Can you move during the Coronavirus State of Alarm?
Updated January 5, 2021.
Removal activity during the State of Alarm decreed due to the Coronavirus may be restricted to specific situations depending on your Autonomous Community. Therefore, to resolve this issue, we must analyze each case individually. For this analysis, we will mainly take into account the regulations applicable in Catalonia, but in many cases they will be extrapolated to the rest of the autonomous communities.
On the one hand, there is no limitation of any kind for any company that provides directly essential services against Covid-19. These include transport to hospitals, laboratory transfers, field hospital assemblies, etc. In addition, as an extension to this criterion, services may also be provided for companies that carry out essential activities such as basic supplies in supermarkets, medicines, chemical companies, etc.
On the other hand, for moving services between municipalities for individuals and companies that are not included in this first point, we must take into account the following considerations:
Private and office removals
Private removals in Catalonia, and also office transfers, are allowed without any restriction if it is a move in the same municipality. However, for moves between municipalities, it will only be necessary to prove the client’s displacement. We remind you that transport services are considered essential and therefore removal companies are not restricted in their mobility. However, the trips that the customer must make are conditioned to being really indispensable. In addition, these must be justified.
Logically, if we are in a building with a danger of collapse, flooding or similar, the transfer can be made urgently and without inconvenience by the authorities, but there are also other exceptions.
The most common situation remains that will allow us to carry out our move between municipalities and despite mobility restrictions. If your lease ends, you’ll have an option to move out.
Termination of the rental agreement
Because housing is an essential right, a solution has been provided for the most extreme cases. In situations where the rental contract ends and the tenant has not managed to reach an agreement with the owner of the current property, removals are also authorized as an essential service. In order to be able to make your transfer, in this case it will be advisable that you have a document that proves the end of the lease contract, whether it is the lease itself, a burofax or any other similar justification. In this way, together with the removal contract and the self-responsible certificate, you can provide sufficient documentation to prove your displacement.
Civil Protection responses in Catalonia
In the Frequently Asked Questions document prepared by Civil Protection of Catalonia, questions from citizens are answered. In this document, the Generalitat itself already indicated on November 23 that if the move responds to a need, it is viable. This means that if we can postpone the move, it is advisable to look for another date, but if this is not possible, we can carry it out.
What documentation do I need to prove the movement between municipalities for a move?
On the day of the move, we must prove our travel between municipalities, in case these regulations are still in force (for now from 7 to 18 January).
To do this, we recommend carrying any document that proves the end of the rental contract (or similar) in order to prove that we are moving out of a justified need. For greater peace of mind, we can always request a moving permit from the City Council of origin and destination, as it will be a good proof that we can provide to the authorities since it is a public document. With these two documents we will already have a firm basis to justify our move, but if the move is carried out by a removal company, we will also have a copy of the removal contract. This document will state the date of the move and the addresses of origin and destination, so it will also be a valid document to prove the reason for the move on the day of the move.
Finally, it will always be mandatory to fill in the Self-Responsible Certificate of Travel due to the COVID-19 health crisis indicating that we are going to carry out an activity of a similar nature, duly accredited. In the link we provide, you can complete this certificate from your mobile, computer or tablet.
Moving between municipalities and regions
For removals between municipalities, we must prove our own displacement with the documentation indicated in the previous point. The removal company will be able to transit between municipalities and work without restrictions, since the transport sector is not limited in its activity.
For moves between regions, family members must confirm beforehand that their displacement is duly justified. To do this, we recommend clearly proving the move with the aforementioned documents (completed rental contract, removal contract and parking permit at origin and destination), as well as consulting the specific regulations in the Autonomous Community of desino.
I still have doubts about whether I can make my move
We know that there are many and very diverse cases, therefore, if despite the indications that we have detailed in this article you have doubts about whether you can make your move, we invite you to contact us and we will advise you free of charge. Because our office staff works partly from home, we would appreciate it if you could contact us via the contact form on the website itself or via our email: [email protected]