Can I ask about having gas connected to a flat?

[SlothfulSusan]

My DS is considering a flat in a block (to buy.) We can see from other sold properties (online) that some have gas cookers and boilers in the kitchen but the one he is viewing only has electric rads and we assume gas is not connected.

The small estate of flats is 20 years old and there are several separate blocks on the plot - this one is the top floor of a 3-storey block.

How would we find out about the cost and possibility of having gas central heating put in before they made an offer? How do we know if it's possible to lead gas to this flat? I doubt the agents will be of any use.

I would imagine you should ask British Gas as a first port of call. You may find that it is not available on his floor or that it has a gas supply but the owner (or previous owners) preferred electricity. The second scenario is better than the first. The vendor could be asked about the availability of a gas supply of course. They may know.

If you have gas supplied it can be expensive in that you need a new boiler, (£1500 ish), the necessary pipe work and disruption to decoration and a meter. These are not cheap either.

Therefore you can get quotes for the best case scenario, that there is gas in the flat, and then you know anything else will be a lot more expensive. You then have to weigh up how much cheaper the gas would be. Is it worth it?

Alternatively a Corgi registered local contractor may be able to give a view too and suggest possible costs. Like a lot of things it depends on how difficult the job is and where the supply is in relation to the flat.

Thanks, that's confirmed what we thought. The flat appears to have been a buy to let- there is no upper chain- and I suspect that various landlord owners just stuck with what was there when it was built. Not sure how many previous owners it has had, but it's 20 yrs old. I appreciate the cost- we were thinking of allowing at least £5K. We had gas brought into our own house from the road when we moved in- a pipe of at least 70- feet was needed from the main supply - and we had a new boiler too.

Speak to the gas distributor in the area , the electricity supplier will be able to tell you who this is. There should be a few different companies they approve to work on the gas grid