Gas leak on day we moved in

[justwanttocomplain]

Just want to moan really, I know houses are sold as seen etc.

Completed on a 3 year old new build last week. Moved in the same day vendor moved out.

Immediately as we walked in there was a strong smell of gas in the hallway, 4 removal men could also smell it strongly, as did a friend who was also in attendance.

The boiler is located in an under stair cupboard. Opened it and the smell of gas extremely strong under there.

Heating was off so house was freezing.

Called the gas emergency line and they sent someone within the hour, we were told to leave the house with the children.

A leak was located, and fixed thankfully.

I'm just pissed off that this could have been extremely dangerous! Something terrible could have happened.

It can't be possible the vendor hadn't noticed this surely?

Just want to moan as it made what is an already stressful time moving much worse.

Wow I wonder how long the leak had been there? Had it been gradual and they just got used to the smell? Very scary.

I bought a gas detector that you plug into a socket (very cheap on Amazon) for our new house just to be on the safe side.

They probably noticed the previous day and panicked that it would jeopardise the completion and therefore ignored it. Glad you managed to get it sorted.

Where exactly was the leak from?

Maybe they went nose blind but it was strong to all of us who went in!

They were still moving out after completion, so keys were handed over on the drive-
So this has happened minutes after they left when we started going in with our stuff.

I just think it's terrible if they knew and did nothing, it could have been disastrous- it's a semi as well, if something had happened it could have affected the neighbours.

From what I gathered it was something to do with a pipe under the boiler.

before we bought our current house the surveyor picked up a gas leak in the kitchen that was fixed. It’s funny because when we viewed it I was sure I could smell gas in the kitchen but told myself I was imagining it, or that maybe someone had accidentally left the hob on just prior. It seems that it had likely been leaking a while but the occupants of the house couldn’t detect it.

Are houses sold as seen? I thought there was a few weeks for buyers to report any problems.

No I think completion is just that

Nope its a case of you buy it and thats that. New builds have the NHBC but thats a different matter to do with build quality not enhancements previous owners made. Most people inherit problems from day 1 tbh, as previous owners often dont fix stuff. I had various plumbing jobs to do on the second day of ownership.

Gas is a rare one though, I'd love to know how a pipe started leaking.

In Scotland I believe this may be the case. In England (and Wales?), unfortunately not unless a new build where snagging issues will be dealt with (no idea about NI, and I'm sure someone will come along and correct!)

Thanks. I'm in Scotland so that probably explains why I'm thinking I've seen that somewhere.

Sounds a bit more helpful than sold as seen.

Did you ask for an up to date gas safety certificate when you were buying? We always do if we move.

I was definitely nose blind to a gas leak in my house! For about two years I had issues with damp and black mould on walls and windows. I thought the smell in the hall was due to the damp as I could really only smell it when I first walked in after being at work when the house was empty. The first thing I did when I got in was open the doors into all the rooms ( bungalow) and maybe a window if not cold or raining and the smell dissipated.

For some reason, I suddenly thought to ask a British Gas engineer who had come to service my boiler if there was a way of testing the gas flow to see if there was a leak. I explained about the mild smell in the hall after the house had been empty but as the only gas supply was to the hob ( boiler in garage), I did not think of a gas leak.

After he tested the gas supply, he confirmed that there was a small leak and found it in the pipe running under the floorboards in the hall door to the kitchen. He was quite shocked that I had not thought to check sooner despite the smell and my recent headaches! Of course the smell disappeared once windows were opened or when the doors from the hall to other rooms were open.

Luckily it was a very small leak, he was able to fix it straight away but he did say that he was concerned that there might have been an explosion if the leak had built up in the hall/kitchen over a number of weeks such as if I returned from a holiday!

I felt really stupid for not thinking of a gas leak and for assuming that the smell was caused by damp!

You were very lucky that you moved in as the old owners left as otherwise the gas might have built up to dangerous level before you entered the house!

My nephew bought a house
had an electric car charger installed
the installer somehow pierced the gas pipe with a screw

it was in the entrance porch so the smell wasn’t that strong but became more obvious over a few days

called BG they came out and said a few more days and it could have taken out half the street

gas man was fab he actually rang the car charging company for my nephew and really gave them a bollocking and said he was going to report the installer himself 😂

the car charger company sent someone out same day to fix it

Well it probably is unlikely the vendor would not notice it unless the leak was caused by some part of the removal process, eg they emptied the stair cupboard and knocked the pipe, causing the leak and then did not notice it until they had left.

If the leak had happened earlier then surely they would have smelt it and it would have probably gone up living in a house full of gas if it had been that bad ?

I suspect that either they or their removal men dislodged the pipe whilst moving their stuff out - easily done if you're being a bit clumsy with something large or something jammed into the space where the pipe was that needed jiggling to get it out.

I thought the same.

Moving furniture around makes it easy for a pipe to be knocked and not noticed.

Yes it could have been damaged due to moving, they may not have smelt it going in and out with moving and having doors open. They didn't have removal company just doing it themselves.

The cupboard isn't very big I don't think you could have much in there to cause damage but you never know. It's really just the boiler and room for your hoover/mop.