How Do You Nicely Ask Your Roommate to Move Out?

After living together for some time, you’ve realized your living situation is not working.

It could be that your roommate is messy, cannot keep their hands off your things, or delays in paying rent.

All these are good reasons to move out or make your roommate move out .

But, How Do You Nicely Ask Your Roommate to Move Out?

Honestly, this is a conversation that no one likes to have. For this reason, many people avoid it and choose to remain silent. There isn’t a nice way of asking your roommate to move out. They will still be hurt no matter how polite you want to sound.

If you have good reasons for wanting them to move out, request them for a few minutes to talk. Then tell them what you have noticed and ask them to move out. 

Strategy to Ask Your Roommate to Move out

Telling your roommate to move out can be challenging, especially if you’ve shared the space for a long time.

On the one hand, you don’t want to leave them struggling financially.

But on the other, you really want them out of your living space and cannot forego this unpleasant conversation.

You can use these polite ways to get your roomie to move out.

1. Think Thoroughly about Your Decision

Why do you want your roommate to move out?

You need to give this question deep thought and don’t make a hurried decision.

Maybe you feel that you aren’t compatible anymore. While that is a good reason, don’t be hasty to make a decision.

You can try to address your concerns with your roommate first and see how the conversation goes.

You may also want them to move out as they are not clean and organized. But have you told them about this?

Don’t forget how challenging it is to find a new living situation.

And if you are close with your housemate, asking them to move out may dent your relationship.

2. Carefully Plan the Conversation

This isn’t an everyday conversation. Therefore, you shouldn’t conduct it just anywhere.

If you think they will be dramatic, it’s best to have this discussion at home.

But if you are confident it won’t result in a dramatic scene, do it in a restaurant or a park.

Please be considerate of the other person when choosing the location.

Make sure that there will be minimal interaction. Also, ensure that you will have enough time to finish this talk. You cannot have it five minutes before your roommate heads to work or school.

Tell them early that you need to talk to them.

3. Go Straight to the Point

Cutting through corners can be easy. But you may find that you’ve wasted a lot of time and haven’t said what you wanted at the end of the day.

Be direct and tell them the reason you asked to talk to them.

It’s also worth mentioning that you should not tell your mutual friends about your plans before talking to your roommate.

You don’t want them to find this big news through someone else as they will feel you aren’t being honest.

4. Avoid Blame Game

It is easier to blame your roomie and make accusations. But doing that is pointless at this stage as you are not trying to solve things.

You could have decided you don’t want to live with them due to irresolvable problems.

For instance, they don’t pay their rent on time. But since the decision is yours, you need to take ownership. To help you, try using the pronoun “I” when talking instead of “you” or “we.”

If you must mention the reasons for your decision, do so without using confrontational language.

Don’t say, “I’m sick of your loud noises.” This is rude and uncalled for.

Instead, you can say, “I like to be in a quiet environment sometimes. Therefore, I feel like we aren’t compatible as roommates.”

We aren’t encouraging you to lie or sugarcoat things. But you don’t need to make the situation more awkward than it is already by being brutally honest.

5. Split Things Equally

A big challenge with breaking up with your roomie is sharing things, especially if you move in with big items.

This is even a problem with partners who decide to divorce.

No matter how much you try, you will not have an equal share. But, each person can get a fair share.

You may decide that one person gets to keep everything and reimburse the other person.

Or you can choose to get one thing, like the TV, and your roommate the other, like the couch.

6. Spend Time Together Outside Your House

This may not seem like a wise choice after the conversation above.

Spending some time together can help remove sadness and awkwardness.

Plus, it will help you both to adjust to meeting outside. So you can continue hanging out together.

What to Do If Your Roommate Won’t Move out?

If your roommate doesn’t move out after giving them enough time, involving higher authorities may be your only option.

Going to court may help you evict the roommate if they fail to comply with the eviction notice. You may need to prove that they have breached the agreement, though.

A judge may ask law enforcement to help you get your housemate out.

But remember that if they dispute the ruling, they are legally allowed to stay in the apartment until the final judgment.

How Much Time Should You Give Your Roommate to Move out?

While your housemate may not be an official tenant, you still need to give them the same notice period per month-to-month tenancy. Usually, this period is thirty days. But please confirm with your state.

You may be forced to write them an eviction letter.

Look for a template online for your state and fill in the blanks.

Final Thoughts

Although you hoped to live with your roommate for a long time, things can happen, and you find that you are no longer comfortable.

When this occurs, one of you HAS TO MOVE OUT.

Either decision isn’t easy and it needs you to have a conversation with them. Luckily, the above tips can give you a head start.