Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Mar 06, 2014 1:47 pm Hi all - first time poster here! I'm in the process of signing for a knock-down/rebuild, however, don't settle on the property until April. I'm in the midst of lining up a demolition company and have been advised that some service companies may need 3 - 4 weeks notice to disconnect services to the property. Given I am not the current owner of the property, I'm hoping to avoid having to settle, then wait 3 - 4 weeks to have the services disconnected. I'm hoping to demolish the week of settlement and therefore are anxious to get things moving. I have spoken with the relevant service providers today but have only got "over the phone advice" - nothing in writing. Energy Australia tell me that if I call them the moment settlement goes through and the property is mine, that they can have someone there within 2 - 3 days to disconnect/cap the electricity and gas services. City West Water tell me that I can complete a form now and that will provide my plumber with permission to disconnect, once settlement has gone through. TPG were a little less helpful - they seemed to think that the current owner will need to disconnect the service as he is leaving and therefore all will be well. No amount of explaning that I need a completely clear block with no wires seemed to get through. I was told if he disconnects, "all will be ok". I guess I'm just looking for some information/advice from anyone else who may have been in a similar situation and whether any of this sounds familiar/likely. Thanks for reading this far! Cheers Re: Knock-down/Rebuild - Disconnecting existing services 2Mar 06, 2014 5:39 pm Make sure the sewer and drain connections are plugged. It's not unknown for this to be forgotten and concrete to get into the pipes during pouring of the slab. Once in it's big $$$$$ to get it removed. The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: Knock-down/Rebuild - Disconnecting existing services 3Mar 06, 2014 6:05 pm TPG is the phone line I assume? In which case there's two different kinds of disconnection - there's the 'soft' disconnect - where a dial tone still exists and the next party reconnects (I assume this is what they are talking about because TPG usually resells Telstra lines) and there's the 'hard' connection - the wire itself and a whole new line back to the exchange - only needed for new connections. If the person leaves and does not disconnect their TPG account from the line it's neither here nor there for you - you can ring TPG and arrange to send them proof of ownership of the property and have the software side of the connection disconnected, but the reality is that there will still be a soft connection there waiting for the next party to pick up and connect. The hard disconnect can be done by the electrician generally (most of Austel licences) who will literally rip the phone lines out and pull the lead in cable back towards the pit (but not disconnect from the pit). This isn't something the current house tenant is obviously going to be affected by because they aren't living there. Re: Knock-down/Rebuild - Disconnecting existing services 5Mar 07, 2014 8:34 am The key word you need to use to ensure that the services are removed correctly for demolition is "abolish". Disconnection implies the services are left in place ready to be reconnected for the next person. Abolishment of gas and electricity means that the meters are removed and the supply taken back to the gas main/electricity pillar/pit. For us, the gas took about 8 working days and the electricity actually took just over the usual 20 days as we were supposed to have a pillar in our front yard (which we had never seen in the 12 years we lived there). It turns out it had been replaced by a pit that had been buried under mulch by a previous owner. ~ Anne I used to be indecisive but now I'm not quite sure. Eeek - We're embarking on a knockdown rebuild! Click here for our build thread Our blog: kdrhome.wordpress.com Re: Knock-down/Rebuild - Disconnecting existing services 6Sep 24, 2014 1:22 pm Services that require disconnection are Gas, Electricity and Tele-communications we usually leave the water connected for use with the demolition works. 6 22746 We've had the offer of a short term tenant whilst waiting for CDC/DA home approval and demolition for our knock down rebuild. It would achieve a pretty low rent as it's… 0 9913 Hi I live in a 100yr old semi and my neighbour added an additional floor last yr and our architect has advised that we can knock down our semi and build a free-standing… 0 28925 |