Moving out by a lease deadline

A lease end is a hard deadline. The landlord may have a new tenant arriving, a walkthrough booked, or simply a date after which you owe rent or penalties. That changes how you should plan a move. This guide is about meeting the date. For the terms of your lease, deposit and notice, check your lease and California tenant resources; we do not give legal advice.

The end and start of the month tend to be busy for movers. Once you know your date, book it; we cannot hold a date without a confirmation. Choose a morning arrival: 8 to 10 AM in the South Bay and Peninsula, 9 to 11 AM in San Francisco and the East Bay, with a call 30 minutes before. An afternoon start depends on when the morning jobs finish and is never promised, which is the wrong risk to take on a deadline. Spartan works seven days a week and the rate is the same on weekends.

If the lease ends on the 31st, try to move on the 30th. That leaves a day for cleaning, patching nail holes, returning keys and the walkthrough, without a truck in the way. A move can also be split into two days, packing on the first day and moving on the second, if you are short on time to pack yourself.

Gaps happen: the new lease starts on the 5th, the old one ends on the 31st. Climate-controlled storage holds your things in between, billed as a flat monthly fee in 30-day periods from the day they go in. Then we deliver when your new home is ready. Storage is never discounted.

Apartment buildings often require a certificate of insurance and an elevator reservation for move-outs as well as move-ins. COIs are free; we need the management company name, mailing address and an email. Elevator waiting time is billed as part of the job, so a reserved elevator saves money. Our truck needs about 40 feet of curb; in San Francisco, when there is no legal place to park, a temporary permit can be arranged through the SFMTA. See SF parking permits.

$175 per hour for 3 movers, $235 for 4 on larger homes, with a 3-hour minimum and 15-minute increments. A studio usually takes 2 to 3 hours (3-hour minimum) and a 1-bedroom 3 to 5. No deposit for local moves; payment at the end by cash, money order, Visa or Mastercard.

Sometimes the deadline comes sooner than planned. Call and ask; same-day moves are rare, but short notice is not always a no. Have your ZIP codes, home size and whether you will need packing ready, and we can tell you quickly what is open. See last-minute movers.

• Read the lease for the move-out date and building move rules.
• Book the movers as soon as you have the date.
• Request the COI and the elevator slot.
• Pack early; leave only essentials for the last night.
• Move the day before the deadline if you can.
• Photograph the empty unit after the move.