checking utilities before exchanging contracts

erictheking99

my solicitor is recommending that before i exchange on a house purchase i should have the utilities checked out. the property is in good condition in a good area, and the current owners seem like a good family.

having an electrician in to check the electrics, and a plumber in to check the gas, seems like an unnecessary expense to me, and will of course delay matters.

does anyone have any views or experience of this? certainly on previous house purchases i have not done this....

Ditto

Can't you just go around the house yourself turning taps on etc?

nollag2006

I've never had this checked - sounds like he is being very cautious. If its a very old house you might want to get the electricity and gas safety checked, but I've never done it.

If its just to check that the utilities work, why not request a viewing some evening on another pretext. If the house is warm, and the lights are on and you see folk drinking tea / coffee / water then all is good.

I'd say your solr is covering his bum - no need to worry

alipops1986

Although your situation is alot different to the one i found myself in, i would take the advice and check!

I bought my house, last summer, from a landlord and the property had been vacant for a year. I didn't really check the services as i was under the illusion that everything was fine.

When i got the keys i found out that the gas/elec has been cut off due to the previous tenants not paying the bill. I was 5 days without electric [due to the wkend, got the keys on the fri] AND 8 days without gas, then i had to pay for the gas to be checked by Corgi person which cost me £80!

Fortunately, as a first time buyer, i wasn't moving in until i had decorated etc, but if i had i would have been stuck!

erictheking99

thanks. i have done three viewings on the property. it is warm, the lights work etc. there is presently a family with two young children there. I think i can be pretty confident they're not living in a house without functioning gas or electricity!!

similarly, my solicitor has asked if i want to pay an extra £100 for an environmental search to check that the land it was built on is not polluted. it is a victorian terrace well over 100 years old.... again this feels unnecessary to me. any comments on this one from anyone?

Sammy85_2

My sister bought her house which was fully central heated, newish boiler, radiators, everything.

Moved in and turned out the boiler had no gas supply, there wasnt even supply into the property, cost a fortune to get it piped in. Luckly got some money back from surveyor (cost of survey) as his report stated the property was GCH, but still out of pocket.

Go around and have a look yourself, i wouldnt bother paying anyone at this stage, you should be able to see if everything is working if you look closely enough.

Archlever

Hi,

Here's my experience. We bought in the middle of last year, and the surveyor recommended electrical and gas reports, though nothing specific was noted on why. So, I thought why bother. The heating was on and the lights worked.

This was until we wanted to replace the bulb holders that the previous owners had left with our own light fittings. We called an electrician in and he immediately identified that the property had no earth wire either from the suppliers or to the fuse box from any of the lights. The only lights that could be legally fitted on them were double insulated lights (limited in range). So, we had to get Eon to fit us an earth to the property (£180/-); the electrician to earth the electricity and water supplies (£170/-) and the electrician to dig up and individually earth all the points where we wanted lights in (£350/-). He also said that the situation is the same upstairs but luckily the lights there are recessed and do not need replacing. He said that had he been asked to do a report on the property he would have recommended a full rewire. This, on a property that looked like it had no visible problems (fairly new light fittings, switches and fascias). Although the heating was working it had no thermostat and the valve which allows us to heat water using the GCH was broken (cost to fix £500/-)

Maybe we were just unlucky. It's difficult to say whether you take a punt on an electrical report and it turns up useful information which may or may not allow you to drive the price down or at the very least tell you what to expect when you move in.

All the best.

G_M

erictheking99 wrote: »

my solicitor is recommending that before i exchange on a house purchase i should have the utilities checked out. the property is in good condition in a good area, and the current owners seem like a good family.

having an electrician in to check the electrics, and a plumber in to check the gas, seems like an unnecessary expense to me, and will of course delay matters.

does anyone have any views or experience of this? certainly on previous house purchases i have not done this....

I'd be very wary about getting a plumber in to check the gas....

dodgy

We're selling and the buyers contacted us wanting a gas check, electricity check and central heating service before they would proceed - on the advice of their home buyers report. This is on a reasonable modern (~12 years) property. Not very impressed but in the spirit of moving things along, at at the agents advice, we've paid (£240). Now I'm wondering if we should have pushed back.

brightonman123

doesnt the HIP cover this? apart from running taps, turning on lights etc, not much you could d..

maybe ask to see latest bills? (might show if disconencted, lol!)

Sammy85_2

HIP wont tell you if the central heating is on its last legs or if the wiring needs redoing, only a professional can tell you that for sure.

I would go and take a look - if all looks ok and you're happy taking a chance then go for it. If you spot something dodgy then dig deeper.