Move Out

Checklist

• Complete the quick Move Out Survey which will be emailed to you during the last week of April.
• Remove all of your belongings from your room.
• Clean your room and discard all trash/recycling.
• Restore all furniture to the original configuration.
• Complete the  Summer 2012 Mail Forwarding Request Form.
• Return your keys to the Facilities Management Office, Holmes Hall 4, in the envelope that will be provided in your mailbox during the last week of April. Do not leave your keys in your room, with a friend, or with your RA.  

Cleaning Out Your Room

You should leave your room as you found it at the beginning of the academic year. On April 23, 2012, trash and recycling bags will be left on every floor for you to dispose of any items you do not want to keep. The trash bags are clear and the recycling bags are clear with the blue recycling symbol on them. Please make sure to use the appropriate bag! Once you have filled the bags, you may leave them outside your door in the hallway and the custodial staff will collect them.

Move Out Fees

Students will be charged fees for the following:

• Failure to remove all personal items from dorm room, including food, furniture, books, clothing, bedding, etc. Please remember that most items can be placed in the donation stations.
• Failure to personally return all cable equipment to Comcast
• Failure to properly return keys to the Facilities Management office
• Failure to pull all trash and recycling in trash and recycling bags

Comcast Equipment Return

If you have Comcast service, you MUST personally cancel your service by calling 1-800-COMCAST or Leona Swanston at 617-279-1851, whether you have equipment or not.  If you have equipment, make sure to tell Comcast in time for them to pick it up before you leave. Students who leave their cable equipment in their dorms will be fined $100 by HLS, in addition to Comcast account penalities. 

Comcast will assess the following penalties to accounts for unreturned equipment: $5 Digital Remote; $50 - Analog Box; $115 - Digital Box; $320 HD Box; $435 - DVR

Deadlines for Move-Out

• Non-Graduating Students: Friday, May 11, 2012 by 5:00pm
• 1Ls participating in the Law Review Competition: Tuesday, May 22, 2012 a\by 5:00pm
  Please note that you must submit the Law Review Competition Housing Extension Form by May 1, 2012, in order to receive a housing extension.
• Graduating Students: Friday, May 25, 2012 by 5:00pm

Unfortunately, we are unable to accommodate move-out dates later than those listed above.

Donating Items

Instead of throwing your extra belongings in the trash during the move-out rush, donate them! Donation stations will be set up at HLS from late April until the end of  May. Locations will be:

• Under the Hark ramp in the Caspersen Student Center
• Outdoor underpass between Story Hall and the Hark
•  Covered patio between Holmes and Ames
• 1st floor walkway between Ames and Dane
• 1st floor walkway between Story and Shaw
• North Hall Lounge
• Hastings Basement (Entry 5 near kitchen)

 You can donate:

• Books, Horn books, textbooks, notebooks, office supplies (even partially-used)
• Dorm supplies such as mini-fridges, storage crates, fans, bulletin boards, cinder blocks, bricks, and lumber
• Futons, rugs, mirrors (place next to box and clearly label as "For Harvard Habitat for Humanity")
• Clothing and shoes (tied together), athletic equipment, toys and linens
• Unopened Non perishable food (canned goods, boxed pasta, microwaveables)
• Unfinished bottles of laundry detergent and household cleaners
• Toiletries, shampoo, lotions, and cosmetics
• Computers and parts, printers, and other electronics

Benefiting charities include Harvard Habitat for Humanity, the Cambridge YWCA Family Shelter, Mass Coalition for the Homeless, Greater Boston Food Bank, Unite for Sight, Better World Books, and Students United to Fight Hunger. If you have any questions, please ask your Green Living Rep or email  sustainability@lists.law.harvard.edu.  

Hastings Gate

The Hastings Gate will be open beginning Friday, April 27, 2012 and extending through the graduating student move-out date, Friday, May 25, 2012. Please note that while you can drive a car into the courtyard area, you cannot drive a box truck as it will not fit through the gate. Please do not park on the grass or sidewalk.

Key Return

It is essential that you return your key before you leave campus. 

• All residents will return an exterior dorm key and an interior dorm key. Residents of Hastings, North, and the HLS apartments will also have to return their mailbox key.
• Students may return the keys to the Facilities Management office (Holmes Hall room 4) between 9 am and 5 pm, Monday – Friday.
  • If you need to return your keys anytime outside of business hours, you may turn them in to the exterior drop box outside of Holmes Hall. However, all keys returned to the Holmes Hall drop box must be in an envelope with the student’s name, dorm building, and dorm room written on the outside. Any loose or unlabeled keys in the drop box will be considered lost, and you will be charged for them.
  • Key envelopes will be distributed to all resident mailboxes on April 30th. If you need a key envelope anytime before this, or if you misplace this envelope and need a new one, you may procure one during business hours from the Facilities Management office.  
• Students who do not return their dorms keys properly will be charged up to $150. This includes:
  • Students who do not return their keys at all.
  • Students who leave their dorm keys in their dorm rooms after move out.
  • Students who give their keys to someone else to return for them.
  • Students who put loose keys in the Holmes Hall drop box.
  • Students who put their keys in an unlabeled envelope in the Holmes Hall drop box.

