The last week of selling is where good transactions go wrong — over a walkthrough nobody expected, a garage full of things nobody wanted, and a set of keys that was one short. None of it is complicated, and all of it is avoidable.
By this point the hard work is done. The home sold, the conditions came off, the lawyers have what they need. What is left is a handover — and handovers are where otherwise excellent transactions produce phone calls nobody wanted.
Two things cause almost all of it. The first is the buyer’s walkthrough, which many sellers do not realise is coming even though it is written into the contract. The second is condition: what you leave behind, and what state you leave it in.
Neither is difficult. But they arrive in the same week as the movers, the lawyer’s appointment, the utilities, and whatever is happening with the home you are moving into — which is exactly why they get overlooked.
In most Calgary transactions the buyer’s right to view the property before possession is already written into the purchase contract. It is not something they are asking for as a courtesy and it is not something you are agreeing to out of goodwill. It is a term you accepted when you accepted the offer.
The buyer and their agent walk the home shortly before possession, typically the day before. It is brief. They are not re-inspecting the house and they are not looking for new faults.
That the home is in substantially the condition it was in when they wrote the offer, that everything included in the contract is still there, and that nothing was damaged during your move. That is the whole scope of it.
Because this is the moment a problem gets raised while funds are still moving — which is precisely when it is easiest to resolve, and also when it can hold up your closing. A home left half-emptied, with a wall gouged by a sofa and the fridge gone that was supposed to stay, turns a formality into a negotiation on the worst possible day.
Your obligation is to deliver the property in substantially the condition it was in when the buyer viewed and wrote their offer, allowing for reasonable wear. You are not required to improve it. You are absolutely required not to degrade it.
Whatever the contract lists as included must be there and must be in working order: appliances, window coverings, garage remotes, sheds, and anything else specified. Swapping a good appliance for an older one from the garage is a genuine breach, not a clever move, and buyers notice immediately.
The buyer is not inheriting your storage problem. Paint tins in the crawlspace, the old mattress in the garage, the shelving in the basement, the pile behind the shed. If it is not included in the contract and you do not want it, it needs to go — and disposal is your cost, not theirs.
The common contractual standard is broom clean, meaning swept out and emptied. It is a minimum, not an aspiration, and it is a fairly low bar. Most disputes we see involve homes that did not even reach it.
Broom clean is what the contract requires. It is not what we recommend, and it is not what our sellers do. Think about the morning you took possession of this house, and what you hoped to walk into. Leave it that way for the next family.
Practically: buyers who walk into a genuinely clean home do not go looking for problems. A home that has clearly been cared for right to the last hour sets a tone that makes the final day frictionless. A grubby handover invites scrutiny, and scrutiny on possession day is expensive.
Floors vacuumed and washed. Bathrooms and kitchen properly cleaned, including inside the oven and the fridge if it stays. Cupboards and drawers emptied and wiped. Windows and sills done. Nothing left in the garage, the shed, or the crawlspace. Bins emptied and clean, not full and waiting. Yard tidy, snow cleared.
A move-out clean is a few hundred dollars, and it is the last few hundred dollars of a transaction worth hundreds of thousands. You will be exhausted, you will be out of time, and the cleaner will do it better than you will at ten o’clock at night.
Many of our sellers leave a short note for the new owners — which bin day it is, which switch does what, the name of a good plumber, what they loved about the street. It costs nothing. People remember it for years.
House keys for every lock, including the back door, the garage service door, the shed, and any padlocks. The mailbox key — the single most forgotten item on this list, and a genuine nuisance for the new owners to replace through Canada Post. Every garage door remote, not just the one in your car, plus the exterior keypad code. If you have given a key to a neighbour, a cleaner, or a dog walker, retrieve it or tell the buyer it is out there.
Every appliance manual you still have, furnace and hot water tank documentation, the roof invoice, windows and any other major work, and anything still under warranty — appliances, roof, furnace, hot water tank, new windows, or a builder’s new-home warranty if the home is recent. Many warranties are transferable, and several require the new owner to register or notify the provider within a window, so leaving the paperwork is what makes them usable at all.
Alarm codes and the monitoring company’s details. Smart thermostats, doorbells, cameras and locks must be factory reset and removed from your account entirely — a device still linked to your phone is a real security problem for the people now living there, and an awkward call weeks later.
