When to turn off utilities?

[Rafiki31]

I am closing on my home next week. I was going to disconnect all of the utilities on that day, this is a short sale and it has been ugly going back and forth between both parties. It is pretty much costing me everything I have, but I am very thankful to be done with it. The buyer has made a lot of demands that I could not afford to comply with, and we ended up haggling quite a bit and it is not a friendly kind of sale. I do not trust this man with bills still in my name but my realtor said she will let me know when I can cut everything off and that I cannot do it before he moves in and that I should give him a week or two ?????

Anyone ever heard of this?

Would I be breaking any laws if I cut them all off? I can't afford to let him run up any of the bills I am in a very tight spot financially. I am thinking of maybe giving him until the end of next week (closing is on Tuesday) I just can't afford to risk the bills getting run up or him not changing them over.

What about homeowners? When can I cut that off? I am thinking the day of the closing. Again realtor keeps saying wait and see, but from my experience it can take her more than a week to call me back and I do not want to wait too long.

 

[Kies99]

That's not right. When we bought our house we had the utilities in our name either that day or the next (after we closed). Maybe it has something to do with being a short sale, but that doesn't seem right to me.

 

[2disneyboys]

I can't answer about the utilities... anything I said would be a guess.. and not even an educated one at that! I can tell you with regards to the Homeowners, do not cancel it until the property is NO LONGER IN YOUR NAME! As long as the property is in YOUR name, than, if the house burns down (or has any other property damage).. that's your problem, but even worse, if someone injuries themself on the property, it's YOUR liability .. so DO NOT cancel that homeowners until the Deed is transfered OUT OF YOUR NAME. this is just to protect you and a few days or a week won't change that much of your insurance refund to risk the exposure to loss you would have.

 

[dakcp2001]

Shut them off at the end of the week like you planned, do NOT listen to your realtor. I did this when I sold a home years ago, and at the advice of the realtor gave them "the courtesy" to change the utilities over and let me tell you, they must have been having a rock concert or something with the amount of electricity they used in the one week since they moved in! It was higher than my bill was for more than 2 months!

I told the buyer what date they had until to change everything over at the closing, and when I called to check up they had not changed over anything it was all still in my name, so I was glad I checked and I promtly shut it all off. Lesson learned. Huge bill paid by me.

Unless the realtor is willing to put them all in her name, you tell her what day they will all be cut off.

 

[dhardawa]

Shut them off the day you close. There is absolutely no reason for you to leave them in your name for a few weeks. The is absurd and horrible advice. He should already be in contact with the utility companies to have the utilities in his name on the closing date.

 

[tink576]

When I moved out of my apartment my landlord wanted me to leave all the utilities for the remainder of the month. I had it all set to go out of my name on the day I moved out. I wasn't going to leave it on after I moved out, so I just told her the date I'd worked out with the companies. She wasn't pleased but it worked fine.

 

[stargazer2892]

When we bought our short sale our realtor had everything closed or transferred the morning we closed. We had to go to town hall to get the water put in our name but he made sure that we had water, and power when we got our keys and that the previous owners wouldn't pay anything extra. Things like the trash service we had to do our selves but they had already canceled it so we just had to open up a new account. Never in a million years would I have even thought that the owners would pay even a cent of my bills or leave anything in their names. I wouldn't even give him until the end of the week. I would let the realtor know that all utilities will be shut off either the day of closing or even the day before.

 

[MineMail]

Shut them off the day you close. There is absolutely no reason for you to leave them in your name for a few weeks. The is absurd and horrible advice. He should already be in contact with the utility companies to have the utilities in his name on the closing date.

We've always shut off utilities on the closing date. The buyer always asked for their service to start on the same day. I've never heard of a grace period for utilities in our areas.

It is a hassle if utility company has to physically come to do the shut down/start up, but if the same date is chosen for both, they can just come to read the meters and be done with it, rather than making two trips.

 

[punkin]

We've had several closings and they have all been friendly, but there was never a grace period, neither when we bought nor when we sold. All utilities either get transferred or turned off as of the day of the closing.

 

[starry_solo]

Most utility companies won't shut off the service to the house, even though you have it taken out of your name. Sure, they charge a service fee, connection fee, etc.

I didn't have the utilities "turned on" for my house until a week after closing, but the water, gas, electricity was still turned on (but not in the seller's name) for that week.

 

[ccgirl]

I am closing on my home next week. I was going to disconnect all of the utilities on that day, this is a short sale and it has been ugly going back and forth between both parties. It is pretty much costing me everything I have, but I am very thankful to be done with it. The buyer has made a lot of demands that I could not afford to comply with, and we ended up haggling quite a bit and it is not a friendly kind of sale. I do not trust this man with bills still in my name but my realtor said she will let me know when I can cut everything off and that I cannot do it before he moves in and that I should give him a week or two ?????

