Moving In or Out of a Lagos High-Rise: Lifts and Building Rules

The truck has been parked outside the tower for forty minutes. The service lift is requested for another resident until noon, the security desk wants a signed form from facility management, and the three-seater sofa is too long for the lift car anyway. Every one of those problems could have been sorted out with two phone calls and a tape measure earlier in the week.

Flats in tall buildings in Ikoyi, Victoria Island, Lekki and Ikeja are moved in a different way. The vehicle, the driver and the load are the same, but the building has its own rules, its own lift and its own staff, and all of them decide how your day goes.

Talk to facility management before you request a driver anything

Most managed buildings have a facility manager or a management office. Call or visit them at least a few days before the move and ask:

1. Which days and hours moves are allowed. Many buildings limit moves to weekdays or to certain hours so residents are not disturbed.
2. Whether there is a service lift, and how you request it.
3. Whether they need a written request, a form or a deposit for possible damage.
4. Where a truck or van can park, and for how long.
5. What security will need on the day: names, the vehicle number, a list of items leaving.

Rules differ from building to building, so do not assume your friend's estate rules apply to yours. Get the answers in writing, even a WhatsApp message from the facility manager, and have it on your phone when the truck arrives.

If you are moving out, ask the same questions of the building you are leaving. Security often checks items going out more closely than items coming in, especially when a tenancy is ending.

The lift decides the whole plan

The service lift is the narrowest point of the move. Measure it before move day: door width, inside depth, inside height, and the diagonal from the bottom corner at the door to the top corner at the back. Long items often fit on that diagonal when they will not fit standing straight.

Then measure the pieces that worry you most:

• the sofa, including the arms
• the wardrobe, if it does not come apart
• the bed frame and headboard
• the fridge, which should stay upright
• any long mirror or glass tabletop

If something will not fit in the lift, it has to come apart, go down the stairs, or stay. Discover that on Tuesday and you have options. Discover it on Saturday with the lift requested for two hours and you have a problem. For pieces that must go by the stairs, our guide on moving heavy wooden furniture covers how to carry them without injury or damage.

Protect the building as well as your things

Facility managers worry about lift walls, corridor corners and lobby floors. Many buildings will ask you to pad the lift or will pad it themselves. Even if nobody asks, wrap furniture corners in blankets or cardboard and put cardboard on the corridor floor if the route is long.

Damage to common areas can turn into a deduction from a deposit, or a long argument with management. Twenty minutes of padding is cheaper than either.

Stage everything near the lift

The slowest high-rise moves are the ones where every carton is fetched from a bedroom, one at a time, while the lift waits. Before the vehicle arrives:

1. Pack and tape every carton.
2. Take apart beds, tables and shelves.
3. Move cartons and small items to the room nearest the front door.
4. Keep the corridor clear for the big pieces.

Then the move becomes a simple loop: fill the lift, ride down, unload at the ground floor, ride back up. One person stays with the items at ground level so nothing is left unattended in the lobby or on the kerb.

Ready to move?

Request a truck or van on Sphere

Choose your vehicle, propose your price, and verified drivers in Lagos accept or send a counter-offer.

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Parking and the ground floor

Ask management where the vehicle should stop. Some towers have a loading bay or a side entrance. Others expect you to use the main driveway and move quickly. On busy streets in Victoria Island or Ikoyi, roadside parking can be difficult, so share the exact gate and any instructions with the driver well before the day.

If the carry from the lift to the vehicle is long, mention it in your request. It affects how long the job takes and how many hands you need.

Van or truck?

A studio or one-bedroom flat with standard furniture usually fits in a pickup van. Two or more bedrooms, or a flat with a big dining set and a lot of appliances, usually needs a truck. If you are on the fence, read how to choose the right truck size, and remember that the time limit on the lift requesting a driver makes a second trip more expensive in time than it would be from a ground-floor flat.

How to do this on Sphere

1. Confirm the move date and lift requesting a driver with facility management first.
2. Open the Sphere app, choose a pickup van or a truck, and add both addresses with the building name and gate.
3. In the load description, list the big items, the floor number, the lift requesting a driver time and anything that must go by the stairs.
4. Propose a price. Nearby verified drivers accept it or send a counter-offer, and you choose the offer you want.
5. Agree loading and offloading help with the driver before you accept an offer.

More about house moves in the city is on our Lagos house moving page.