My favourite example of the value of providing a key to your home is the babysitter who stepped out onto a high-rise apartment balcony to talk on the phone while the baby slept. A security bar fell into place as she slid the door closed, very firmly locking her out. At least she had a phone. The fire department responded and, of course, had no trouble opening the suite door. They simply used enormous wrenches and twisted the locks right off, leaving some impressive gouges in the door and two destroyed locks.

Some might fear that their privacy is in jeopardy with suite keys in someone else’s hands. But those keys are locked away, either in a safe on-site, or at the offices of your building’s property manager. They would only be used in a real emergency, and usually when police or firefighters are on the scene.

To make a water leak less likely when you’re away, close shutoffs that may serve your appliances, such as the laundry machine. In some apartment condominiums only the laundry and perhaps toilets are served by shutoffs, so there are other fixtures that you’ll have to ignore. That’s why you’ll want a friend to drop in on your home every day or two to look around for any issue that might be developing. Oh, and your insurance policy might require such visits anyway.

When your friend is attending to your suite, there’s more to do than just water the plants. Every fixture should have some water run into it, so that the water plug in toilets and sinks is refreshed. If that water evaporates entirely, sewer gas can waft up into the home. As well, windows should be checked, as an open window can let in a lot of rainwater during one of Calgary’s infamous summer cloudbursts.

Lastly, leaving contact information with the manager can be helpful if there’s an incident. In the rare event of a fire affecting your home, it’s better to know about it before you arrive home, luggage in hand, groggy from a long drive or flight.  

Gerald Rotering  is a condominium-specialist Realtor with Realty Executives, Chinook City, is President of his own building’s condominium corporation, and is a professional member of the Canadian Condominium Institute. Extensive further information about condominiums can be found on his web site: http://www.CondosInCalgary.com.