The September 1 lease turnover cleanout in Philadelphia

The short answer

Philadelphia concentrates an unusual share of its residential lease turnover into the last days of August and the first days of September. Add the academic calendars at Temple, Drexel, Penn, Jefferson, La Salle and Saint Joseph's and you get one week where the pavements of Powelton Village, Spruce Hill, Cedar Park, Mantua and the blocks off Cecil B. Moore are lined with furniture.

What a single turned-over unit usually costs:

That is $111 + $82 + $100 = $293. By volume it sits near the $241 quarter-truck rung. A larger four-bedroom student house is more often the $431 half or the $587 three-quarter. The minimum is $75 per visit.

Why this week is different from anywhere else

In most American cities move-out is spread across a summer. In Philadelphia it collapses into a few days, for two reasons that stack on each other.

First, a very large part of the city's rental stock runs on leases that end at the same time, which means tenants, cleaners, painters, removals firms and junk trucks are all chasing the same seventy-two hours.

Second, the university population moves in and out on an academic clock that lands in exactly the same window. The outgoing tenant leaves on the 31st, the incoming one arrives on the 1st, and in a lot of West Philly and North Philly houses there is no gap at all between the two.

The consequence for anybody who needs a truck: capacity in this city genuinely runs out that week. This is not a scarcity tactic; it is a scheduling fact. Book two to three weeks ahead and it is a non-event. Ring on the 30th and you are competing with several thousand other people.

What students actually leave behind

The inventory is remarkably consistent across Philadelphia's campus neighborhoods:

• The futon. $111. The most abandoned object in West Philadelphia. Bought used, sold on twice, finally left in the front room.
• Mattresses. Twin $82, full $94. Nobody takes them home and nobody wants to buy them.
• Flat-pack that did not survive the year. Particleboard bookcase $100, standard desk $83, office chair $61, cube storage unit $71.
• The kitchen kit. Mini fridge $115, countertop microwave $30 — $115 + $30 = $145 for the pair, which is the classic dorm-to-house-share leftover.
• The window AC. Small $87, large $109. Almost universal in this housing stock and almost never taken.
• Bags. A bag of clothes is $35, a box of books is $45, ten bags of debris is $132, fifteen is $196, twenty is $259.
• Bikes. $37 each. There are always more than the lease said there were.

If you are the landlord

The maths that matters to you is per unit and per turn.

A single room in a shared house that needs clearing between tenants is usually the quarter-truck rung at $241, or itemized as above. A whole four-bedroom student house in Powelton or off Cecil B. Moore, fully abandoned, is commonly the $587 three-quarter rung or a full load at $732.

Practical notes for a portfolio turnover:

• Book the whole week in one go. If you have six units turning, schedule them together rather than reacting address by address as each walkthrough happens.
• Clear before the painters, not after. A painter working around a futon costs you more than the futon does.
• The basement is where last year's turnover went. Check it before you promise the incoming tenant storage.
• Document before clearing. If abandoned property is going to appear on a deposit statement, photograph it in place first.
• Do not rely on the curb. On turnover week, curbside piles on a West Philly block are enormous and collection guidance has limits. Check the current bulk-pickup rules before you assume anything set out will be taken.

If you are the tenant leaving

You are choosing between paying for removal and having it deducted from your deposit, and you only control one of those numbers.

Clearing your own room — futon, mattress, the bookcase — is $293 if you itemize, split across a house of four it is not a large sum, and it is well under what a landlord will bill for the same work after the fact.

Before you pay, try the free route, which in these neighborhoods genuinely works. A working desk, a bookshelf or a mini fridge put out on a Spruce Hill or Powelton block with a sign on it during move-in week has an unusually good chance of being taken within an hour, because ten thousand people are arriving with empty rooms at exactly that moment. What will not move: the mattress, the futon, anything broken.

Scheduling it sensibly

• Three weeks out: book. Any slot you want is available.
• Ten days out: still fine, less choice of time.
• The week itself: tight everywhere in Philadelphia, and every other trade you need is also tight.
• The first two weeks of September: the queue unwinds. If your unit is not re-let immediately, this is a comfortable window.

There is no same-day surcharge and no premium for the busy week — the price does not move. Only the availability does.

The May version

There is a smaller second wave. The academic year ends in May, and a portion of the student population in University City and North Philadelphia leaves then rather than at the end of August — graduating, or going home for a summer that does not include a lease.

It is roughly half the intensity of the September week and much easier to schedule, so if you have a choice about when a unit turns, May is the friendlier option.

Frequently asked questions