Reconnecting utilities in a reposession?

Jez · 12 Sep 2008 at 19:22

Anyone here bought a repo before?

Bizarrely no-one i know seems to have any experience with repo's. I am due to complete later this month on a house which appears to have a gas meter and electricity meter installed, and has obviously been lived in before. The water supply is unmetered.

As it stands the house is obviously switched off, and on viewing i was not allowed to test anything as it was off by order of the mortgage company who owned it. The water system is completely drained down and the boiler is obviously completely off.

What are my chances of just flicking it all back on via the main taps/switches and it working? Has anyone here got experience in what state the utilities are likely to be in?

Jez · 12 Sep 2008 at 20:00

Kitchster_uk said:
Speak to Transco to find out who supply the gas, not sure who does the leccy. Local waterboard will be fairly easy to contact. Getting a new meter in can be difficult, depends on whether or not the company are prepared to pay and if they've take the meter out that is unusual in my experience.

Oh, check the loft out. I've dealt with repos where they've gone and done bad things in the loft, peeing and worse...

Hope that's helpful, did you get a good deal?

I have had all of the details regarding water rates through from my solicitor, i am going to keep it unmetered at the rate its at, it seems very cheap. Whether or not it will be turned off inside the house, or in the street, i dont know!

Gas & Electric; both the meters are there and all pipework looks great, i dont see that any physical work is going to be needed - so i dont know what to make of them.

House condition and loft condition seems fine, it needs work but the previous owners dont seem to have trashed it at all

Jez · 12 Sep 2008 at 20:00

Vixen said:
My flat was a reposession when my parents bought it. I'm fairly sure that we had electricity at least on the day we got the keys, so that was possibly dealt with by the solicitors. The water had been disconnected because of a leak flooding downstairs while the flat was empty, and I think we had to get plumbers to sort that out.

Re the water, ignoring the internal leak which is obviously my responsibility, did the actual supply work?

Jez · 12 Sep 2008 at 21:18

Vixen said:
I think it was just turned off at the stop ****, but we needed a qualified plumber because of the way it was turned off.

But they wernt from the water board?

Jez · 12 Sep 2008 at 21:39

Vixen said:
I don't think so. We had a lot of blue stickers that said only certain people could turn the water back on stuck to anything that used water. We had to do a lot before the place was habitable though, so I'm not really sure what happened when.

Could you go into any more detail with "quite a lot"?

I only have 10 days of overlap with my current house!

Jez · 12 Sep 2008 at 21:57

Vixen said:
Ah, the place was in a really bad state. We had to put in a new kitchen and strip the walls in every room, all new carpets and doors, stuff that we knew about before we put in an offer.

Ah right, all standard stuff

Cheers

Jez · 12 Sep 2008 at 22:15

Spit said:
Ive bought a couple, just ring the utility companies and they start a fresh account for you and turn it on. Simple really, never had any hassle.

Bailiff letters that come for the previous owner are best

How long do they generally take to do so mate? As i say, i only have a 10 day overlap with my current house and would like some utilities by the time i have to actually sleep there if possible

Jez · 12 Sep 2008 at 23:02

£125 if the line has been physically disconnected for whatever reason. Its free if the line is still connected, but switched off. Pot luck, and whats £125 in the scheme of buying a house anyway. I dont care about the costs, i just care about how long it takes

Jez · 12 Sep 2008 at 23:40

Either way, they have a monopoly and i dont have a choice in the matter

Jez · 13 Sep 2008 at 00:18

tolien said:
If you order before the end of the month it's £30...

How does that work with the swapover as it were, will the "movers" team pick up on the fact it should only be £30?

Jez · 13 Sep 2008 at 10:43

Wow, thanks for the detailed responses. Completion date is the 30th, so i will post back with my findings then

Jez · 13 Sep 2008 at 10:47

2blue4u, who are the utility warehouse? Ive just looked at their site and i must say that i have never heard of them. Their pricing looks attractive...

Jez · 13 Sep 2008 at 12:34

Right, some findings after a rather long time on the phone, and all seems great!

Water - spoke to Thames water, there is a fixed charge of £325 per year for water, i just need to let them know when i will take ownership so they can bill me. The water supply is connected and working as far as they are concerned, it must be turned off internally.

Electrical - Spoke to southern electric who are my supplier here, and they have confirmed that the supply at the new house is active, and that all they will need is proof of purchase of the house and they will wipe the slate clean at the new address and transfer my bill over from here.

Gas - Spoke to british gas, who looked it all up, confirmed that there is an active supply with southern electric currently, and talked me through how to turn on the gas meter myself. Then called southern electric back and they said they can simply tack the gas bill onto my electrical bill, and i will need to give them a reading from both meters when i move in.

Phone - Spoke to BT home movers. They have confirmed that there is a stopped line already connected at the new house, and i can simply transfer completely free of charge from here.

Result