Checklists
How to Prepare Your Home Before a Long Vacation
The small things that ruin an otherwise good trip.
Most vacation-prep problems are not dramatic. They are small oversights — a forgotten delivery stacking up outside the door, a slow leak nobody sees, a fridge defrosting after a power cut — that turn into an expensive surprise on return. The longer the absence, the more the emphasis shifts from locking up to arranging for someone to actually look.
A week before you leave
These are the items that need another party, so they will not wait until the night before.
- Pause deliveries and subscriptions, or arrange for someone to collect post and packages — a pile outside the door is the clearest signal a flat is empty
- Tell your society office or watchman the dates you will be away, and who is authorised to enter
- Arrange for plants and pets, and confirm it in writing rather than in a passing conversation
- If you have live-in or daily help, agree exactly what they will do, on which days, and how they will reach you
- Book any maintenance you have been putting off, so a known problem is not left to worsen unattended
The day you leave
- Shut the main water inlet — a burst inlet hose is the single most expensive thing that happens to empty flats
- Turn off the gas at the cylinder or the mains valve
- Unplug anything that does not need power, particularly geysers, and leave the fridge running only if someone will check it
- Empty the kitchen bin and anything perishable, including fruit left out
- Check every window and balcony door, not just the front door
- Photograph the meter readings, so an unexplained jump while you were away is provable
If the house will be empty for more than a month
Beyond about four weeks the risks change shape. Standing water in traps evaporates and lets drain smells and insects back in, dust and damp settle, and a small leak has time to do real damage. Long vacancy is less about security and more about the fact that nothing is being noticed.
- Arrange a periodic check rather than only a start-and-end visit — someone physically opening the door, walking the rooms, and telling you what they saw
- Ask for taps to be run briefly on each visit to refill drain traps
- Have the post and any notices collected, including society circulars, which is often where a maintenance dues problem first appears
- Keep at least one contactable person locally who can let a plumber or electrician in without waiting for you to fly back
- Check that your home insurance does not limit cover for extended unoccupancy — many policies do
What a check on the property should actually cover
A useful check is not someone glancing in from the doorway. It is water marks under sinks and around the washing machine, the ceiling below any bathroom above you, the meter reading, whether the fridge is still cold, signs of pests, and whether anything has been posted or served at the door. What comes back to you should be specific enough to act on, ideally with photographs.
Questions
Is a check right before leaving and right after returning enough?
For a short trip, usually. For a longer absence, no — a slow leak or a pest problem is far cheaper to catch mid-trip than to discover after weeks of doing damage. The point of a periodic check is that problems get found while they are still small.
How do I prepare a house for a long period of vacancy?
Shut the water at the mains and the gas at the valve, unplug what does not need power, clear anything perishable, and stop deliveries. Then arrange for someone to visit periodically, run the taps to refill drain traps, and report what they see. The first part protects against failure; the second is what catches it if something fails anyway.
Should I leave the fridge running while I am away?
Only if someone will check it. After a long power cut an unattended fridge full of food is worse than an empty one that was switched off and left open to air. For a long absence, emptying, defrosting and leaving the door ajar is usually the better call.
What is the most common thing people forget?
Stopping deliveries. Everything else tends to be remembered because it is part of locking up, but a stack of parcels or newspapers outside a door advertises an empty flat to everyone who walks past it.
PadosiPro can check on your home periodically while you're away, not just before and after.