Anyone ever heard of this?

Would I be breaking any laws if I cut them all off? I can't afford to let him run up any of the bills I am in a very tight spot financially. I am thinking of maybe giving him until the end of next week (closing is on Tuesday) I just can't afford to risk the bills getting run up or him not changing them over.

What about homeowners? When can I cut that off? I am thinking the day of the closing. Again realtor keeps saying wait and see, but from my experience it can take her more than a week to call me back and I do not want to wait too long.

Realtor here, absolutely not true. Technically, you can turn off the utlilities whenever you want. Keep in mind, if you turn off the heat and the pipes burst you would be liable prior to the sale. Same with homeowners, the new homeowners are responsible for everything the moment they move in.

Sorry but it sounds like your realtor stinks!

 

[pixiewings71]

You need to call the utility companies and set this up to be taken out of your name the day of closing. There is NO need to keep them in your name any longer than that, it's not your house anymore, you aren't required after the papers are signed. Just call them now to set it up, it will be an automatic thing the day of closing.

 

[StephMK]

Doesn't it take a few days for the new deed to get filed? I would wait for that before changing your HO ins but I don't know why you'd need to keep your utilities on. If he is doing a final walk through before closing, I'd make sure they were on for that so he can see that everything is in working order, but once you close, I would think utilities are up to him. That has been the way we've done it 4 times now.

 

[darbigrace]

I didn't read everyone's responses but when we bought our house the utilities and homeowners insurance went into our name the day of closing. At that point the house was ours and our responsibility. So the last few weeks the seller was in the house we covered the ultilities and the insurance. You should be off the hook as soon as you sign, I would think.

 

[Belle1962]

Check with your utilities before any planning. When I tried to turn off utilities I found out that they do it at different times. For instance--my electric would be shut off at any time during the day between midnight and11:59 of that day and needed 3 days notice. My water company only did disconnects two days a week and needed one week notice.

My insurance company covered both house for a temporary 7 day period while I moved. (USAA)

 

[ceemys]

I sold my home 2 years ago via short sale. I turned off everything in my name. electric, water, etc. Nothing was on when I left. I did schedule everything to be done on the day after I left. That way, I had everything I needed to move and straighten up.

 

[Sadie22]

You need to contact each utility in advance regarding your termination date, which would be perhaps the day after settlement (not before settlement). You may need to give them time to take final meter readings and send a final bill or refund of prepayment. Don't forget to return any cable boxes and the like. Your sales contract should have addressed who gets heating oil or propane left in tanks at time of settlement.

It is up to the new owner to establish accounts in his name as of his move-in date. Do not leave this up to him or your realtor and do not put it off until settlement day. You can terminate homeowner's insurance after settlement as well.

Around here it can take time for deeds to actually be filed among the Land Records. What matters is the date of settlement, not when the deed is actually recorded.

 

[Judique]

I am closing on my home next week. I was going to disconnect all of the utilities on that day, this is a short sale and it has been ugly going back and forth between both parties. It is pretty much costing me everything I have, but I am very thankful to be done with it. The buyer has made a lot of demands that I could not afford to comply with, and we ended up haggling quite a bit and it is not a friendly kind of sale. I do not trust this man with bills still in my name but my realtor said she will let me know when I can cut everything off and that I cannot do it before he moves in and that I should give him a week or two ?????

Anyone ever heard of this?

Would I be breaking any laws if I cut them all off? I can't afford to let him run up any of the bills I am in a very tight spot financially. I am thinking of maybe giving him until the end of next week (closing is on Tuesday) I just can't afford to risk the bills getting run up or him not changing them over.

What about homeowners? When can I cut that off? I am thinking the day of the closing. Again realtor keeps saying wait and see, but from my experience it can take her more than a week to call me back and I do not want to wait too long.

Are you still living in the house? If not, I would have them shut off the day after closing at the latest. Let the realtor know that is what will happen. Is the realtor concerned about the actual closing?

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

When we sold our previous home, we had them turned off effective the date of closing. We bought a short sale, the utilities had been off for months, and we had them turned on the day of closing.

 

[beavismom]

You should also be aware that for some companies the new owner will not be able to set up their account until you have put in for termination of yours. We ran into this with the phone company at our last house. The old owners didn't put in a disconnect order and so they wouldn't connect our number. We were stuck answering their calls for a week while not being able to receive our own calls. Lucky for them, we are nice people and didn't take it as an invitation to "catch up" with all our long distance friends.