Who is responsible for turning electricity for home inspection?

Question

I am looking to buy a house, and it is vacant. The previous owners are gone and turned off the gas and eletricity. I would like to have the house inspected before moving in on it. The realtor of the house is telling me I would have to set up the accounts for both to be turned on. Should I have to do this? Thanks

Answer 1

If there is any chance that you may not buy the house, then you should not pay to have the utilities turned on just for a house inspection. If the seller is unwilling to cooperate, find another house.

Answer 2

I had this problem once before. Where I lived in Ohio, you could not get water service turned on unless you were the property owner. The owners lived in Florida. I had to have a clause put in the sales agreement that anything that did not work after utilities were turned on (after I bought the house) would be covered by the previous owners. Glad I did as the controls on the furnace leaked gas and the gas company immediately turned the gas back off when inspected. The Realtor had held an amount of money from the sale and had the controls fixed. Most people buying a house will not put utilities in their name before buying a house due to a base rate charge even if only small amounts of the utility will be used for inspection.

Answer 3

You are not responsible for the utilities and in my experience you can't even get them turned on unless you are in legal posession of the home either signed lease or owner. What you might be able to do if you are at all handy if the realestate person can't get the utilites on is to use a generator while your inspector is there and reserving some money in your contract is wise untill the utilities check out. If the owners won't get the utilities turned on I would guess they are going to have a hard time selling the house. Who wants to spend any time in summer looking at a home with no AC?

Answer 4

An inspection can take place in the time of the day. a house inspection isn't a guarantee. it quite is a assertion of the status of the valuables. it is going to state that utilities are disconnected, pipes are broken, and so on. It does no longer say the home is in good condition. It tells the lender what the condition is. from time to time, it makes innovations to restoration the matters. So there would desire to be no person to blame for turning on utilities for domicile inspections. ultimately, if the financial organization enables the acquisition/finance, the shopper has to restoration the matters at their own value. fixing those issues may well be a contingency of financing, and the funds to realize this may well be held in escrow via the financial organization.

Answer 5

That's bull crap. The realtor or agent should be contacting the owner and requesting utilities be turned on for the inspections.

They are not the previous owners, they are the owners. If they don't want to co-operate, that's real easy, don't buy their house.

Answer 6

If you are paying for an inspection you surely would want the inspector to assure you the gas and electricity is fully functioning. It is your responsibility to get your account set up as soon as possible.

Answer 7

if you already purchased the house its your responsibility.If you didn't purchases the house it should be up to the previous owners you should contact previous owners explain your attentions are about buying the house i sure they will have power turned on.

Answer 8

it is your responsibility to have whatever utilities you plan to use activated.the water electricity and cable have to be turned on by you so they(utility company) have a signature by you and only you.