A lease-end move out is a project with a fixed finish line and a long list of dependencies. The furniture has to be gone, the cabling may have to come out, the IT gear needs documented data destruction, and the landlord has to sign off on the condition of the space. Each of those tasks depends on something else being done first.
This guide lays out a 120-day countdown, week by week, with the owner for each task. It complements our step-by-step office furniture liquidation playbook by focusing on the calendar: when each decision has to be made and what happens if it is not.
In this guide:
- Why 120 days is the right starting point
- Who does what: the move out team
- The week-by-week countdown table
- Days 120 to 91: Decide and inventory
- Days 90 to 61: Value and bid
- Days 60 to 31: Lock logistics
- Days 30 to 0: Execute and hand back
- What goes wrong when you start late
- If you only have 30 to 45 days
Why 120 days is the right starting point
Clearing a floor is fast. A trained crew with dock and freight elevator access can remove a typical office in a few nights. The slow parts are everything around the removal:
- Reading the lease and getting clarity from the landlord on restoration obligations
- Deciding what moves to a new space and what gets sold
- Building an inventory accurate enough to price
- Getting and comparing written offers
- Clearing insurance requirements and reserving building access
- Scheduling IT decommissioning and low-voltage cabling removal
Starting at 120 days gives each of those tasks enough room, leaves a buffer for surprises, and keeps you from paying rush rates. If your space is large, spans multiple floors or includes a server room, add time.
Who does what: the move out team
A move out touches more people than most teams expect. Name each role at the start, even if one person covers several.
| Role | Typical person | Owns |
|---|---|---|
| Project owner | Facilities director, office manager or COO | Schedule, budget approvals, final decisions |
| Finance | CFO or controller | Asset register, write-offs, deposit tracking, offer approval |
| IT | IT manager or managed service provider | Device inventory, data wiping, network shutdown, e-waste handoff |
| HR and communications | HR lead | Employee notices, personal item cleanout, remote work logistics |
| Broker or legal | Tenant rep broker or attorney | Lease interpretation, landlord negotiation, surrender terms |
| Landlord or property manager | Building management | COI requirements, access rules, final inspection |
| Removal contractor | Liquidation or decommissioning firm | Valuation, disassembly, removal, recycling, disposition records |
The week-by-week countdown table
Use this table as your master schedule. Weeks are counted back from your surrender date.
| Weeks out | Days out | Tasks | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | 120 | Confirm surrender date, notice deadlines, restoration and cabling clauses | Project owner, broker or legal |
| 16 | 113 | Name the team, set a budget range, decide on relocation or full exit | Project owner, finance |
| 15 | 106 | Pull the fixed asset register and any leased equipment agreements | Finance |
| 14 | 99 | Walk the space and build a furniture inventory with brands, counts and photos | Project owner |
| 13 | 92 | Inventory IT devices and storage media; identify data destruction requirements | IT |
| 12 | 85 | Tag keep items for the new space; request building COI and access rules | Project owner, property manager |
| 11 | 78 | Schedule contractor walkthroughs | Project owner |
| 10 | 71 | Receive written offers; compare net numbers and scope | Project owner, finance |
| 9 | 64 | Select contractor; decide on donation carve-outs | Project owner, finance |
| 8 | 57 | Sign agreement; submit contractor COI to building | Contractor, property manager |
| 7 | 50 | Reserve freight elevator, dock and after-hours access for removal dates | Contractor, property manager |
| 6 | 43 | Announce timeline to employees; set personal item cleanout date | HR |
| 5 | 36 | Schedule telecom disconnects, low-voltage cabling removal and utility changes | IT, project owner |
| 4 | 29 | Finalize removal sequence floor by floor; confirm keep-item move if relocating | Contractor, project owner |
| 3 | 22 | Employee cleanout complete; shred paper records; wipe or pull devices | HR, IT |
| 2 | 15 | E-waste pickup; begin disassembly and removal | Contractor, IT |
| 1 | 8 | Finish removal, cabling and debris; pre-inspection walkthrough with landlord | Contractor, property manager |
| 0 | 0 | Punch list closed, keys and access cards returned, photos taken | Project owner |
| After | +30 | Collect disposition records, diversion summary, data destruction certificates; track deposit | Finance, project owner |
Get a quick liquidation estimate
Days 120 to 91: Decide and inventory
Read the lease first
Before you call anyone, find the clauses on surrender condition, alterations, restoration, cabling, holdover and notice. Note whether you must remove low-voltage cabling, patch and paint, or restore any build-out. If anything is unclear, ask your broker or attorney to get the landlord's position in writing. These answers change your scope and your budget.
Make the big call
Are you moving to a new space, consolidating, or closing entirely? If you are relocating, decide early which furniture fits the new floor plan. Moving furniture that does not fit costs twice: once to move it and again to get rid of it. If you are moving, our corporate relocation team can plan both sides.
Build an inventory someone can price
A good inventory lists item type, manufacturer, model or product line if known, quantity, approximate age and condition, with photos of each distinct item. "About 80 cubicles" is not enough. "80 Herman Miller workstations, 6 by 6, 42-inch panels, around six years old" is.
Days 90 to 61: Value and bid
This is when you find out whether the furniture will pay for its own removal. Newer premium-brand systems often do. Older or unbranded furniture typically costs money to remove. The liquidation cost guide explains the math.
