The communal route is the job
A room holds maybe a van-load. Getting to it means a shared hall, a staircase used by other people, doors that belong to everybody and frequently a fire door.
That is where the time goes and, more importantly, that is where the damage happens — and damage in a communal area usually comes out of a deposit that is not only yours.
Fire doors are not an inconvenience
They will be in the way, they will be heavy, and propping one open is the obvious solution. It is also the one thing in a shared building you genuinely must not do, and in an HMO it can be a serious matter for the landlord.
Anybody who props one to save themselves a few trips is telling you what they think of the building.
Tell your housemates
Not out of politeness — out of self-interest. Specifically:
- Which day, so nobody plans to work from the kitchen table.
- Roughly when the van will be outside, in case somebody needs their car out.
- That the hall will be busy for a while and then completely clear.
- Whether the room is being re-let, because the incoming person may be arriving sooner than you think.
Protect the joint deposit
Photograph your room before anything moves and again once it is empty. Take the hall and the staircase too, because those are the shared surfaces and you are the one about to carry a wardrobe down them.
Take your own fixings out and fill the holes. A shelf bracket left in a wall is a deduction from money that partly belongs to the people you are leaving behind.
Leave the room properly empty
Not nearly empty. The half-full wardrobe, the bag of rubbish behind the door and the thing under the bed all become somebody else’s problem, and in a houseshare that somebody is a person you probably still like.