Of course it has gas!
Of course it has gas, there's a gas pipe under the stairs?!!??
Whenever viewing a property, we will now always check to make sure that there is a gas meter installed. We recently purchased a property, which although run down, had all the signs of having been hooked up to the gas network previously, it just didn't have a meter. It had the incoming mains standpipe showing where a meter used to be, a gas cooker (freestanding) within the kitchen, a gas fireplace within the lounge and master bedroom, just no gas meter under the stairs where the pipework was. We just assumed that as the property was a probate purchase, and didn't have a gas central heating system, someone had either nicked the meter or the gas board had just removed it while the property was unoccupied.
Apparently not. We're not sure how long the property had not been on gas for, but no one would own up to having supplied the property with gas at any point. It had never had gas they said!
As you would have assumed, we just thought we'd call British Gas out to just come and install a new meter, and away we'd go, job done, but after their visit we've now had to arrange for the Gas Network to come and dig a new mains to the property from the road, as for whatever reason, the previous owner had decided to opt out of getting the upgrade when the whole street had the works done! Crazy!
The builders had spoken to the next door neighbour, and apparently the owner of that property used to own the one we'd bought too. His mother lived in this one with him next door. They were told that there used to be a doorway through between the houses from one of the bedrooms, so we can only imagine that for whatever reason, they decided to save money and only upgrade the gas to the son's house, and share the hot water and heating facilities at his house. Sure enough, when the wallpaper was stripped from the rear bedroom, there was the outline of the blocked up door between the properties.
The lesson we took away from this one... Just because there are gas appliances within a property, never assume that it is hooked up to the gas network. ALWAYS check for the meters! That will save you a grand, at least!
