Student Housing Move Outs: What Do I Do With My Keys???

The mass exodus of college students living in apartment communities across the country has begun. And of course, for maintenance teams, this will become the busiest time of year for them as they ready hundreds of “beds” for incoming new residents (and some returning from summer break) in the fall. But for the Leasing Teams out there, it is a hectic, stressful time.

In an effort to organize the move out process (to which many student-residents call “checking out”) some Leasing Specialists try many tactics to help alleviate the confusion. They send out mass emails to the residents with detailed instructions on what is expected and How-To-Turn-In-Your-Keys. They organize the files in order of unit for quick retrieval so paperwork can be signed (that is IF the Move In Inspection report was even completed and returned in the first place.) They create flyers and post on doors the instructions for move out. They set up tables and clearly outline those instructions yet a third time at those tables as to what the student-resident should do.

And guess what? 98% of those student-residents will completely ignore those emails, flyers and still fail to read the signs posted at the move out tables. It’s human nature! Everyone who walks into a Leasing Office EXPECTS human contact. I explained this recently to one person who was lamenting the fact that everyone was coming to her and asking her what they should do with their keys. She was exasperated.

I listened intently and watched as student-resident after student-resident arrived at the Leasing Office. Because so many had signed their leases electronically, paid their rent online and submitted service requests online, they had no idea what the Leasing Office even looked like. Until then. They had no idea what to do and looked like lost puppies with a deer-in-headlights facial expressions.

One suggestion – do all that: send the detailed email, post the flyers, set the tables up with clear instructions – and then GO OUT AND ASK THEM IF THEY NEED ANY HELP. Of course they do! It doesn’t matter how academically bright these Ivy Leaguers are, they still crave the human interaction when it comes to The Process. Too many of them had received the streamlined, ultra easy online application and lease signing at move in, and now, at the move out, with no experience interacting with real people in the Office, what an opportunity we have to gain their stamp of approval, the holy grail of leasing – get a referral – when we simply get up and ask how we can assist. Yes, though you may have given instructions, but isn’t it so much more fun to TALK to the resident (and oftentimes, his or her parents) when they are standing right there?

It sure beats getting a phone call, or hundreds of phone calls, a day or so later from the resident or parent asking about the return of the security deposit. Which is a whole other topic of conversation!