Why would estate agent take photos of meters during a valuation?

[Alooah]

Just wondering why an estate agent would take photos of the gas and electricity meters (only) while valuing a house for probate?

No other photos were taken. The house is occupied with renters.

Either for the reference numbers or the meter readings maybe

I don’t see why though? The house is tenanted and the tenants are responsible for paying the bills. What has the meter reading got to do with the valuation of the house?

Who knows
Can you ask them?

Maybe its to show the type of meter

We can all speculate till the cows come home - ask the agents.

Just taking a guess, but possibly the age and conditions of the meter might play into the valuation, maybe as a sign of how old/condition of the utilities in the house?

As you can tell how old the electrics are by the age of the metre and wiring into it.

What @BiBabbles said 👍🏻

@WeAreTheHeroes

We can all speculate till the cows come home - ask the agents.

I would if I knew who they were! Hence hoping to catch the eye of a Mumsnetting EA

@Tangledtresses

As you can tell how old the electrics are by the age of the metre and wiring into it.

That really doesn't follow from just looking at the meter.

I know with our old meters it's been impossible to move suppliers
Perhaps it's this🤔

If it's for probate they're probably just following a standard procedure. Simpler to just take the meter readings rather than find out who's responsible for the bills. (And then risk a can of worms if it turns out it was landlord pays and the reading wasn't taken.)

So it now turns out they took photos of the whole house, all the rooms. No idea why. Not very happy about this, it’s a real invasion of privacy.

Are you the renter?

This is a requirement for a formal valuation, although as a courtesy they should ask first.

So it now turns out they took photos of the whole house, all the rooms. No idea why.

So they don't have to take time making notes while they're in the property and can be in and out more quickly, I would think. They'll have been looking at things like windows, type of heating, kitchen, bathroom, general condition of the house - e.g. any cracks in the walls - anything that would affect the valuation.