October 8 2026

What to Do in the First 30 Days After Buying a Home in BC

samanthaFood for Thought on Real Estate 0

Getting the keys is an emotion of relief and excitement. You’ve done the hard work — the saving, the searching, the paperwork, the waiting. It’s all done and the home is yours.

What many buyers may not realize is that the first 30 days after closing can feel just as overwhelming as everything that led up to it. There’s a lot to sort out, and without a clear sense of what actually matters and what can wait, it’s easy to either do too much at once or miss something important.

Here’s a straightforward guide to what deserves your attention in that first month — and what you can take your time with.

Day One: The Basics First

Before you unpack a single box, there are a few things worth doing right away.

Change the locks. This is the one that most people mean to do and then forget about for weeks. You have no way of knowing how many copies of the previous keys exist — former owners, contractors, neighbours, property managers. It’s a simple yet important task to consider for safety. Do it as soon as you can.

Do a walkthrough of the entire property before the moving truck arrives. Check that everything is in the condition it was in when you last saw it. Test the appliances, the lights, the taps. If anything looks different from what was agreed, you want to know about it before your belongings are filling every room and the moment has passed.

Take photos of every room, every wall, and every corner. This creates a baseline record of the property’s condition on the day you took possession — and it’s something you’ll be grateful for if any disputes or insurance claims come up later.

Week One: Get the Essentials Set Up

If you’ve been planning any renovations — new flooring, fresh paint, kitchen updates — this is the week to get them started or completed before your furniture and belongings arrive. Once the moving truck has been unloaded and every room is full, even a straightforward renovation becomes a much bigger disruption. Working with an empty or near-empty space makes the whole process faster, cleaner, and far less stressful. If contractors need to be booked, get that sorted in the days leading up to or immediately after possession so you’re not waiting around once you’re ready to move in.

Utilities should have been arranged before your completion date, but the first week is also the time to confirm everything is actually running in your name — electricity, gas, water, internet, and any other services the property uses. If anything wasn’t transferred correctly, catch it early.

Update your address with the important ones first: your bank, employer, CRA, BC Services Card, and driver’s licence. In BC you have six days after moving to update your driver’s licence address — it’s one of those things that slips through the cracks and creates headaches later.

Set up your home insurance if you haven’t already. For most lenders this is a condition of the mortgage, so it should already be in place — but make sure your policy is active and that you understand what it covers. If you’ve moved into a strata building, know that the strata has its own insurance for the building itself, but it doesn’t cover your personal belongings, your improvements, or your liability inside the unit. You need your own tenant owner’s policy on top of the strata’s coverage.

Week Two: Get to Know Your Home

Spend some time figuring out where everything is and how it works. Find the main water shut-off — knowing where it is before you need it in an emergency is one of the most useful things a homeowner can do. Locate the electrical panel and label the breakers if they aren’t already. Find the gas shut-off. Know where the fire extinguisher is or get one if there isn’t one.

If you’re in a strata building, introduce yourself to the strata manager and get a copy of the strata rules, bylaws, and any move-in procedures. Many buildings have specific requirements around elevator bookings, moving times, and what can and can’t be done to your unit. Finding out after you’ve already done something is a much worse situation than finding out before.

Check the smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors. Replace the batteries if you’re not sure when they were last changed.

Week Three: Sort Out the Paperwork

Store all of your purchase documents somewhere safe and easy to find — your contract of purchase and sale, the title documents, the property disclosure statement, the home inspection report, and your mortgage documents. You’ll need some of these for your taxes, and others may come up years from now when you go to sell or refinance.

If you purchased a new build or a property that qualifies for the GST/HST new housing rebate, make sure you understand the deadlines for applying. The same applies to the BC First Time Home Buyers’ property transfer tax exemption — if you qualified and it wasn’t applied at closing, there is a process to claim it, but there are deadlines.

If you’re a first-time buyer who used the RRSP Home Buyers’ Plan, make sure you understand when repayment starts. Withdrawals made in 2025 generally have a two-year grace period before repayment begins, but it’s worth confirming the timeline with your financial advisor so it doesn’t catch you off guard later.

Week Four: Settle In — Thoughtfully

This is the week most people want to start decorating and making the space their own. And that’s completely reasonable — it’s your home now. That said, one of the most common mistakes new homeowners make is spending heavily in the first month before they have a full picture of what the home actually needs. Give yourself time to live in the space before you make big decisions about what to change. The layout that seemed awkward on paper might work perfectly in practice. The kitchen you thought you’d renovate immediately might turn out to be completely functional once your things are in it. The light in the rooms at different times of day tells you things a showing never could.

Prioritize anything that affects safety, function, or protection of the structure first — a leaking tap, a faulty outlet, a roof that needs attention. The cosmetic things can wait until you’ve had a chance to understand the home properly.

The first 30 days are really about getting settled, getting organized, and making sure the foundation is solid. Everything else — the bigger decisions, the finishing touches — will be better for having taken a little time first.