Condo & Apartment Owners
A unit is a smaller property with a shorter list — and one big exception.
Unit-level property care, with common property left where it belongs: with the condominium corporation.
Condominium units are the classic lock-and-leave property, which is exactly why owners assume they need nothing. Mostly they need less — but not nothing, and the failure mode is worse.
Water is the reason. In a stacked building a supply line failure in your unit does not stay in your unit. It goes into the units below and into common property, and the resulting claim involves the corporation's insurance, your unit owner's policy, and potentially a deductible the bylaws assign back to you. Alberta condominium legislation and most bylaws allow a corporation to charge the insurance deductible to an owner where the loss originates in their unit, and those deductibles are frequently in the tens of thousands.
A vacant-unit check covers the unit-level items that matter: temperature, visible plumbing at accessible fixtures, water evidence, windows and doors, appliances where requested, running taps and flushing toilets to keep traps from drying, packages and mail where accessible, in-suite mechanical where present, and general condition.
Common property is deliberately outside the scope. Hallways, roofs, parkades, mechanical rooms and the building envelope are the corporation's responsibility and its management company's. Where a unit observation suggests something in common property — a hallway leak, a parkade issue — it gets documented and reported to you so you can raise it with the corporation, which is the correct channel.
What actually goes wrong
In-suite water affects other units
A failure in your unit becomes a multi-unit claim. This is the risk that makes vacant condo checks worth doing.
Deductible chargebacks
Many Alberta condo bylaws allow the corporation's deductible to be charged to the owner where the loss originated. Read your bylaws and your unit policy.
Dry traps
Unused floor drains, sinks and showers dry out and let odours in. Easily prevented by running water on each visit.
Access arrangements
Fobs, elevators, visitor parking and concierge procedures all need arranging before a visit rather than at the door.
Services
What this usually involves
In roughly the order people add them.
Vacant Home Checks
Scheduled physical visits to an unoccupied property, with a timestamped photo record and a written report after every visit.
Interior Property Check
A walk of accessible interior areas recording temperature, water evidence, heating operation, odours and general condition.
Temperature & Freeze-Risk Observation
A recorded interior temperature reading at each visit, with freeze-risk observations through the Alberta winter.
Mail & Package Checks
Mail and parcels collected, brought inside and organised to your written instructions, with notification of anything that looks important.
Plant Watering
Indoor and outdoor plants watered to your written per-plant instructions, with a photo confirmation after each visit.
Small Home Tasks
Non-trade household tasks — filters, bulbs, batteries, hardware, furniture moves — completed during a visit and photographed.
Need someone at the house?
Tell us what the property needs. Direct services throughout Greater Calgary.