Pre payment meters installed in the house we are about to exchange on

kezwoz

Hi, this is my first post but most likely will not be my last!


My husband and I are getting really close to the finish line with the house we are buying (FTB) and so yesterday went around there to do some measuring up. When we got into the house there were 2 letters on the side from British gas saying that they had a warrant granted by the court to fit both electricity and gas pre-pay meters in the house. These have the cost of the warrant and cost of fitting the meter attached to them as well.


The seller unfortunately passed away earlier this year and so currently his wife is having to go through a lot, and we are still waiting for probate to come through which I guess is why we heard nothing about this, however I believe we should have? The house is an ex rental and so I'm guessing that the previous tenants had gotten into arrears at some point.


Basically I am looking for any advice you can give me on what to do next. We will be informing our solicitors obviously but can we get British Gas to remove them prior to moving in and what responsibility do we, and the seller have for getting this sorted?


We have already had months of delays buying the house and really don't want to delay it any more as we really wanted to be in before xmas, but realistically I imagine this will cause more delays.


Thank you in advance!

Norman_Castle

Its not clear if the meters have been fitted.

As you are currently neither the owner or person responsible for the debt BG are unlikely to deal with you. You could contact them, explain the situation and ask for advice.
Its a pointless expense for them to fit pp meters for a debt that will not be collected.

Raxiel

I agree with Norman that it's pointless for them to go to the expense of fitting them now, especially since you'll be wanting to switch them back (as a new customer with no debt) almost immediately, so you should inform them. Big companies don't always do common sense though.

If the pre-payment meters end up fitted before you complete (or worse, they turn up shortly after with a warrant in the wrong name and force access anyway - there must be some recourse there but I don't know what it is, your conveyancing solicitor may be able to advise), you can ask for them to be switched back, but a word of warning about British Gas. They will do a hard credit search if and when you apply for a change to credit meters, and regardless of your 'credit score' they will possibly turn you down based on their own criteria.

If your credit file doesn't have a history of a well managed energy account,either because you've never had an account in your own name before or your previous supplier didn't report your account to the CRA's (and many don't) they will almost certainly say no. The fact a bank is willing to loan you tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds for a mortgage doesn't seem to hold much truck with BG.

If you don't mind getting a hard search on your file it doesn't hurt to call BG and ask, but if you do mind (or you ask and they say no) you can switch supplier to a company that doesn't do credit checks and then ask them to switch the meter. EDF is usually the go-to recommendation for this, there may be others. At that point you can either choose to stay with them or shop around for the best credit tariff and switch again.

In any event, switching away from BG to literally anyone else will almost certainly save you money

kezwoz

Apologies, yes the meters have already been fitted.


Thank you for the advice, I will contact BG before we complete and see what they say. I thought it was a very strange thing for them to do considering the house is in the process of being sold and currently completely empty, but as you say common sense often eludes these companies.

footyguy

kezwoz wrote: »

Hi, this is my first post but most likely will not be my last!


My husband and I are getting really close to the finish line with the house we are buying (FTB) and so yesterday went around there to do some measuring up. When we got into the house there were 2 letters on the side from British gas saying that they had a warrant granted by the court to fit both electricity and gas pre-pay meters in the house. These have the cost of the warrant and cost of fitting the meter attached to them as well.


The seller unfortunately passed away earlier this year and so currently his wife is having to go through a lot, and we are still waiting for probate to come through which I guess is why we heard nothing about this, however I believe we should have? The house is an ex rental and so I'm guessing that the previous tenants had gotten into arrears at some point.


Basically I am looking for any advice you can give me on what to do next. We will be informing our solicitors obviously but can we get British Gas to remove them prior to moving in and what responsibility do we, and the seller have for getting this sorted?


We have already had months of delays buying the house and really don't want to delay it any more as we really wanted to be in before xmas, but realistically I imagine this will cause more delays.


Thank you in advance!

If probate has not yet been granted, then I would assume the seller has no right to sell this property. The right rests with the owner, who you say has passed away.

Speak to your solicitor urgently, especially if there has been any exchange of contract.

It's not your problem - it's the problem of the owner of the property (who as yopu say has passed away)

Set the price you are willing to pay accordingly, but be aware, probate can take a very, very long time! You may be best to fimnd another house you would like to buy.

Good luck!