5 Ways to Avoid Being Charged When Moving Out of An Apartment

When you first moved into your apartment, there’s a pretty good chance that you had to put down first and last month’s rent (or at least a percentage of it). The last month’s rent was to serve as your security deposit in case there was some damage done to the apartment while you stayed there or you did not leave in it in the condition that it was in when you first moved there.

But sometimes, when people are in a rush to move out, they overlook a few things that end up resulting in them not getting their security back but instead having the landlord keep it and sometimes them even having to pay a bit more. If you are on the verge of moving out of your apartment and you’d like a few tips on how you can avoid being charged, we’ve enclosed five great ones for you below:

Make sure that you honor your lease. One way that you can be charged actually has nothing to do with the state of the apartment but the lease that you signed. Traditionally, landlords request that you give them at least a 30 days’ notice if you intend to move because this gives them time to find another tenant. If you don’t do that, you could end up being charged at least another month’s rent for leaving without giving adequate notice.

Not painting the walls its original color. If you happened to have a landlord who was cool enough to let you paint the walls (because many of them would actually prefer that you don’t), that’s awesome. But if you do, they are probably going to want you to paint it back to the color that it was when you first moved in. Leaving it for them to do can also cost you.

Don’t forget to take all of your stuff with you. It’s pretty common that once you start going through all of the things that you acquired while living in the apartment that you’ll want to throw a few items out. However, it’s not the landlord’s job to serve as your clean-up crew so make sure that if it’s not going into the dumpster that you take it with you. If you don’t, yes, they can charge you for that.

Failing to go down the “move out checklist” that landlords usually offer. After you have notified your landlord of your intentions to move, usually they will give you what is known as a “move out checklist” which includes all of the things that they will be looking for when they give the apartment a final inspection. So whether it’s an end of tenancy cleaning in London or you’re leaving a condo in LA, don’t forget to look at that list and check it twice before having the landlord look the place over.

Not doing a thorough cleaning. When you’re about to move, it’s not about “straightening up” but actually doing a deep and thorough cleaning. Mop the floors. Clean the stove. Check the walls for marks or any signs of damage. Wipe down the cabinets. Do all that you can to make the apartment look like you never even lived in it. If you do that, there’s a pretty good chance that you can avoid being charged and, even better, you might just get all of your deposit back.