The Dallas apartment move-out checklist

Apartment moves have less volume than house moves and more obstacles. The unit is small; the building is the job. Here is the sequence that keeps a move-out from turning into a deduction.

Four weeks out: decide what is not coming

The single most useful thing you can do is separate what is moving from what is not, early, while you still have time to donate or sell the second group. Nearly everybody underestimates how much falls into that second pile.

• The mattress. Almost nobody moves one to a new apartment, and almost every unit inspection finds one propped against a bedroom wall.
• Furniture that will not fit the new layout. Measure the new place before deciding, not after.
• Balcony and patio furniture, which weathers badly and rarely survives a Texas summer in good shape.
• Anything in an assigned storage cage — easily forgotten because you never look in it.
• Boxes from your last move that were never unpacked.

Two weeks out: check the building's rules

This is the step people skip, and it is the one that derails a move day. Ask the leasing office four specific questions:

• Does the service elevator have to be reserved, and in what size blocks?
• Is there a loading bay or designated spot, and is it shared with deliveries?
• What are the quiet hours, and do they restrict when movers can work?
• What is the current gate code, and where does a truck actually park?

In Dallas both extremes are common. Garden communities mean a third-floor walk-up with no lift at all. Uptown high-rises mean a freight elevator booked in two-hour blocks. Neither is a problem if you know in advance; both are a problem discovered on the day.

One week out: book the clear-out

Book junk removal for the day after your move rather than the same day. Moving days do not run to plan, and a crew arriving while the movers are still loading helps nobody.

If you booked an elevator window for the movers, check whether you need a second one.

Move day: stage what is staying behind

As the movers work, put everything that is not going into one place — usually the living room. It makes the clear-out faster, it stops anything being taken by mistake, and it gives you a clear view of what is actually left.

The day after: clear and check

Once the remainder is gone, walk the unit against the list the leasing office will use. Anything left behind becomes a haul-away charge against your deposit, billed at whatever their vendor charges rather than a rate you negotiated — which is the entire reason to handle it yourself.

• Every room, closet and cupboard emptied, including the top shelf nobody uses.
• Balcony and patio completely clear.
• Assigned storage cage or garage space emptied.
• Nothing left in a breezeway, stairwell or beside the compactor.
• Floors swept and the unit broom-clear.