When it happens, and what it is for
In most Calgary transactions your right to view the property before possession is written into the purchase contract, so it is a term of the deal rather than a favour. It is commonly arranged for the day before possession, once the seller has moved out and while there is still time to act on what you find.
Its purpose is narrow and worth being clear about: you are confirming the home is in substantially the condition it was in when you wrote the offer, that everything the contract includes is present and working, and that nothing was damaged on the way out. It is not an opportunity to reopen the price over things you already knew about.
What to actually check
- The included items, by name. Take the goods-included list with you. Appliances get swapped for older units more often than anyone would like to admit — check the models.
- Run everything. Taps hot and cold, toilets, dishwasher, furnace, the hot water tank, the garage door, every light.
- Damage from the move — door frames, stair walls, floors, the fridge's path through the kitchen.
- Things now visible that furniture was covering. Look at the floors and the walls behind where the sofa was.
- What was left behind — a garage full of paint tins and a dead freezer is your disposal bill, not theirs.
- Keys, remotes, fobs, mailbox key and any alarm codes.
Do it before the funds are released. Afterwards you are not adjusting a deal any more — you are pursuing a seller.
If something is wrong
Call your REALTOR® immediately, and your lawyer, while money is still on your side of the table. There is real leverage in that window and very little afterwards. Photograph everything, in place, before anyone tidies. The full sequence from firm to keys is in our Alberta closing timeline guide.