Should students hire a skip if they are moving house?

When your exams are finished, you've had your farewell house party and it's time to move out of your student house it is wise to take a moment to plan your move with your fellow housemates and consider the practical requirements. Naturally, your landlord will be involved in this process and should always be liaised with when it finally comes to the big move. One decision to make is whether you should hire a skip for all the waste that may need to be removed from the house.

First of all, take a good honest look at your house and make an estimate of how much stuff you won't be taking with you when you move and therefore must be put out as waste. Depending on how many people are in the house and how long you have stayed in it there can be a surprisingly large amount of waste to be removed. It is only right to leave the house in the condition it was in when you moved into it, especially if you wish to receive your deposit back!

If you decide there will be enough waste to be cleared out to warrant a skip being hired you must decide where to hire the skip from and what size skip will be necessary. In general, you should not need a larger skip than a 4 yarder, which will hold approximately 30 to 40 standard sized bin bags of waste. Once you have decided on the skip hire firm you will use you will need to come together as a house to discuss sharing the costs involved.

At this point it is important to contact your landlord and to discuss your moving out plans in greater depth. If you have decided to hire a skip you may be able to convince your landlord to share the costs. Once you have moved out of the house your landlord may well be planning some refitting, renovation work or simply a thorough clean out and garden clearance.

Therefore, it is not out of the realm of possibility that your landlord was considering hiring a skip after you moved out of the house anyway, so letting them know your moving plans and demonstrating how conscientious you are about leaving the house and garden tidy could result in any skip hire costs being shared with your landlord.

Try to make a plan as to when each person is moving out of the house so that you know exactly when you need the skip to be delivered and when it will need to be picked up. Update your landlord as each person moves out and take it in turns to safely move your waste out and into the skip.

If you have a significant amount of waste to remove when it comes to saying goodbye to your student house it is definitely worthwhile hiring a skip and liaising with your landlord to see if costs can be shared.