Life events
The house is empty and the decision about it has not been made.
A long, indefinite vacancy while a family works out what happens next — usually with siblings in different cities and nobody wanting to rush.
Typical duration
A year or more, indefinite
Notice you get
Little
Contactable?
Through family or an attorney
Dominant risk
Long unattended vacancy, plus insurance classification
When a parent moves into care, the house does not follow immediately. It sits, full of a lifetime of belongings, while a family works out whether to sell, whether to wait, whether anyone wants it, and who is going to deal with any of that.
These vacancies routinely run a year or more. Nobody wants to be the one pushing, decisions get deferred, and the property quietly goes through a full Alberta winter with the heat set low and nobody inside.
There is often no legal transfer yet either — the owner is alive and may hold title, so an adult child acting on their behalf needs a power of attorney or clear written authority. It is an estate-shaped problem without being an estate.
What makes this different
Every situation on this site is empty for a reason. These are the things specific to this one.
The owner is alive, and may still hold title
Authority runs through a power of attorney or written instruction rather than through an executor. Getting that right matters.
Indefinite by nature
Nobody sets an end date because nobody wants to make the decision. Arrangements should be open and cancellable.
Full of contents nobody has sorted
Which makes documentation valuable and makes casual tidying entirely inappropriate.
Family spread across cities
Documentation that can be shared is doing real work here, not just record-keeping.
What typically goes wrong
- A year or more of vacancy nobody planned as a vacancy
- Insurance treating an indefinitely empty house differently from an occupied one
- Contents and belongings requiring care and documentation
- Siblings in different provinces needing to see the property is being looked after
- Authority to act being informal rather than written
Services
What this situation 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.
Video Property Walkthrough
A recorded continuous walkthrough showing the current condition of the property, room by room.
Photo Documentation
A timestamped photographic record from each visit, kept as a running visual history of the property.
Snow Removal Coordination
Snow clearing arranged with a local provider and verified on your next visit, with photographs after clearing.
Lawn & Yard Coordination
Mowing and yard maintenance arranged on a schedule and verified with photographs on your next visit.
Maintenance Coordination
When something needs fixing, the right trade is sourced, scheduled, given access and documented — with your authorisation at every step.
Need someone at the house?
Tell us what the property needs. Direct services throughout Greater Calgary.