Mail Forwarding

The HLS Residential Mail Center will forward any first class mail (bills and personal letters). Non-first class mail (magazines and junk mail) that arrives during the summer will be discarded. Forwarding begins once you have returned your keys and lasts until August 8, 2012. Graduating students should note that your mail forwarding will also end on August 8, 2012.   All first class mail received after this date will be returned to the sender. Once you move out you should notify any organizations, companies, or people who will be sending you mail of your new address.

Please note that completing the change of address form with the USPS does not usually work for the HLS dorms because it is not a residential address.  To make sure you get your mail over the summer,  you must complete the form below in order for your mail to be forwarded. If you do not complete this form, your mail will be returned to sender. You will not be able to stop by the HLS Residential Mail Center during the summer to pick it up.

To request mail forwarding you must complete the Summer 2012 Mail Forwarding Request Form.

Shipping Belongings Home

You can also ship directly from campus via UPS. UPS will pick packages up from the HLS Residential Mail Center that have already been scheduled for pick-up, are paid for, and have a UPS shipping label/bar code on it.

• Pack the box.
• Borrow a scale from the Holmes Mail to weigh the box.
• Go online to UPS.com to pay for your shipping.
• Print a shipping label/bar code and adhere it to the box.
• Bring the box to the HLS Residential Mail Center. UPS will not pick the box up at your dorm room.

Storage

Limited on-campus storage space is available for students who will be living in the residence halls in the fall (or are on the wait list for housing). All items must be tagged with the official Facilities Management labels and must include your name and current dorm address. These labels are available at the Facilities Management Office, Holmes Hall 4. You may store a maximum of three boxes or suitcases. You may also store a minifridge, but it counts as one of your 3 items.  All storage is done at your own risk, so please do not store valuable items such as computers and TVs in the storage areas. Harvard Law School and Harvard University are not responsible for the items that you store. Items that are not properly labeled will be discarded. You can access the storage units by picking up a key from the Facilities Management Office, Holmes Hall 4, or by contacting your R.A. (You will be asked to leave your HUID or Driver's License until you return the key.) Students who are not returning to the HLS Residence Halls for 2012-2013 or are not on the returning student wait list for residence hall housing for 2012-2013 are not eligible for summer storage and must remove their belongings when they move out. Rules of storage are:

• Items must be placed in boxes (except for refrigerators and suitcases).
• All boxes, refrigerators, and suitcases must be labeled with the 2012-2013 storage sticker, which can only be obtained at the Facilities Management Office, Holmes Hall 4 during business hours.  
• The largest box allowed is 19" x 21" x 32".
• Furniture and bicycles are not permitted.
• All items must fit on or under the storage room shelves and the aisle must remain clear to allow access to the storage room.
• You should store your items in the storage facility for the dorm you will be living in for 2012-2013.  
• Please remember to close and lock the storage room when you leave.

In Hastings Hall, the storage room is located in Entry 1 on the fifth floor. For North Hall, the storage room is located in the basement. In the Gropius Complex, storage rooms are located in the basements of Dane and Shaw Halls. Because HLS will be renovating Shaw Hall during the summer of 2012, Shaw's storage room will not be open for use. Gropius residents may use the Dane Hall storage room, or the rooms in North and/or Hastings. The Resident Assistants in each residence hall will have keys to the storage areas. Keys can also be obtained from the Facilities Management Office. 

Please note that PODS, SmartBoxes, Door-To-Door and other types of container storage cannot be used by residents of the HLS on-campus housing, as there is no place to put these containers, even for limited times. If you would like to use one of these services, you can request a permit for one of the curbside metered spots operated by the city of Cambridge - http://www.cambridgema.gov/traffic/RPP.cfm.

Shaw Hall Residents

Due to 2012 summer renovations of Shaw Hall, Shaw residents have a slightly different move out process.

• All Shaw Residents must fill out the Shaw Hall Move Out Survey. 
• Shaw Hall storage room will be offline for the summer of 2012. Gropius residents may use any of the other storage rooms available on campus. 
• As with all of the dorms, non-graduating residents must be moved out by 5:00 pm on May 11, 2012. 
• Graduating students will be moved from Shaw Hall to either Ames or Dane on May 14th and May 15th. 
  • Graduating students who will be living on campus during the 2012 summer will be moved into their Holmes Hall summer rooms on May 14th or May 15th, instead of Ames or Dane. 
• Movers will be provided to move personal items into new dorms on May 14th and May 15th. Students may opt out of using movers in the Shaw Hall Move Out Survey. 
• Students should be present to assist with move on May 14th and May 15th. If students are unable to be present, they need to make sure that all of their items are properly packed and labeled:
  • All items needs to be securely packed in a moving box, suitcase, or plastic storage bin. 
    • Movers will not pack items for students. If it is not packed in a box, suitcase, or bin, it will not be moved. 
  • All boxes, suitcases, and bins need to be clearly labeled with the student's name, phone number, current Shaw Hall room, and the new Gropius room they will be moving into. 
• Shaw rooms will be cleaned out on May 16th. Anything left in rooms will be donated or thrown away.