Moving Out of a Rented Home: Leaving It Right

Check your tenancy for the exact date and time you must return the keys, and plan the move to finish comfortably before it. If your new home is available earlier, an overlap of a day or two is the most valuable thing you can have, because it separates the move from the handover.

Book your removal as early as you know the date. End of month is busy, because many tenancies finish together, and choice of time slot narrows quickly.

If you were given an inventory or photos when you moved in, find them now. They are the reference point for how the property should look when you leave. Walk round with them a few weeks before the move and note anything that needs attention while there is still time.

Furnished and part furnished lets cause confusion on moving day. Make a clear list of anything that belongs to the landlord and must stay, and tell your removal crew at the start. It is surprisingly easy for a landlord's bedside table to end up in the van when everything is being loaded quickly.

Equally, anything of yours that you do not want must go. Old furniture, broken items and a shed full of odds and ends are all things a landlord will expect to be gone.

It is much easier to handle a rental handover if the things you are not keeping are cleared before the move rather than on the same day. PHX Services offers house and garage clearances as well as removals, so unwanted items can go in one job and the things you are keeping in another.

Clearing early also lets you see the rooms empty, which is when marks on walls and carpets become obvious.

Picture hooks, scuffs from furniture and faded patches are common at the end of a tenancy. Check your agreement and your landlord's expectations before touching up walls yourself, because a patchy repair can look worse than the original mark. If rooms do need redecorating, PHX Services offers painting and decorating.

If the tenancy makes you responsible for the garden, look at it a few weeks out, not on the last day. Overgrown borders and a mossy patio take longer than people expect. Garden maintenance and pressure washing are both services PHX Services provides.

Once the van is loaded, walk every room, cupboard, loft hatch and outside space one more time. Take dated photos of each room as you leave it. Read the meters and photograph them too. Then return the keys exactly as your agreement says, and keep a note of when and to whom.