You rent the whole place · II
A joint tenancy
One agreement, several signatures, and one end date for everybody. It works perfectly while the household moves together and it becomes genuinely awkward when one person leaves mid-term — which in this postcode happens constantly.
Sort the agreement first and the removal afterwards. An unbooked move is much easier to reschedule than an unsettled tenancy.
What we do, and what we will not
The agreement does not end when your furniture does
This is the thing people most often get wrong and it is worth stating plainly. A joint tenancy binds everybody who signed it until it ends or is formally varied. Moving your things out does not, by itself, remove you from it.
So the sequence that works is: settle the paperwork side, then book the removal. We will hold a provisional slot while that happens, and we would much rather do that than move somebody out of an obligation they are still in.
One deposit, one tenancy
It was protected as a single sum covering the whole agreement, and it comes back at the end of the tenancy rather than in instalments as people leave. Anything settled between housemates in the meantime is a private arrangement.
Write it down. Four people agreeing something verbally in a kitchen in March remember it four different ways in September, and that is not cynicism — it is just how memory works.
Who owns the sofa
Almost never recorded, and the single commonest thing we are asked to arbitrate. We do not. We move what you tell us is yours, and where somebody else in the house disagrees, the item stays where it is until you have sorted it out.
That is not obstruction. It is the only position that is fair to everybody, including to us.
The removal is the easy half
A room out of an occupied flat, in a few hours, with the hallway kept clear. It is a short job and a straightforward one, and it is emphatically not the hard part of leaving a flatshare.
Everything on this page about agreements is general description rather than legal advice. Citizens Advice and Shelter cover it properly, free, and are much better qualified.
A joint tenancy
Questions about a joint tenancy
- 01
Does moving out end my liability?
No. A joint tenancy continues until it ends or is formally varied, whatever happens to your furniture. Settle that side first and book us afterwards.
- 02
What about my share of the deposit?
It is one protected sum for the whole tenancy, returned at the end of it. Settling between housemates in the meantime is private, and it should be written down.
- 03
We have found a replacement.
Consent from the landlord or agent is generally needed and the agreement is often re-signed rather than amended informally. Finding somebody willing is the easy part.
- 04
Can you move me while the others are out?
Yes, with keys arranged and a clear written list of what is going. We will not take a contested item on one person's word in an empty flat.
- 05
Nobody agrees about the furniture.
Then it stays. We are movers, not arbitrators, and a crew making that call in somebody's living room helps nobody.
- 06
Can my share go into storage?
Frequently the right answer, particularly if the next place is not settled. Collected, listed under your name, released to you.
What did you sign?
Both addresses, and what kind of agreement governs the one you are leaving. That second answer tells us most of what we need to know.