Invite two or three contractors to walk the space. Office Station typically schedules a walkthrough within 48 hours of a request and delivers a written net offer, resale value minus removal cost, within five business days. Compare offers on:
- The final net number, not just the purchase price
- Whether removal of everything, including items with no resale value, is included
- Cabling, debris and e-waste scope
- Insurance, after-hours work and schedule commitment
- Disposition records you will receive at closeout
If you are weighing auction or donation instead, read liquidation vs auction vs donation before you commit.
Days 60 to 31: Lock logistics
Once you select a contractor, the constraint shifts to the building. Freight elevators and docks are shared. Busy buildings book them weeks ahead, especially at month end when other tenants move.
- COI. Get the building's exact certificate of insurance requirements, including additional insureds, and have the contractor submit early.
- Access. Reserve freight elevator, dock time and after-hours entry for every removal night.
- Floor protection. Confirm whether the building requires specific protection for elevators, corridors and lobbies.
- IT. Schedule network shutdown, device collection and data destruction. Decide which devices are wiped and redeployed versus recycled.
- Telecom and utilities. Disconnect orders often need weeks of notice.
Days 30 to 0: Execute and hand back
The final month is about sequence. Employees clear personal items first. IT pulls and documents devices. Then the crew disassembles and removes furniture floor by floor, followed by cabling removal and debris cleanup if they are in scope.
Schedule a pre-inspection walkthrough with the property manager about a week before your surrender date. That gives you time to fix anything they flag. On the final day, walk the space again, photograph every room, return keys and access cards, and get written confirmation of the handback.
After closeout, collect your records: disposition plan results, diversion summary, and certificates of data destruction for any e-waste. Finance will want them for the asset register, and your sustainability team may need them too. The office decommissioning checklist covers every closeout item in detail.
What goes wrong when you start late
Starting late rarely causes one big failure. It causes a chain of small ones that compound.
| If you start at | What you typically lose | Likely consequence |
|---|---|---|
| 90 days | Some time to compare offers and plan relocation fit | Manageable if decisions are fast |
| 60 days | Room for a full competitive bid; early access booking | Fewer contractor options, tighter building slots |
| 45 days | Buffer for COI problems, cabling scope and IT surprises | After-hours premiums, rushed data destruction |
| 30 days or less | Negotiating leverage and schedule flexibility | Higher net cost, risk of holdover rent and deposit deductions |
The most common late-start failures
- Holdover rent. Missing the surrender date can trigger holdover rent at a premium and possible liability if the next tenant is delayed.
- Deposit deductions. Leftover furniture, cabling or damage becomes a charge against your security deposit.
- No freight elevator. You cannot remove a floor without building access, and it may be booked.
- Lost resale value. Rushed contractors price in their risk, and you lose time to find the best offer.
- Data risk. Devices get tossed in a pile instead of tracked, wiped and certified.
- Decision paralysis. Without a named owner, questions sit for days that you no longer have.
If you only have 30 to 45 days
You can still finish well. Compress the schedule by making decisions in parallel instead of in sequence:
- Read the lease surrender clause today and email the property manager for COI and access rules today.
- Request a walkthrough immediately and send photos and a rough inventory ahead of it.
- Decide keep items within a week. Default to selling anything that is not clearly needed.
- Choose one contractor who can handle furniture, e-waste and cabling so you are not coordinating three vendors.
- Book after-hours removal so employees can keep working to the end.
If you are also furnishing a new office, our pre-owned office furniture, used cubicles and pre-owned office chairs can shorten lead times, and we provide free space planning on furniture projects. Brokers and property managers managing multiple exits can work with us through our partners program.
Office Station works from Phoenix across the Southwest, including San Diego, Orange County, Northern California, Las Vegas, Reno, Tucson, Flagstaff, Denver, Albuquerque and Salt Lake City. Wherever your lease is ending, the countdown is the same.
Frequently asked questions
When should I start liquidating office furniture before my lease ends?
Start the process about 120 days before your surrender date and have a liquidation contractor selected by roughly day 60. The physical removal usually takes days, not months, but lease review, inventory, bids, building approvals and IT decommissioning need lead time. Starting at 120 days gives you room to compare offers without paying rush premiums.
How long does an office move out take?
The removal itself often takes a few nights or a weekend for a typical floor with good dock access. The full move out, from reading the lease to getting the security deposit released, commonly runs three to four months. Larger multi-floor exits, data centers and restoration work need more time.
What is the latest I can start an office move out?
Many offices can still exit cleanly with 30 to 45 days of notice if decisions are made fast and the building cooperates. Below that, you usually lose options: fewer contractors can commit, freight elevator slots are scarce, and restoration work may push past your deadline. Holdover rent is the most common and expensive result of starting too late.
Who is responsible for an office move out?
Assign one internal owner with authority to approve spending and schedules, usually a facilities director, office manager or operations lead. That person works with finance, IT, HR, your broker, the landlord or property manager, and the removal contractor. Projects without a single owner tend to stall on decisions.
What does a landlord require at lease end?
It depends on your lease, which is why the first task is reading the surrender and restoration clauses. Common requirements include removing all furniture and personal property, removing low-voltage cabling, repairing damage beyond normal wear, and returning keys and access cards. Some leases also require restoring the space to its original condition.
What is holdover rent?
Holdover rent is what a tenant owes for staying in a space past the lease end date. Commercial leases often set holdover rent at a premium over the normal rate, and some add liability for the landlord's damages if the next tenant is delayed. Check your lease for the exact terms before you set your schedule.
