A roommate may vacate the home or apartment you share for any number of reasons. He may be vacating for personal issues unrelated to your living situation, the two of you may not be compatible living together, his job may be transferring to a different city and more. Whether he is leaving on good terms or bad terms, such a change will have many effects on your life. Any time a person who you have been sharing a home or homes for rent with leaves, there are a few key steps that you should follow.

Read Your Lease
First, take a moment to read through the rental agreement. If your roommate is a co-signor on the lease, he will need to sign an agreement to relinquish rights to live in the space. The issue of the security deposit should be addressed up-front as well. If a new lease needs to be drafted, the landlord may adjust the rent that you pay based on market rents. Keep in mind that the landlord may not agree to revise the lease agreement, and your roommate may continue to have rights to live there. If this is the case, he also may need to continue paying his share of the rent until the lease is up.

Review Housing Expenses
When your roommate moves out, you inevitably will experience some changes to your budget. Your landlord may increase your rental amount if your lease is revised. Your roommate will no longer pay for his share of the utilities, the cable TV and more homes for rent. You may be able to handle these adjustments to your budget with ease, or you may need to find a new roommate to replace the one who is vacating.

Change Your Locks
If your roommate will continue to have rights to the apartment or home under the lease agreement and he continues to pay rent as agreed, you do not have a legal right to request that the locks be re-keyed. However, if the lease has been revised and your roommate no longer will have legal rights to the property, you should consider contacting a locksmith to re-key the locks. If you are leasing your home or apartment, you may need to go through the property owner or manager to get new locks on your doors. This simple step can safeguard your home from others who have no right to be on the property any longer.