How Long Can a Moving Company Hold Your Stuff?
The short answer: there is no flat federal “21-day” or “30-day” limit. An interstate mover must deliver within the delivery window written on your bill of lading (“reasonable dispatch”), and may hold goods only for the lawful charges you actually owe — not to extract more than the 100%/110% release rule allows.
“How long can a moving company hold my stuff?” usually gets a confident wrong answer online — “21 days” or “30 days.” There is no such fixed federal number. What governs an interstate move is the delivery window written on your paperwork, not a one-size-fits-all clock. This page explains what the rules actually say. It is general information, not legal advice.
What the rule actually says: “reasonable dispatch”
Federal regulations require a mover to transport your goods with reasonable dispatch, which is defined as performing the move on the dates, or within the period, agreed upon and shown on the bill of lading.[1] In other words, your delivery deadline is the one in your own paperwork. There is no separate national maximum that overrides it.
What happens if the mover is late
If the mover can’t meet the pickup or delivery dates in the bill of lading, the rules require it to notify you of the delay in writing and tell you the new dates it expects to pick up or deliver.[2] A shipment that misses the agreed window is a delayed shipment, which can give rise to a delay claim — the notice duty, and how a delay claim works, are covered in movers are late.
When a mover can — and can’t — hold your goods
There is a real distinction here:
- A mover generally can hold your shipment until you pay the lawful charges you actually owe under the contract (this is sometimes called a carrier’s lien).
- A mover generally cannot hold your shipment to extract more than the release rule allows — 100% of a binding estimate, or 110% of a non-binding one — for the items and services on the estimate.[3]
Demanding more than that before unloading is the hostage-load situation, not a lawful hold. If that is what you are facing, the emergency page is the most direct starting point.
Storage instead of delivery
If you are not able to accept delivery when the mover arrives in the agreed window, the mover may place your shipment in storage near the destination — and must promptly tell you, in writing, the name and address of the warehouse.[2] Storage charges can then apply.
If the timeline has gone wrong
For a missed window, the documents that matter are the bill of lading (with the agreed dates) and the written delay notice, and movers are late covers the delay-claim path. For a mover demanding more than the cap before unloading, that is the hostage situation — my moving company overcharged me lays out the ordered recovery path.
Sources
Every legal claim above links to one of these official sources. Rules change — check the source if you're acting on this.