I have had first time buyers ask me how early they can have their utilities switched over to them. The answer is if you know what day title will be transferring you can ask utilities to switch over at that day and no earlier. The utility company will usually ask you the transfer date.
Now many utilities will want confirmation on that date from the seller and that is understood and if you get that message back from your utility company just contact your agent and let them know and they will pass the word on to the other agent.
The seller needs to get that call in first that they are moving out in many of the cases and so it is important that listing agent tell his seller to make sure the switch over is on transfer to new owner so that there is turn on charges. Your agent needs to get that little reminder to the listing agent to mention to their seller. I have not had this happen but I have heard it happen on water and I am sure that it can happen in other utilities as well.
Now you may think why don't I get it switched earlier so I dont have to worry about it on that date being activiated when I want to move in. Well for starts you most likely will not be able to do that unless the owner agrees to tell the utilities to switch earlier. But why would you do that? Pay bills for a home that is not yours yet.
No reason from a testing stand point to do this. You should have had the home inspected wit h everything turned on even if you had it turned on a bank sale (or something to that like). Always, yes always get the home inspected with all utilities on. You want no surprises when you do get those utilities switched over or turned on to your name. If the home has had internal disconnects as part of the winterization (in most cases banked owned, short sales), you may not be able to activate all utilities for inspection and that is another topic for discussion beyond the scope of this post. But it would be fair to say you will be out a day or several days with utilities until you can have internal reconnects and test inspections done.
So in the end, if all is good schedule to the day or the day after and be patient. If it does not all get turned on right away to the hour you want it hey you will be OK.
If you have any questions regarding utilities and operations for transfer and turn on, contact your agent and they will most likely have the information for you if not all the numbers for you to contact on transfer. Usually your agent will have the information to you prior to transfer as part of their little checklist for buyers.
Have a happy move in!
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