Before Your Move

Notify your Landlord - Give your landlord plenty of notice that you will be vacating your place on a specific date. If possible, plan to have everything moved out and cleaned up a couple days ahead of your date to avoid any emergencies or time crunches.

Keep the lines of Communication Open - keep your landlord updated throughout the moving process, so he or she will be able to show the apartment to new tenants and guarantee a move-in date to the incoming individuals.

Leave, and Take All your Stuff with You - Moving is a big project, and sometimes it's so tempting to leave odds and ends behind that you don't need. Remember, it's not your landlord's responsibility to get rid of all the junk you don't want to take with you to your new place. If you don't want something, at least haul it to the curb or dumpster, or just advertise it on the Craigslist or FreeCycle for your city - it's surprising what people will pick up and re-use.

Clean It Up - Landlord's can usually charge a cleaning fee if you leave your apartment excessively messy. Since messiness is in the eye of the beholder, it's better to be on the safe side and tidy up as much as possible. If you want to get your deposit back, try to leave your apartment even cleaner than you found it when you moved in.

Fix It Up - Don't ruin your moving kharma by not telling your landlord of any damages you caused to the apartment during your tenancy - now's the time to step up. Not only do temporary fixes and cover-ups not work, you may end up with a lawsuit in the future if you don't take action now. Usually landlords have a maintenance staff or regular contractors that are capable of fixing major damages that you can't fix yourself.

For the Record - It's a good idea to have some record of the condition your apartment was in when you moved out. That way, your landlord can't accuse you of leaving the place worse than when you moved in. It's also a good idea to take pictures of the apartment after you've moved your belongings out and cleaned. You should also schedule a walk-through with your landlord, just to show the condition of the place and hand over the keys. This will not only show the landlord how you left your apartment, but also prove that you didn't make any modifications to it after surrendering all access. Click here for a helpful chart that compares "Normal Wear and Tear" to actual damages.

Show Me the Money - Depending on the terms of your lease, you should be entitled to get your security deposit back when you move out. As long as you didn't trash the place, and as long as you're honest about any damages that did occur during your occupancy, you should be able to get all/most of your deposit back. FYI - Repainting and carpet cleaning are costs you shouldn't have to cover unless you caused excessive damage to your apartment. If you don't get your deposit back before moving out, make sure your landlord knows where to send it by providing your forwarding address. If you don't receive your security deposit back in a timely fashion - usually 30 days from your last day - send a written request by certified mail with return receipt requested to your landlord. If there's no response, you might look into going to small claims court to get your deposit back. Depending on the size of your deposit, this may not be worth the hassle, but you are legally entitled to get your deposit back unless you've caused damage so extensive that the money's needed for repairs. This is where the photographs of the pristine apartment you left behind come in handy-they'll demonstrate that you didn't do enough damage to merit the seizure of your deposit.