Buying apartment that is a bank sale

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Mothergoose

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I am interested in an apartment that his a bank sale. The location is excellent, however, the apartment hasn't been lived in for five years.

Apparently, the couple who owned it both died - they had it rented out but tenants left almost 5 years ago. The apartment looks in good condition considering, however, all services have been disconnected. I saw that the pump - the water pump for pumping the water around the apartment - I'm surprised a small apartment has one - had also been disconnected. It's gas central heating, but I would this to top of the range new electric heating.

The estate agent said I take the property as is if I purchase it, but I would want to know that water at least was connected before I would buy the property - the water was disconnected and electricity also because it was vacant.

Along with this issue, are there other concerns I need to be aware of in a bank sale. I will be getting a surveyor, and I will also be asking my accountant to go through the Management Company accounts to assess sinking fund etc. I have never bought an apartment before, and never bought anything through a bank sale, so I would be grateful for any advice.
 
Disconnection is for safety reasons.

It's not expensive to reconnect but you will need an electrician to provide a safety certificate. It can also take 4-6 weeks from lodging of certificate to be re-energised.

Maybe knock on the door of a couple of neighbouring apartments and ask them about any issues.

I'd stay with gas heating. It's a lot cheaper than electric.
 
Not sure about that one, most apartments use gas for heating and hot water thesedays - and I don't think it was to keep electricity bills down.

My gas bill when I had an apartment was tiny.
 
Mothergoose said:
I am interested in an apartment that his a bank sale. The location is excellent, however, the apartment hasn't been lived in for five years.

Apparently, the couple who owned it both died - they had it rented out but tenants left almost 5 years ago. The apartment looks in good condition considering, however, all services have been disconnected. I saw that the pump - the water pump for pumping the water around the apartment - I'm surprised a small apartment has one - had also been disconnected. It's gas central heating, but I would this to top of the range new electric heating.

The estate agent said I take the property as is if I purchase it, but I would want to know that water at least was connected before I would buy the property - the water was disconnected and electricity also because it was vacant.

Along with this issue, are there other concerns I need to be aware of in a bank sale. I will be getting a surveyor, and I will also be asking my accountant to go through the Management Company accounts to assess sinking fund etc. I have never bought an apartment before, and never bought anything through a bank sale, so I would be grateful for any advice.
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Water pumps in apartments are not at all unusual. Surveyor will do most of the work for you, and you could also ask an RGI registered plumber to look at the pump and boiler while you are at it.
 
THE_Chris said:
Not sure about that one, most apartments use gas for heating and hot water thesedays - and I don't think it was to keep electricity bills down.

My gas bill when I had an apartment was tiny.
Click to expand...
Gas is a fraction of the price per kWh of delivered heat energy resulting in significantly lower usage costs, however it is a lot more expensive to install and so most older developments here tended to go with electrical heating unless they were so poorly insulated and leaky that the heat demands would have necessitated gas. At a time when most buyers were investors, the added cost of a wet heating system wasn't something they really wanted.
 
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