Leaving Provo goes wrong in predictable ways: a contract that keeps billing after you have gone, a mattress nobody will take, a deposit that never arrives because it went to the apartment you just left. None of it is hard. It just has to happen in the right order, and the order starts months before graduation.
This guide is the move-out plan, from the start of your last semester to a year after you leave. If you are graduating and staying in the valley, our guide to staying in Utah Valley after graduation covers that path, and graduation weekend covers the ceremonies. For the things to do before you go, there is the Provo bucket list.
The start of the semester: the contract
The biggest money in leaving is the contract. Check three things on the first day of your last semester:
- When it ends. A fall-winter contract ends around the close of winter semester. A 12-month lease may run into summer, past your graduation and your new job's start date.
- What it says about leaving early. Some contracts can be sold to another student; some leases allow an assignment or a sublease; some have a buyout. The words matter: a sale or assignment moves the obligation to someone else, while a sublease usually leaves you responsible if the subtenant stops paying.
- The move-out date and the cleaning checklist. Ask the office for its check-out procedure and cleaning standard now, not the week you leave.
If your contract runs past the date you need to leave, start selling it early. At a BYU-contracted complex, you find the buyer and the complex approves and transfers the contract; until the paperwork is done, you owe the rent. Our guides cover selling a BYU housing contract and selling a UVU-area contract, where whose name is on the lease changes the process. The contract season guide explains when buyers are looking.
Six weeks out: the stuff
Everything you own in Provo will go one of four ways: with you, to a friend, to a buyer, or to a donation door. Decide early, because the last week before move-out is when every graduating student in town is trying to unload a couch at once.
What travels. Shipping a dresser across the country often costs more than the dresser. Price it before you pack it.
What sells. Furniture, bikes, small appliances, textbooks and anything with a brand name. List it a month before you leave, and say plainly in the listing when it must be picked up.
What to donate. Deseret Industries takes most household goods at the drive-thru donation doors of its stores during donation hours, with no appointment. Its donation page is specific about what it does not accept:
- Beds, mattresses and foundations.
- Large appliances, such as stoves, refrigerators, washers and dryers, and some home appliances.
- Pianos and organs.
- Food, drinks, tobacco and medications.
- Chemicals, flammables, cleaning products and paint.
- Broken items, tires and cardboard boxes.
- Some electronics, such as rear-projection TVs and CRT monitors.
- Campers, cars and trailers, and firearms and ammunition.
Drop-off may close early if a donation center reaches capacity, and leaving items outside when the drive-thru is closed is not allowed. Go on a weekday morning in your last month, not the Saturday of graduation. Ask for a receipt if you itemize taxes. Our thrift and vintage guide lists the valley's other secondhand stores; call ahead to ask which take donations.
The mattress problem. Since DI will not take it, a mattress has to be sold, given away or hauled off. Offer it to the person buying your contract, or to a friend staying in town, first. Unused medications go to a pharmacy take-back, as DI suggests.
If you need to store things between leaving and landing, read our storage units guide and, before you sign, the storage lien rules, which explain what happens to a unit whose bill stops being paid.
Four weeks out: the school
- Apply to graduate. Find your school's graduation application deadline and make sure your degree audit is clean.
- Exit counseling for federal loans. If you borrowed federal Direct Loans, exit counseling is required by law, according to Federal Student Aid. It explains your repayment options and the grace period, generally six months after you graduate or drop below half-time, before payments start.
- Your student account. Pay off parking tickets, library fines and any balance; a hold can block your diploma and transcripts.
- Your records. Download anything you will want from your student email, learning system and files before your access changes.
- Recommendations. Ask the professors you will want letters from while they still remember your face.
Two weeks out: utilities and accounts
Close every account in your name, and get a final bill for each. If utilities are included in rent, you may have little to do here, but confirm.
- Provo City utilities. Electricity, water, sewer, garbage and stormwater are on one Provo City account. Call 311 inside city limits or 801-852-6000 from outside, use the city's Start or Stop Utilities link, or go to City Hall at 445 West Center Street, Suite 140, weekdays 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Orem and the other cities run their own utility offices. Our utilities guide explains what is on the city bill and who handles gas and internet.
- Gas and internet. Separate accounts, closed separately. Return any rented modem or router and keep the receipt.
- Renters insurance. Cancel it effective the day after you move out, or move it to your new address.
