Empty Property advice

Dave117

I have just bought a 1950s 2 bed maisonette for me and my girlfriend to live in but it needs complete refurbishment, which could take about 6 months before being ready to live in. It has been empty for about 2 ½ years as the previous owner was in a care home and after he passed away there was the situation re. Probate.

Among other things I am completely adding new boiler and central heating and complete re-wire.

Anyway – my question is… If the house has been empty for such a long time is anyone aware of any grants, money off savings etc that could help me…?

The council said we do not have to pay council tax whilst we are not living there which is great but I was wondering about utilities?

1) Water – do I have to pay if this is barely being used? Should I request a meter?

2) Electricity – I will be using a small amount with power tools etc.. but was also considering moving meter, possibly renew as very old. Do I have to pay for this?

3) Gas – I will be fitting new central heating and also thinking about moving meter outside, so not sure if I have to pay for move as meter is very old and in a quite awkward place. Maybe they prefer to have external meters to make it easier to read.

Any other recommendations you can think of more than welcome..

Thanks

P.S. Borough is – London Borough of Bromley.

divadee

to move the meters will be approximately £1000 round here they are £500 each service.

they might replace them when they move, they might not. It is up to the electricity/gas company to choose to replace them and not you.

re the water, you will probably get a meter installed now anyway as most water companies will install one as standard when a new occupier takes over. This is law so you havent got a say about that either!! With just the 2 of you will probably work out a lot cheaper anyway!!

darkcloudi

Not sure about the water meter but it would save on costs for the time being, as you say no one is living there. I just moved in to a property in March - just like yourself it required some amounts of work and currently do not have to pay council as its vacant.

However I was given a water rent bill. No information was passed on to me by Severn Trent in regarding a water meter so all I am currently doing is paying them this, it may be cheap for me at present to place a water meter but personally I prefer just paying the rent.

I've read a lot of posts that suggest that when new occupants move in to an address a water meter is required to be installed but in my case I never had to.

tripled

You will need to register for gas and electricity even if you are not using it very much, so make sure you are on a no standing charge tariff (most companies offer these now). As mentioned above, you would need to pay to move the meters, and unfortunately your request for a new meter is unlikely to be met unless the one you have is faulty/dangerous. However they do get changed periodically by the suppliers (usually in intervals of between 10 to 20 years).