Dealing With A Bad Breakup? How Can You Vacate Your Home Or Apartment Quickly And Efficiently?
As the song goes, "breaking up is hard to do" -- and an already emotionally-fraught process can become even more difficult if you and your now-ex are sharing a house or apartment that one of you needs to leave. While taking your belongings and moving out for a fresh start can sound like the best decision (and often is), there are still some factors you'll want to consider before moving out. Read on to learn more about these considerations, as well as some of the quickest and most efficient ways to remove your belongings from a joint residence.
What should you take into account before vacating your residence after a breakup?
While you may be tempted to grab your belongings while your ex is at work or commuting and leave your home without a trace, doing so can sometimes set you up for legal and logistical difficulties down the road.
Even if you and your ex were renting a house or apartment (rather than joint owners or mortgage holders), you can still be held liable for lease charges or damage to the apartment after you leave unless your ex executes a new lease in his or her name only. You'll want to ensure that this is accomplished (or, at the very least, that the ball is rolling on the process) before you voluntarily relinquish physical control of your home or apartment.
You'll also want to account for any items you remove or plan to remove from your joint residence. A vindictive ex who disagrees with your claim of certain items may even sue you in small claims court to demand the return of these items (or compensation for their value). Having a list of items that may be in dispute, along with information about how these items were acquired or who paid for them, can go a long way toward staving off any legal claims.
What arrangements should you make when you're ready to move out?
Once you've handled the legal aspects of your leaving, arranging a move can seem like a much easier prospect -- one you may even be tempted to handle yourself. However, hiring a moving company can be money well spent to avoid the headache and potential hassle of removing items from your joint home with your ex underfoot.
By enlisting a moving company like All About Moving to relocate your items to a new location, you'll ensure there's a sufficient "buffer" in place between you and your ex, which should minimize interpersonal conflict. Your itemized list will also come in handy during this process, giving the movers clear guidance on which items to pack and take and which to leave. And unless you're moving out of state, this process should be comparable in price to renting a box truck yourself and paying your friends in pizza and beer -- but it has the added security of a licensed moving company that has insurance in place to compensate you for any losses.