If you should avoid handling your desire to leave in a professional manner, you run the risk of ruining your credit if you should bail out without notice. You will also make matters worse for you if you skip out without letting your roommate(s) know and leave a partner or others with your portion of the rent.
You can make your dream of moving a reality if there has been domestic violence. File a restraining order or protection from abuse with your local police department. Share a copy of the notice with your landlord and let him or her know you have been advised to leave the residence. Explain to them you don't want to draw anymore negative attention to the community as a result and if he or she could begin looking for other potential renters. The landlord might work with you depending on how bad your situation and whether or not you were a good resident. The landlord might work with your roommate since you no longer want to be on the lease. Whatever you do, don't return because the next time it won't be so easy to be let out of the lease.
Plan to save money if you really want to move and if you can obtain additional income streams to help with the rent, utilities, and more. For your new place, you will need a security deposit, first and possibly second month's rent depending on your credit score and other factors. You might still need a co-signer if your credit is poor, you don't have sufficient credit history or other challenges. Check your credit before you go apartment shopping and obtain a copy if need be. Most property companies will perform their own background and credit checks and also private landlords, but it can be helpful to have your information readily available along with a check or money order to hold the place.
Now if you plan on taking items out of the shared residence that you didn't pay for or can't prove that you own, don't be surprised if your roommate(s) might sue you in the future long after you have left. Other things to consider:
1) Your friendship might come to a swift end because you are no longer helping.
2) Someone who you think you know well might be triggered emotionally due to your absence and may stalk you or obsess about you living with him or her again.
3) Your credit might be negatively impacted by a scorned roommate if he or she has been using your credit cards or has access to your banking information.
4) People in support of your roommate might treat you rudely depending on what he or she has said to them about you.
5) If you don't safeguard or obtain everything you care about much before you announce your move, you might not see those things ever again. So be discreet and remove all important things out beforehand.
6) You may have to involve law enforcement if a partner/roommate is acting threatening or has become violent with you.
7) You might find yourself moving sooner rather than later based on how difficult your partner/friend is behaving.
So think about who might help you get a new place if you can't do it on your own and don't even consider your scorned roommate unless you want similar problems in the future. If you are having a tough time with a partner or others living in the dwelling, whatever you do don't leave your future location you plan to move within view. Erase internet history and put away rental catalogs. You don't need your old problems following you to your new residence.
Stay positive during this tough time and continue to online and offline apartment window shop until you are ready to make the move. Think of the amenities you will enjoy in the future, what you might buy to decorate your new place, and other things that make you happy. Envision yourself in your new residence without those you no longer want to live with and take a deep sigh knowing that peace won't be long now!
Nicholl McGuire is the author of What Else Can I Do on the Internet?
