First Home - Gas, Elec, Phone, Water, Council Tax

i240_Dan

I have had an offer accepted on a property and am now going through the process of purchase.

My question relates to the setting up or continuation of gas, elec, phone, water etc on the property.

I am not sure as to how the utilities of a home are passed from one owner to the next.

Do I need to set up the contracts with a fixed start date, being the date of the completion on the house or do I need to be in the property.

I'd rather not have to move into the house with no utilities set up.

Thanks

Daniel

hethmar

What happens is the previous owners (take it there are people in there?) will ring up to let the utilities know that they are leaving on the date of completion - the moving day - and the utilities will read all the meters etc. that day.

At the same time when you know the completion date, you can also ring them up and tell them you will be moving in to the property on that date. It usually goes very smoothly. Dont worry The readings will generate the final bills for the old owners and yours will start from that point.

woody252506

hethmar wrote: »

What happens is the previous owners (take it there are people in there?) will ring up to let the utilities know that they are leaving on the date of completion - the moving day - and the utilities will read all the meters etc. that day.

At the same time when you know the completion date, you can also ring them up and tell them you will be moving in to the property on that date. It usually goes very smoothly. Dont worry The readings will generate the final bills for the old owners and yours will start from that point.

Thats answered a question of mine too! Thanks!:T

CLAPTON

make sure you read all the meters as soon as you move in... its not unknown for the utilities not to actually read them.

BASFORDLAD

and its not unknown for people who leave thier properties to give lower readings so they get a smaller bill and for u to end up out of pocket

hethmar

Yes, take a note of them - even ring the companies on that day if you want to treble check its all kosher.

PasturesNew

What would be a good idea right now is to write a letter to them asking them for the names of the utilities companies, and any phone number for the property too. Otherwise you'll walk in and not know who is supplying the electricity/gas/phone.

hethmar

I dont think the deal is that far advanced PN. But actually, you can find out the suppliers As in the case of a repo - you ring OFGEN and give all your details and they can tell you.(son had to do it recently). The other interesting thing was, he wanted to decide which suppliers but of course had no idea of usage to use the Uswitch site. But you can actually ring them with the new props details, the size of the rooms and who will be living there etc. and they can do a calculation over the phone for you who would be the best supplier. Good stuff.

i240_Dan

Thanks for the advice.

So basically the way it works when you first move in is to retain the utilities suppliers of the person moving out and then you can change suppliers if you want later.

I'll make sure I take some photographs of the meter readings on the day we move in just for my records as well.

Daniel

hethmar

Yes you can change suppliers - probably you could do immediately but it would be a bit more fraught than moving in first

Just noticed about council tax - you ring them up. Dont forget if you are going to be in the flat alone you should get single person discount - you will need to be on the electoral roll for things like credit checks if you buy stuff for the house