Is my address in Watford or somewhere else?

The WD postcodes do not follow the borough boundary. South Oxhey and Carpenders Park, in WD19, are in Three Rivers, and some homes in Leavesden and Aldenham with WD25 addresses lie outside the borough too. If you are in one of those, the council that deals with a bay suspension may be Three Rivers or Hertsmere rather than Watford, which only matters if you need one. The enquiry works in the same way for every WD postcode listed here.

What helps with a Watford enquiry?

the kind of home: terrace, semi, detached, purpose-built flat or converted flat
the floor and the lift, if it is a flat
whether the street is in a permit zone or has resident bays
side access to the garden, and what is in the garden, the loft and the garage
your postcode and a likely date

With consent, one local removals firm that covers your postcode receives the enquiry, if one does.

Who you will hear from

We pass your enquiry to one local removals firm, if one covers your postcode. It is never sent to a list of companies. If nobody covers your postcode, we will tell you and will not pass your details on.