There comes a time in your life when you have to leave your rental house. You could be moving into a new rental space, buying a new house, temporarily moving out for home improvement purposes, etc. Whatever the reason might be, moving is a part of everyone’s life. Sooner or later, you have to vacate your current living space and move on with your life.
However, vacating your house is not a straightforward task. Not only do you feel emotional while leaving your house, but there are also many serious matters you have to look into. You have to ensure that you leave the house in the best condition and look into legal matters as well.
In this article, we enlist four things you should do before vacating your house.
1. Clean the House
To get your deposit amount back, you have to ensure that when you vacate the house, it’s spotless. It’s natural that when you are living in a space, it gets dirty. There might be stains on the walls and carpet, etc. If you don’t deep clean the house before you vacate, you might face deductions in your deposit amount. For this reason, ‘end-of-lease cleaning’ is a helpful thing. Many reputable companies provide professional cleaning services like cleaning carpets etc., that you can hire.
Ask yourself questions like “Have we taken out all our important stuff?” “Have we thrown the garbage out before we vacated?” “Have we cleaned carpets before we vacated the house?” “Have we cleaned the bathrooms?”. You have to return the house to the landlord just as you received it. Some natural wear and tear are acceptable, but an unclean house is unacceptable. Think of it as a home improvement project, where the first step is to ensure that the house is deeply and thoroughly cleaned.
2. Send the Move-Out Notification to the Landlord
The person who you need to inform first about moving out is your landlord. This doesn’t mean texting or calling them to let them know. There is a proper legal procedure to do so. According to the rules, you must notify your landlord that you are moving out at least a month in advance. The landlord might need to find new tenants. For that, they have a right to be informed about your leaving beforehand so that they can arrange new renters on time. Your notification to the landlord must include a statement about the property, the date you are going to move out, and your request for a deposit return.
If you are leaving before the lease expires, then you need to state your reason in this statement, too. If leaving before the expiration of the lease is causing any problems, then you can opt for either subleasing or subletting. With subleasing, someone else can rent the property as if it was you. In subletting, a new tenant pays the rent directly to the landlord. If the landlord doesn’t agree to either of these options, then you will have to pay the full lease amount even if you are leaving before it expires. Also, make sure to vacate the house on the exact date you mentioned in your notification.
3. Settle Unpaid Bills
When you are living in a house, of course, you have all sorts of utility bills to pay. And when you are leaving the house, and there are some unpaid bills behind, they will cause trouble for you. It’s crucial to make sure all your bills are paid, like service providers, utility bills, taxes, etc. If you move out without paying the due bills, your landlord will pay the bills by using your deposit amount. That way, you will have to bear deductions in the deposit amount. Not only that, but such things can also lead to serious conflicts, with one party blaming the other for the inconvenience and irresponsible behavior. Another important thing is to update all service providers about your moving out. Call all the service providers to ask them to cancel the service at this address on your moving-out date.
Many people put this task for later and get reminded when they receive a bill for a service they forgot to cancel. It’s the best time to mention here to remember to update your new address wherever needed. Provide your new address to your employer, your utility companies, financial institutions like banks, service providers, post offices, etc. The unpaid charges that can get paid online are not much to worry about, but the ones you receive at the home address must all be fully paid before you vacate, as per your responsibility.
4. Get Rid of Extra Possessions
You cannot leave the house without packing all your stuff. And since you have been living in your rented house for so long, it’s also obvious that you must have a lot of possessions by now. So, before you vacate the house, it’s in your best interest to look at all your belongings and get rid of unwanted or unnecessary, useless things. The best thing to do is arrange a garage sale. That way, you will get rid of extra stuff and also gain some cash.
Or you can donate extra stuff to charities and welfare trusts. Just make sure that you are only left with things you use and need. If you come across a thing you have not used in years, there is a high chance you will not need it in the future too. Having fewer things also makes it easier to pack up and also makes it easy to clean out the house before vacating, as there will be less clutter.
Conclusion
Vacating your house is an emotional and stressful experience. Before you vacate your rented house, you need to make sure that all your dues are paid, the house is clean, you have notified the landlord before time, and there is no stuff of yours left behind on the property. If you are moving out of your house, these four tips will help you with the process.