The property file: access, shut-offs, equipment, contacts and keys, on one dated page
In a property held from afar, every call-out starts with the same questions: where is the stopcock, what is the building’s door code, how is the boiler shut down. Asked in the middle of an emergency, from another time zone, they cost dozens of minutes. The property file answers them in your place. This dossier says what it contains, how to keep it current and what it does day to day.
By Jean Mascla, founder of Home SelectUpdated · 5 min read
The questions asked in the middle of an emergency
In a property held from a distance, every intervention starts with the same questions: where is the shut-off valve, what is the building code, which number reaches the managing agent, how is the boiler switched off. Asked in an emergency, from another time zone, those questions cost dozens of minutes, and minutes weigh heavily in water damage. The property file answers everything, for you: one page holding the operational essentials, kept current, known to those who step in. It is the least spectacular and most profitable document in concierge service.
What the property file contains
The file falls into five blocks, always in the same order:
Access: full address, building code, intercom, floor, lot number in a co-ownership, door particularities, double lock turn, smart viewer, location of any key safe.
Shut-off points and meters: main water valve, main circuit breaker, electricity meter and its number, water meter and its number, gas supply, boiler drain. A simple plan, annotated by hand, does the job.
Equipment and its particularities: boiler and its brand, water heater, roller shutters, alarm, automatic watering, pool and its plant room. Each line carries the gesture that saves: how to shut down, how to make safe.
Contacts: managing agent and the account manager handling your building, insurer and policy number, trusted plumber and electrician, trusted neighbours, building caretaker.
Contracts and keys: insurance, electricity, water, gas, internet, with renewal dates; referenced sets of keys, who holds what, where the spare lies.
This file naturally attaches to the concierge service mandate as an annex: the mandate says who may use it, and for what.
Why is one dated page worth more than a folder?
The temptation of the full folder exists: manuals for every appliance, ten years of bills, squared plans. Stewardship experience says the opposite: in an emergency, nobody browses. The useful file fits on one page, read in a minute, dated at every update. The full folder keeps its place, kept safe, for the insurer and the accountant; the file lives in the field.
The date, above all, marks the difference between a file and an illusion. A changed building code, a replaced boiler, a departed managing agent: an ageing file deceives those who trust it. Dating every line, and checking the locations over successive inspection visits, keeps the document in the real.
Méribel, Alpes
How does the file serve day to day?
Three scenarios show the return. The first is the emergency: water damage discovered from a distance starts by shutting the water; the file says where the valve is, and the first responder, neighbour, caretaker or craftsman, acts without reaching you first. The second is the routine job: a craftsman who receives the file with the quote opens, shuts off, works and closes up without waiting on the phone, a chain the dossier on being present during an intervention details. The third is administrative: insurance policy number and managing agent’s contact at hand, the claim and the follow-up go out the same day.
The file also completes the setup described in who can manage your property: relays change, the file stays, and every new provider starts a month ahead.
Writing the file, then rereading it
The file is written once, during a visit, with the owner or from the owner’s information, then reread at a fixed rhythm: every season, as the opening and closing ritual prescribes, and at every change, of managing agent, insurer, boiler, code. The annual upkeep checklist provides the ideal moment: the annual grand tour checks the locations and updates the file in the wake.
What Home Select organises for your property file
A property held from abroad is prepared from the purchase. During the viewings, your Home Select property finder spots what will need upkeep; before the signing, they introduce the concierge service that will watch over the house in your absence.
After the keys, the Home Select concierge service organises the visits, the call-outs and the photographed reports. Tradespeople, the insurer and the managing agent act under their own responsibility; you decide on documents, wherever you are.
Frequently asked questions
What goes into a property file?
The operational essentials: address and access, building and intercom codes, location of meters, the main shut-off valve, the fuse box and the boiler, equipment particularities, useful contacts from the managing agent to the insurer, current contracts, referenced sets of keys. One page, kept current, is worth ten phone calls.
Who should keep the property file current?
Whoever visits the property: your Home Select property finder during inspection visits, yourself on every stay. The file gets dated at each update, and the concierge service provider who opens the home checks locations over successive visits, so the document follows reality.
Where should the property file be kept?
In two copies: a digital one in a document space shared with your contact, password protected, and a paper one in the home, at an agreed, discreet spot. Access codes never travel in plain email.
Why is one dated page worth more than a folder?
The temptation of the full folder exists: manuals for every appliance, ten years of bills, squared plans. Stewardship experience says the opposite: in an emergency, nobody browses. The useful file fits on one page, read in a minute, dated at every update. The full folder keeps its place, kept safe, for the insurer and the accountant; the file lives in the field.
How does the file serve day to day?
Three scenarios show the return. The first is the emergency: water damage discovered from a distance starts by shutting the water; the file says where the valve is, and the first responder, neighbour, caretaker or craftsman, acts without reaching you first. The second is the routine job: a craftsman who receives the file with the quote opens, shuts off, works and closes up without waiting on the phone, a chain the dossier on being present during an intervention details. The third is administrative: insurance policy number and managing agent’s contact at hand, the claim and the follow-up go out the same day.
What happens to the file when a relay changes?
You simply hand it over: relays change, the file stays, and each new provider starts a month ahead. It is updated at every change of managing agent, insurer, boiler or code, and at least once a season.
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