Running the centre
Check-out
Check-out is a person's final departure from their accommodation: the room is inspected, keys or cards are collected, its condition is recorded and anything outstanding is settled. In a student residence it is concentrated in June, and how much of the deposit comes back depends on it.
Also known asmove-out · departure · key handover · checkout
How a residence does it
In a hotel it means paying and handing back the key. In a residence it is the close of an academic year: a date and a time are set, someone from the residence inspects the room with the move-in room inventory in hand, keys and cards are collected, access is deactivated and anything missing or broken is noted. With hundreds of departures in a few days, the bottleneck is the inspection, and whatever is not inspected in time gets argued about later by email.
If the contract is a lease under the LAU, Spain's Urban Leases Act, two moments count. From the handover of the keys, the balance of the deposit that has to be returned accrues statutory interest if a month goes by without it being returned (Article 36(4)). And under the wording given by Royal Decree-law 29/2026, at the end of the contract the parties must record the condition of the home in writing, in a document signed by both; if it is not signed, or records no damage, the home is presumed, unless proven otherwise, to have been handed back in a suitable state of repair (Article 36(7)). Arrivals are covered in check-in.
Worth knowing
What people take for granted: that the move-out inspection proves the state of the room. It only proves it if there is something to compare it with. Without an inventory signed on arrival, with photos, an argument about a stain or a broken chair is one person's word against the other's.
Sources
Related terms
- Check-inCheck-in is the recording of a person's arrival at their accommodation: who they are, which room they take and from when are confirmed, and they are handed the key. In a student residence it is concentrated in a few days in September and comes back, on a small scale, with every return.
- Room inventoryA room inventory is the list, signed on arrival, of what is in a room and what condition it is in: furniture, mattress, blinds, walls, sockets, with photos if possible. It is the reference the room is compared against at move-out, and what separates normal wear and tear from damage.