This is the part that costs nothing and is remembered for years. Write down what someone new genuinely needs to know: where the main water shut-off is, where the electrical panel is and what the breakers actually control, the furnace filter size and when you last changed it, how the irrigation or the humidifier works, which bin day is which and where the bins go, the alarm sequence, and the quirks — the tap that needs a firm turn, the window that sticks, the switch that does nothing obvious.
Add the trades you trust while you are at it: your plumber, your furnace company, the person who does the yard. New owners spend their first month working all of this out, usually at the least convenient moment.
Contact your electricity and natural gas retailers and the City for water, and set your accounts to close on the possession date — not before. Cancelling early leaves the home without heat or power for the buyer’s walkthrough and possession, which in a Calgary winter is a serious problem, not an inconvenience.
On possession day, take a photograph of the gas, electricity and water meters showing the reading, with the date. It takes a minute and it settles any dispute about a final bill instantly. Do this even though the utilities are usually not adjusted on the statement of adjustments.
If you pay your property tax monthly through the City’s Tax Instalment Payment Plan, you must cancel it. It does not transfer with the property and it does not stop itself. Withdrawals continuing after you no longer own the home create a genuine mess to unwind. Your lawyer should confirm this as part of closing, but it is worth checking yourself.
Redirect your mail with Canada Post, cancel or move internet and television, update your address with your insurer, bank, employer, registry and the CRA, and cancel any lawn, snow or cleaning services tied to the address.
Possession in Alberta is commonly noon, though the contract governs. You need to be fully out with the home cleaned before that time — not moving out at eleven. Buyers frequently have a truck booked and movers on the clock, and a seller still loading is a real cost to them and an immediate source of conflict.
You do not hand keys to the buyer directly. They are released once the lawyers confirm funds have flowed, normally through the brokerages. Leave the full set with us as arranged, along with remotes and codes.
If possession runs late it is almost always because funds have not arrived — a lender advancing late, a bank draft delayed. It is frustrating for everyone and it is rarely anyone’s fault in the room. Do not release keys early to be helpful, however sympathetic the situation: until funds have moved, the home is still yours and your lawyer has told you not to.
Your lawyer will send a reporting letter and the final statement of adjustments. Keep them permanently with your sale documents — they establish what you sold, when, and for how much, which matters later for tax questions.
Yes, and in most Calgary transactions that right is already written into the purchase contract — it is a term you accepted with the offer, not a favour being asked. It typically happens the day before possession, it is brief, and the buyer is confirming three things: that the home is in substantially the condition it was when they wrote the offer, that everything included is still there, and that nothing was damaged during your move.
Substantially the condition it was in when the buyer viewed and wrote their offer, allowing for reasonable wear, with every included item present and working, and emptied of all your belongings and rubbish. The common contractual standard is 'broom clean' — swept out and empty. That is a minimum rather than a goal, and most possession-day disputes involve homes that did not reach it.
Better than the contract requires. Our advice to every seller is to leave it the way you would hope to find it on possession day: floors washed, kitchen and bathrooms properly cleaned including inside the oven, cupboards emptied and wiped, garage and shed cleared, bins emptied, yard tidy or snow cleared. A move-out clean costs a few hundred dollars and it ends the transaction quietly — buyers who walk into a clean home do not go looking for problems.
Every key including the mailbox and shed, all garage remotes plus the keypad code, alarm codes and monitoring details, appliance manuals, furnace and hot water tank documentation, transferable warranties, service records, and leftover paint with the colour names. Factory reset and unlink every smart device — thermostats, doorbells, cameras, locks — since a device still on your account is a real security problem for them.
Set them to close on the possession date, never before. Disconnecting early leaves the home without heat or power for the buyer's walkthrough and possession, which in a Calgary winter is a serious problem rather than an inconvenience. Also cancel your TIPP property tax plan — it does not transfer with the property and does not stop on its own, and withdrawals continuing after you have sold create a real mess to unwind.
Possession in Alberta is commonly noon, though your contract governs, and you need to be fully out and cleaned before that time rather than moving out at eleven. Keys are not handed to the buyer directly — they are released through the brokerages once the lawyers confirm funds have flowed. Never release keys early to be helpful, however sympathetic the delay: until funds move, the home is still yours.
We will confirm your walkthrough timing, coordinate keys and remotes through the brokerages, and make sure nothing on the included-items list becomes a conversation on the morning of possession.
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