“I wanna move out of a share house, but I don’t know what to do…”
Aren’t you worried like this?
A flow of moving out of a share house is not so different from moving out of a regular apartment for living alone. Moving out of a share house could be much smoother actually because there is no cancellation process of contracts for electric and gas services.
By knowing the flow and important points in moving out of a share house beforehand, you can leave the share house without trouble.
So, we introduce the following in this article.
・A flow of moving out of a share house
・Reasons why leaving a share house
・Estimated costs of leaving a share house
・Cases that you may need to pay a penalty
・Important points when leaving a share house
Also, we talk about the possibility of moving back into a share house that you move out of later. Please refer to that too.
A flow of moving into/out of a share house
Here is a simple flow of moving into/out of a share house.
[When moving into a share house]
- Look for a share house, first. If you find something you are interested in, let’s go take a look at the share house.
- If you like the share house after viewing, sign on a housing contract.
- Submit the necessary documents.
- Pay the total amount of initial costs
- Receive a house key and move in on the day of moving-in
[When moving out of a share house]
- Contact a staff from a management company or an owner of the share house.
- Submit necessary documents, if it’s required
- Pack everything before the day of moving-out
- Pay the moving-out fee by the due date, if it’s necessary.
- Have the staff or the owner check your room after packing everything on the day of moving out.
- Return a house key and leave
It’s almost the same as moving out of an apartment.
Moving out of an apartment involves a cancellation process of contracts for public utility services. The process is not required for a share house since other residents live in the share house.
Moving-out procedures would be more straightforward for the share house.
What are the reasons for moving out of a share house?
For example, reasons why moving out of a share house are:
・Feel you want to live in a different share house
・Expiration of a housing contract
・A workplace gets farther due to relocation or job change
・Decide to live together with your partner
・Decide to move back to your hometown
・Receive an order to leave because you cause trouble
In many cases, reasons for moving-out are positive, like relocation or change of an environment. However, reasons vary depending on a person. Some people leave because they cause trouble, or they didn’t like other share mates, or the actual life in the share house is different from what they imagined.
It’s totally fine to tell your reasons for moving-out frankly to an owner of a share house. Especially when it’s because of positive reasons such as relocation or marriage, you can leave the share house without any trouble by telling your reasons honestly.
We told the flow for moving-out of a share house so far.
Actually, there are some cases you need to pay the cost of leaving a share house. We explain in the next section.
Estimated costs of leaving a share house
No payment/costs are required when you move out of the share house.
However, you need to pay a cleaning fee in the following cases.
・Wall and floor were dirty
・Floor was damaged because of moving furniture around
・Break facilities or equipment in the share house
Although it’s a share house, but it’s still a property for rent. You need to keep and return everything in a clean condition.
In Hidamari, we ask everyone in the share house for a cleaning fee, even if their rooms are clean. Instead, the initial cost is cheap, like ¥80,000 on average, so the total amount is almost the same as other share houses.
Please check if a share house requires a cleaning fee.
So far, we told you that pay a cost of moving-out for a share house, but some cases require a penalty. We explain the details in the next section.
A penalty is required when you move out of a share house in a short period
When you move out of a share house, a penalty is required in the following cases:
・Moving out before the contract expiration date
・Contacting the share house’s owner or management company later than the deadline and moving out suddenly
A penalty is a thing required in case of breaking rules, such as contract terms and notification deadlines. In most cases, people don’t need to pay the penalty unless they forget to contact the owner or the management company beforehand.
To avoid paying the penalty, we recommend to know/understand important points in moving out of a share house. We explain concretely in the next section.
Important points in moving out of a share house
Important points in moving out of a share house are as follows:
[Notification of moving out]
・Notify the owner or the management company ahead of time
・Contact through email so that you can trace back later
First, as an essential manner, please notify the owner or the management company ahead of time. For example, if you are required to inform them 3 months before moving out, you need to contact them in June when you want to move out in September.
And contact via ways that you can access every single message later., such as emails and letters, is recommended.
Contact through word of mouth or by the phone might cause trouble, such as telling a wrong date of moving-out. Instead, media that can keep all texts like emails might be better for both sides to communicate comfortably.
[When moving out]
・Don’t leave any personal belongings
・Clean up your room
・Tell any damages/stains in your room honestly
A common problem in moving out of a share house is leaving personal belongings. Your stuff in a shared space such as the living room, including things in your own room, is not always used by other share mates.
Especially something big would annoy others, please take all your belongings as well as foodstuff in a refrigerator with you when you move out.
Also, please clean up your room and give it back in a clean condition. It’s the same as an apartment, but someone is going to live in the same room after you move out. When there are damages/stains in your room, telling the owner or the management company would help them a lot.
[Money]
・Check if you can get a deposit back
・Pay the cost of moving-out as early as possible, if necessary.
There is no security deposit or key money required for a share house, but many share houses would be willing to return you a deposit instead. Also, if you need to pay the cost of moving-out, such as a cleaning fee, we recommend you to pay as early as possible.
If you think you can move out smoothly, you should look for a place/room to live in next as well. If you are thinking of a share house again, a search engine would be easy to use.
Please refer to the article below for more details.
You can move back into the share house that you move out of.
We explained about moving-out of a share house so far. But, if reasons for moving-out are temporally, you might think you want to move back into the same share house again.
Basically, if you don’t cause any trouble, it’s possible to move back into the same share house again. If you keep a good relationship with the owner or the management company, you can live in the same share house again.
If you are thinking of moving back into the same share house, let’s ask the owner or the management company about the possibility.
Summary – Notify a share house’s owner or management company about moving-out ahead of time to avoid further trouble
In this article, we explained the flow and the important points in moving out of a share house.
Let’s go over the flow of moving out of the share house again.
- Contact a staff from a management company or an owner of the share house.
- Submit necessary documents, if it’s required
- Pack everything before the day of moving-out
- Pay the moving-out fee by the due date, if it’s necessary.
- Have the staff or the owner check your room after packing everything on the day of moving-out.
- Return a house key and leave
Also, we explain the following as important points.
・Notify the owner or the management company ahead of time
・Contact through email so that you can trace back later
・Don’t leave any personal belongings
・Clean up your room
・Tell any damages/stains in your room honestly
・Check if a deposit is refundable
・Pay the cost of moving-out as early as possible, if necessary
In case of moving-out temporally, it’s possible to move back into the same share house again. To do so, you proceed with the procedure to move out smoothly by informing the owner or the management company ahead of time.
When you move out of a share house, you may need to use a moving company.
Please refer to the following for recommended moving companies.
