How to Tell Your Roommate You’re Moving Out

All good things must come to an end, and so it will be with you and your apartment roommate. As with many aspects of the roommate relationship, telling a roommate you will be moving out can be stressful. But letting your roommate know you’re leaving can be relatively easy and leave everyone involved with generally good feelings — if you handle things in a respectful way. Here are some tips for letting your roommate know that you’ll be moving out.

How to tell your roommate
Your approach will depend on your existing relationship with your apartment roommate. If relations with your roommate are good, tell them in person that you are moving out. If you and your roommate tend to have nasty disagreements face to face, you may want to consider letting your roommate know you’re moving out in a less direct way. If you think there’s a chance that there will be a disagreement over money later, telling your roommate you are leaving through e-mail has the advantage of being time-stamped, so you can prove that you gave your roommate plenty of notice.

When to tell your roommate
Let your roommate know as early as you can, so that he or she has time to search for a new roommate or apartment. You’ll also want to give your roommate plenty of notice so that he or she can make plans around your moving your belongings out of the apartment.

How much should you say
Should you tell your roommate why you’re moving out? It depends on your reasons for moving and the emotions involved. If you’ve been silently seething for months over disagreements, bringing these issues up while telling your roommate you are moving out is not going to be of much benefit to either of you. After all, you’re not going to be living with this person much longer. Even if you don’t get along, you want to be relatively gracious. Of course, if your reason for moving out has nothing to do with your roommate, such as switching jobs or wanting a better location, this will be much less of a difficulty to bring up to your roommate.

Hammer out final details with your roommate
Don’t forget to discuss the details of moving out with your roommate. Work out who has to pay the last bills, when you’ll be moving out, and how you’ll get back anything you put towards the security deposit. If you and your roommate have a roommate agreement, read through it to make sure you are honoring any provisions you are your roommate set in the event someone moved out.

Do unto your roommate…Finally, just because you’re moving out doesn’t mean you get to give up your usual responsibilities in the apartment such as cleaning or paying bills. Your roommate may still be useful in the future as a personal reference, even if you don’t plan to remain in touch after you move out. Consider what you would want your roommate to do if you were the one being left behind, and act accordingly.