Attached versus unattached
The rough rule is physical: if it is fastened to the property it ordinarily goes with it, and if it merely sits there it ordinarily does not. Alberta's residential purchase contract handles this by distinguishing attached goods from unattached goods, and by giving both sides room to list exceptions.
- Ordinarily stays — light fixtures, built-in cabinetry, blinds and mounted shades, the bracket a television hangs on, a shed on a permanent foundation, garage door openers, central vacuum.
- Ordinarily goes — free-standing furniture, the television itself, curtains on a rod that stays, patio furniture, a shed on skids, potted plants.
- Always list it — appliances. Even where custom points one way, appliances are the single most common source of possession-day arguments in Calgary. Write them in.
If it matters, write it down
Both sides get to override the default, in both directions: a seller can exclude the dining room chandelier that came from their grandmother, and a buyer can include the hot tub. What neither side gets is the benefit of the doubt later. Ambiguity is always resolved at the worst possible moment — the day the truck arrives.
Nobody has ever regretted listing the appliances. Plenty of buyers have regretted assuming them.
The leased-equipment trap
Attached goods are ordinarily to come to you free of any encumbrance — but the seller cannot give you something they do not own. Rented hot water tanks, leased furnaces and air conditioners, solar leases, security monitoring contracts and water softener rentals all come with a contract attached to them, and sometimes a buyout.
Ask what is rented before you write the offer, not after. Then confirm it again on your final walkthrough, when you can still do something about it.