Potential Gas leak in house we are buying

mattdragon2

We went to view a property and after accepted offer, we went to view the property again but smelt gas in the garage where the boiler was.

We mentioned it to the estate agent but it appears nothing has been done about it. It has been vacated for a few months so it could also be a build up of dust.

We are in the middle of buying the property. I want to confirm there is no leak before we move in, what do I do?

Do I call the National Gas Emergency Service to try arrange to someone get it tested asap before exchange? Or do I call an engineer to come and get it checked?

Mstty

As the estate agent to get it checked immediately, it is in their best interests to sort this out for the house sale.

Might be worth getting your solicitors to send them/buyers a letter to this effect.

Mstty

I meant sellers not buyers👍

brewerdave

Definitely make sure it's all tested before you exchange contracts - could be VERY expensive otherwise !!

tacpot12

What brewerdave said is really important. You have to complete on the purchase after you have exchanged contracts. If the house blows up after that point, you still have to buy the pile of rubble for the price you have agreed. 

Also bear in mind that this tells you alot about the attitude of the vendor. If they haven't dealt with such a fundamental risk, what else is lurking?

The vendor needs to get a Gas Safe engineer in to do a safety check. I would ask the vendor to get a CP12 landlord safety certificate as evidence that it is safe. You might not be a landlord, but there is no reason you can't get the safety certificate. The safety check and certificate costs landlords about £60-75. There is no reason why it should cost the vendor any more unless there are repairs that are needed.   

Robin9

Don't wait for a Gas Safe engineer - ring the gas emergency number 0800 111 999  - there's potential here for a serious accident.

jbuchanangb

Absolutely call the emergency number. They will be round there sharpish with sensitive detector equipment. If that detects a gas leak they will start sorting it out. I once reported smell of gas in the street outside a house in my street. They were there PDQ and digging up the front drive. The occupiers were away at the time and came back a few days later to some interesting new features at their property, but at least it hadn't exploded.

morhen

There is a shut of valve right by the meter.  If you can still smell gas after that has been used, the leak will be on the DNO side somewhere from the valve to the main line in the street.  They will come out extremely quick to investigate.

Ultrasonic

mattdragon2 said:

We went to view a property and after accepted offer, we went to view the property again but smelt gas in the garage where the boiler was.

This is secondary to the leak concern, but is the boiler really in the garage?

A smell of gas means a definite leak I'd have thought. 

Carrot007

Ultrasonic said:

A smell of gas means a definite leak I'd have thought. 

No many things smell like "gas"  and are safe.

For instance if the owner was a bodger and decided to seal around pipework with something not right for the job the place could well smell of gas, and I guess if it's in the garage you would want to seal it. (I haev been a witness to this sort of thing and it did smell but it was safe).

But I would want to know the gas emergency no was called and confirmed it was not gas juts to be safe before proceeding.

Ultrasonic

Carrot007 said:

Ultrasonic said:

A smell of gas means a definite leak I'd have thought. 

No many things smell like "gas"  and are safe.

For instance if the owner was a bodger and decided to seal around pipework with something not right for the job the place could well smell of gas, and I guess if it's in the garage you would want to seal it. (I haev been a witness to this sort of thing and it did smell but it was safe).

But I would want to know the gas emergency no was called and confirmed it was not gas juts to be safe before proceeding.

I don't really follow your example there. What would smell like mains gas in your example?

For me I think it's a pretty distinctive smell, as of course it's intended to be.