- Subscriptions and memberships. Gyms, parking permits, phone plans tied to a local store.
Give every company your forwarding address for the final bill. An unpaid final bill of a few dollars can follow you to a collection agency.
Move-out week: the deposit
Utah's deposit statute, Utah Code 57-17-3, was most recently amended effective May 7, 2025, and the current version is worth knowing before you hand over the keys.
What the landlord can deduct. Rent owed, damage beyond reasonable wear and tear, other costs and fees in the contract, and cleaning.
The 30-day clock. No later than 30 days after the day you vacate and return possession, the owner or agent must send you the balance of the deposit, any prepaid rent, and a written notice itemizing and explaining each deduction. It goes to your last known address, or electronically by a means you gave them.
What you do to protect it:
- Clean to the complex's checklist and photograph every room, the appliances and the carpet, with the date visible.
- Return every key and fob, and get a written note that you returned them.
- Give your forwarding address in writing. The refund goes to your last known address. If that is the apartment you left, the check goes there.
If the 30 days pass with nothing. The statute includes a form called a "Tenant's Notice to Provide Deposit Disposition." Served as the law describes, it gives the owner five business days to send the refund and itemization. The notice states that failing to comply requires the owner to refund the entire deposit and any prepaid rent plus a $100 penalty, and that if you have to sue, the owner may be liable for court costs and attorney fees if a court finds bad faith. Our guide to Utah renters' rights covers the rest of the tenant side.
The forwarding list
Mail forwarding catches what you forget, but only for a while. A permanent change of address with the Postal Service generally forwards First-Class Mail for 12 months, and you can buy extended forwarding for up to 18 months more, according to the Postal Service's rules published in the Federal Register. A change of address is free in person at a post office; online, USPS charges a small identity-verification fee.
Then update the sources directly, because forwarding ends. In rough order:
- Your landlord, for the deposit, in writing, on move-out day.
- Your bank or credit union, and any credit cards.
- Your student loan servicer.
- Your employer and any former employers, so tax forms reach you next January.
- The university, for your diploma, transcripts and alumni mail.
- Your insurance: health, car and renters.
- Your phone carrier and subscriptions.
- Your driver license and vehicle registration, in Utah if you are staying or in your new state if you are not. Each state sets its own deadline for new residents.
- Your voter registration, at your new address.
- Your ward. If you are a member of the Church, your membership record moves when your new ward's clerk requests it; introduce yourself to the new ward and ask.
The money you might leave behind. A deposit refund or final paycheck that never reaches you, and is never cashed, can eventually be turned over to the state as unclaimed property. Our guide to unclaimed property in Utah explains how to search for it later, which is worth doing a year after you leave.
A one-page timeline
- First week of the last semester: read the contract; start selling it if it runs past your departure.
- Six weeks out: decide what goes, sells or is donated; list furniture.
- Four weeks out: graduation application, loan exit counseling, clear holds, save files.
- Two weeks out: schedule utility shutoffs and final bills; arrange the mattress.
- Move-out day: clean, photograph, return keys, give your forwarding address in writing.
- Day 30: deposit and itemization due. No deposit? Serve the statutory notice.
- Month 12: forwarding ends. Check for unclaimed property.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a Utah landlord have to return my deposit?
What if my landlord doesn't return my deposit in 30 days?
Will Deseret Industries take my mattress?
How do I stop Provo City utilities when I move out?
How long does USPS forward mail?
Do I have to do exit counseling for student loans when I graduate?
Can I sell my BYU housing contract for the months after graduation?
What happens to a deposit check mailed to my old address?
Sources
The facts in this guide were checked against these sources. Hours, fees and rules change, so confirm anything time-sensitive with the source before you go. How we make Provo.com.
- City Utilities, Provo City. Checked October 20, 2026.
- Extended Mail Forwarding Service (DMM 507.2.0), Federal Register / U.S. Postal Service. Checked October 20, 2026.
- Change of Address Scams, U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Checked October 20, 2026.
- Direct Loan Exit Counseling Guide, Federal Student Aid. Checked October 20, 2026.
- Utah Code 57-17-3, Deductions from deposit (effective 5/7/2025), Utah State Legislature. Checked October 20, 2026.
- Deseret Industries: Donate, Deseret Industries. Checked October 20, 2026.
