Service
The house looked after, while the decision matures.
After a move into a care home, or while an estate waits for probate, a house often stands empty for months. Selling under pressure would be the most expensive path — leaving the house to itself the second. Home in safekeeping is the third: we secure, check and look after the house for a time, until your family has decided calmly — or, once the decision is made, until the keys are handed over.
The situation
An empty house calls quietly: the insurer expects a notification and duties, frost keeps no calendar, the letterbox fills — and someone in the family drives over every weekend to air the rooms and check. That carries for a while. But it wears people down, and it quietly pushes towards a decision that is not yet ripe. Exactly this pushing is what we take out. And the reverse holds too: whoever wants to sell but does not live nearby adds safekeeping — the house stays looked after and ready for viewings until the sale is complete.
Standing still is a fully valid path with us — the house waits looked after, not abandoned.
What we do
- Regular checks at an agreed rhythm, with a short report and photos — you see that everything is in order without driving over.
- The insurance duties in view: vacancy reported, water shut off, frost protection set — followed up and documented so the cover remains.
- Keys and a single point of contact — for neighbours, tradespeople and meter readers.
- Small maintenance coordinated before it grows large; only what you approve is commissioned.
- The running costs recorded and ordered — one overview instead of many loose debits.
- One report to everyone involved, in the same wording — in communities of heirs, half the peace.
Before we begin
First we clarify who may act for the house — a power of attorney, a guardianship, or the community of heirs. Without a sound basis we take no house into safekeeping. That protects you, and it protects every later decision.
How we charge
A fixed monthly fee, cancellable monthly — independent of any sale and never credited against a commission. We state the amount in the free compass conversation, in writing and before any engagement. In an inheritance case the estate can pay. More on the system: Fees.
What we do not do
We do not administer tenancies or condominium property, and we do not let in the owner’s name. If the family later wishes to let, the safekeeping ends in an orderly way and we help with the handover to a suitable property manager. We do not provide legal or tax advice. And safekeeping never turns into a sales mandate by itself: the impulse for a sale comes from you alone. If you want both — say, because you wish to sell but do not live nearby — we run safekeeping and the discreet sale side by side as two clearly separate engagements.
First conversation free · cancel monthly · reply within two working days
Frequently asked questions
- Do I have to sell in the end?
- No. Safekeeping buys time, not an outcome. All three paths — keeping, resolving within the family, selling — remain equally open; the arrangement ends whenever you decide.
- Who can engage us?
- Holders of a power of attorney, court-appointed guardians within their powers — and communities of heirs: jointly or through an authorised person. We clarify the authority before we begin; in an inheritance case the estate can carry the fee.
- Do you also take on the letting?
- No, deliberately not. Whether letting is the right path is something we work through honestly in the three-ways advice — the ongoing administration of a tenancy we then pass into suitable hands.
- Which houses does this fit?
- Empty or rarely used houses and flats in the Hannover region, the Weserbergland and Ostwestfalen-Lippe. Whether it fits is settled in the free compass conversation.
- Does safekeeping work while we sell?
- Yes. Especially those living further away combine the two: the sale runs as its own engagement, and safekeeping keeps the house looked after and ready for viewings meanwhile — two separate agreements, clearly billed.