It’s always a bit awkward telling someone you don’t want to live with them anymore, even if you didn’t know your housemates before you moved in. Sometimes you can lean on an easy out, like moving cities or moving in with a partner – other times you’re left to dance around the fact you’ve actually just had jack of them and need to get as far away as possible so you don’t commit murder.
No matter the reason for the move – or even if your housemate is the one leaving you – there are a few things you can do to make the transition as smooth and tearless as possible.
1. Keep things civil
Seems like an obvious and easy one right? Well sure, if your housemates are good. It’s literally the hardest challenge in the world if your housemate is actually a bit crap and, say, got mad and took it out on you by rubbing your toothbrush in something yellow. I wish I was making this up.
The thing is though, it’s going to be better for you if you can keep it as civil as possible. There’s still a lot of logistics you need to get through that can be damn near impossible if you stop talking the day after you move out.
2. Sell joint furniture
Of course, you can always divvy up joint household furniture and goods. Sometimes I’ve found it easier to just sell what you can and split the money. This is especially true if you’ll be in a new space that might not fit your foldout anymore.
Either way, it’s a good excuse to grab some new pieces to deck out your new pad. You can get really cool designs for reasonable prices at places like Fantastic Furniture.
3. Pay an end-of-lease cleaner
Please trust me on this: the easiest way to avoid the huge fight that is trying to get your housemates to pitch in with the end-of-lease clean is to hire a pro. It’s simply not worth the rise in your blood pressure to keep begging your housemates.
Obviously the cost depends on the size of your house, but my last townhouse was only about $100 in total to get cleaned professionally.
4. Sort out your final bills
This is one of the main reasons it’s in your best interest to remain civil. If the final household bills will be coming to you, it would seriously suck to have to pay the whole thing yourself just because you’re not on speaking terms with your old housemates.
Of course, if your housemates are the ones getting the bill, you’d never refuse to pay just because of a fight, right?
5. Split the bond
Here we have the other main reason to stay on good terms with old housemates. If the lease is ending it can take months for the bond to be released back to you, and they only send it to one bank account. Staying on good terms and remaining contactable makes it easy to split the bond evenly – and you need that dosh to deck out your new pad, amiright?
6. Update the lease
If you’re the one moving out, you’ll want to make sure your name is taken off the lease. You don’t want to be held responsible for anything that may happen when you don’t even live there.
If you’re staying, best to replace your departing housemate on the lease as quickly as possible. It may not seem like a big deal, but you can still run into issues down the road if you don’t.
Moving out is stressful enough without putting extra strain on your ex-housemate relationships.
