ᐅ Locating homeowners…. Any more ideas?

You just need to stop by regularly until you catch someone in person. Someone is bound to be responsible for taking care of the property (mailbox, heating, ventilation, blinds, plants, salting, etc.).
Try early in the morning when snow clearing has to be done.
If there is a car parked in front, try knocking on the door on a whim.

Written requests to third parties tend to get lost in the GDPR era. In my opinion, personal contact is the only way and also the best way to generate the necessary goodwill.

SumsumBiene schrieb:

By the way, the tip about nursing homes came from a court employee.

There are just people sitting there, not emotionless robots. They are happy to help with spontaneous statements. Just imagine what I tell those folks when they ask naïvely 😉

Bauer123 schrieb:

Absolutely not.

Absolutely not! Forbidden under penalty of death! 😀

icandoit schrieb:

What do you expect from the trustee?

They are obligated to protect the owner’s property.

They won’t just sell the house to you directly. They are required to put it up for public sale. Usually through an agent, ideally using a bidding process. That way, the market price is achieved. :p

No, they are not obligated to do that. My son is currently buying a house through a trustee. In this case, the court has to approve it, but it is definitely possible.

So, here is a situation where a homeowner of a detached single-family house has been hospitalized. The acute medical treatment is complete, and discharge from the hospital is imminent; however, the patient is unable to care for themselves. At this point, a community care nurse responsible for care transition steps in. They first check whether any reachable relatives are available: no or not available; is the care need temporary: if a nursing home instead of outpatient care, then apparently not. The care continues in the nursing home: treatments must be administered there that, in some cases, would legally count as bodily harm without the patient’s consent. If the person is no longer fully capable of understanding or communicating to express their own wishes, a guardianship court judge becomes involved. The judge looks for an advance healthcare directive and determines who should act as legal guardian—if none exists, a guardian must be appointed by law. The guardian’s tasks include determining whether there are assets sufficient to cover the nursing home costs as a private payor (since nursing home fees are not fully covered by long-term care insurance at any level). If there are relatives legally obligated to provide support, the social welfare office recovers the nursing home co-payments from them. If not, the guardian has no choice but to liquidate assets, usually starting with savings accounts and stocks. Such guardians often manage dozens of cases. Typically, they do not enter the home—for example, to retrieve the stamp collection or empty the mailbox. Not even to shut off the gas supply—if the house explodes, the fire department will respond. Responsibilities like clearing snow or spreading salt on sidewalks are also usually neglected in these cases. The guardian’s only official action is to update the person’s registered address with the local registration office to the nursing home. Official correspondence then goes to the nursing home—postcards from Cousin Emmi are received by the resident, while official mail is handled by the guardian. A child’s drawing from potential homebuyers will wither unread in the mailbox alongside invitations to travel sales presentations. If the guardian concludes that the house must be sold to cover costs, there is no legally prescribed procedure for this, as far as I know. Requiring a foreclosure auction would likely be disproportionate. However, the guardianship court does review the process to ensure the property is not underpriced or given away to relatives. At the courthouse, you can sometimes be told over the phone that a nursing home resident admitted into guardianship in October with a last name starting with R will be under the care of Mathilde X, unless the advance directive stipulates otherwise. These are ruthless automatic processes—people, make your advance healthcare directives!

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I would try the local registration office. They can provide the address if there is a legitimate interest. They are usually quite generous if you use a bit of imagination.

Speaking of snow clearing services, take a look around the corner to see who is not clearing snow—they might also be a candidate for the children's drawing.