How To Get a Boston Moving Permit: DIY and Low Cost Options
How To Get A Boston Moving Permit
If you’re moving in Boston, you’ll need to pick up some Boston Moving Permits. How badly you’ll need these permits, of course, depends on the neighborhood. Certain neighborhoods in Boston do not require permits such as: Roslindale, West Roxbury and Hyde Park. In every other area of Boston, a permit is a must. First thing is first when getting a Boston Moving Permit — it must be ordered within 48 business hours of the date and time you need to move. The city requires you give neighbors parked in the spots 48 business hours of notice to move their vehicles. Any service you hire will require at least that amount of time. Generally permits are from 7am-5pm. As long as your truck is there prior to 5pm you will be fine. If you are cutting it close on the 48 hour rule, a 12pm-8pm option is available.
How To Get A Boston Moving Truck Permit:
- Find Boston Movers that get it for you
- Take the trek to city hall, wait for 1–2 hours for processing then go to staples to print letters for neighbors cars, post letters and permits and remove after complete
- Hire Bostonmovingpermit.com and they will do all of the above for you for the lowest rates in the city $50/permit!
- Decide not to put up permits and either get a $260+ fine on the day of your move or possibly get towed by the city.
Moving Permits Save Time
It doesn’t matter if you’re loading your own truck or hiring Boston Movers — you’re going to want to make sure that whoever is carrying your precious belongings has a short walk to the back of the truck. An extra ten feet to get around your neighbor’s car may not sound like much. But multiply that ten feet by the number of boxes and pieces of furniture you have. That’s a whole lot of unnecessary labor time, wasted energy, and an increased chance of an injury or a damaged item.
So you definitely want your moving truck parked as close as possible to the door through which you’ll be carrying most of your stuff. And luckily, the city of Boston has a process to reserve a parking spot for moving day.
So here they are, just as the title promised, the 5 easy steps to follow get Boston Moving Permits:
Getting Permits at Boston City Hall
Boston City Hall is located at 1 City Hall Square, Boston MA the place to go to pick up Boston Moving Permits. image: Wikimedia commons
If your move day is more than a month away or within the next two weeks, you’ll need to make a trip to city hall. There are many online permit pullers. You can order a Boston Moving Permit for the cheapest fee using www.bostonmovingpermit.com. If you do decide to get your own permit — allot about 2–4 hours to go it, wait for the processor to process, head to staples and print the letters that you have to place neighbors cars and some plastic protection. Boston moving permits are paper and can disintegrate in rain and snow.
What You’ll need to get Permits from City Hall
-Money: The City now accepts cash, personal checks, and credit and debit cards for in-person payments for Boston Moving Permits. For one spot for a single moving truck, you should expect to spend about $69 total for the permits plus a 3% transaction fee for a $71.02 total.
-Time: You cannot wait until the last minute to get your moving permits. To reserve a spot for a truck in a residential area, you have to obtain your permits AT LEAST 3 DAYS prior to your move. For example, if you’re moving on a Sunday, you have to get the permits by the previous Thursday. If you live in a metered area, you need to obtain your permits AT LEAST 2 DAYS prior to your move. It’s also important to bring your patience — sometimes the process will only take ten minutes out of your day, while other times it could take more than a few hours.
State Roads Require State Moving Permits
If you live on parts of Boylston St., Charlesgate East and West, Park Drive, Fenway, and Riverway, and all of Jamaicaway, your road is under the jurisdiction of another entity and not the city of Boston. Boston Moving Permits will not apply to your address. So you’ll need to apply directly to the DCR for your moving permit.
Boston Moving Permits are not available for certain state-owned roads.
Picking Up the Permits
There are two ways to get Boston moving permits. The easiest way, of course, is to order a Boston moving permit here and have us post the permits If not, you’re going to have make a trip to City Hall. It’s located at One City Hall Sq and its operating hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
The Second Floor
Once inside City Hall, take the escalator down to Floor 2. That’s where you’ll find a series of cashier windows. Look any signs that say “street moving,” and follow them to any window numbered 1 through 6. Any window with its blue sign lit up is open and ready to give you a street permit.
(If you’re applying far enough advance, the only reason they would deny the form is if there is a special event like a feast or a parade scheduled the same day as your move.)
The signs are $4.00 each, and then there is a $61.00 base fee for the 40-foot area needed to reserve for the truck. This total of $69.00 is all most box trucks require — the 40-foot area, and two signs to post in the area. If you are reserving a spot in front of meters, you will have to pay an additional $20.00 per meter head within the 40-foot spot. (If your move is on a Sunday, the meter fees will be waived.)
The city will also give you a helpful flyer to distribute on cars and to your neighbors in advance of the move, so they are aware of the parking situation.
How to Post Moving Permits
You need to post Boston Moving Permits and “No Parking” signs AT LEAST 48 HOURS (at least 24 hours in a metered area) in advance of the move, within the 40-foot reserved area. You can post them on utility poles, parking meters, trees, or even fences. If you think your two signs are not visible enough, you can make additional “no parking” signs out of cardboard. As long as your homemade signs have the date of the permit, you can post them within the reserved area for extra coverage. (And definitely make sure to use plenty of tape to securely post your signs and permits. It’s important that neither rain, wind, nor neighbors can interfere with your paid-for right to park on moving day.)
Remember the flyer you got from City Hall? You’ll need to make copies of it, and leave it on the windshields of the cars parked in your moving spot. You’ll need to post it on the doors of the buildings on either side of the street. The city wants you to post these flyers, once a day, for at least the two days preceding your move. You can post them anywhere and on any car within a 20-foot radius of your moving spot.
We recommend posting them more often and in a larger area. Remember — it is important that everyone in the neighborhood knows that that parking spot is yours and yours alone.It’s always best to have your neighbors avoid parking there on that date. You don’t want to call a tow truck and have their car removed. Just because you’re moving out is no reason to make enemies.
This is why we recommend posting your permits and flyers well in advance of the 48 hour cut-off — especially if you live in a residential area, where people often leave their cars in the same spot for days at a time.
What to do on Moving Day
If you have hired your own movers in Boston, you’ll need to check your reserved parking area a couple of hours before their scheduled arrival. If a vehicle is parked in the area, you can call the Boston Police Department’s non-emergency line at 617–343–4911. Make sure to say, “this is not an emergency,” when they pick up. Calmly explain the situation (that there’s a car parked in the space you paid for), and give them the offending car’s license plate number. The police will run the registration and try to contact the owner. This way, the owner can hopefully remove the car instead of getting towed. If the owner is unreachable, they’ll call the towing company.
Getting the police to come and finally decide to call a tow truck can take two hours or more (remember, you did say that it was not an emergency.) And if you have movers waiting, you’re still going to need to pay for their time. So plan to be up early on moving day.
How to Clean up Moving Permits
Once you or your movers have fully loaded (or unloaded) your truck, you’ll need to clean up. You’ll need to take down all the signs and the tape used to post them. You should also pick up all the flyers you posted. You must report any damage to city property to the Public Works Department. If you moved any traffic signs, cones, or any other city property, you’ll need to put it back where it was. And that’s it. That’s how Boston Moving Permits work.
Pay for Movers to Post the Permits
Does this process sound like too much of hassle? Some Boston Movers will take care of all aspects of permit acquisition for you.
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