Roommate moving out? Here is how to square up and get your deposit back
A practical checklist for settling final shared expenses, documenting the place, and getting the security deposit back without a fight.
The move-out statement and deposit vault are included. Free for 30 days, no card, then $39.99/year for your whole household.
A roommate moving out is one of the most common ways a household's finances get messy: there is a final round of bills to settle, a security deposit that eventually needs to be split, and, if things go wrong, a dispute over the state the place was left in. Handling it in order, before the moving roommate is gone, saves everyone a headache later.
The move-out checklist
1. Set a move-out date and put it in writing
Agree on the exact day the roommate is leaving and confirm it with the rest of the household and, if the lease requires it, the landlord. A dated group message or email is enough; you just want everyone working from the same date.
2. Settle every open shared expense
Go through the shared ledger and close out anything still open: the last month's rent, the current utility bills, groceries, and any recurring bill that has not yet been paid or reconciled. Nobody should move out with an unresolved balance either way.
3. Decide who covers the room until it is re-rented
If the moving roommate is leaving before the lease ends, agree in advance on how the gap in rent gets covered: split evenly among the remaining roommates, covered by a new roommate's move-in, or covered by the person leaving until the room is filled. Write down whatever you agree to.
4. Document the condition of the place
Walk through the apartment together and take dated photos or video of the moving roommate's room and any shared spaces, before it is cleaned and before anything is moved out. This is the single best protection against a later dispute over damage.
5. Generate a full move-out statement
A clean, timestamped record of the entire shared expense history, the final settle-up, and any recurring bills gives everyone, including the moving roommate and the landlord, the same set of facts if a question comes up later. This is exactly what coQuarters' move-out statement is built to produce from your existing ledger.
6. Store the lease, deposit receipt, and photos together
Keep the original lease, the deposit receipt, and your move-out photos somewhere every current roommate can find them. If a deposit dispute happens months later, having everything in one place saves a scramble.
7. Follow up on the security deposit timeline
Most states require a landlord to return a security deposit, or an itemized list of what was withheld, within a set window after move-out, often somewhere between two and four weeks depending on where you live. Check your state and local tenant law for the exact deadline, and follow up in writing if it passes.
8. Split the returned deposit fairly
When the deposit comes back, split it the same way it was originally paid in, unless the household agrees otherwise (for example, if damage traced to one person's room is deducted from their share). Recording the original deposit contribution up front, before anyone moves out, makes this much easier to settle.
How coQuarters helps at move-out
If your household already tracks shared expenses in coQuarters, most of this checklist is already done for you. The full expense history and final settle-up are already there, so generating a move-out statement is a printable, timestamped summary rather than a scramble through old receipts. There is also a document and deposit vault to keep the lease, the deposit receipt, and move-in or move-out photos in the same place as the ledger.
All of it, splitting expenses, settling up, chores, the vault, and the move-out statement, is one subscription that covers the whole household: $39.99 a year, or $4.99 a month, after 30 days free with no card. One person pays and every roommate is included.
Set up your householdMove-out FAQ
- How do I get my security deposit back when a roommate moves out?
- Document the condition of the place with dated photos before anyone moves out, settle every open shared expense first, and keep the lease and deposit receipt together. Most states require landlords to return the deposit, or an itemized deduction list, within a set window after move-out, so follow up in writing if that deadline passes.
- Who is responsible for the deposit when one roommate leaves early?
- That depends on your lease and any side agreement your household made. If everyone is a co-signer on the lease, the landlord typically deals with the group as a whole and the deposit stays with the household until the whole lease ends. Many roommates handle the split themselves informally, agreeing up front on how a deposit gets divided if someone leaves before the lease is up.
- What is a move-out statement and do I actually need one?
- A move-out statement is a clean, timestamped summary of a household's full shared expense history and final settle-up, generated at the moment someone moves out. You do not strictly need one, but it removes ambiguity if a question about money comes up weeks or months later, which is exactly when memories get fuzzy. coQuarters can generate this automatically from your existing ledger.
- Does coQuarters help with the security deposit?
- Yes. coQuarters includes a document and deposit vault to store the lease, the deposit receipt, and move-in or move-out condition photos together, plus a printable move-out statement covering the full expense history and final balances. Both are part of the one subscription that covers the whole household: $39.99 a year (or $4.99 a month) after a 30-day free trial that does not ask for a card.