New house unoccupied prior to taking possession

kiss_me_now9

Just wanted to see if anyone had any practical things we may have not thought about regarding taking on a new house that has been vacant for (we think) 6 - 8 months before we move into it. Ex rental, was on the market from just early January with no tenants and we believe the last set left before Christmas time. 

I know we will need to run the water through but how long for? And every tap/sink/shower? We've had a survey and confirmation of the boiler being in good working order but given that we're going into summer, do we need to try the heating on one of the colder days to make sure it's all good and not broken over the winter? 

Herzlos

Definitely run the heating for a while to confirm it works. Even if it's a warm day just crank the thermostat up and open the windows.

Misslayed

Take photos of the gas, electricity and water meters and submit readings to the supplier - ensures you don’t get billed for the empty period. 

Brie

Likely to need a good airing out and possibly a good clean.  Check cupboards for any signs of anything you wouldn't want in there.  Mice, moth, ants, other crawlies, mould.  

Are appliances included?  Have they been cleaned?  Or even emptied??  I moved into a flat once that had been cleaned and decorated as new but no one took into account the fact that the fridge/freezer was full and unplugged for 2 months in a hot summer.  Nasty.

I'd give yourself at least a full day of cleaning/airing etc before moving any furniture in.

Bonniepurple

Open all the taps and let them run for about 20 minutes while you are well away from them.  Same goes for the shower.  You might find that you need to do them in stages if there’s not enough pressure.  Whack the heating on, but first check if the system has been drained down.  Check that the hot water works as well as heating.  Open the windows to let fresh air in.  Flush toilets a couple of times.

Enjoy your new home!

RAS

Inform the Council that you've moved in, so that you don't either get a large back-dated bill, or get charged empty/second home surcharge.

kiss_me_now9

Unfortunately we're moving half way across the country so a day of deep cleaning isn't possible at all! We will want to do a pre-exchange viewing any way so might be able to see if we can take a bit longer and at the very least hoover through the carpets. 

No white goods included so hopefully no nasty surprises there (though I do need to clean out our fridge soon for our buyers... hah)

Will certainly get the windows open as soon as we're in and get the taps on and try. Should be able to get the carpet cleaner out in the first couple of days. 

An added complication may be that we might be moving in after I start my new job so I will likely not be able to help with the moving in process, and my OH isn't exactly thrilled with the idea of cleaning two houses in one day as well as driving from one to the other...

Section62

kiss_me_now9 said:

Just wanted to see if anyone had any practical things we may have not thought about regarding taking on a new house that has been vacant for (we think) 6 - 8 months before we move into it. Ex rental, was on the market from just early January with no tenants and we believe the last set left before Christmas time. 

I know we will need to run the water through but how long for? And every tap/sink/shower? We've had a survey and confirmation of the boiler being in good working order but given that we're going into summer, do we need to try the heating on one of the colder days to make sure it's all good and not broken over the winter? 

Is there a water storage tank in the loft and/or a hot water cylinder somewhere, or does the house have a combi boiler and no water storage?

If just a combi then running all taps/showers and flushing the toilets a few times should be sufficient.  It should be possible to leave the boiler turned off so you aren't heating the water you are running away to the drain.

If you've got stored water (tank in the loft and/or hot water cylinder) then you'll want to flush those through first.  If possible, start by flushing the loft storage tank through the cold taps (leave all the hot taps closed) as there's no point putting the potentially most contaminated water (from the loft tank) into the hot water cylinder.  When you are happy the loft tank is Ok, start running water from the hot taps.  Leave the showers and toilets till last - if there is any debris in the system then it is better to keep that out of shower valves/heads, and out of the toilet cisterns.

la531983

Change the locks.

Bigphil1474

Re taps and shower - I would advise taking the shower head off and disinfecting in a bucket first, before running it. If there has been any bacterial growth you don't want the shower spraying it around. Something like Legionella is only dangerous if you breath in the aerosol. Otherwise I'd agree with above advice from Bonniepurple. Definitely worth trying the heating - should be cheaper to get a gas engineer out now, rather than wait for peak busy time in October/November.

When I sold my dads old house, it had been empty for nearly a year, but everything was working fine as the empty property insurance required a weekly visit. I always ran the taps for 15-20 minutes then turned the water back off. I would hope the owner would have had something similar. 

kiss_me_now9

Section62 said:

kiss_me_now9 said:

Just wanted to see if anyone had any practical things we may have not thought about regarding taking on a new house that has been vacant for (we think) 6 - 8 months before we move into it. Ex rental, was on the market from just early January with no tenants and we believe the last set left before Christmas time. 

I know we will need to run the water through but how long for? And every tap/sink/shower? We've had a survey and confirmation of the boiler being in good working order but given that we're going into summer, do we need to try the heating on one of the colder days to make sure it's all good and not broken over the winter? 

Is there a water storage tank in the loft and/or a hot water cylinder somewhere, or does the house have a combi boiler and no water storage?

If just a combi then running all taps/showers and flushing the toilets a few times should be sufficient.  It should be possible to leave the boiler turned off so you aren't heating the water you are running away to the drain.

If you've got stored water (tank in the loft and/or hot water cylinder) then you'll want to flush those through first.  If possible, start by flushing the loft storage tank through the cold taps (leave all the hot taps closed) as there's no point putting the potentially most contaminated water (from the loft tank) into the hot water cylinder.  When you are happy the loft tank is Ok, start running water from the hot taps.  Leave the showers and toilets till last - if there is any debris in the system then it is better to keep that out of shower valves/heads, and out of the toilet cisterns.

Thanks! Stupid question - how do we know for sure the water will be fine after flushing it through? We have a toddler who guzzles water so I don't want to risk it being contaminated in any way. Is just an amount of time that would take for that stored water to run out the tank and be refilled? 

I will ask OH about the water, he looked at the plumbing and does all those kind of bits. 

@la531983 yes said to OH we need to change the locks especially as it's an ex rental!