An estate to settle

Inherited a house?

An estate to settle, a house full of a lifetime, and a family spread across three cities trying to agree on what happens next. You do not have to decide this week. You do have to keep the house safe, insured and heated while you do. Here is the order to do things in, and the rent number that makes the decision easier.

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First things first, in order

The house does not care that the estate is complicated. These are the things that go wrong in the first ninety days, and the order we suggest dealing with them.

Tell the insurer this weekMost home policies restrict coverage once a house has been empty for about 30 days. Call the insurer, explain the situation, and get a vacancy permit on the policy. A burst pipe in an uninsured empty house is the single most expensive thing that happens to estates in winter.
Keep the heat on and someone checkingHeat above freezing, water off at the main if nobody is living there, and a weekly walk-through. If nobody in the family is in Kingston, we can do the checks and the winterizing from the day you call, before any decision about renting.
Confirm who can signThe estate trustee named in the will, or appointed by the court if there is no will, is the person who can lease or sell. Your estate lawyer confirms when that authority is in place. Pricing, cleaning and preparation can start in the meantime.
Get two numbers, not oneAsk a realtor what the house would sell for. Ask us what it would rent for, in writing, within 24 hours of a call. We do not sell houses, so our number has no pitch behind it. With both numbers and the carrying costs, the family conversation gets much shorter.
Clear it, then decide what it needsEstate contents, a deep clean, and the short list of repairs that affect rent or sale price. We coordinate estate clean-out and trades at cost plus our 10% coordination fee, and we tell you which repairs pay for themselves and which do not.

Rent, sell, or keep: how the three compare

Rent it

Income from a screened resident while the family decides, the house heated, occupied and insured as a rental, and a sale still possible later, with the resident in place or after proper notice. A one-year lease keeps every option open. The right answer when the market is soft, the family is not aligned, or the house is a good rental in its own right.

Sell it

Clean, simple, and final. The right answer when the house needs more work than the family wants to fund, when the estate needs the cash, or when nobody wants a rental. Our rent number still helps: it tells a buyer what the house earns, and it tells you what you are giving up.

Keep it in the family

One sibling buys out the others, or the family holds it together as a rental. Either way it needs the same thing: a manager who reports to everyone, holds the money in trust, and sends each co-owner the same statement every month so nobody has to take anyone's word for it.

A word on tax. For the CRA, the person who died is treated as having sold the house at its fair market value on the day of death, so the estate's starting cost for the house is that value, and the deceased's principal residence exemption usually covers the years before. From there, rent is taxable income and any later gain is measured from that starting value. We are not accountants, and estates vary: get advice before the first lease, and we will give your accountant a year-end summary grouped by the CRA's T776 lines.

Management that reports to the whole family

An inherited house usually has more than one owner and almost never has one who lives nearby. We built the reporting for that.

Every co-owner sees the same statement

One monthly owner statement, sent to the estate trustee or to every co-owner, your choice, with every transaction in a ledger and every invoice in the portal. Nobody is the keeper of the numbers.

Money in trust, draws by EFT

Rent and the last month's rent deposit are held in a separate trust account, reconciled monthly. Draws go to the estate account or are split between co-owners as you instruct us in writing.

Decisions by email, with a deadline

Anything above the approval limit comes to you with the quote, the photos and a date we need an answer by. We follow issues to their conclusion and report them that way.

Nobody in Kingston? That is fine.

Inspections with photos, a winter drive-by, trades on call and a person answering the phone. Heirs in Toronto, Calgary or Boston run the house the same way. Non-resident co-owners get the NR6 and NR4 paperwork handled.

Sale-ready at any time

If the family decides to sell later, we keep the home in showing condition, work with your realtor on access, and manage the resident through the sale, including the notice a buyer who wants to live there needs.

The first ninety days, covered

Winterizing, weekly checks, estate clean-out and repairs can start before anyone has decided to rent. If the family sells instead, you owe us for the work done, not a management fee.

Response standards with a clock on them

Owners judge a manager by how fast they get an answer, ahead of fees and even occupancy. So we publish the clock we run on and put it in the management agreement.

20 min

First call

A.J. Keilty calls every new owner enquiry within 20 minutes in business hours, or at 8:30 the next business day.

Same day

Owner replies

Every owner call or email is answered the same business day by the person handling your property, not an auto-reply.

1 hour

Emergencies

An emergency trade is dispatched within one hour, 24/7, and the after-hours line is answered by a person.

1 / 5 days

Routine repairs

Routine requests are acknowledged within one business day and scheduled within five, with you approving anything above your limit.

The full standards, including inspections and vendor rules, are on the maintenance services page.

Flat-rate pricing, published

One flat rate for Full Service management of a house or condo. Every other fee is tied to work actually done on your property, listed on the single-family page and confirmed in writing before you sign anything.

