Capped Gas supply - get it re-instated

andrewpmoore

I'm just in the process of buying a 1960's house. The previous people who were elderly who lived at the house didn't like Gas so had the meter removed and the supply capped years ago.

The estate agent when we'd originally enquired said that the house didn't have a gas supply to it so it was news to us then the survey came back saying it had a capped supply.

I phoned northern gas networks (who are the distributor in our region) to see if there was a live connection. They checked the national database and said it was live and weren't aware of the cap. They therefore arranged for somebody to come out and do a "dead or alive" check.

Because we don't yet own the house (and it's vacant) the estate agent went along when they came to do the check. They said there was gas in the pipe but it hadn't been capped properly so supposedly recapped it while doing the survey.

Off the back of that I've enquired on what would need to be done to get the supply re-instated and they've said I'll need to pay for new pipes to be laid to the property (just under £800) because it was such a long time since the gas supply had been used.

I thought as there was a pipe already existing that it would have just been a job to uncap the previous pipe, but I didn't have chance to check this with the engineer (as I wasn't at the property) and I'm finding northern gas to be pretty useless on the phone to speak to.

Is there a reason people can think of why the pipe can't be re-instated if it's not been used for years. I really don't want to pay the money and have the land dug up if it doesn't really need to be.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Wywth

andrewpmoore wrote: »

I'm just in the process of buying a 1960's house. The previous people who were elderly who lived at the house didn't like Gas so had the meter removed and the supply capped years ago.

The estate agent when we'd originally enquired said that the house didn't have a gas supply to it so it was news to us then the survey came back saying it had a capped supply.

I phoned northern gas networks (who are the distributor in our region) to see if there was a live connection. They checked the national database and said it was live and weren't aware of the cap. They therefore arranged for somebody to come out and do a "dead or alive" check.

Because we don't yet own the house (and it's vacant) the estate agent went along when they came to do the check. They said there was gas in the pipe but it hadn't been capped properly so supposedly recapped it while doing the survey.

Off the back of that I've enquired on what would need to be done to get the supply re-instated and they've said I'll need to pay for new pipes to be laid to the property (just under £800) because it was such a long time since the gas supply had been used.

I thought as there was a pipe already existing that it would have just been a job to uncap the previous pipe, but I didn't have chance to check this with the engineer (as I wasn't at the property) and I'm finding northern gas to be pretty useless on the phone to speak to.

Is there a reason people can think of why the pipe can't be re-instated if it's not been used for years. I really don't want to pay the money and have the land dug up if it doesn't really need to be.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Prepare to pay £800 if you want a gas supply.

Reduce the offer price by £800 if it's that important to you.
(but presumably the offer was made knowing there was no gas supply to the property anyway)

lemontart

Yes you will need a new supply to the property as that pipe will not be fit for purpose.

Lots of reasons not to reinstate 1. pipe would have deteriorated as not maintained over years as gas was not been used and safety cannot be guaranteed 2. regulations regarding pipes constantly changed.

Sure lots more but that is the situation if you wish to have gas to the property.

The estate agent was correct - it does not have gas supply.

It has a pipe where it used to come in as stated in survey but no supply. That pipe belongs to the gas network for the area and if there appears that previous owners decided not to have that removed which is a chargeable job.

andrewpmoore

Thanks for that. Just wanted to check because northern gas had so far made a total mess of the enquiry and didn't even know when I first enquired (before the survey) that there had ever been a pipe - whereas afterwards they'd said there was a live pipe. We were prepared to pay the £800 anyway, but it'd have been nice not to have!

lemontart

Have northern gas networks sent an engineer out to carry out a live or dead check? It could be if there has recently been mains replacement work that a new pipe has been inserted to the old metal pipe. If that is the case you may be really really lucky and it would just be a case of turning supply back on at what is call a top t in the street, but of course that would only happen once you have signed up with a supplier and had a meter installed,

It sounds like they have confimed live - if so get a reference number for that from them and give that to supplier of choice and take if from there.

C_Mababejive

OP..did you say an Enginner had been out and checked it was live and therefore ok to use? Is there an on/off tap fitted to said pipe with a cap on it? NGN have already said its live and the engineer said its live and therefore it IS live and you can proceed to request a meter fit from your gas supplier of choice.

The fact that it is showing live on NGNs database and has since been proven so means that it is still a live asset belonging to NGN which they have a duty to maintain..hence..no new supply reqd and no £800 notes...

chanz4

It maybe not upto standard steel pipes, which if it was an adhoc upgrade the op would be liable. However dont expect co-operation from ngn