Your current lease is still valid.
Whether you have one month or ten left on your lease, just because the pandemic has hit, it doesn’t mean your landlord is obligated to let you out early. So, while there’s a chance you can convince them to let you out of it, you should count on paying the penalty set in your lease if you do terminate it early.
Be wary of recycled boxes.
The virus has been shown to be able to exist for as long as 24 hours on cardboard, so that longtime New Yorker solution of hitting up the local grocery or liquor stores in search of boxes may not be a good idea right now. Instead, when getting your estimate from movers, you can ask them for their advice on the number of boxes you should order based on your delivery consultation, then just order them all at once.
You can still hire movers.
Luckily, moving companies are considered an essential business and therefore have been available for hire throughout the pandemic. However, the way they operate has changed a bit. Rather than coming to your home to inspect your belongings before giving a quote, that process will be virtual, since they’re expected to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s social-distancing rules. They will also be wearing masks and gloves while handling your belongings, but you may still want to wipe the furniture down after it arrives in your new home. To further protect your movers, try to have everything boxed up for 24 before they arrive. And if you find that, as your move date approaches you start to feel ill, let your movers know; they should be happy to reschedule in order to avoid any risk.
All that being said, if you can manage to move on your own, that’s probably the best course of action.
Give your neighbors a heads up.
You may want to give your neighbors a courtesy warning that you will be moving out so they can decide for themselves if they’ll need to head out to work a little early in order to avoid unnecessary close interaction with either your movers or yourself constantly coming and going.
There’s no question that moving after COVID is a whole different process than it’s ever been, but if you take the proper precautions, you can do it safely and efficiently.