The moving-out checklist for renters

Moving out of a rented home comes down to a short list, and most of it is paperwork rather than packing. Serve the notice properly, pay to the last day, photograph everything, hand the keys back in a way you can prove, and ask for the deposit in writing. A tenant who does those things has the evidence for any deposit argument before the argument starts.

The list below is the moving-out half of the moving in and moving out checklist, which you can tick off and print. The order is the order it happens in: the fortnight before, then the last day.

This guide covers the Republic of Ireland. It assumes you are leaving by your own choice or at the end of a notice; if you are leaving under a landlord's notice you dispute, the notice journey comes first.

The checklist

1. Serve your notice in writing, with the date of service provable.
2. Repair anything you damaged, or raise it with the landlord in writing.
3. Pay rent and bills to the termination date, and keep the receipts.
4. Give a forwarding address and bank details in writing.
5. Photograph every room, dated, against the move-in set.
6. Take the final meter readings, photographed, and close or transfer the utilities.
7. Return the keys with a dated note, or by hand with a witness.
8. Ask for the deposit in writing, with a date.

Each step is explained below, with what it is for.

Before you leave

Step one is the notice. The period depends on how long you have been in the tenancy on the day you serve: 28 days under six months, rising to 112 days after eight years. The notice must be in writing and signed, and the clock runs from the day it reaches the landlord. Email it and hand it over, and keep the proof. Giving notice to your landlord has the table and the letter, and the giving-notice tool works out your dates.

Step two is anything you damaged. Wear and tear is not yours to pay for; damage beyond it is. A broken shelf or a cracked tile is cheaper to fix yourself than to have deducted, and a tenant who fixes the small things is more credible on the large ones. Where something was damaged through no fault of yours, say so in writing before you leave, not afterwards.

Step three is the money. Rent arrears and unpaid bills are the two deductions the Act plainly allows, and they are also the two easiest for a landlord to prove. Pay the rent to the termination date, not to the day you happen to move your things. The deposit is security, not the last month's rent; using it that way puts you in arrears and hands the landlord a deduction.

Step four is the forwarding address and your bank details, in writing, by email, before the last day. A landlord who has nowhere to send the deposit has an excuse, and the excuse costs nothing to remove. The same email can confirm the day you will hand back the keys.

The last day

Step five is the photographs. Take the same rooms from the same angles as the day you moved in, with the date showing. Walls, floors, windows, the inside of the oven and the fridge, the bathroom, the garden. Forty photographs take ten minutes. They are the deposit's best evidence, and they are worth more than any argument about what the home looked like.

Step six is the final meter readings: electricity, gas and water if metered, photographed with the date. Give the readings to the supplier and to the landlord the same day. Close the accounts or transfer them to your new address, so that nothing in your name runs on after you have gone.

Step seven is the keys. Hand them to the landlord or agent with a witness present, or leave them where the landlord asked with a dated note and a photograph of the note. The day the keys go back is the day the tenancy ends for the deposit, and the day the landlord's time to return it starts. Count every key and fob so there is no claim for a missing set.

Step eight is the deposit request, in writing, the same day, with a date by which you expect it back or an itemised list of deductions. The Act says "promptly" and gives no number; the request letter on this site gives 14 days as a planning figure. The deposit tool builds the letter, and getting your deposit back explains what happens if it does not arrive.

The final inspection

The Act does not require a final inspection, but many landlords and agents hold one, and it is in your interest to be there. Walk the home together, room by room, with the inventory from the start if there was one. Agree what is wear and tear and what is damage, and say what you will accept and what you will not. Write the agreed points in an email the same day, so the landlord's later list cannot differ from what was said in the room.

If the landlord inspects without you and sends a list afterwards, you still have your photographs. What a landlord may deduct, and wear and tear covers each heading and the evidence that answers it.

The admin nobody mentions

Set up a redirect for your post, or ask the landlord to hold it; a bank letter sent to an old address is a nuisance and a card sent there is a risk. Update your address with Revenue, your employer, your bank, the Department of Social Protection if you receive a payment, and your GP. If you claim the rent tax credit, note the rent paid in the year to the day you left; the rent tax credit guide covers the claim, and this year's rent is still claimable.

If you are on HAP, tell the local authority before you move; the payment stops on the old home and starts on the new one only when the new tenancy is approved. If you are moving to a new rented home, the moving-in half of the checklist starts the day you view it. The one-month caps on deposit and advance rent apply to the new landlord too.

Keep the agreement, the notice, the photographs, the key note and the deposit request in your tenancy file until the deposit is back and for a while after. The general time limit for an RTB claim is six years, and a landlord's claim against you has the same window.

Where this leaves you

The last fortnight is eight steps, and none of them is hard. Notice served and proved, damage repaired or raised, rent and bills paid to the end, and a forwarding address given. Then photographs taken, readings recorded, keys returned with a note, and the deposit asked for in writing with a date. Done in that order, they leave the landlord with nothing lawful to deduct and leave you with the evidence if they try. Tick them off in the checklist, send the deposit request the day the keys go back, and ring Threshold on 1800 454 454 if the money does not follow.