proxy/ power for house-sitter

May 26, 2015 11:28 AM

I am leaving on a 3 month trip next Monday. I just found out a few days ago that my condo building is planning on changing everyone's lock and issuing new keys during the time that I am gone. I'd like to designate a friend as my legal proxy ONLY in this matter. How do I do this?

I am leaving all of my belongings in the condo and am uncomfortable not knowing when there will be random people coming into my apartment to change locks. Also am uncomfortable thinking that I'll come back and not have keys to go home. My friend has agreed to receive those "entering your apartment now!" notices and getting the new keys on my behalf. Do we need some sort of power of attorney/ legal proxy forms?

I am based in Toronto.

posted by redwaterman to Law & Government (6 answers total)

Can you just send a quick email to the building management saying that he can admit their workers to the apartment for the next few months and receive your new keys? If you have sane building management that should be enough.
posted by grouse at 11:35 AM on May 26, 2015

Response by poster: That would really be the easiest. Unfortunately my building does not have an on-site manager, and the manager is really hard to get a hold of-- she often takes days if not weeks to reply to emails or call back. So I am not confident I'll get my keys on the day I return.
posted by redwaterman at 11:42 AM on May 26, 2015

You shouldn't need a full POA for that kind of thing. I'd describe it as that you want him to act as your agent in this matter.

grouse has it - just send your manager a letter saying that you are designating XXX as your agent. His address is YYY and phone number is ZZZ. Please direct all issues regarding the new locks & keys to him, as well as any other matters that require input before date AAAA (if you want). Sign it, send an original to the manager and an original to your friend. Keep a copy. Your friend can then confirm with the manager that there are no troubles with the arrangement with less of a time limit.

I'm assuming that there are no issues with your condo agreement about leaving the place unoccupied for a few months? If so, well you're kind of giving away the fact that it's happening by doing this.

I am not your lawyer and this is not legal advice.
posted by Lemurrhea at 11:47 AM on May 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

Tell them to drop the keys in your mailbox("because otherwise how will i get in!"), and give your friend the mailbox key.

My experience with this kind of thing is that unless you can get THEM to sign something it's way too likely they'll just refuse to give it to your friend. I know that's cynical, but this kind of thing has always screwed up for me.
posted by emptythought at 1:33 PM on May 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

You can get power of attorney for very specific things and date ranges, yes. I've had several. They used to make strongly encourage us do it for the spouses before deploying in the military. With a general power of attorney, I believe it would be up to the condo people whether to accept it or not, but a special power of attorney for a specific thing is much more likely to work. We were advised that it was better to have special POAs for everything we could think of ahead of time instead of the more risky and less well-accepted general POA.

Disclaimer: US, Not a lawyer
posted by ctmf at 7:28 PM on May 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

Do you have a mailing address for the manager? Perhaps sending a letter by certified mail/requiring signature would be a good way to show that you are serious and get it on record that they know about your request. You could ask the manager to call you in the letter.
posted by the agents of KAOS at 7:58 PM on May 26, 2015