Full Service

$149 + HST / unit / month

✓Rent collection and delinquency management
✓Monthly owner statement and 24/7 owner portal
✓Dedicated property manager, one point of contact
✓Maintenance coordination and annual photo inspection
✓24/7 emergency response for residents
✓Landlord and Tenant Board process handling

Leasing Fee

1 month's rent + HST

✓Professional photography, 3D tour and floor plans
✓Listed on rentals.ca, Kijiji, Zumper and more
✓Advertising funded by us, up to 50% of one month's rent
✓Credit, income, background and reference checks
✓You approve the final applicant, always
✓Billed at occupancy, not up front

What you can count on

Cancel on 60 days noticeA one-year agreement that renews automatically, cancellable at any point on 60 days written notice.

Your money in trustRent and deposits are held in a separate trust account, reconciled monthly, and your draw is sent by EFT.

You approve the spendAnything above your approval limit waits for your decision, except an emergency that threatens the home or the people in it.

Same rate for everyoneThe same flat rate whether the house is owned by one person, an estate or four siblings. Co-owner reporting is included, not an add-on.

See every fee, listed. Renting a condo? The condo page has the same schedule plus the condo-specific details.

What owners say about the answer they get

Public Google reviews, quoted as written. KEILTY is rated 4.8 on Google from 36 reviews.

★★★★★

"Very satisfied with this company's service. Totally hands off for the owner. Also company's owner portal included every report there like income statement, repairs, tasks. Very handy for the owner to look for the information."

Jessie Wang

Owner client

★★★★★

"Brandon is always quick to respond and follows through to completion on any tasks asked of him. All being handled with a positive attitude, and pleasant personality."

Dante Di Giovanni

Owner client

Read all the reviews

What would the house rent for?

A free rent estimate with a realistic range and a written management quote, with a call from A.J. Keilty within 20 minutes in business hours. If the estate is not settled yet, that is fine; the number helps the family decide.

Free Rent Estimate

No obligation. Prepared by a local property manager.

A call within 20 minutes in business hours, the written estimate within 24 hours of that call. We never share your information.

Need the house looked after while the family decides?

Call 613-545-3322 or email ClientCare@KEILTY.com. We can have the house checked, winterized and priced this week, with no decision about renting required.

Get My Free Rent Estimate Call 613-545-3322

Frequently asked questions

Inherited homes, answered

The questions estate trustees and heirs ask us most, with the same answers you would get on the phone.

Can we rent the house before the estate is settled?

Usually once the estate trustee has authority to deal with the property, which your estate lawyer confirms. In the meantime we can price the house, arrange the clean-out, winterize it and do weekly checks, so the lease can be signed the week the authority is in place rather than months later.

Who receives the rent?

Whoever you instruct us to pay, in writing: the estate's bank account, or each co-owner in the shares you give us. Rent and the deposit are held in a separate trust account and reconciled monthly, and every co-owner can receive the same statement so nobody has to ask anyone else how the house is doing.

The family cannot agree on rent versus sell. What then?

Get the two numbers first: a realtor's sale number and our written rent number, with the carrying costs beside them. Families argue less about arithmetic than about feelings. A one-year lease is often the compromise: income now, the house heated and insured, and a sale still possible when everyone is ready.

Can we sell the house later with a resident living in it?

Yes. Investors often prefer a house with a paying resident and a clean statement history, and the tenancy transfers to the buyer. A buyer who wants to live in the house can be given possession through the N12 notice process, which we handle. Either way, we keep the house in showing condition and manage access with your realtor.

Can you clear out the house?

We coordinate estate clean-out, junk removal, cleaning and the repairs that affect the rent, through insured vendors who quote in advance, at cost plus our 10% coordination fee. You decide what is kept, donated or disposed of; we make sure it happens.

Is the insurance still valid on an empty house?

Often not for long. Most home policies restrict coverage once the house has been empty for about 30 days, so call the insurer this week and ask for a vacancy permit. Once a resident moves in, the policy needs to become a rental dwelling policy. We remind every estate of both at onboarding.

How is rent from an inherited house taxed?

Rental income is taxable to whoever owns the house, the estate or the heirs, and is reported on the CRA's form T776. The house's starting cost for tax is generally its fair market value on the date of death. Our year-to-date summary is grouped by the T776 lines so your accountant can use it directly, and the accountant is the person to ask about your specific estate.

Some of us live outside Canada. Does that change anything?

Only the paperwork. A non-resident co-owner's share of the rent is subject to the CRA's non-resident withholding unless an NR6 undertaking is approved, and we handle the remittance and the annual NR4 slip as the Canadian agent. Everything else, from inspections with photos to approvals by email, works the same from anywhere.