There may come a time in Animal Crossing: New Horizons where you want to remove a villager. While you can’t always decide who moves in, you can encourage villagers to leave through a few tried and tested methods.
Whether you want to change up your villagers or simply don’t like some of them, here’s our guide on how to get villagers to leave in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Note: If you want to remove a player’s residence from your island (e.g. a friend or family member), we have a guide that will show you how to do this!
What Doesn’t Work
Before we get into how to get villagers to leave, it’s worth noting what doesn’t make them leave.
If you visit Isabelle, you’ll have the option to report villagers for dressing incorrectly, saying the wrong thing, and so on. While you can moan about your villagers, none of the options will cause a villager to leave.
Another common rumor is that physically abusing your villagers will cause them to pack their bags. Running into them or smacking them with a net will definitely annoy them, but it won’t cause them to leave.
By talking to villagers, even if it’s to nark them, you’re still giving them attention. Thus, they are not intelligent enough to put two and two together.
Get Villagers to Leave From Neglect
The easiest way to get your villagers to leave in Animal Crossing: New Horizons is to ignore them.
Avoid them at all costs; don’t talk to them, don’t ask them what they’re doing, and don’t complete any quests from them. Essentially, you’ll need to pretend they don’t exist, putting all of your attention onto other villagers.
Ignoring a villager will lead to neglect. After a few days, you may notice the villager you want to leave has a thought bubble over their head. If this happens, you’ll want to interact with them as it means they have a question or dilemma.
In some cases, a villager may want to ask you about their nickname or get you to do something, but if you’ve been ignoring them, chances are they’ll ask about leaving.
If it’s a villager you like, make sure you ask them to stay. If you want to get a villager to leave, you can agree with their decision and wave them goodbye.
Remove Villagers Using the Campsite
You’ll need your town to be at a maximum capacity of 10 villagers. To do this, you’ll need to progress the game by completing tasks for Tom Nook and building campsites for people to move into plots of land.
When your town is full, you’ll need to grab an Amiibo card of the villager you want to move in or wait for someone to visit your campsite.
You can summon a villager to the campsite using your Amiibo card. Make sure you complete the DIY project they want you to create to increase their happiness.
Once you’ve done enough favors for them, on the third day of their arrival, give them their final gift and continue talking to them.
When they’re ready to move in, they’ll say that there’s no room left on the island. They will mention that they heard someone was thinking of moving out, which is your cue to pounce.
A pop-up will appear with your current residents, asking you to choose one to negotiate with. When you’ve chosen your villager, your desired villager will prepare to move in.
