The Right Way To Move Out Of Your Student House

Some of the most fun years of my life were when I was living in a shared student house in Birmingham with my now life-long friends, Jenny and Sian. It was such a great bonding experience and now even though they are both married (with babies!) in different cities across the country, we are still in near daily contact. I’d recommend sharing a student house at some point in your life to almost anymore.

However, at some point, you’re going to move out of your student house. Some students do this every year, while others stay in the same place throughout their university journey. It doesn’t matter when you have to leave – what matters is that you do so correctly. 

There are right and wrong ways of moving out of student accommodation and this post is all about the right things to do. Why is it important? Well, it ensures that you leave with your deposit and a good reference from your landlord. If you leave your house in the wrong manner, you could lose money and also might find it harder to rent again. 

So, here are the right things to do when leaving your student flat/house:

Take all of your stuff

If you brought things to your student house when you moved in – and during your time there – take it all with you. Even if you think it’ll be handy for future tenants (like your pots and pans or ironing board) you shouldn’t leave them. Landlords can get annoyed at this and charge you for leaving everything. Plus, it’s just a bit rude and lazy to leave your junk in your old home. Get the moving boxes out and remove everything that you own from the place. 

Clean the house

Always clean the house before you leave it, no matter how filthy you have made it. Well, this is only the case if you live in the house/flat alone or everyone is moving out at once. If other students still live there, all you need to do is clean your room. You can’t leave your living space in a terrible condition as your landlord will have to pay cleaners to come and do this job for them. As such, they might withhold all or some of your deposit to pay for these services. It’s polite to clean up after yourself – and this can help you get a positive reference from your landlord in the future. 

Dispose of any rubbish

Throughout the moving process, you’re bound to encounter a lot of rubbish that needs to be removed. This can include some of your old belongings that you no longer need, but it can also be general household waste as you clean the house. Be sure that you get rid of this correctly – you might have communal bins to use, or you could consider using a service that allows you to book a skip online. Either way, don’t leave loads of rubbish in the home as your landlord can get annoyed and might withhold some of your deposit to cover the cost of waste disposal services. 

Naturally, you have to let your landlord know that you’re moving out. You should have a contract that ends each year, and you have to tell them if you’re staying or not. You can’t just leave your house in the middle of the year and not pay rent. It’s also advisable to try and find a replacement tenant if you share a house with other people, so they have an extra person covering the rent. If you do all of these things, you’ll have moved out in the best possible way.