Bridget McGee didn’t plan on moving her apartment belongings twice, but she was forced to after she couldn’t extend her lease.

McGee, an art history major, moved to an apartment leased by Star Apartments. She used to live in an apartment leased by Laing Management.

“They didn’t offer me anything,” McGee said.

McGee was forced to move her belongings, including her bed and couch, back home, only to bring them back a week later.

J.T. Murray, account manager for Pittsley Realty, said if tenants are moving to another building of the theirs, Pittsley will try to extend the current lease.

“If it’s not possible to extend the lease, we find [tenants] storage in an empty unit,” Murray said.

Susan McNaster, president of Horizon Real Estate Management Inc., said sometimes a tenant’s lease for one apartment is up before they can move into another, but that they try to accommodate them.

“It’s a big juggling act, but we do the best we can,” McNaster said.

McNaster stresses the importance of knowing when a lease ends.

“The fines are huge,” McNaster said. “It’s triple rent for the extra days.”

April Harrison, rental agent for Mason Properties, said a walk-through can help avoid extra costs to the tenant.

“We work with the tenants to help the move-out process be easier,” Harrison said. “We make suggestions and hand out pamphlets to help them.”

Tenants who don’t have overlapping leases and don’t want to take all their belongings home before moving into their next apartment can rent storage space from the Copy Service, 1005 W. Lincoln Highway.

Copy Service employee Heather Crichton said that now is their peak season for renting space.

“Let’s just say we have at least 15 rentals a day and most of them are students,” Crichton said.

Renting space from Copy Service costs between $35 to $130 per month and must be rented for a full month.

Unit sizes range from the size of a closet to a two-car garage.

Instead of renting storage space, students also can rent a U-Haul truck for $19.95 a day, plus 99 cents a mile.

Linda McGinnis, manager of U-Haul, 2805 S. First Street, said that one truck can move a one bedroom apartment in one trip.

“It’s easier than loading a car up 10 times,” McGinnis said.

Laing Management was unavailable for comment regarding its leases.