When should you disconnect the utilities?
In our residential real estate contract for the State of Texas utilities are only mentioned once. According to the real estate contract, the seller is obligated to have utilities turned on for the buyer’s inspections of the house. After the buyers have completed their inspections, the sellers can if they so desire have the utilities disconnected. Spring Texas home sellers are under no contractual obligation to have the utilities turned on through the closing date.
If you have already moved on and your Spring Texas house is sitting empty, you are probably thinking about immediately disconnecting your utilities. Why not? It will save you money and it’s just one less thing you have to do later. It’s understandable especially during the hot summer months, when our electricity bills look more like car payments than utility bills.
But what if the sale of your Spring Texas house doesn’t go through because one of a half dozen reasons that can and do go wrong in a residential real estate transaction. If that happens, you will once again be on the phone calling the gas, water, and electricity companies to reestablish service. What a huge waste of time plus you have to pay those reconnect fees.
My recommendation is to wait until your house closes and funds before you call the utility companies to disconnect service. Yes, it will cost you a few extra dollars to leave them on. But it will be better than the hassle you will have to deal with if you have to turn them back on due to your Spring Texas house not closing.
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